1882.] 
Analyses of Books. 
357 
fowl, alcohol, drugs, tobacco, mineral substances, and every such 
perversion of the natural appetite must be religiously abstained 
from, and your tastes therefore re-direCted into their proper 
channels.” Again, “ every poisonous vegetable and every 
mineral drug must be strictly avoided.” Without raising the 
question how the “ natural appetite ” has been ascertained, we 
may here ask for the definition of the terms “ drugs ” and 
“poisonous.” Most fruits, leaves, &c., contain principles which 
may be fairly called “ drugs,” and which in sufficient doses are 
distinctly poisonous. We read on p. 7 : “ If you have taken 
many drugs, much alcohol, or tobacco, let pure and strong coffee, 
without chicory, enter largely into your diet as an antidote.” 
Whilst warmly applauding the proviso “ without chicory,” we 
must not forget that caffeine, the essential alkaloid of coffee, is a 
drug, and in large doses a poison. Further, alcohol is not con- 
fined to fermented and distilled beverages artificially produced 
by man. It is now known to be a natural product, met with in 
small quantities in various fluids and solids. Without entering 
into the vegetarian controversy, we must call attention to the 
following passage (p. 5) : “ To become a Red Magician you must 
strictly follow Christ’s laws, and imitate His life both in the letter 
and in the spirit.” How this imitation is made to agree with 
the injunction to abstain from animal food we do not see. 
The authoress protests against Mr. Braid’s theory, and insists 
that “hypnotism proper and magnetism proper are not identical.” 
The former, she considers, an exceedingly dangerous process, as 
may be concluded from Mr. Braid’s own statement, the pulse in 
a subject operated upon rose to 180 beats per minute. We do 
not know what Miss Hunt thinks of Prof. Harting’s recent 
cautions as to the dangers of “ mesmeric ” experiments to the 
subject operated upon. But after carefully reading Chapter IV. 
of the work before us, “ How to become a public and private 
demonstrator of magnetic somnambulism,” we feel strong doubts 
whether such demonstrations performed upon human subjects 
are legitimate. The experiments of Baron Dupotet, described 
on pp. 178 and 179, if realities, are simply horrible. Still worse 
are the cases given on pp. 187 and 188. To do the authoress 
justice, she gives very plain warnings against allowing a subject 
to become frightened whilst in the magnetic trance. We should, 
however, think that all experiments, in order to ascertain 
the reality, the conditions, and the laws of the imperfectly known 
agent in question, should be made upon the lower animals. For 
this purpose Miss Hunt gives very full directions. We quote 
the following strange passage: “The deadly effeCt of human 
saliva on poisonous snakes is positively asserted by a Georgia 
farmer. According to the “ New York Herald,” as the farmer 
was in a field picking up some straw, a rattlesnake, 4 feet long, 
fell from the straw at his feet. He set his heel on the reptile’s 
head and spat into its mouth. In a few minutes the snake 
