JUGGLING. 
494 
'The raoll irritable and delicate of the commiifioners were 
magnetifed the moft frequently, and for the longelt time; 
but none of them experienced any effefts or fenfations, or 
■at leaPc any that could be alcribed to magnetifm. Three 
of them were valetudinarians, and forne of their ufual un- 
eafy feelings were excited, partly by the fatigue, and partly 
by the ftrong preffure made on the ftomach. They fub- 
initted to the experiment on three days fuccefiively : ftill 
without any effeft. The quiet and filence of the eight 
commiifioners, thus magnetifed, without any uneafinefs or 
any new fenfation, formed the molt perfect contrail: with 
the noife, agitation, and diforder, of the public magnetifm : 
here was the magnet without any influence, and the ope¬ 
rator defpoiled of his power. They were warranted, there¬ 
fore, in concluding, “ that magnetifm has no agency in a 
ftate of health, or even in a lfate of flight indifpofition.” 
They refolved, then, to make their next trials of its in¬ 
fluence upon perfons actually difeafed ; and feven perfons, 
of the lower clafs, were magnetifed by M. Deflon, in the 
prefence of the commiflioners, at Dr. Franklin’s houle. Two 
women, the one afthmatic, the other with a fwelling on the 
thigh, and two children, the one fix and the other nine years 
of age, felt nothing, and remained unaffected. One man, 
with difeafed eyes, felt a pain in the ball of one of them, 
which alfo difcharged tears, when the finger of the mag- 
netifer was brought near it, and moved quickly about for 
a confiderable time : but, when the other eye, which was 
molt difeafed, was magnetifed, he felt nothing. A nervous 
liyfterical woman, to whom the prelfure of the abdomen 
was painful, and who had a hernia, faid Ihe felt a pain in 
the head when the finger was pointed near the rupture, 
and that Ihe loft her breath when it was brought oppofite 
the face. When the finger of the magnetifer was repeat¬ 
edly moved up and down, Ihe experienced forne caterings 
of the mufcles of the head and flioulders, like one furpri- 
fed and afraid. The feventh patient, a man, fuftered forne 
effects of the fame fort, but much lefs marked. 
Four perfons, two ladies and two gentlemen, of good 
education, and in bad health, were afterwards magnetifed. 
Three of thefe underwent the operation feveral times, and 
felt nothing ; but the fourth, a nervous lady, being mag¬ 
netifed during an hour and twenty minutes, generally by 
the application of the hands, was feveral times on the point 
of falling afleep, and felt fome degree of agitation and un¬ 
eafinefs. On a fublequent occafion, a large company, af- 
fiembled at Dr. Franklin’s, (who was confined by illnefs,) 
were all magnetifed, including fome patients of M. Def¬ 
lon, who had accompanied him thither ; there were prefent 
.feveral Americans, one of whom, an officer, had an intermit¬ 
tent fever ; yet no perfon experienced any effefts, except 
M. Dellon’s patients, who felt the fame fenfations to which 
they had been accullomed at his public magnetifing. 
Thefe experiments, then, furnifhed fome important fafts. 
Of fourteen invalids, five experienced fome effecfs from the 
operation, but nine felt none whatever. Ail the effefts 
obferved in the nervous lady, however, might be occa- 
fioned by the irkfomenefs of the fame pofture for fo long a 
time, and by her attention being ftrongly fixed upon her 
feelings ; for it is frequently fufficient to think of thefe 
nervous attacks, or to hear them mentioned, in order to 
reproduce them when they are habitual. The three other 
irtftances occurred among perfons of ihe lovjer clafs: and 
this circumftance was remarked with furprife by the com- 
Eiiffxoners ; that the only effefts, which could be afcribed 
to magnetifm manifefted themfelves in the poor and igno¬ 
rant ; while thofe who were better able to obferve and to 
defcribe their fenfations, felt nothing. At the fame time, 
it was obferved, that children, although endowed with the 
peculiar fenfibility of their age, likevvife experienced no 
effeft. The notion, that thefe effefts might be explained, 
by natural caufes, therefore, fuggelted itfelf to the com¬ 
miifioners. <! If we figure to ourfelves,” they obferve, 
“ a poor ignorant perfon, fuffering from difeafe, and 
anxious to be relieved, brought before a large company, 
partly confllting of phylicians, with fome degree of pre¬ 
paration and ceremony, and fubjefted to a novel and my- 
lterious treatment, the wonderful effefts of which he is al¬ 
ready perfuaded that he is about to experience : and if, 
moreover, it is recollefted, that he is paid for his compli¬ 
ance, and fuppoles that the experimenters will be gratified 
in being told that he perceived certain operations ; we (hail, 
have natural caufes by which thefe effefts may be explained, 
or at leaft very legitimate reafons for doubting that the real 
caufe is magnetifm.” Rapport des Commijf. p. 30. 
Since the fuppofed effefts of the animal magnetifm, then, 
were not difcoverable in thofe who were incredulous; there 
was great reafon to fufpeft, that the imprelfions which were 
produced, were the refult of a previous expectation of 
the mind, a mere effeft of the imagination. The corrimif- 
fioners, therefore, now direfted tlfeir experiments to a new 
point; namely, to determine how far the imagination could 
influence the fenfations, and whether it could be the fource 
of all the phenomena attributed to magnetifm. 
The commiifioners had recourfe now to a M. Jumelin, 
who magnetifed in the fame way with MM. Mefmer and 
Deflon, except that he made no diftinftion of the magne¬ 
tic poles. Eight men and two women were operated on 
by M. Jumelin; but none of them experienced any effeft. 
At length a female fervant of Dr. Le Roy, who was mag¬ 
netifed in the forehead, but without being touched, faid 
flte perceived a fenfe of heat there. When M. Jumelin 
moved his hand about, and prefented the extremities of 
his five fingers to her face, Ihe faid that fhe felt as it were 
a flame moving about; when magnetifed at the ftomach, 
fhe declared that the heat was there; at the back, and the 
fame heat was there ; flte then affirmed that Ihe was hot all 
over the body, and fuffered a bead-ache. Seeing that only 
one perfon out of eleven had been fenfible of the magne¬ 
tifm, the commiifioners thought that this perfon was pro¬ 
bably poffefled of the moft mobile imagination. They there¬ 
fore tied a bandage over her eyes, and fhe was magnetifed 
again ; but the effefts no longer accorded with the parts 
to which the magnetifm was direfted ! When it was ap¬ 
plied fuccefiively to the ftomach and to the back, the wo¬ 
man only perceived the heat in her head, and a pain in the 
eyes, and in the left ear ! The bandage was removed, and 
M. Jumelin applied his hands to the hypochondres; fhe im<- 
mediately perceived a fenfe of heat in thofe parts; arid, At 
the end of a few minutes, faid that Ihe was faint, and ac¬ 
tually fwooned. When fhe was fufficiently recovered, her 
eyes were again bandaged; M. Jumelin was then removed 
to a diftance, filence was commanded, and they made the 
woman believe that Ihe was again magnetifed. The effefts 
were now precifely the lame, although no one operated, 
either near her or at a diftance ; Ihe felt the fame heat, par¬ 
ticularly in the back and loins, and the fame pain in the- 
eyes and ears ! At the end of a quarter of an hour, a 
fign was made to M. Jumelin to magnetife her at the fto¬ 
mach ; he did fo, but Ihe felt nothing; he magnetifed her 
back, but without effeft ; in faft the heat of the back and 
loins gradually ceafed, and the pains in the head remained ! 
Here, then, was demonftrative evidence of the ope¬ 
ration of the imagination. When the woman faw what 
was done, the fenfations were placed in the parts magne¬ 
tifed ; but, when file could no longer fee, they were re¬ 
ferred to the moft diftant parts, where no magnetifm was 
direfted ; and, above all, they were equally felt, when file 
was not magnetifed at all, and not felt when Ihe was mag¬ 
netifed, after a little repofe, but unknown to herfelf. The 
fainting of a nervous woman, when made the lubjeft of 
a myfterious experiment, and continued in a pofture of 
reftraint for a confiderable time, is explicable upon natu¬ 
ral caufes. This experiment alfo fhowed, that the dif¬ 
tinftion of poles was purely chimerical. It was repeated 
the following day upon a man and a woman, with the 
fame refults. Senfations, felt when they were not mag¬ 
netifed, could only be the effeft of imagination ; and it 
was found only neceftary to excite and direft the imagi¬ 
nation, by queftions, to the parts where the fenfations 
were to be felt, inftead of directing the magnetifm upon 
thofe 
