J U G G 
only, who afpired to eminence in and near this-metropo¬ 
lis, will here he named. Of thefe Dr. Bell, Mr. Cue, Mr. 
Holloway, Mr. Loutherbourg, Mr. Parker, and Dr. Yel-' 
dal, have been mod famous. They are placed in the or¬ 
der of the alphabet, becaule, after Dr. de Mainauduc, it 
might feetfi prefumptuous to determine which of thefe 
gentlemen Ihould have the pre-eminence. Mr. Louther¬ 
bourg, whole excellence as a painter is well known, was 
moft°talked of about at this time; and fome attempt 
was made to prove that animal magnetifm was con¬ 
nected with religion. A Mrs. Pratt, who publiilied a lift 
of cures performed by Mr. and Mrs. Loutherbourg, 
withes to be known as A lover of the Lamb of God. To 
thofe who diieredit her report of cures, tire applies thefe 
words-: Behold, ye defpifers, and wonder andperijh; for I will 
work a work in your days, which ye fnall not believe though a 
man declare it unto you. But, to promote belief in magne¬ 
tifm, the quotes thefe words of our Lord : Verily, verily, 1 
fay unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do, Jhall 
he do alfo; and greater works than these Jhall he do, becaufe 
I go unto the Father. It might be fuppofed that Mr. 
Loutherbourg publicly reprehended this lady for herabufe 
of fcripture, or informed the world he believed her to be 
infane. But in all probability Mr. Loutherbourg was as 
mad as herfelf. Mrs. Pratt informs us, that three thou- 
land perfons have waited at one time, to gain admiilion 
to this magnetift at Hammerfmith ; and (he complains of 
fome people who have fold their admiffion-rickets for two 
guineas, and five guineas, a-piece! At what price they 
bought them is not faid. Animal Magnetifm examined , 
in a Letter to a Country Gentlemen, by John Martin ; 
Loud.1790. 
Perhaps we have dwelt too long upon this fpecies of 
juggling. It is now quite exploded in England : to which 
the well-written pamphlet juft quoted we believe contri¬ 
buted not a little. If any of our readers, however, wifh 
to have a more ample detail upon the fubjefl, they may 
confult a publication in 4to. by Dr. Bell, or an abridge¬ 
ment of it in Sibly’s Key to the Occult Sciences, p. 256- 
*76. 
3. Complete as the detection of the delufion of Mef- 
mer, and the other advocates of animal magnetifm, by the 
commiffioners of Paris, was; and numerous as the fails 
were, which evinced the efficacy of touching, or even 
pointing at, the body with the fingers, or a rod of iron, 
See. in removing as well as in exciting pains and diftreff- 
ing fenfations; it could hardly have been expected, that 
another delufion, founded upon the fame grounds, could 
again be dilfeminated, after the fhort interval of fxteen 
■or feventeen years, fo as to find advocates among philofo- 
phical men, and to enrich the author of the contrivance. 
Such, however, was the faff. We now ftate it, rather as 
a matter of record than of information, that, in the year 
1798, an American, of the name of Perkins, introduced 
into this country a method of curing difeafes, for which 
lie obtained the royal letters patent, by means of two 
fmall pieces of metal, denominated tractors. Thefe 
were applied externally near the part dileafed, and moved 
about, gently touching the furface only; and thus multi¬ 
tudes of painful diforders were removed, fome moft 
fpeedily, and 'fome after repeated applications of the me¬ 
tallic points. Pamphlets were pubylhed, announcing the 
wonderful cures accomplilhed by this fimple remedy; and 
periodical journals and newfpapers teemed with evidence 
of the curative powers of the traders ; infomuch that, in 
the courfe of a few months, they were the fubjefl of ge¬ 
neral converfation, and fcarcely lefs general ufe. The re¬ 
ligious left of the Quakers, whofe benevolence has been 
ioraetiihes difplayed at the expence of their fagacity, be¬ 
came the avowed and aftive friends of the tradors ; and a 
public eftablilhment, called the Perkinean Inftitution, 
was formed under their aufpices, for the purpofe of cur¬ 
ing the difeafes of the poor, without the expence of drugs 
or medical advice. The traniaftions of this inftitution 
VOL. XL No. 771, 
LING. 497 
were publiftied in pamphlets, in fuppovt of the extraordi¬ 
nary efficacy of thefe new inftruments. In fomewhat lefs 
than fix years Perkins left the country, in polleffion, as 
we have been informed on good authority, of upwards of 
ten thoufand pounds, the contributions of Britilh credu¬ 
lity; and now (1811) the tractors are almoft forgotten. 
We by no means intend to impeach the veracity of 
thofe who attefted the many extraordinary cures performed 
by the application of the traders ; on the contrary, we 
have no doubt that many of them were actually acconi- 
pliflied, at leaft temporarily ; after what we have already 
Hated, when treating of animal magnetifm, (fuch as the fud- 
den cure of the artift’s head-ache, on the bridge, by M. 
Sigault’s geftures,) and what we ffiall proceed to date re- 
fpeefting the effects of counterfeit tractors, it were impoffi- 
ble not to admit the truth and correftnefs of the majority 
of the accounts of the efficacy of Perkinifm. We muff: 
obferve, however, that the efficacy was founded on the 
delufion ; and, had not the fcientific world been at that 
time in a ftate of comparative ignorance reflecting the prin¬ 
ciple of which Galvani had recently obtained a glance; had 
they been in total ignorance of that principle, or poffeffed 
ot more than that “ little knowledge” of it, which “ is a 
dangerous thing,” fuch an impofture'would Icarcely have 
gained ground for a day, among thofe who were ac¬ 
quainted with the proceedings of the French commillioners 
in the affair of Mefmer. But Perkins affociated the idea 
of the Galvanic principle, or animal electricity, with the 
operation of his trabtors, by conftructing them of two 
different metals, which the Italian philofopher had ffiown 
to be neceffary to excite the operation of the agent which 
he had difeovered ; and the obfeurity which hung over 
this fubject, (for the great developement of the Galvanic 
principle by the pile of Volta, and the trough which fol¬ 
lowed, had not then taken place,) left a new field for hy¬ 
pothecs ; and the anomalous charafler of the faffs contri¬ 
buted to induce even philofophers to liften to the relation. 
The difeafes which have been found moft fufceptible of 
the influence of the traffors are, rheumatifm, fome gouty 
affedfions, pleurify, ophthalmias, eryfipelas, violent fpaf- 
modic convulfions, as epileptic fits and the locked jaw, 
the pain and f’welling attending contufions, inflammatory 
tumors, the pains from a recent fprain, the painful effebfs 
of a burn or feald, pains in the head, teeth, and indeed 
moft kinds of painful topical affeffions, excepting where 
the organic ftrufture of the part is deftroyed, as in wounds, 
ulcers, See. and excepting alfo where oils or fome other 
non-conducting fubftances are prefent. Influence of Metal¬ 
lic Tradors on the Human Body, by B. D. Perkins, fon to 
the dilcoverer. 
But we have other teftimonies than thofe of Dr. Perkins 
and his fon for the influence of the traflors. Mr. Meigs, 
profeflbr of natural philofophy at Newhaven, in a letter 
on Dr. Perkins’s difeovery, conceives the principles of 
metallic irritability as fo little underftcod, that he will 
not pretend to explain how the tractors produce their ef¬ 
fects ; but feems fatisfied in finding that the effefts are 
produced. After ftating an experiment on his own child, 
eight years of age, very dangeroufly ill with a peripneu- 
monic complaint, and to which the traffors gave almoft 
inftantaneous relief, he fays, “ I have ufed the tractors 
with l'uccefs in feveral other cafes in my own family; and 
although, lijke Naaman the Syrian, I cannot tell why the 
waters of Jordan ffiould be better than Abana and Phar- 
par, rivers of Damalcus ; yet, fince experience has proved 
them fo, no reafoning can change the'opinion. Indeed, 
the caufes of all common faffs are, we think, perfeftly well 
known to us; and it is very probable, fifty or an hundred 
years hence, we fhall as well know why the metallic trac¬ 
tors fliould in a few njinutes remove violent pains, as we 
now know why cantharides and opium will produce op- 
pofite effefts; viz. we ffiall know but very little about ei¬ 
ther, excepting_/a< 5 L.” 
jVlr. Woodward, profefforof natural philofophy at Dart¬ 
'S L moiltlv, 
