vived powers, and again and again mixed with the crowd of dancers; until at length the violent excitement of their disordered nerves was allayed by the great involuntary exertion of their limbs; and the mental disorder was calmed by the exhaustion of the body. The cure effected by these stormy attacks was in many cases so perfect, that some patients returned to the factory or the plough, as if nothing had happened. Others, on the contrary, paid the penalty of their folly by so total a loss of power, that they could not regain their former health, even by the employment of the most strengthening remedies." (Hecker's Epidemics of the Middle Ages, pp. 87-104.)

APPENDIX D.

THE ANIMAL MAGNETISM' OF MESMER.

"Animal Magnetism is a fluid universally diffused; it is the medium of a mutual influence between the heavenly bodies, the earth, and animated bodies; it is everywhere continuous, so as to leave no void; its subtlety admits of no comparison; it is capable of receiving, propagating, communicating all the impressions of motion; it is susceptible of flux and of reflux. The animal body experiences the effects of this agent; by insinuating itself into the substance of the nerves it affects them immediately. There are observed, particularly in the human body, properties analogous to those of the magnet; and in it are discerned properties equally different and opposite. The action and the virtues of animal magnetism may be communicated from one body to other bodies, animate and inanimate. This action takes place at a remote distance, without the aid of any intermediate body; it is increased, reflected by mirrors; communicated, propagated, augmented by sound; its virtues

may be accumulated, concentrated, transported. Although this fluid is universal, all animal bodies are not equally susceptible of it; there are even some, though a very small number, which have properties so opposite, that their very presence destroys all the effects of this fluid on other bodies. Animal Magnetism is capable of healing diseases of the nerves immediately, and others mediately. It perfects the action of medicines; it excites and directs salutary crises in such a manner that the physician may render himself master of them; by its means he knows the state of health of each individual, and judges with certainty of the origin, the nature, and the progress of the most complicated diseases; he prevents their increase, and succeeds in healing them without at any time exposing his patient to dangerous effects or troublesome consequences; whatever be the age, the temperament, and the sex. In animal magnetism, nature presents a universal method of healing and preserving mankind.”—(Mémoire sur la Découverte du Magnétisme Animal, par M. Mesmer. Paris, 1779, p. 74, et seq.—Ibid, Avis du Lecteur, p. 6.)

APPENDIX E.

REPORT ON MESMER'S PRETENSIONS, BY THE COMMISSION APPOINTED BY THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, PARIS,

"The sick persons, arranged in great numbers and in several rows around the baquet, receive the magnetism by all these means; by the iron rods which convey to them that of the baquet; by the cords wound round their bodies; by the connection of the thumbs which communicate to them that of their neighbours; by the sound of the pianoforte, or of an agreeable voice diffusing the magnetism in the air; by

the finger and rod of the magnetiser moved before their faces, above or behind their heads, and on the diseased parts, always observing the direction of the poles; by the eye of the magnetiser; but above all by the application of his hands and the pressure of his fingers on the hypochondria and on the regions of the abdomen; an application often continued for a long time, sometimes for several hours. Meanwhile the patients, in their different conditions, present a varied picture. Some are calm, tranquil, and experience no effect; others cough, spit, feel slight pains, local or general heat, and have sweatings; others again are agitated or tormented with convulsions. These convulsions are remarkable in regard to the number affected with them, and to their duration and force; and are characterised by the precipitous involuntary motions of all the limbs and of the whole body, by the constriction of the throat, by the violent heavings of the hypochondria and the epigastrium; by the dimness and wandering of the eyes; by piercing shrieks, tears, sobbing, and immoderate laughter. They are preceded or followed by a state of languor and reverie, a kind of depression, and even drowsiness. The smallest unforeseen noise occasions shudderings; even a change of tone and measure in the airs played on the pianoforte influences the patients, a quicker motion agitating them more and renewing the vivacity of their convulsions. Nothing is more astonishing than the spectacle of these convulsions; one who has not seen them can form no idea of them. The spectator is equally astonished at the profound repose of one part of the patients, and at the agitation of the rest; at the various accidents which are repeated, and the sympathies which are established. Some patients devote their exclusive attention to each other, rushing towards one another, smiling, speaking with affection, and mutually soothing their crises, All are under the power of the magnetiser; it matters not in what state of drowsiness they may be; his voice, a look, a

gesture brings them out of it."-(Report of the Commission of the French Academy of Sciences.)

The Commissioners further reported-"That this pretended agent certainly is not common Magnetism; for on examining the baquet, the grand reservoir of this wonderful fluid, by means of a needle and electrometer, not the slightest indication of the presence either of common magnetism or of electricity was afforded; that it is wholly inappreciable by any of the senses, or by any mechanical or chemical process; that they tried it upon themselves and upon many others, without being able to perceive anything; that on blindfolding those who seemed to be most susceptible to its influence, all its ordinary effects were produced when nothing was done to them, but when they imagined they were being magnetised, while none of its effects were produced when they were really magnetised, but imagined that nothing was being done; that, in like manner, when brought under a magnetised tree, nothing happened if the subjects of the experiment thought they were at a distance from the tree, while they were immediately thrown into convulsions if they believed they were near the tree, although really at a distance from it; that, consequently the effects actually produced were produced purely by the imagination; that these effects, though some cures might be wrought, were not without danger, since the convulsions excited were often violent and exceedingly apt to spread, especially among men feeble in body and weak in mind, and almost universally among women; and finally, that there were parts of the operation of magnetising which might readily be turned to vicious purposes, and that immoral practices had already actually grown out of them.'-(Ibid.)

APPENDIX F.

EXTRAORDINARY MUSCULAR ENERGY PRODUCIBLE BY MENTAL CONCENTRATION.

It is a well-known fact that when the whole energy is concentrated upon some Muscular effort, especially under the influence of an overpowering emotion, the body seems. endowed with superhuman strength and agility, so as to be able to accomplish some extraordinary feat, at which the performer himself stands aghast when he contemplates it after his return to his sober senses. Thus an old cook-maid who heard an alarm of fire, seized an enormous box containing the whole of her property, and ran down stairs with it as easily as she would have carried a dish of meat; yet after the fire had been extinguished, she could not lift it a hair's breadth from the ground, and two men were required to carry it upstairs again. It was by the artificial induction of a like state of concentrated effort, coupled with the assurance of easy success, (it will go up like a feather,') with which he had completely possessed his 'subject's' mind, that Mr. Braid (in my presence) enabled a man so remarkable for the poverty of his physique, that he had not for many years ventured to lift a weight of twenty pounds, to take up a weight of 28 lbs. upon his little finger, and swing it round. his head, with the greatest apparent ease. Neither Mr. Braid nor his son, both of them powerful men, could do anything like this; and I could not myself lift the same weight on my little finger to more than half my own height. Trickery in this case was obviously impossible; since, if the 'subject' had been trained to such feats, the effect of such training would have become visible in his muscular development.