gentleman, Valentine Greatrakes, and Dr Streper, who pretended to cure various diseases by stroking with the hand. The efficacy of the treatment adopted by Greatrakes is attested by the celebrated Mr Boyle, and the philosopher Cudworth was among his patients. No mention is made of sleep or somnambulism in the accounts given of the cures performed by Greatrakes.

The next individual who figures in Mr Colquhoun's historical summary is a German exorcist named John Joseph Gassner, born in 1727. Bred up a Catholic minister, he took up the notion that most diseases arose from demoniacal possession, and could be cured by exorcism. He began with his parishioners, and ultimately excited considerable attention in a wider circle for his cures among patients affected with spasmodic and epileptic diseases. This was about the year 1774. A public officer took regular notes of his procedure, and the facts were attested by persons of respectability.

But all previous experimenters with this obscure and impalpable agency in the cure of disease, were thrown in the shade on the appearance of the celebrated Mesmer. Frederick Anthony Mesmer, a native of Switzerland, was born in 1734. In early life he went to Vienna for the purpose of studying physic under Van Swieten and De Haen, and having taken his degree, he subsequently settled in that capital as a practising physician. By an advantageous marriage he placed himself in independent circumstances. In 1766 he wrote a dissertation on the Influence of the Planets on the Human body, which drew upon him the ridicule of his professional brethren. His theory is founded upon the assumed existence of a certain subtile element pervading all nature; and this element he at first thought to have discovered in electricity, but afterwards, in 1773, resorted to the magnet, to which his attention had been directed by the professor of astronomy at Vienna, Maximilian Hell. The result was, that artificial magnets prepared for him by his friend the professor were applied in various forms to individuals affected with disease, and with the most promising success. His discovery was published in the form of a Letter to a Foreign Physician on the Magnetic Remedy,-cases were made public through the medium of the press, and other physicians ventured on a practice which appeared so satisfactory.

His medical brethren in Vienna did not, however, generally adopt the magnetic remedy, and he found himself so uncomfortably situated from their hostility to his practice, that he withdrew for a time from the capital. In 1775 and 1776, he accordingly travelled into Bavaria and Switzerland, and performed what were accounted remarkable cures in the public hospitals of

Berne and Zurich. Upon his return to Vienna, he established an hospital in his own house, where he received poor patients likely to be benefited by the magnetic treatment.

In his early practice, Mesmer made use of magnetic rods in operating upon his patients, believing the remedial efficacy to consist in a certain virtue inherent in the mineral magnet. Further experience, however, now led him to suppose, that the magnetic rods did not operate merely, by attraction, but that they at the same time served as the conductors of a fluid issuing from his own body. This conjecture was converted into certainty when he found from experiment that he could produce the same effects without using the magnet, by merely passing his hands from the head of the patient towards the lower extremities, or even by making these motions at some distance from the person. He further discovered that he could communicate the virtue to inanimate objects by merely rubbing them with his hand. Swayed, perhaps, by an analogous mode of magnetizing iron by repeated friction in one direction, and partly also, perhaps, by the supposed fact, that the animal body exhibited a certain polarity and inclination, Mesmer at once concluded, that there exists in the animal frame an original and peculiar species of magnetism; and that a similar magnetic influence extends over all nature. To this alleged influence, as it was exhibited in the animal body, he gave the name of Animal Magnetism, to distinguish its effects from those of the mineral magnet.

From this period Mesmer ceased to make use of the magnetic rods, considering his own body to be the depository of the magnetic virtue, which he could communicate not only by manipulation but volition, and thus relieve many cases of disease. Learned individuals endeavoured to throw discredit on his mode of treatment, and many believed him to be an impostor or deluded enthusiast. To remove these imputations, Mesmer sent circular letters to the most celebrated learned bodies in Europe, in which he attempted to explain his principles, and gave an account of the cures he had performed. His success not meeting his expectations, he again left Vienna in the year 1777, and made his appearance at Paris in February 1778, where he was fortunate enough to make a convert of Dr D'Eslon, who encouraged Mesmer to publish in the following year a short treatise, which contained an abridged view of his system in twenty-seven propositions. The following is a summary of his views:

"There exists a reciprocal influence between the heavenly bodies, the earth, and animated beings. The medium of this influence is a very subtile fluid, pervading the whole universe, which, from its nature, is capable of receiving, propagating, and communicating every impulse of motion. This reciprocal action is subject to cer

tain mechanical laws, which have not yet been discovered. From this action there result alternative effects, which may be considered as a flux and re-flux. This flux and re-flux may be more or less general, more or less particular, more or less compounded, according to the nature of the causes which determine them. It is by this operation (the most universal of those which nature exhibits to us) that the relations of activity are maintained between the heavenly bodies, the earth, and its constituent parts. The properties of matter, and of organized bodies, depend upon this operation. The animal body experiences the alternative effects of this agent; which, by insinuating itself into the substance of the nerves, affects them immediately. The human body exhibits properties analogous to those of the magnet, such as polarity and inclination. The property of the animal body, which renders it susceptible of this influence, occasioned its denomination of animal magnetism. The action and the virtue of animal magnetism are capable of being communicated to other animated and inanimate bodies. The one and the other, however, are susceptible of them in different degrees. This action and this virtue can be increased and propagated by these bodies. We observe from experience the flowing of a certain subtile matter, which penetrates all bodies, without perceptibly losing any of its activity; and it operates at a considerable distance, without the aid of any intermediate object. Like light, it is reflected by mirrors; and it is invigorated, diffused, and communicated by sound. This virtue is capable of being accumulated, concentrated, and transported. There are animated bodies, although very rare, which possess a property so opposite to magnetism that their mere presence prevents all its effects in other bodies. This opposite power also penetrates all bodies, and is like. wise capable of being concentrated and diffused: It is, therefore, not merely a negative, but a really positive power. The mineral magnet, whether natural or artificial, is likewise equally susceptible with other bodies of animal magnetism, and even of the opposite virtue, without suffering, in either case, any alteration of its agency in respect to iron; which proves that the principle of animal magnetism is essentially different from that of the mineral. This system will furnish new illustrations of the nature of fire and light; as also of the theory of attraction, of flux and re-flux, of the magnet and of electricity. It will inform us, that the magnet and artificial electricity only have, with respect to diseases, properties in common with several other agents which nature presents to us; and that, if the former have produced some salutary effects, these effects are to be ascribed to animal magnetism. By means of animal magnetism, nervous diseases may be cured immediately, and other complaints mediately: It explains to us the operation of the remedies, and promotes the salutary crises. With the knowledge of its principles, the physician can discover with certainty, the origin, the nature, and the progress of diseases, even the most complicated; he can arrest their progress, and ultimately cure them, without ever exposing the patient to dangerous or troublesome

consequences. Lastly, this doctrine will enable the physician to judge accurately with respect to the degree of health possessed by all individuals, and to preserve them from those diseases to which they may be exposed. Thus, the science of medicine may attain its highest degree of perfection." Pp. 54–56.

The theory of Mesmer was treated with neglect or contempt by the men of science in France; and Dr D'Eslon, for having adopted the doctrines of Mesmer, and published a work upon animal magnetism, was deprived of his vote in the Medical Faculty of Paris for a year, and threatened with expulsion if, within that time, he did not recant. But in spite of this opposition, the successful treatment of some patients in the more respectable classes of society, among whom was the celebrated Court de Gebelin, the author of the Monde Primitif, extended the fame of the practice; and Mesmer's discovery came to be regarded by many as the most important that had been inade by human ingenuity. His house was crowded with patients of all ranks, and from every quarter; and in the course of a short time he is said to have amassed a considerable fortune.

Mesmer operated, not only by the actual touch of his hands, or by means of an iron rod extended to some distance from his body, but also by means of cords. He placed his patients in connection with magnetised trees, or conducted the magnetic fluid out of covered vessels (baguets) to the patients, who sat round in a circle. By this treatment he threw them into very peculiar states, presenting the phenomena both of sleeping and waking. And in order to increase the efficacy of the treatment, the chamber was partially darkened; mirrors were placed round it; and the profound silence was only interrupted by the occasional tones of the harmonica or harpsichord.

The practice of magnetism, ridiculed and attacked as it was by the Parisian journals, and disapproved of by the medical faculty, Mesmer found it at length necessary to defend; and in 1781 he published a "Precis Historique des faits relatifs au Magnetisme Animal," a work in which he set out with the extraordinary principle, that "there is but one health, one disease, and one remedy," and arrogated to himself the discovery of this universal remedy.

About this period Mesmer quitted Paris, and went for a short time to reside at Spaa; but was soon again recalled by his friends to the French metropolis, for the purpose of delivering a course of lectures on his magnetic remedy. Previous to his going to Spaa, it is said that the French government offered him 20,000 livres for the communication of his secret, upon the pretext that it might give occasion to dangerous abuses. He refused this; but upon his return he established a secret society VCL. XL. NO. 116.

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under the name of The Harmony, in which he initiated those into the mysteries of treatment who paid him one hundred Louis d'or for the secret. This society included four physicians among its members. Some of Mesmer's pupils established Harmonic Societies in different provinces and towns of France, by means of which the destitute sick were magnetized gratis, and the most interesting cases made public.

At length, on the 12th of March 1784, a royal mandate was issued to the Medical Faculty of Paris, requiring them to appoint commissioners to investigate the merits of the magnetic treatment. Two commissions were in consequence appointed. The first consisted of members of the Academy of Sciences, viz. Franklin, Le Roi, Bailly, De Bori, and Lavoisier; and of the Medical Faculty Bovie, and after his death Majault, Sallin, D'Arcet, and Guillotin. The second was composed of members of the Society of Physicians,-Poissonnier, Desperrieres, Caille, Mauduyt, Andry, and Jussieu. The report of the Commissioners was unfavourable to the pretensions of animal magnetism; and though one of these commissioners, Jussieu, refused to subscribe the general report, and even published a separate one in favour of Mesmer's practices, the public generally acquiesced in the opinion of the majority. The results of their investigation are arranged under the following heads.

"1. The fluid which the commissioners name the animal magnetic fluid, does not exist, or it is inappreciable by the senses.

"2. The existence of this fluid can only be demonstrated by its curative effects in the treatment of diseases, or by its momentary effects on the animal economy. The proof drawn from the treatment of diseases must be excluded, as furnishing uncertain and often deceptive results.

"3. The true proofs,-proofs purely physical,-of the existence of this fluid, are its momentary effects on the animal body. To assure themselves of these effects, the commissioners have made experiments, 1. upon themselves; 2. upon seven sick people; 3. upon four persons; 4. upon a company in the house of Mr Franklin; 5. upon patients collected at the house of M. Jumelin; 6. with a magnetised tree; 7. upon different subjects.

"4. From these experiments the commissioners have concluded, that imagination does every thing, and that magnetism is nothing. Imagination, Imitation, and Touch (attouchement), are the true causes of the effects attributed to animal magnetism.

"5. The magnetic processes being dangerous, it follows that all public treatment where the means of magnetism are employed will in the end be attended with disagreeable consequences."

The favourers of animal magnetism, and Mr Colquhoun among the rest, consider this investigation as having been conducted in a very superficial manner, and as altogether unsatis