Animal magnetism

Front matter

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Preface

We think it well to state that this work was written in the environment of the Salpetriere. By this we not only mean that our descriptions apply to facts observed in that hospital, but also that our personal observations were made in accordance with the method inaugurated by M. Charcot, the chief of the school of the Salpetriere, that is, in accordance with the experimental method which is illustrated by clinical science. While relying on the observation of spontaneous facts, we have strengthened these facts by experiments.

It would at present be premature to write a didactic treatise on animal magnetism and hypnotism. This work only aims at giving an account of special researches which, notwithstanding their number and variety, will not justify general conclusions on the question. After receiving this warning, the reader will not be surprised

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PREFACE.

to meet with occasional breaches of continuity, which are, howevei’, more apparent than real, and which are due to our resolution not to speak of experiments which we have not verified for ourselves. Completeness is good, but it is still better to assert nothing of which we are not assured.

B. AN'D F.

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

I. Animal Magnetism in its Beginnings — Mesmek and

II. History of Animal Magnetism — the Academic Period 33 IIL History of Animal Magnetism. — Braid: Hypnotism — Grimes, Azam, Durand de Gros, Demarquay, and Giraud-Teulon, Liebault, Ch. Richet, Charcot, and

Chapter I. Animal Magnetism In Its Beginnings — Mesmer And

PUYSEGUR.

We propose to discuss a question as old as the world itself ; which about a century ago was admitted into the sphere of scientific discussion ; which, although constantly rejected and disclaimed by learned bodies, has always reappeared, and is still in process of evolution, notwithstanding the importance of the results already achieved. In retracing the history of animal magnetism we shall endeavour to explain the causes of these vicissitudes of fortune, and to indicate what instruction may be derived from them. As we proceed with our subject, the truth will become more evident that it was owing to a lack of method that animal magnetism was not admitted at an earlier date to take its place in science.

It concerns scholars to trace the course of animal magnetism through the ages, and to seek for its remote beginnings in the customs of ancient peoples. We refrain from such historic studies, for which we are incompetent, and propose merely to sum up the conclusions of science

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with respect to animal magnetism, and consequently only to speak of its history so far as this history has left its traces on the present state of the question.* From this point of view, it is unnecessary to go hack to an earlier period than that of Mesmer and of his immediate predecessors.

Mesmerism is connected with a tradition which had its origin towards the middle of the sixteenth century, a tradition which, as the name of animal magnetism implies, not invented by Mesmer, ascribed to man the power of exercising on his fellows an action analogous to that of the magnet. It seems to be established that a profound impression had been produced upon the human mind by the natural magnet and its physical properties, the existence of two poles, endowed with opposite properties, and a remote action without direct contact. Even in ancient times it had been observed, or assumed, that the magnet possessed a curative power, and it had been employed as a remedy. This belief still subsisted in the middle ages.j In a work by Cardan, dated 158I,J there is an account of an experiment in anaesthesia, produced by the magnet. It was then customary to magnetize rings which were worn round the neck or on the arm, in order to cure nervous diseases. The idea gradually dawned that there are magnetic properties in the human body- The first trace of this belief appears in the works of Paracelsus. This remarkable thinker maintained that

* Many authors have written the history of animal magnetism : Dubois, Deohambre, Bersot, Figuier, etc. The only study of the subject entitled to be called critical is that of Paul Richer, in the NouveUe Revue, August 1, 1S82.

+ Richet, Bulletin de la Socicte de Biologic, May 30, 1SS4.

X Cardan’s Works, book vii., on Precious Stoues.

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the human body was endowed with a double magnetism; that one portion attracted to itself the planets, and was nourished by them, whence came wisdom, thought, and the senses ; that the other portion attracted to itself the elements and disintegrated them, whence came flesh and blood ; that the attractive and hidden virtue of man resembles that of amber and of the magnet ; that by this virtue the magnetic virtue of healthy persons attracts the enfeebled magnetism of those who are sick.* After Paracelsus, many learned men of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries — Glocenius, Burgrave, Helinotius, Robert Fludd, Kircher, and Maxwell — believed that in the magnet they could recognize the properties of that universal principle by which minds addicted to generalisation thought that all natural phenomena might be explained. These men wrote voluminous books, filled with sterile discussions, with unproved assertions, and with contemptible arguments.

Mesmer drew largely from these sources ; it cannot be disputed that he had read some of these many books, devoted by early authors to the study of magnetism, although such study was forbidden. Where he showed his originality was in taking hold of the so-called universal principle of the world, and in applying it to the sick by means of contact and of passes. His predecessors do not appear to have been addicted to such practices ; they believed that in order to infuse the vital spirit, it was enough to make use of talismans and of magic boxes,

Anthony Mesmer was born in Germany, in 1734. He was received as doctor of medicine by the Faculty in

* See Sprengel, Hietoire cle la Medecine, vol. iii. pp. 230 et xeq. ; and Figuier, Hietoire du Merveilleux, vol. iii. chap. v.

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Vienna, and took for the subject of his thesis, The Influence of the Planets in the Cure of Diseases (1766). He undertook to prove that the sun, moon, and heavenly bodies act upon living beings by means of a subtle fluid, which he called animal magnetism, in order to point out the properties which it has in common with the magnet. After the publication of this whimsical and mystical work, Mesmer made acquaintance with the Jesuit Father Hell, professor of astronomy, who in 1774 settled in Vienna, and cured the sick by means of magnetic steel tractors. Mesmer discovered some analogy between Hell’s experiments and his own astronomical theories, and tried what effect the magnet would produce in the treatment of diseases.

An account of his cures filled the Vienna newspapers. Several people of importance gave evidence that they had been cured, among whom was Osterwald, director of the Munich Academy of Science, who had been affected by paralysis; and Bauer, a professor of mathematics, who had suffered from an obstinate attack of ophthalmia. On the other hand, the learned bodies of his native country did not accept his experiments, and the letters which he wrote to most of the academies of Europe remained unanswered. He soon abandoned the use of the magnet and of Hell’s instruments, and restricted himself to passes with the hand, declaring animal magnetism to be distinct from the magnet.

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Obliged to quit Vienna, in consequence of some adventure not clearly explained, Mesmer came to Paris. He first established himself in a humble quarter of the town, Place Vendome, and began to expound his theory of the magnetic fluid. In 1779 he published a paper

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on the discovery of magnetism, in which he announced to the world that he had discovered a principle capable of curing all diseases. He summed up his theory in twenty-seven propositions, or rather assertions, most of which only reproduce the cloudy conceptions of magnetic medicine.

Propositions.

1. A responsive influence exists between the heavenly bodies, the earth, and animated bodies.

2. A fluid universally diffused, so continuous as not to admit of a vacuum, incomparably subtle, and naturally susceptible of receiving, propagating, and communicating all motor disturbances, is the means of this influence.

3. This reciprocal action is subject to mechanical laws, with which we are not as yet acquainted.

4. Alternative effects result from this action, which may be considered to be a flux and reflux.

5. This reflux is more or less general, more or less special, more or less compound, according to the nature of the causes which determine it.

6. It is by this action, the most universal which occurs in nature, that the exercise of active relations takes place between the heavenly bodies, the earth, and its constituent parts.

7. The properties of matter and of organic substance depend on this action.

8. The animal body experiences the alternative effects of this agent, and is directly affected by its insinuation into the substance of the nerves.

9. Properties are displayed, analogous to those of the magnet, particularly in the human body, in which diverse

ANIMAL MAGNETIS3L and opposite poles are likewise to be distinguished, and these may be communicated, changed, destroyed, and reinforced. Even the phenomenon of declination may be observed.

10. This property of the human body which renders it susceptible of the influence of the heavenly bodies, and of the reciprocal action of those which environ it, manifests its analogy with the magnet, and this has decided me to adopt the term of animal magnetism.

11. The action and virtue of animal magnetism, thus characterized, may be communicated to other animate or inanimate bodies. Both these classes of bodies, however, vary in their susceptibility.

12. This action and virtue may be strengthened and diffused by such bodies.

13. Experiments show that there is a diffusion of matter, subtle enough to penetrate all bodies without any considerable loss of energy.

14. Its action takes place at a remote distance, without the aid of any intermediary substance.

15. It is, like light, increased and reflected by mirrors.

16. It is communicated, propagated, and increased by sound.

17. This magnetic virtue may be accumulated, concentrated, and transported.

18. I have said that animated bodies are not all equally susceptible ; in a few instances the}* have such an opposite property that their presence is enough to destroy all the effects of magnetism upon other bodies.

19. This opposite virtue likewise penetrates all bodies : it also may be communicated, propagated,

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accumulated, concentrated, and transported, reflected by mirrors, and propagated by sound. This does not merely constitute a negative, but a positive opposite virtue.

20. The magnet, whether natural or artificial, is like other bodies susceptible of animal magnetism, and even of the opposite virtue : in neither case does its action on fire and on the needle suffer any change, and this shows that the principle of animal magnetism essentially differs from that of mineral magnetism.

21. This system sheds new light upon the nature of fire and of light, as well as on the theory of attraction, of flux and reflux, of the magnet and of electricity.

22. It teaches us that the magnet and artificial electricity have, with respect to diseases, properties common to a host of other agents presented to us by nature, and that if the use of these has been attended by some useful results, they are due to animal magnetism.

23. These facts show, in accordance with the practical rules I am about to establish, that this principle will cure nervous diseases directly, and other diseases indirectly.

24. By its aid the physician is enlightened as to the use of medicine, and may render its action more perfect, and he can provoke and direct salutai-y crises, so as completely to control them.

25. In communicating my method, I shall, by a new theory of matter, demonstrate the universal utility of the principle I seek to establish.

26. Possessed of this knowledge, the physician may judge with certainty of the origin, nature, and progress of diseases, however complicated they may be ; he may hinder their development and accomplish their cure without exposing the patient to dangerous and trouble-

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some consequences, irrespective of age, temperament, and sex. Even women in a state of pregnancy, and during parturition, may reap the same advantage.

27. This doctrine will, finally, enable the physician to decide upon the health of every individual, and of the presence of the diseases to which he may be exposed. In this way the art of healing may he brought to absolute perfection.

Mesmer’s doctrines obtained success. In the outset he was fortunate enough to convert one of the leading physicians of the faculty of medicine, Deslon, the Comte d’Artois’s first physician. Pupils and patients flowed in. The moment appeared to be favourable : men’s minds had been stirred by recent discoveries, and were open to any science which afforded a new horizon. Franklin had invented the lightning: conductor, and the Montgolfier brothers were inventing balloons. Some scientific discoveries excite popular superstition by rendering the marvellous probable.

All the world wished to be magnetized, and the crowd was so great that Mesmer employed a valet toucheur to magnetize in his place. This did not suffice ; he invented the famous baquet, or trough, round which more than thirty persons could be magnetized simultaneously. A circular, oaken case, about a foot high, was placed in the middle of a large hall, hung with thick curtains, through which only a soft and subdued light was allowed to penetrate ; this was the bouquet. At the bottom of the case, on a layer of powdered glass and iron filings, there lay full bottles, symmetrically arranged, so that the necks of all converged towards the centre; other bottles were arranged in the opposite

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direction, with their necks towards the circumference All these objects were immersed in water, but this condition was not absolutely necessary, and the baquet might be dry. The lid was pierced with a certain number of holes, whence there issued jointed and movable iron branches, which were to be held by the patients. Absolute silence was maintained. The patients were ranged in several rows round the baquet, connected with each other by cords passed round their bodies, and by a second chain, formed by joining hands. As they waited a melodious air was heard, proceeding from a pianoforte, or harmonicon, placed in the adjoining room, and to this the human voice was sometimes added. Then, influenced by the magnetic effluvia issuing from the baquet, curious phenomena were produced. These are well described by an eye-witness named Bailly :

“ Some patients remain calm, and experience nothing ; others cough, spit, feel slight pain, a local or general heat, and fall into sweats ; others are agitated and tormented by convulsions. These convulsions are remarkable for their number, duration, and force, and have been known to persist for more than three hours. They are characterized by involuntary, jerking movements in all the limbs, and in the whole body, by contraction of the throat, by twitchings in the hypochondriac and epigastric regions, by dimness and rolling of the eyes, by piercing cries, tears, hiccough, and immoderate laughter. They are preceded or followed by a state of languor ordreaminess, by a species of depression, and even by stupor.

“ The slightest sudden noise causes the patient to start, and it has been observed that he is affected by a change of time or tune in the airs performed on the

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pianoforte; that his agitation is increased by a more lively movement, and that his convulsions then become more violent. Patients are seen to be absorbed in the search for one another, rushing together, smiling, talking affectionately, and endeavouring to modify their crises. They are all so submissive to the magnetizer that even when they appear to be in a stupor, his voice, a glance, or sign will rouse them from it. It is impossible not to admit, from all these results, that some great force acts upon and masters the patients, and that this force appears to reside in the magnetizer. This convulsive state is termed the crisis. It has been observed that many women and few men are subject to such crises; that they are only established after the lapse of two or three hours, and that when one is established, others soon and successively begin.

“ When the agitation exceeds certain limits, the patients are transported into a padded room ; the women’s corsets are unlaced, and the}7 may then strike their heads against the padded walls without doing themselves any injury.”

Mesmer, wearing a coat of lilac silk, walked up and down amid this palpitating crowd, together with Deslon and his associates, whom he chose for their youth and comeliness. Mesmer carried a long iron wand, with which he touched the bodies of the patients, and especially those parts which were diseased ; often, laying aside the wand, he magnetized them with his eyes, fixing his gaze on theirs, or applying his hands to the hypochondriac region and to the lower part of the abdomen. This application was often continued for hours, and at other times the master made use of passes. He began by placing

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himself en rapport with his subject. Seated opposite to him, foot against foot, knee against knee, he laid his fingers on the hypochondriac region, and moved them to and fro, lightly touching the ribs. Magnetization with strong currents was substituted for these manipulations when more energetic results were to be produced. “ The master, erecting his fingers in a pyramid, passed his hands all over the patient’s body, beginning with the head, and going down over the shoulders to the feet. He then returned again, to the head, both back and front, to the belly and the back; he renewed the process again and again, until the magnetized person was saturated with the healing fluid, and was transported with pain or pleasure, both sensations being equally salutary.” * Young women were so much gi'atified by the crisis, that they begged to be thrown into it anew ; they followed Mesmer through the hall, and confessed that it was impossible not to be warmly attached to the magnetizer’s person.

It must have been curious to witness such scenes. So far as we are now able to judge, Mesmer excited in his patients nervous crises in which we may trace the principal signs of the sevei’e hysteric attacks which may be observed daily.j* Silence, darkness, and the emotional expectation of some extraoi’dinary phenomenon, when several persons are collected in one place, are conditions known to encourage convulsive crises in predisposed subjects. It must be remembered that women wei'e in the majority, that the first crisis which occurred was

* Louis Figuier, Jlistoire du Merveilleux, vol. ii. p. 20. Paris, 1800.

t See Bourreville and Regnard, loonographie pliotographique dc la Salpetriere ; Paul Richer, Etudes cliniques sur V llystero-epilcpsia.

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contagious, and we shall fully understand the hysterical character of these manifestations.

We must again draw attention to some of the ©

characteristics of these convulsive crises. The movements of all the limbs and of the whole body, the contraction of the throat, the twitchings of the hypochondriac and of the epigastric regions, are manifest signs of hysteria, and may be referred to the nervous antecedents of the elegant and frivolous crowd which was the subject of Mesmer’s experiments. There is, however, still considerable uncertainty as to the nature of many of the phenomena which took place round the baquet.

The desire to submit to Mesmer’s treatment soon became more general. The house in Place Yendome became too small, and Mesmer purchased the Hotel Bullion, in which he established four baquets, one of them for the gratuitous use of the poor. Since the latter did not suffice, Mesmer undertook to magnetize a tree at the end of Rue Bondy, and thousands of sick people might be seen attaching themselves to it with cords, in hopes of a cure.

But this rage for Mesmer’s treatment could not last long, and difficulties of all kinds assailed him. On his arrival in Paris, he had requested the Academy of Science, and subsequently the Royal Society of Medicine, to institute an inquiry into his experiments ; they were unable to agree as to the conditions of this inquiry, and the meeting dissolved in anger. Deslon, a professor of the Faculty of Medicine, asked his colleagues to summon a genei’al meeting to examine his observations and Mesmer’s propositions. This meeting, incited by M. de Vauzesmcs, was extremely hostile to him. He was

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condemned without any examination of the facts, and, moreover, was threatened with the penalty of having his name removed from the list of licensed physicians unless he amended his ways. In consequence of this, Mesmer left France, although the government offered him a life-pension of 20,000 francs if he would remain.

Mesmer’s absence was short. He was soon recalled by his disciples, who were aware of their master’s avarice, and opened a subscription of 10,000 louis, in order to induce him to give a course of lectures in which he was to reveal his discoveries. This course was, however, the point of departure for dissensions between the master and his disciples. Since the latter had bought his secret, they thought themselves entitled to publish it in lectures to the public. Mesmer claimed the monopoly of his discovery. Moreover, in spite of his promises, he had never made a complete explanation, doubtless because he had nothing to tell. He had nothing definite to add to the twenty-seven pi'opositions published in 1779. Several of Mesmer’s disciples, who had paid a high price for his secret, accused him of having enunciated a theory which was merely a collection of obscure principles, and in fact they were justified in this assertion. One of Deslon’s hearers said : “ Those who know the secret are more doubtful than those who are ignorant of it.” It was a period of disputes, dissensions, epigrams, invectives, vaudevilles, and songs.

Finally the government intervened, and in 1781 a commission was nominated to inquire into magnetism. This commission consisted of members taken from the Faculty of Medicine, and from the Academy of Sciences. Bailly, the celebrated astronomer, was chosen as its

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reporter, and it included other illustrious men, such as Franklin and Lavoisier. Another commission, composed of members of the Royal Society of Medicine, was chai'ged to make a distinct report on the same subject; Laurent de Jussieu was included in this second commission.

We find it interesting at the present day to read the reports of these commissions, since they contain a disquisition on an obscure matter, of which time has revealed part of the secret. The line of conduct pursued by the commissioners in their inquiry was irreproachable. The question concerned the existence of a magnetic fluid of the nature which Mesmer and Deslon claimed to have discovered. Deslon proposed to prove the existence of the fluid by the observation of the cures which he effected. But the commissioners rightly considered that this method was too doubtful; they decided to observe in the first instance “ the instantaneous effects of the fluid on the animal body, while depriving these effects of all the illusions which might be allied with them, and ascertaining that they could be due to no other cause than animal magnetism.”

The immediate effects of magnetism, as they occurred at this period, were crises, and these were the special object of research. Some really magnetic effects might be combined with them, but Mesmer and his disciples only ascribed curative virtue to the manifestation of these convulsive movements. Deslon asserted that it was only by means of these crises, which were produced and directed by the will of the magnetizer, that he was able to assist or excite the efforts of nature, and thus effect a cure. We arc now aware that these crises are real

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phenomena, of which the cause is generally admitted to be hysterical neurosis. Moreover, a considerable number of facts demonstrate that, under the influence of such crises, certain forms of paralysis, which have persisted for months, and even for years, may suddenly disappear. There was, therefore, a certain truth in the curative virtue of these convulsive phenonema.

The commissioners placed themselves under treatment once a week, and experienced nothing, except from time to time, after the seance had been protracted for several hours, a slight nervous irritability or pain in the hollow of the abdomen, to which Deslon applied his hand. We can understand this negative experience since we are aware that such crises, as well as magnetism, can only be produced in a favourable soil. In the case of susceptible subjects, the commissioners observed an extreme difference between those who were treated in public and in private, and this can be still more readily explained by the well-known contagious effect of example in all hysterical manifestations. The commissioners were particularly struck with the fact that the crises did not occur unless the subjects were aware that they were being magnetized. For instance, in the experiments performed by Jumelin, they observed the following fact. A woman who appeared to be a very sensitive subject, was sensible of heat as soon as Jumelin’s hand approached her body. Her eyes were bandaged, she was informed that she was being magnetized, and she experienced the same sensation, but when she was magnetized without being informed of it, she experienced nothing. Several other patients were likewise strongly affected when no operation was taking place, and experienced nothing when the operation was

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going on. But the most curious experience of this kind was made in Deslon’s presence, much to his confusion. According to the theory, when a tree was magnetized, every person who approached it was affected by its influence. The experiment was made at Passy when Franklin was present. Deslon magnetized one tree in an orchard, and a boy of twelve years old, very sensitive to magnetism, was brought towards it with his eyes bandaged. At the first, second, and third tree, he turned giddy ; at the fourth, when he was still at a distance of twenty-four feet from the magnetized tree, the crisis occurred, his limbs became rigid, and it was necessary to carry him to an adjoining grass-plat before Deslon could recall him to consciousness. All that these experiments show is that the preconceived idea may produce the same magnetic effects as purely physical means. This truth is well known to the performers of experiments. It is now an established fact that a subject may be thrown into a magnetic sleep, simply by assuring him that this will occur, and by the same process he may even be magnetized from a distance, if it is asserted that he will fall into somnambulism on a given day and hour, in any place which has been selected.

The commissioners, ignorant of all these phenomena, which are now thoroughly established, thought that all which they had observed might be explained by three chief causes — imitation, imagination, and contact. This is the conclusion of their report : —

“ The commissioners have ascertained that the animal magnetic fluid is not perceptible by any of the senses ; that it has no action, either on themselves or on the patients subjected to it. They are convinced that pressure and contact effect changes which are rarely favourable to the animal system, and which injuriously affect the imagination. Finally, they have demonstrated by decisive experiments that imagination apart from magnetism, produces convulsions, and that magnetism without imagination produces nothing. They have come to the unanimous conclusion with respect to the existence and utility of magnetism, that there is nothing to prove the existence of the animal magnetic fluid; that this fluid, since it is non-existent, has no beneficial effect ; that the violent effects observed in patients under public treatment are due to contact, to the excitement of the imagination, and to the mechanical imitation which involuntarily impels us to repeat that which strikes our senses. At the same time, they are compelled to add, since it is an important observation, that the contact and repeated excitement of the imagination which produce the crises may become hurtful ; that the spectacle of these crises is likewise dangerous, on account of the imitative faculty which is a law of nature; and consequently that all treatment in public in which magnetism is employed must in the end be productive of evil results.

“ (Signed) B. Franklin, Majault, Le Roy, Sallin, Bailly, D’Arcet, De Bory, Guillotin, Lavoisier.

“Paris, August 11, 1784.”

The commissioners therefore merely regarded magnetism as an effect of the imagination. Deslon appears to have come to the same conclusion, since he says, not unreasonably, “ If the medicine of the imagination is the most efficient, why should we not make use of it ? ” In

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our day this would appear to be an insufficient explanation. We might as well say that hysteria is due to the imagination.

At the same time, the commissioners presented a secret report which expressed their final estimate of magnetism. It is the object of this curious document to point out the dangers of magnetism with respect to morality. We think it well to reproduce it in extenso.

“ The commissioners entrusted by the king with the examination of animal magnetism have drawn up a report to be presented to his Majesty which ought perhaps to be published. It seemed prudent to suppress an observation not adapted for general publication, but they did not conceal it from the king’s minister. This minister has charged them to draw up a note designed only for the eyes of the king.