Human magnetism; its claims to dispassionate inquiry. Being an attempt to show the utility of its application for the relief of human suffering / [William Newnham].
- William Newnham
- Date:
- 1845
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Human magnetism; its claims to dispassionate inquiry. Being an attempt to show the utility of its application for the relief of human suffering / [William Newnham]. Source: Wellcome Collection.
102/456 page 82
![proof of deception? It may be here remarked, as a general rule, that the constitution with the highest order of intelligence and in the best health, is the least suscep- tible of magnetic influence,—while the feebler nervous systems, and those in inferior health, are the most sus- ceptible; and this is perfectly consistent with our sup- position, that magnetism is the medicine of nature, and consists in imparting the exuberant life of the healthy, to relieve the feeble life of the disordered :—while the strong and healthy not requiring the agency of such medicine, are not susceptible to its impression. We should draw from this argument the conclusion, that experiments in magnetism should never be con- ducted for the sake of curiosity,—that they should never be carried on before large companies,—and that they wil] be most successful, when confined strictly to their legitimate object—viz., the relief of disorder ; and when conducted in the presence of the operator, the patient, and one friend, who in the present state of our knowledge, but especially in the present state of the science, as re- gards the obloquy which has been cast upon it, should invariably be in attendance. If this direction were kept always in view, it would greatly obviate another cause of the little progress of magnetism, that is, a want of perseverance in sincere in- quirers, who wish to convince themselves by personal experiments, but who not succeeding at their first efforts, abandon the whole, as having no foundation in truth. But again how pusillanimous—how unphilosophical, is it to be daunted by early failure from carrying on scientific](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b33492967_0102.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
