Hypnotic therapeutics : illustrated by cases : with an appendix on table-moving and spirit-rapping / by James Braid.

  • James Braid
Date:
[1853]
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Credit: Hypnotic therapeutics : illustrated by cases : with an appendix on table-moving and spirit-rapping / by James Braid. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    \y^ll/ n'?)t)S?epi iTVw4j^ljfui toip, inc3inej;iflty wlio, iso^ioftem projects a force Ijeyoml „j'jNIind, I only^ say all this problematically, and as a seeker after truth. 3.)ip.V,,EUipt§oii sends the rapping-spirits to flight with hearty good willi _ He a^iuits that many cases of table-turning may be the result of unconscious lu^scuhu- action ;• but he inclines to agree with the two reverend gentlemen, yyhiQse, papers have been referred to as preceding his, in believing that there are ^(|]er <?ases which are independent of muscular action. Thus, at page 193, Dr l^jJi^tpiOpi says, !'13ut may not such movements frequently result from other causes—frpm an occult agency '( Again, The table always slid away from tlic'ir lingers and mine, so slightly did we all touch it. It moved faster than |ho lingers of any of us, and got in advance of us. IliHere,, then, we have got all these tivree distinguished gentlemen agreed that ^^ej,tabjes mai/ be moved iiidepeiidentJy of the muscular force, either conscious or upcQtiscious, oi the table-turners and they are all agreed, moreover, that it i^i their old friend the magnetic or mesmeric medium, which is the efficient §.geiiXt that sets the inanimate matter in motion, and keeps it in motion, inde- Pfindontly of the nvuscular action of the experimenters. Table-moving is, t!i|e,vefore, deemed, a most satisfactory proof of the existence of a mesmeric n>,e,diuni,ov independent imponderable physical force, which can be directed and.controlled by the human will, so as to produce various effects, and, amongst others, this movement of inanimate matter, irrespective of the physical agency oi.^he human muscles. According to Mr Sandby, it «' adds an important, it i>)iig,ht 1 ,b^ said a conclusive, amouniof eKiden«e i towards the establishment of Dfps^Werisin: as a physical truth. - ' : i;:- _ jj;^pH^;Qyev, a'snvail book on table-moving was lately published by a London 1','physician, in which he states that, according to his computation, the average pjiysical force exerted on n table by each table-mover ia five ounces._ Well, i^ccprdiug to physical laws, this force may be exerted as well and effectively in ljf£ng {perpendicularly, as in drawing or shoving inanimate matter. We are therefore now in the position to propose the experimentum crucis to these gentlemen. Let five, or ten, or twenty, ascertained efficient table-movers, stajid or.sit rpund a table, and exert the force of their will to raise a single ounce of lead, copper, wood, or marble, from the centre of the table, and hold it sus- pended in the air for a single minute, say twelve inches above tlie table, w-hen np/ixviman hand is in contact with it, and no trickery or mechanical contrivance has; been applied to effect such result, and I will admit that my theory has failed, and tJiat a greater marvel has been presented before me than turning a table on castors weiglnng a ton, wlmi a number of human hands arc held in cf)i]ia.ct' with said table. This test I proposed in my first letter, beai-ing date J5§i„June last; and I find that Professor Faraday has since proposed the (i/fti?)^, experiment, but that he ha? met with no one who could succeed in djOipg BO. . NoWj 1 beg leave to remind the mesmerists that, according to their 9,\vn belief, they ought to be cdjle to do so, for they allege that they can project ijj,^, ivesmeric medium from their bodies, and direct its impingement by the {oji-C^,()i tiheiv. will^ so as to make it act at prodigious distances, producing immediate ,effects. Thus, Dr Ashburner has stated, in his notes to lleichen- bach'a translation, that he can do eo to the distance of scvenii/ miles, producing immediate effects ; and that, in this manner, he can telegraph messages to the (liaiaiice of two miles, without any conducting medium other than his mes- meric or odylic medium, or influence, emanating from his brain, and set m niotion by the force of his will. At page 32, Dr Ashburner says he has come to the conclusion that a force whicli is a material agent, attended by or con- stituting a coloured light, emanates from the brain of man when he thinks,--- that his will can direct its impingement,—and that it is a motive power. Nay more, this gentleman avers that he can make this force visible to the eye'Jght of some individuals, so that they shall perceive it as a rope passing fwja kisiteyeB to. their, heads, mid irresistiblg drawing them towaiyis hm, ,^.}(en,,,l»<ija eligaged in.exerting his will to that eflect. ihere ought.
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