Animal magnetism. Being the first part of animal magnetism and homoeopathy, with notes illustrative of the influence of the mind on the body / [Edwin Lee].

  • Edwin Lee
Date:
1843
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Animal magnetism. Being the first part of animal magnetism and homoeopathy, with notes illustrative of the influence of the mind on the body / [Edwin Lee]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ANIMAL MAGNETISM, “I1ne faut pas juger ce quiest possible et ce qui ne l’est pas selon ce qui est croyable ou incroyable 4 notre sens, c’est une faute en laquelle la plupart des hommes tombent, de faire difficulté de croire d’autrui ce qu’eux ne sauraient ou ne voudraient faire.” — Montaigne. Various definitions of the nature of animal mag- netism have been proposed by those who have treated upon the subject. The best is, perhaps, that which considers it as an influence depending upon a certain state of the nervous system present- ing phenomena which may be caused in some persons by other individuals performing certain actions with the intention of producing this state. This influence of the nervous power of one indivi- dual over another, is supposed to bear an analogy with that of the magnet upon iron,—hence the term.* I do not purpose entering into the early history of animal magnetism, which is said to have been manifested from the earliest periods, but which was first introduced into France from Ger- many as a specific power about the middle of the last century, by an individual of the name of Mesmer, (from whom the term “ Mesmerism,” which is fre- quently used synonymously with “animal mag- netism,” is derived,) who practised the art differently from the magnetisers of more recent times, and to * The analogy between the nervous and electric fluids has been re- cently demonstrated by Prevost of Geneva, who succeeded in impart- ing magnetic properties to needles, by placing them very near ta nerves, and perpendicularly to the direction in which he supposed the electric current would pass along them. B
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