Such is the account of M. Bailly, who, together with Lavoisier, Franklin, and other distinguished men, were appointed by the French government to examine into these splendid pretensions. These com missioners report- —" That this pretended agent certainly is not common magnetism, for that, on examining the baguet, the grand reservoir of this wonderful fluid, by means of a needle and electrometer, not the slightest indication of the presence either of common magnetism or of electricity was afforded ; that it is wholly inappreciable by any of the senses or by any mechanical or chemical process ; that they tried it upon themselves and upon Many others without being able to perceive anything ; that on blindfolding those who seemed to be most suscep tible to its influence, all its ordinary effects were produced when nothing was done to them but when they imagined they were magne tised, while none of its effects were produced when they were really magnetised, but imagined nothing was done ; that, in like manner, when brought under a magnetised tree nothing happened if the subjects of the experiment thought they were at a distance from the tree, while they were immediately thrown into convulsions if they believed they were near the tree, although really at a distance from it ; that, con sequently, the effects actually produced were produced purely by the imagination ; that these effects, though, some cures might be wrought, were not without danger, since the convulsions excited were often violent and exceedingly apt to spread, especially among men feeble in body and weak in mind, and almost universally among women : and filially, that there were parts of the operation of magnetising which might readily be turned to vicious purposes,and that immoral practices already actually grown out of them." Notwithstanding such a report from men so well qualified to form a judgment, animal magnetism continued to flourish to such a degree, that Dr. Franklin, writing sonic time after this report had become public, and adverting to the proneness of mankind to credulity, states that Mesmer was at that time getting more money in the shape of fees than all the regular physicians in Paris put together. Mesmerism in this form did not become popular in England. There was at one time some danger of it, but it was prevented by the lkilful management of a physician of eminence. A man of the n toe of Perkins had inveuted a wonderfully convenient instrument for collecting, condensing, and applying animal magnetism, composed of a metallic substance, and called the metallic tractor. For this instru ment he had obtained a patent, and its virtues he set forth in a work bearing the following title= The Efficacy of Perkins's Patent Metallic Tractors in various Diseases of the Human Body and Animals; exemplified by two hundred and fifty cases from the first literary characters in Europe and America. With a Preliminary Discourse in Refutation of the Objections made by Interest and Prejudice to the Metallic Practice.' Dr. William Falconer, of Bath, having made tractors of wood so exactly resembling the patent tractors that it was impossible for the eye to distinguish between the one and the other, tried, in conjunction with Dr. Haygarth, the effect of these fictitious tractors on a large scale on patients in the Bath Hospital, and produced precisely the same effects with the fictitious as with the genuine, — . affording a demonstration that whatever effects were produced, were produced solely by the imagination. The publication of these cases put an end to the virtues of the metallic tractors inn Euglaud.
Since the death of Mesmer, however, auimal magnetism has had directed towards it a great amount of attention, and has been inves tigated by physiologists of eminence, and used as a curative agent by many medical men.
One of the first publications in this country on this subject was by Mr. Richard Chenevix, a Fellow of the Royal Society, who published series of papers iu the London Medical aud Physical Journal ' fur 1S29, entitled On Mesmerism, improperly denominated Animal Maguetism: He performed numerous experiments, which were witnessed by many medical men, and amongst others by Dr. Ellietson.
In 1836 Mr. Coiquhoun published a work on animal magnetism, entitled Isis Revelata,' which attracted cousiderable attention to the subject, and contained as an appendix asstrauslation of a report of a second French commission appointed to investigate this subject in 1831. This was followed by the arrival of Baron Dupotet in London, who performed many experiments, some of which were witnessed by Dr. Elliotson, who immediately undertook the further investigation of the subject. The result of the experiments of Dr. Elliotson, which were published in the Lancet,' produced a great seusatism, and phenomena which had hitherto been regarded as impossible were constantly pro duced. Communications were also made at this time to various medical journals of remarkable cases, and among others were some from Mr. Herbert Mayo, then professor of physiology at King's College, Loudon. In 1840 a work was published by the Rev. Chauncy flare Townshend, entitled Tracts on Mesmerism, with reasons for a dis passionate inquiry into it.' This work contained many cases and facts with regard to the pheuomena of animal magnetism. In 1841 M. La Fontaine, a Frenchman, visited England, and commenced giving public lectures on mesmerism and exhibitions of its phenomena. Whilst in Manchester he attracted the atteution of the late Mr. Braid, a surgeon residing there, who, having repeated and modified variously the original experiments of the mesmerisers, published a work on the subject in 1S43, entitled Neurypnology, or the Rationale of the Nervous Sleep.' Since this time various public lecturers have appeared, and have created a general interest ou the subject. A great impulse was given to it by the publication of a series of letters in the ' Atheneum' from Miss Martineau, who attributed her cure fsom a loug-standing ailment to the influence of animal magnetism. Subsequently to this, the subject was taken up in Edinburgh, and found a scientific advocate and exponent in the late Dr. Gregory, professor of chemistry in the University of Edinburgh.
The phenomena presented by persons under the influence of animal magnetism are various, as well as the modes by which the phenomena are produced. Mesmer and his followers on the Continent, and most of those who have practised mesmerism in this country, have produced its effects by placing themselves near to the individual to be mesmerised, and making downward passes with their hands over their bodies with out touching them, but looking at them at the same time intently in the face. This is found to affect the individual in a space of time varying from two or three miuutes to half an hour. All persons are not however susceptible of the influence, and if an effect is not pro duced in the course of half an hour, the effort is abandoned. Mr. Braid however, in the course of his inquiries, found that a second individual was not necessary to the successful development of mesmeric phenotneua, and that by causing a person to sit still, and simply directing his attention, by means of the eyesight, to some particular object, as a lancet-case or a cork, all the effects of the passes and intense looking of the operator could be produced. This induced him to give another name, Hypnotism, to the state in which persons are thus placed.
The effects of the passes or fixed attention on persons of nervous susceptibility are various. Writers on animal magnetism distinguish many stages. The following classification is by Kluge, a Gernmu writer on the subject, and gives a tolerably correct estimate of the effects which have been observed in mesmerised individuals :— First degree :—Called trukiny, presents no very remarkable phe nomena. The intellect and the senses still retain their usual powers and susceptibility.