as existing in and of matter, opposed to spiritual Life, Truth, and Love. This delusion must be met in all its subtleties, — in its so-called pleasures and pains of sense, passion, appetite, lust, pride, hatred, envy, malice.
Phenomenally all error is Animal Magnetism. Webster defines Animal Magnetism to be “a supposed agency of a peculiar and mysterious nature, said to have a powerful influence on the patient when acted upon by, or brought into contact with, the will of the . operator.” This definition applies also to Mesmerism. In common usage the term Mesmerism, or Hypnotism, falls short of its entire meaning, which should include those phenomena of Animal Magnetism by which the victim is affected involuntarily and without contact or consent. This incomplete definition fails also to define self-magnetism, by which animal life is said to be carried on, and which brain and nerves communicate through a vital fluid.
I have seen a person, when under the effect of Animal Magnetism, obey the will of one who was neither present, nor known to be attempting any such influence over him. I doubted whether this effect could be produced without the consent of the person to be affected; but this doubt was removed when I witnessed with horror, a superinduced state of involuntary mesmerism.
The methods of Animal Magnetism, especially its secret work, should be exposed. This alone can protect the people from a future Reign of Terror, far surpassing any terrorism of the Dark Ages. One has nothing to fear from this evil if he is conscious of its presence and, on the basis of Christian Science, understands its impotence.
Animal Magnetism is the opposite of Christian Science. Its effect on the senses — in pleasure and pain, passion and appetite, in pride, envy, malice, hate — is readily removed by the latter, if the cause of this effect is understood.
