CHAPTER VIII.
ANIMAL MAGNETISM.
For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man. — Jesus.
ANIMAL MAGNETISM was first brought into notice
in Germany, in 1775, by Mesmer. According to the
Earliest investigations.
American Cyclopædia he regarded this force,
which he said could be exerted by one living
organism over another, as a means of alleviating disease.
His propositions are as follows :
There exists a mutual influence between the celestial bodies, the earth, and animated things. Animal bodies are susceptible to the influence of this agent, disseminating itself through the substance of the nerves.
In 1784 the French government ordered the medical faculty of Paris to investigate Mesmer's theory, and report upon it. Under this order a commission was appointed, and Benjamin Franklin was one of the commissioners. They reported to the government as follows:
In regard to the existence and utility of animal magnetism, we have come to the unanimous conclusions that there is no proof of the existence of the animal magnetic fluid;
that the violent effects, which are observed in the public
