f5^ 
 
^'^— ^ 
 
CONFESSIONS OF A MAGNETISER" 
 
 EXPOSED! 
 
 EXHIBITING THE 
 
 FOLLY AND FALSEHOOD 
 
 OF A RECENT PAMPHLET WITH THE ABOVE TITLE. 
 
 WITH 
 
 REMARKS, SHOWING THE FALSITY OF THE NOTIONS 
 
 HITHERTO PREVALENT IN REGARD TO WHAT 
 
 HAS BEEN DENOMINATED 
 
 ''MESMERISM;" 
 
 AND GIVING THE OUTLINES OF THE AUTHOR's 
 
 NEW THEORY OF MIND. 
 
 BY LA ROY SUNDERLAND. 
 
 "God made us, and wb marvel at ir.' 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY REDDING AxND COMPANY. 
 NO. 8 STATE STREET. 
 
 1845. 
 
 
 IKJ\\ 
 
^ 
 
 
 
 ••• .« • •. 
 
 • • « • 
 
"CONFESSIONS OF A MAGNETIZER" 
 
 EXPOSED. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 Boston, July 14, 1845. 
 Dear Sir, — As you requested, I have given the pamphlet purporting 
 to be the " Confessions of a Practical Magnetizer,*^ or " An Expose of 
 Animal Magnetism," a thorough reading, and, but for your request, I 
 should have thrown it aside, as utterly unworthy of a moment's notice. 
 However, the reasons you assign, have, upon farther consideration, in- 
 duced me to comply with your wishes in exposing the folly and wicked- 
 ness of this silly publication. With you, I do not suppose, that it will 
 be read by many intelligent people, of any class, nor that any one with 
 a thimble full of brains, who knows any thing of the subject of which it 
 professes to treat, would be likely to be deceived by its puerile details, 
 as false and improbable as they so manifestly appear to be. But, the 
 fact that this subject has fallen into disreputable and unworthy hands, 
 like this one who dubs himself as a " practical " " animal magnetizer," 
 that there is a vast amount of misconception and prejudice in the com- 
 munity generally, against the subject, and that this pamphlet will be 
 likely to be read only by those who have not the means of detecting the 
 falsehoods palmed off upon them by this writer, forces upon me the con- 
 viction, that, upon the whole, it may be best for me to " expose " the 
 "humbugry" of this pamphlet, as worthless as it may be. The 
 mass, we know, do not enter into a thorough investigation of the laws 
 of mind, and hence it is reasonable to suppose, that most who may 
 
4 "CONFESSIONS OF A MAGNETIZER" EXPOSED. 
 
 read this production, will receive a vague impression that, if it be not 
 strictly true in all its details, yet there may be something in the thing 
 denominated " animal magnetism " which should render it disreputable 
 or dangerous, according to the representations contained in this 
 pamphlet. 
 
 In the notice, therefore, which I purpose to bestow upon this self- 
 styled " practical animal magnetizer," you will perceive I have a two- 
 fold object in view, — not merely to expose the folly, the falsehood^ the 
 deception and hypocrisy of this author, but in doing this, to set forth the 
 real nature of that form of human influence hitherto most generally 
 known under the name of " Mesmerism," and the useful purposes to 
 which it may be applied. And in the sequel, I doubt not, it will be made 
 to appear, not only how very unworthy of credit this nameless book is, 
 and, withal, how hlameivorthy, how deserving of censure, the individual 
 must be who could allow himself to resort to the publication of such a 
 book, for the purpose of making money. We shall see with what a be- 
 coming grace this " animal magnetizer " tells us that he " had taken a 
 most solemn oath " that he would never, on any account, receive pecu- 
 niary compensation for his " animalizing,'*'' and how much worse it 
 would have been for him to have received pay for doing the good which 
 he tells us he did, than it was for him to attempt to make money by the 
 falsehoods which he has put forth in his pamphlet, under the pretence of 
 exposing the humbugry of Magnetism. 
 
 If there by any offence deserving of severe reprehension, any which 
 should expose one to the unmixed condemnation of the public, any for 
 which the perpetrator should be made to feel ashamed and degraded in 
 the estimation of the community, it is the publication of falsehood and 
 misrepresentation, under the pretence of exposing " humbugry." The 
 man who purposely deceives the public mind, who wilfully misleads those 
 whom he assumes to teach, in matters that concern the character, the 
 health, the happiness and lives of his fellow men, commits a crime as 
 really deserving of punishment, as if he were to set fire to their dwell- 
 ings, or shorten their earthly existence by furnishing them with a deadly 
 lioison, under the pretence of selling them wholesome food. Where is 
 safety ? Where is public confidence .? How shall the mass, who have 
 not the time nor means for acquiring correct information upon matters 
 of philosophy, avoid the mischiefs of humbugry, when they are hum- 
 hugged under the guise of attempts at exposing humbugry ? And 
 yet, how very much of this kind of deception we often see around us ! 
 A quack cries out against quackery ! A pretended " Magnetic College " 
 
'^CONFESSIONS OF A MAGNETIZER " EXPOSED, 5 
 
 is reported to have been formed by three or four persons, as ignorant 
 of the true philosophy of what is called Magnetism, as they are of the 
 Chinese language, and they tell us it is done to " guard " the public 
 against imposition ! " Public attention is called by advertisements in 
 the papers, to what purports to be an " Expose of Animal Magnetism," 
 by " A Practical Magnetizer," by which we are given to understand, 
 that a credible person, thoroughly acquainted ^vith what the most intelli- 
 gent writers assume in relation to this subject, has written something 
 which honest people would be enlightened in reading, but, on examina- 
 tion, it is found that this veiy pretended exposure is a deception^ defraud 
 upon the public confidence, and a base ruse to make money, as mean 
 and dishonest, and a thousand times more so, than if it were filched from 
 your pocket. He v/ho steals your money " steals trash," but he who is 
 the means of deceiving you with regard to the philosophy of your ieing^ 
 and the laws of life, does you a greater injury and one which may cause 
 you more misery than all the riches of earth would ever do you good. 
 
 1* 
 
LETTER II. 
 
 Boston, July 15, 1845. 
 
 Deas Sir, — Before I point out the contradictions and falsehoods of 
 this writer, it may be necessary for me to premise, that, though for more 
 than twent}" years I have been a firm believer in that form of human in- 
 jluence denominated " Mesmeiism," or " Magnetism," I have not been 
 in the habit of speaking of it under either of these terms. Mesmer him- 
 self never put one person into a state of somnambulism. He operated 
 by what is called the '• passes," and with trees, ropes, bottles of water, 
 wires, and many other things, by which he produced certain strange 
 effects, hke comiilsions, but he never induced that state of Coma, more 
 recently denominated " sleep-waking," and for this reason, it has always 
 seemed to me very unsuitable to c^U this state " Mesmeric sleep.''' The 
 first instance of this sleep, in the days of Mesmer, was produced by 
 Pysegar, and there is no evidence to prove that Mesmer ever induced 
 any such condition, during the whole course of his operations. And, 
 for a similar reason, I have not been accustomed, as you know, to caU 
 this sleep a " magnetic " state, or the influence by which it is induced, 
 " magnetism." In the second volume of the Magnet, and also in my 
 work,* I have given what is believed to be the true philosophy of this 
 subject, and shown that there are no appreciable reasons for calling it 
 •' Magnetism," and least of all ^''Animal !Magne^lsm." Those reasons 
 put forth in my work, it may not be necessary, perhaps, to repeat here, 
 but merely to say, that it seems always most appropriate, when speaking 
 of new things, to use names the most expressive of their true nature and 
 laws, and as this influence is universally acknowledged by all to partake 
 of the nature of mental or physical sympathy^ I make use of a similar 
 
 *Pathetism; with Practical Instructions. Demonstrating the falsity of the 
 hitherto prevaJent assumptions in regard to what has been called " Mesmerism " 
 and " Neurology," and illustrating those Laws which induce Somnambulism, 
 Second Sight, Sleep, Dreaming, Trance, and Clairvoyance, with numerous 
 facts tending to show the Pathology of Monomania, Insanity, Witchcraft, and raxi- 
 ous other Mental or ^Nervous Phenomena. For sale by Redding & Co., No. 8 
 State St., Boston. Price 2-5 cents. It may be sent by rriGil to anv part of the 
 United States, subject only to pamphlet postage. 
 
"CONFESSIONS OF A MAGNETISER " EXPOSED. 7 
 
 term, Pathetism^ expressive of this philosophy, and to signify not only 
 the AGENCY by which one person is enabled to produce emotion^ feeling, 
 passion, or any physical or mental effects, in the system of another, but 
 also that susceptibility of emotion or feeling, of any kind, in the sub- 
 ject operated upon. 
 
 You will, therefore, please to bear in mind, that when I use any of 
 the ordinary terms, as " Mesmerism," or " Animal Magnetism," I bor- 
 row them from this writer whom I am reviewing, as a matter of conve- 
 nience, and not because I either believe in the notions he puts forth 
 about the " nervo-vital fluid," or would sanction the use of these terms 
 when speaking of the functions and susceptibilities of the nervous sys- 
 tem. During the last four years, I have induced a state of somnambu- 
 lism, or what I denominate liypnojpathy (sympathetic sleep) in more than 
 fifteen hundred cases, and on more than thirty of these persons surgical 
 operations have been performed, without the consciousness of pain. 
 Through this influence, I have permanently cured numerous cases of 
 insanity, and many other forms of nervous difficulty. Besides my work, 
 before referred to, you well know, that for some two years I published 
 and edited a periodical devoted expressly to this subject, and which af- 
 forded me unusual facilities for becoming familiar with operators in 
 other parts of this country and Europe ; so that I have had extraordinary 
 means for knowing what has been done, and the views entertained in 
 other parts of the world upon this subject. And to the above I may add, 
 that for a number of years I have been in the habit of importing about 
 every thing published in England and France upon this philosophy. 
 Nor is this all ; for some two years before I commenced writing or pub- 
 licly lecturing upon Pathetism, I devoted my time, wholly, to a course of 
 experimental study, in the investigation of the theories prevalent un- 
 der the names " Mesmerism," " Magnetism," and " Neurology." At 
 considerable expense, and in the use of Electricity, Galvanism, and 
 mineral Magnetism, for years I was prosecuting my inquiries, for the 
 purpose of ascertaining the real nature of this agency, so that I think it 
 not unreasonable for me to suppose, that during this time, and with the 
 facilities above referred to, I must have possessed advantages for arriv- 
 ing at the truth on this subject, which warrants the conclusion, that if I 
 do not know as much about it as some others, it must be for the want of 
 a well developed brain, and not for the want of time, nor expense, nor 
 " experience," nor opportunities of finding out what it is. 
 
 The great difficulty with most whom I have known, or heard of, who 
 have set up for " practical magnetizers " and public lecturers on this sub- 
 
8 "CONFESSIONS OF A MAGNETIZER " EXPOSED. 
 
 ject, has been, they do not seem ever to have experimented, at all, for the 
 purpose of finding out the true nature of this agency. They have never 
 attempted to test the truth of the old notions about a " fluid," and hence 
 their want of a knowledge of the true philosophy of the nervous func- 
 tions. A man, to excel as a mechanic, is under the necessity of devot- 
 ing seven years, or more, to the study and practice of the " mysteries " 
 of his art. But here and there we see men who do not know enough 
 ' of the science of language, to tell what they mean by a " nervo-vital 
 fluid ;" men who have scarcely brains enough to originate or put two 
 ideas together, and who positively could not give an intelligent descrip- 
 tion of any thing, yet such persons are often found announcing them- 
 selves as " Practical Magnetizers," or public lecturers on the " Philoso- 
 phy of Life," and dubbing themselves as " Doctors," " Professors," and 
 the like. Indeed, the public are beginning to take it diS prima facia evi- 
 dence of a greenhorn or a sap-head, when they see an operator an- 
 
 nouncing himself as " Dr. ," or " Professor , from New 
 
 York," or " Boston," or " Philadelphia," &c. &c. &c. Nor could we 
 scarcely conceive of a greater display in the ludicrous, than when we see 
 the names of these " Drs." and " Professors " exhibited on showbills, 
 offering to " examine diseases " by a " clairvoyant subject," or to give 
 a " Course of Lectures on the suUime science of Animal Magnetism ! !" 
 To perform a few experiments may be a very easy thing. But this 
 done, and anon we have the soi-disant " Dr." or " Professor," giving 
 lectures on a science more intricate, more difficult of attainment, a thou- 
 sand times, than that of Mathematics or Astronomy. And yet, upon the 
 mysterious functions of the nervous system, and the laws of mind, you 
 will frequently find persons setting themselves up as teachers and 
 " practical magnetizers," with the gravity of " an owl in ivy bush." 
 And then comes the long harangue, as in the pamphlet before us, about 
 the " nervo-vital fluid," the " will," the " passes," &c. &c. &c. And, 
 last of all, comes one of these " Drs.," or " practical magnetizers," with 
 a flourish of trumpets, begging the sale of his ninepenny book, under the 
 pretence that he, more wise or honest than all the rest, had really dis- 
 covered a cheat in the thing ; but, being very modest, and detailing cer- 
 tain "-Animal^' propensities quite prevalent in his own heart, he is, of 
 -course, ashamed to put his name to it.* 
 
 * 1 think I could give the name of the writer of this pamphlet, and, as a mat- 
 ter o^ curiosity, I may do so, in another work I am preparing for the press pro- 
 vided he will consent to have me add a chapter of his real history, as I received 
 it from one who knows him well ! It is an old proverb, " Follow not too near 
 the heels of truth, lest she dash your teeth out."' 
 
" CONFESSIONS OF A MAGNETIZER " EXPOSED. 9 
 
 He begins by telling us, first, that he narrates " facts," and secondly, 
 that they " had all been experienced by the author." That he did " ex- 
 perience " the predominance of certain " animal " propensities, when 
 *' placed opposite a young and lovely female," and that he was the mag- 
 netizer who did actually " choose his wife among his subjects," we are 
 bound to believe, from his own showing. But, that his gross ignorance 
 of the subject upon which he puts himself before the public as a teacher, 
 or that his strong " animal " propensities should pass and be taken for 
 the true philosophy of mind ^ I cannot admit, by any means. The guise 
 thrown over his attempt, is too thin to hide the deformity within. The 
 merest novice might discover the ignorance and deception exhibited upon 
 almost every page of this pamphlet, which, so far from exposing any 
 thing objectionable in the thing about which he professes to write, ex- 
 poses the weakness of his own head, and shows how utterly unfit he ever 
 was to be a " magnetizer," and still more, how unsafe it was for any 
 " young and lovely female " to be placed any where within his reach. 
 Never were the words of the poet more strikingly exemplified than in 
 the case of this self-styled " practical magnetizer :" 
 
 " Lust^ though to a radiant angel linked, 
 Will satiate itself in a celestial bed, 
 
 And prey on garbage. 
 But virtue never will be moved, 
 Though lewdness court it in the garb of heaven." 
 
 When a man writes a book of fifty pages, and publishes to the world 
 that he never could sit " opposite a female," or come near to them, and 
 especially that he could not look one in the eye, without having 
 
 " Unlawful thoughts of many things," 
 
 is such a man to be accredited, when he attempts to palliate his own 
 crimes by affecting to show that every other man is like himself, and 
 that every lady is precisely of the same character as those whose 
 " eyes have closed " on him " in dreamy and spiritual affection ^ " 
 Set him down as a weak-brother, " a practical " any thing but a teacher 
 of the laws of mind. He may, perchance, be a good man, but ten 
 thousand chances to the contrary. Beside " a young and lovely female " 
 his heart melts like butter before the fire, and he is just silly enough to 
 imagine every other person like himself. Such is this anonymous 
 author, who comes before the public with his " Confessions !" and to 
 
10 "CONFESSIONS OF A MAGNETIZER^' EXPOSED. 
 
 make them sell, sticks out his shingle as " a practical magnetizer,'' when 
 the soft-head never put a person into a real state of somnambulism since 
 he was bom, probably ; that he never put one person to sleep in the 
 manner he describes, I know. The thing was never done in that way, 
 never ; and he but shows his ignorance in supposing (if, indeed, he does 
 believe) the truth of what he says* 
 
LETTER III. 
 
 Boston, July 16, 1845. 
 
 Dear Sir, — Nothing can be more evident, than that this " practical 
 Animal Magnetizer " was deceived, if he did fully believe the truth 
 of his details ; and being himself deceived, of course he will deceive 
 others just as much as they may confide in the truth of his statements. 
 He says : 
 
 " I am one of those who believe that there is a certain will within the cultiva- 
 tion of every powerful mind, which may be so exercised over the dormant pow- 
 ers of another, as to render the person, for the time being, subject to the wish 
 of the active agent." 
 
 The meaning here is, that merely by the will^ without contact, or 
 without signifying the intention to the subject, one person may over- 
 come another never operated upon before, and throw him into a state of 
 unconscious sleep ! And, upon this assumption, this writer goes on to 
 tell us of cases in which he says he induced the sleep merely by his 
 will^ where the persons had no suspicion of his design ; and even he 
 himself, he tells us, was put to sleep in this same way ! Now, I pro- 
 nounce this whole representation about the vnll a sheer fabrication^ a 
 deception^ defraud. A state of sleep was never induced in this way, 
 that is, by the will, merely, where the person had never been operated 
 on before, and when he had no apprehension, at the time, of what was 
 going on. It would be a libel on the Author of our being to suppose 
 such a result possible ! It is what never was done, and what never can 
 be done. Remember, I am not, noio, speaking of tohat may he done, hy 
 the WILL, toithout the patienfs knoivledge, after he has been once oper- 
 ated upon, and the sleep brought on ; though I believe the sleep is 
 scarcely, if ever, induced without the patient's knowledge, even after 
 they have been put to sleep many times. I am aware, that operators 
 have sometimes thought it was induced in this way, but I am certain they 
 were deceived. But at first, I affirm, without the fear of contradiction, 
 that without the patient's knowledge (and consent, direct or indirect,) 
 no impression was ever made upon him by the mere volition of another. 
 
12 "CONFESSSIONS OF A MAGNETIZER" EXPOSED. 
 
 And this writer's silly stories about his having put certain young ladie'S 
 to sleep, merely by his will, and induced them to love himself or others, 
 is Si farce, a deception, of which any person may be easily satisfied by 
 the trial. The truth appears to be, this writer wanted to make a show 
 of an expose of something, and so he takes the old and long exploded 
 notions about " a nervo-vital fluid," and the power of the will, and, fab- 
 ricating a few silly cases, he pretends to have done by his will certain 
 things, which he never did do, and which he could not do, if he would ; 
 and on the prejudice which generally has prevailed on this subject, he 
 makes a show of great danger from ^'■Animal Magnetism," as if his sto- 
 ries should be credited as the sober truth, by any intelligent person 
 who might read them. How the sleep, when it is induced, is brought 
 on, I may show in the sequel ; but it is never produced, at first, without 
 the patient's knowledge, by the mere will of the operator — never! 
 
 This writer betrays his ignorance, again, when he assumes to dogma- 
 tize on the power of " sympathy," and represents that the subject in a 
 state of somnambulism, " reflects the mind of the operator, or the per- 
 son with whom he is in communication." This is true only in a very 
 few, rare cases, and then only in a limited degree. Ordinarily, the 
 sleep-waker has no conception of the operator'^s will, except ichen it is 
 expressed in loords or signs. This I know to be a fact. And hence it 
 is manifest, that when this writer speaks of certain feelings having been 
 manifested by the females whom he says he put to sleep, if he speaks 
 the truth, he said or did something to excite those feelings, over and 
 above what was necessarj'' to induce the state of sleep. 
 
 Of course, our " Animal magnetizer " professes to be " honest." Hear 
 him : 
 
 " As T propose to be honest in this expose, 1 will frankly acknowledge, that 
 when I found out the deception that had been practiced upon me, and in which 
 I had been an innocent agent of deception to others, I did not do as I should 
 have done. I was ashamed to acknowledge my error, being actuated by a false 
 pride, which led me to cleave to falsehood, rather than acknowledge my error." 
 
 What, pray, was the " deception " practiced upon this confiding 
 youth, this paragon of purity ? It was not that " Magnetism " was not 
 true ; for, in the truth of this agency consists the whole gist of his book. 
 It was not that he was not an " Animal Magnetizer " of the first water, 
 for he tells us he " had loved a hundred times,'^'' and a hundred different 
 females, and that he even procured his present wife by putting her to 
 sleep and " willing " her to love him ! In what, then, are we to under- 
 
"CONFESSIONS OF A MAGNETIZER" EXPOSED. 13 
 
 Stand the " deception " consists ? " O," says he, " there is vice to be 
 feared^ as concealed under the cloak of Magnetism ! ! " " Vice to be 
 feared ! " And how does this appear ? Why, this precocious youth 
 had so much of the " animal " himself, and took such frequent advan- 
 tages of the opportunities which his peculiar process of " Magnetising " 
 afforded him, to indulge his " animal " propensities, that he now comes 
 to the wise conclusion to turn a penny by his depravity, in writing and 
 selling a book on the subject ! Nor will any one doubt, I think, for one 
 moment, that if all men were like this writer, it would be better for phy- 
 sicians, clergymen, and all others, to be separated wholly from all inter- 
 course with the fairer sex, " for fear that some vice might be concealed 
 beneath the cloak " of the profession. He tells us he " had loved a hun- 
 dred ti?nes, ay, and with his lohole heart,'''' while sitting " opposite 
 young and lovely females," for the purpose of " magnetizing " them. No 
 doubt of it. The " critter " has so much of the " animal " in him, that 
 no one could doubt this part of his story. 
 
 The sickening details told in chapters 5, 6 and 7, about " Helen " and 
 " Milton," though evidently fabricated for the occasion, show off the 
 hypocrisy of this writer, to the life. He feigned a knowledge of physi- 
 ognomy, and told the young lady whom he deceived, that it was " the only 
 science that is not made the foundation of some humbug ;" and this he told 
 her while he was humbugging her, that very moment, and now he at- 
 tempts to humbug the public by a most miserably written, silly story 
 about it. 
 
 In chapter 3d, this wiseacre makes a number of false statements about 
 myself, which shows his ignorance both of my theory and my manner 
 of operating in my public lectures. His directions for causing the 
 sleep by " a bow-knot of ribbon pinned to the wall," is given as a rev- 
 elation of a great secret, just as if such a process had not been published 
 in the Magnet years ago, and the explanation which he gives of it far- 
 ther shows that his knowledge of the human mind, and the effects which 
 one's o|vn attention has upon his nervous system, is scarcely up to medi- 
 ocrity. Indeed, the jumble he makes of effects produced in this way, 
 and those produced (as he thinks) by the human will, is enough to 
 show, that Mental Philosophy was unfortunate indeed when seized upon 
 by this " Animal Magnetizer," — more so than the " silly women " whom 
 he tells us he " led captive at his will," " laden with sins, led away with 
 divers lusts." But, we are told, that " the folly of such shall be mani- 
 fest unto all." 
 
LETTER IV. 
 
 Boston, July 16, 1845. 
 
 Dear Sir — Having exposed the ignorance, falsehood, and humbug- 
 ry of the pamphlet under notice, I will now give you a very brief 
 account of the rationale of what has been known under the name of 
 " Mesmerism," and, in doing this, I shall not only further show the false- 
 hood of this pamphlet, but you will see, from my remarks, that I not 
 only discard the old futile notions about " a nervo-vital fluid," but the 
 objectionable method of inducing the sleep, by gazing the patient in the 
 eyes, taking hold of the thumbs, and making the passes over the body. 
 These mummeries were discarded, years ago, by intelligent operators in 
 every part of the country, and they are now only resorted to by those 
 who believe in the old notions of di fluid. 
 
 The greatest mistake made in relation to what has been denominated 
 '•'' Mesmerism," has been in viewing it as something essentially different 
 from the ordinary influence which one mind has always been known to 
 have over another. A correction of this misapprehension will put you 
 upon the right course of investigation for ascertaining loliat this agency 
 or influence is. Those who have produced certain results by what has 
 been called " Animal Magnetism," have been most egregiously bewil- 
 dered and deceived, by the assumption about a fluids said to be elimi- 
 nated out of one brain, by the will of the operator, into the nervous 
 system of the patient. As I have sifted this question, I believe, to the 
 bottom, and made use of every available means for arriving at the truth, 
 it will not, perhaps, be thought strange that I should speak somewhat 
 confidently upon this subject. It would not be possible to comprise any 
 considerable outline of the course of reasoning which shows the futility 
 of the old theories about a fluid, nor is this necessary here, as I have done 
 what I believe to be ample justice to this subject in my book ; and in 
 another work, which I have in the course of preparation for the press, 
 I hope to be able to shed still more light upon what is denominated Path- 
 etism, or the " New Philosophy of Mind." 
 
 Before you can form an enlightened judgment of this influence, it 
 will be necessary to have some knowledge of the susceptibilities of the 
 
WHAT IS IT? 15 
 
 nervous system ; and the identity of this system, with that aggregate of the 
 nervous functions to which we apply the term, mind. These prehmina- 
 ries understood, then ask yourself this question : — 
 
 " Hoio, or hy what laws, does one mind affect another, in the common 
 concerns of life 7 Or, Tioio does your oion mind become affected, in any 
 given state ?- " 
 
 The true answer will give you the philosophy of Pathetism, or what 
 has been denominated the " Mesmeric influence." The term " Human 
 Influence " would be much better, because the influence bv which I induce 
 a state of Somnambulism, Trance, or Catalepsy, is precisely the sam.e, 
 and depends upon the same conditions in the mind of the patient and 
 the operator, that allows of any sensation or emotion brought on by any 
 thing said, or done, for the purpose of producing any results. 
 
 Pathetism, then, includes all that is peculiar to a feeling of sympathy 
 or antipathy, joy or grief mirth or sadness, love or hatred, pride or 
 humility, adlitsiveness or aversion, health or disease, sleep or wakefulness, 
 when these states are brought upon one person, by something said or 
 done by another ; or when these states come on through the mind of the 
 patient, without any design of a second person to induce them. 
 
 Hence you will see upon how many different things, states, conditions, 
 circumstances, motives, &c., the results you may attempt to produce will 
 depend. The age, sex, temperament, health, state of the mind at the 
 time, are all concerned, and must be taken into the account, in determin- 
 ing the amount of influence which one may be able to exert over another 
 at any given time. But, as I have already stated, nothing can be 
 done, at first, without the patient's knowledge and consent — nothing at 
 all. Hence this great bugbear, conjured up by the " Animalists," 
 vanishes " into thin air." 
 
 Nothing, perhaps, would tend more to demonstrate the falsity of the 
 hitherto prevalent notions about o. fluid in the production of the phenom- 
 ena current, under the term of " Mesmerism," than an examination of 
 the infinitely diversified effects alleged to have been produced by this 
 influence. Out of the tens of thousands of subjects operated upon, there 
 have never been found any two who were affected in all respects ex- 
 actly alike. At first view, to be sure, a superficial observer might take 
 these discrepances as so many evidences against the reality or utility of 
 the thing under notice. This, however, would not be the wiser course ; 
 the same objection might be brought against the treatment of disease by 
 medicine. There is, really, just as much uncertainty in the anticipated 
 results of medicine, just as much want of agreement among the medical 
 
16 WHAT IS IT? 
 
 faculty, and far more, than has ever prevailed among the advocates of 
 " Mesmerism." 
 
 The difference in the results of this influence do not prove that no re- 
 sults are actually produced, but they do prove, that they are not resolvable 
 into the laws which we know to be peculiar to magnetism or electricity. 
 In my work, I have entered somewhat in detail, into the examination of 
 this question, as to the medium of communication between mind and 
 mind, and to that work I must refer all who wish for further information 
 upon this feature of our subject. I have been much gratified, in reading 
 four very interesting papers, in the London Lancet, re-published for 
 April, May, June and July, 1845, bearing directly upon this point. They 
 were written by Dr. Charles E,. Hall, of the Royal College of Physicians, 
 London.* The Dr. has, evidently, never been considered favorable to 
 what has been known under the name of" Mesmerism," as he does not 
 seem to have been either a believer or an operator ; but the information 
 he has given in his papers on this subject, I venture to say, will tend 
 more to settle the question as to the real nature of this influence, than 
 any thing which has been previously published in England ; and it is to 
 be earnestly hoped, that the friends of this science (for so it is getting to be 
 called) will profit by the papers of Mr. Hall. The following are the con- 
 clusions at which his researches have brought his own mind. He says : 
 
 " Of the alleged results of the Mesmeric process, I believe there are, 
 
 " Proved — Quietude, composure, sleep. 
 
 " Prohahle^ but requiring confirmation — Traction, convulsion, 
 heightened sensibility, diminished sensibility, double convulsions. 
 
 '"'' Possible ^ iut not very probable — Insensibility to severe pain, for 
 any given length of time, at pleasure. 
 
 " Impossible, as far as any thing can be so — Clairvoyance, intuition, 
 community of thought, involuntary and complete subjection of mind to 
 the mesmerizer. 
 
 " And, lastly, I believe, that we have not a shadow of evidence in sup- 
 port of the existence of any new agency, ivhether designated Mesmeric, 
 Magnetic, occult, or by any other name.'''' 
 
 With the exception of his doubts on the question of clairvoyance, and 
 a modification of what he denies as to the " community of thought," and 
 insensibility to pain, you will perceive that Dr. Hall has but reiterated 
 
 * On the Rise, Progress, and Mysteries of Mesmerism, in all ages and 
 countries." 
 
WHAT IS IT? 17 
 
 the views published by myself years ago. It does not appear, that he 
 had ever seen or even heard of my theory ; but it is gratifying to find that 
 an opponent, when writing upon this subject, and especially, one who 
 had taken as much pains to inform himself, as Dr. Hall has done, should 
 come so very near to admitting the whole truth. Indeed, it would hardly 
 seem possible for any believer in " Mesmerism " to read the quotations 
 he has made from a vast number of writers upon this subject, and not 
 come to a similar conclusion with respect to the non-existence of any 
 new agency^ in the production of what are denominated Mesmeric re- 
 sults, or any such agency as " Mesmerists " have supposed, under the 
 names " Magnetism," or a " nervo-vital fluid." 
 
 In speaking of " Mesmerism " under the terms of an '' agency," the 
 mind is apt to be misled ; because this gives the idea that it is something 
 separate and distinct from the mind itself. But this is the error to be 
 removed, before we can arrive at the truth of this subject, as you will see 
 more plainly on examination of my theory. The results produced by 
 " Magnetism," alioays depend upon the state of the patienVs mind, and 
 not so much upon the process adopted to induce them, nor upon the mere 
 WILL of the operator. The operator, therefore, who is the most ac- 
 quainted with the human mind and the nature of its susceptibilities, the 
 conditions of the nervous system, upon which mental manifestations de- 
 pend, will succeed the best, cccter is paribus, in producing any given re- 
 sults. He will be able, of course, to adapt his process of operating to 
 the occasion and condition of the patient, for the purpose of bringing 
 about the right state of mind. The mind depends upon the state of the 
 nervous system, ahoays, and they reciprocally affect each other. A 
 change in the condition of the nervous system produces a change in 
 the mind, and a change in the state of the mind, made through the ex- 
 ternal senses, or by any other means, produces a change in the nervous 
 system. Medicines, when taken into the stomach or applied to the sur- 
 face of the body, operate upon precisely the same susceptibilities of the 
 nervous system ; and hence it is that medicine produces no change in 
 the dead body, and sometimes it produces no change in the living body, 
 owing to the condition of the nervous susceptibilities when it is taken. 
 In cases of insanity, the ordinary symptoms of some diseases do not ap- 
 pear, and the ordinary methods of medical treatment produce no effect, 
 owing entirely to the state of the patient's mind, or the changed condi- 
 tion of the nervous susceptibilities.* A knowledge of these facts is of 
 
 * For evidence of the truth upon which the above statement is made, see 
 the London Lancet for October, 1844, re-published Ja7i., 1845, p, 17. 
 
 2* 
 
18 WHAT IS IT ? 
 
 the utmost importance iii the treatment of disease, and especially in 
 cases of insanity. 
 
 But you ask me, if there be not danger, after the operator has induced 
 
 a state of sleep, and got the patient under his power ? I answer : 
 
 This state is never brought on, nor this " power " obtained over a 
 patient, suddenly, nor in a short time. The man who assumes to be able 
 to put a woman to sleep without her knowledge, or against her will the 
 first time tr}-mg, and above all, to make her change her feelings towards 
 him, as is represented in the pamphlet under notice, is deceived ; and 
 when he publishes such trash to the world as is here put forth, I do not 
 hesitate to pronounce him a deceiver, utterly unworthy of any confidence 
 at all. 
 
 The only objection which could, justly, be brought against this subject 
 or agency, is this : the intercourse necessary to bring on the sleep 
 afibrds a vicious man extra opportunities for working upon the affec- 
 tions of his female patients : and, after he has gamed their confidence 
 and produced a state of feelmg in them congenial with his own, then he 
 may mjure them. Hence it will be seen, this objection does not lie 
 against Pathetism, per se ; not agamst the uafluences which one mind 
 has, in the nature of mmd, over another, in given cases, but, against 
 ^ffordmg a certain class of persons opportunities for winning the affec- 
 lions of females. Precisely the same objection will He against the pro- 
 fessional services of physicians and clerg}-men ; though it is admitted 
 that the access which a " ]\Iagnetiser " is allowed to have, Generally to 
 the mind and feelings of his female subjects, afford him greater facilities 
 for controlling their susceptibilities than most other persons have • and 
 071 this account, patients should exercise the more caution in permitting 
 operators to experiment upon them. If there were any real merit in this 
 writers pretended fears and cautions, it would be merely borrowed 
 from Deleuze and others who wrote upon this subject before he was 
 born. Indeed, scarcely any ^Titer can be found, but who has re-echoed 
 the same cautions, in which the real danger has been distinctly pointed 
 out The followmg is from the Magnet, published long before this 
 writer, whom we are now castigating for his " Animalisms," committed 
 the depredations on female innocence so unblushingly told in the pages 
 :of his pamphlet : — 
 
 " That some subjects, after they have been frequently operated on. 
 may be made to obey the will of the operator, cannot admit of any 
 ■doubt. I do not say, that they can be willed to do things that are disa- 
 
WHAT IS IT? 19^ 
 
 greeable to them, but they may be made willing to do many things they 
 could not be made willing to do in the normal state. And hence, it 
 should be known, that the person who submits to this process by another, 
 of whose healthy character^ and other necessary qualifications he is not 
 weir assured, runs a hazard far more dangerous than the patient who 
 merely swallows the nostrum of the quack, of whom he knows nothing ; 
 and that just so far as this operation is successful, just so far he may 
 receive the impress, as it were, of the operator's heart. The mental dis- 
 position of the latter has much to do with the impression made on the 
 person who is put into the hypnopathic state. Of this fact I have had 
 numerous demonstrations, which leave no room for the shadow of a 
 doubt. All therefore should understand what results may follow, and 
 those which do ahoays follow, the influence which is exerted upon them 
 by pathetism. That influence may, and should be good, and nothing but 
 good ; but this will depend, of course, upon the health, skill, and motives 
 of the operator." 
 
 I say, upon the motives of the operator, and the same remark might 
 be made, whatever might be the professed object, or the process adopted 
 for accomplishing it. If a man is disposed to do what would result in 
 the injury of any body, he v/ould find the means if he could, for accom- 
 plishing his object, and he would be sure to use the means if they were 
 furnished at his hand. 
 
 This writer alludes to others besides himself, who have trifled with the 
 affections of confiding females, under the guise of " Animal Magnetism," 
 and some of whom, in this city, have comi%-;itted crimes, which, if tried 
 before the proper tribunals would result in their confinement in the State's 
 Prison. All this is admitted, and it is equally well known, that the char- 
 acters of those persons were notoriously bad before they had any thing 
 to do with this subject ; and the public papers teemed with cautions 
 against one of them more than twenty years ago, as a base villain and 
 imposter ; and now whose fault is it, after the public has been so fre- 
 quently cautioned against him. if he should succeed in the ruin of one or 
 a dozen females who have fallen in his way ? 
 
 I have spoken of the opportunities which the old process of " Magnet- 
 ising," as it is called, afforded for working upon the feelings of female 
 patients. These are increased by staring in the face, and passing the 
 hand over the system, practices which I repudiated years ago, and which 
 have been discontinued by every operator of any intelligence throughout 
 the country. There is no need of those mummeries, and as they are 
 
20 WHAT IS IT? 
 
 highly objectionable on other grounds, as I anticipated years ago, they 
 have been continued only by a few " animalizers," like this one before 
 us. 
 
 The state of somnambulism may, at first, be induced by almost any 
 process ^^ h'ch is not disagi'ceable to the patient. As good a way as any 
 is, for the operator to stand behind the patient, or by his side, while he 
 places his hand upon the top of the head, and over the forehead. The 
 patient should be directed to close his eyes, or keep them steadily set, 
 till the attention is immovally fixed upon the sleep. The sleep will 
 come on just in proportion to the fixedness of the patient's attention^ 
 without any passes, or efforts of the operator's will. 
 
 A few puffs of air in his face, or slight pats upon the back part of 
 the head, will be sufficient to restore him to his normal state. Thus, 
 when you have dispensed with the old process of paicing and scraping 
 over the bodies of your patients, and discarded the absurd and prepos- 
 terous notions about the power of the " will," we have removed the 
 foundation of every reasonable objection which has ever been suggested 
 against the practice of Pathetism in the cure of disease. 
 
 After the sleep has been once induced, and the susceptibility of the 
 patient sufficiently excited, the sleep may be induced by the mere direc- 
 tion of the operator, and removed in the same way.* 
 
 In these remarks, of course, I say nothing of my manner of producing 
 results in my public Lectures, as that is still more peculiar to my Jiew 
 theory of mind^ and I am confident it never was adopted by any other 
 Lecturer, in any part of the world, till after the publication of the Mag- 
 net, and the papers had given accounts of my having induced the 
 sleep in my public Lectures, in the cases of strangers whom I never had 
 seen before, and without contact, or the passes, or any particular efforts of 
 the " will," so called. But, since the accounts of my Lectures were 
 published, I have heard of numerous attempts at imitation of my manner, 
 and some have even gone so far as to issue verbatim copies of my hand- 
 bills, and in Lowell, Nov. 27, 1843, one of these imitators procured 
 Messrs. Norton and Bellows to print an exact copy of my bills, with my 
 own name in it, including some of the newspaper notices of my Lec- 
 
 *" It has been common for some Lecturers to advise persons indiscriminately 
 to practice or experiment with this influence, and from which many mischievous 
 results have followed. It should never be undertaken without a thorough 
 knowledge of its laws. For " Practical Directions ' and rules for operating, see 
 the book entitled "Pathetism," before referred to. 
 
WHAT IS IT? 21 
 
 tures ! ! These counterfeit bills were posted about the city, but before 
 the time for the lectures, the lecturer was missing.* 
 
 * A copy of that counterfeit bill now lies before me. I have another counter- 
 feit of my bills, got out in the city of New York, by one W. C. Tappan, dated 
 Sept. 23, 1843. I arrived in the city that very evening ; but Mr. Tappan cleared 
 out without giving his lecture. I have heard of other instances of the same 
 kind, but the most glaring instance of an attempt to appropriate some things 
 peculiar to my theory, have been made by a man by the name of Grimes. The 
 monstrous blunders committed by this man, I have exposed in another work, 
 now ready for the press. His true character may be inferred from the following 
 fact, which I have upon what I believe to be good authority. When he had a 
 bust taken of his head, he caused the sculptor to raise the organs of conscien- 
 tiousness in the bust, so as to make them larger than the organs actually were in 
 his head ! ! This ruse is much like one practised by a man now living in Edgar- 
 town, Mass., who bears the reputation of a miser, but when I was in that town, 
 a few months ago, I saw a superb and costly monument, which he had actually 
 caused to be put up in the grave yard, on the spot where he is to be buried ; and 
 an inscription upon it lauding his character for benevolence in the highest terms ! 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 Boston, July 17, 1845 
 
 Pear Sir : — Although the author of this pamphlet affects to deny, 
 and even to ridicule what has been denominated " clairvoyance," it will 
 be seen that he does, nevertheless, admit the existence of this power, 
 and, even to a greater extent than what is assumed by most persons 
 who profess to believe in it. He goes so far as to say, that, ordinarily, 
 subjects when first put to sleep, even, will be able to tell the thoughts 
 of those with whom they are in communication. This I do not believe. 
 What he thus affirms of subjects, as common, is very seldom developed, 
 in any considerable degree, even after they have been experimented 
 upon for a length of time. 
 
 In my previous writings on clairvoyance, years ago, I resolved this 
 power into what has been denominated instinct; and since that time, I 
 have been confirmed in this conjecture, beyond all doubt. An instinc- 
 tive action is one which is performed, independent of the external 
 senses ; it results neither from observation nor experience ; and is per- 
 fect from the first, and not susceptible of any improvement. Hence we 
 notice those animals, as man, for instance, which are accustomed to 
 use reflective faculties, are guided the least by instinct. And those 
 which have no reflective faculties, are guided alone by this sense. 
 Hence we find it the most developed in man, when the external senses 
 are suspended, as in natural or induced sleep. That there is a sense in 
 man, which often perceives the presence and qualities of things without 
 the use of either of the external organs of sense, we have the testimony 
 of the highest medical authorities to prove. The following remark is 
 from the celebrated Dr. Good : — " We occasionally meet among man- 
 kind, with a sort of sensation altogether wonderful and inexplicable. 
 There are some persons so peculiarly affected by the presence of a 
 particular object, that is neither seen, tasted, heard, smelt or touched, 
 as not only to be conscious of its presence, but to be in agony till it is 
 removed. The vicinity of a cat not unfrequently produces such an 
 effect, and I have been a witness to the most decisive proofs of this in 
 several instances." 
 
CLAIRVOYANCE. '23 
 
 Indeed, no intelligent physiologist doubts the existence of this power j 
 and works on mental philosophy frequently detail dreams, which are to 
 be accounted for only by the existence of this mysterious sense. 1 
 have found persons, who could exercise it in a remarkable degree, in 
 their normal or waking state. Letters put into their hands have been 
 described by them with astonishing accuracy, and sometimes they will 
 tell the nature of medicinal drugs, when enveloped in wrappers, merely 
 by holding them a few moments in their hands. 
 
 I have had numerous demonstrations of the clairvoyant power, and 
 in a vast variety of ways, so that, I am just as certain of its reality as I 
 am of any other function of the nervous system. Cut, at the same time, 
 I feel bound to declare, that I place little or no confidence in most of 
 the stories which are told, under the name of clairvoyance, as the cir- 
 cumstances under which this power is said to have been developed are 
 not such as to secure an intelligent conviction of its reality, or to make 
 it sufficiently evident that the operators and the subjects were not in 
 some way deceived, in regard to many of the particulars making up 
 the case.. 
 
 As to the examination of disease, and prescribing medicine by a 
 clairvoyant, it may be sufficient for me to observe, that I have never, 
 professionally, examined diseases in this way, for the very good reason, 
 that I believe I can give the diagnosis, myself, better than any clairvoy- 
 ant, though I would not hesitate to give any person who might consult 
 me, the satisfaction of such an examination, if it were preferred. With 
 a few exceptions, however, I must admit, that, as this business is carried 
 on, I have but little confidence in it- The subjects and operators may 
 be divided into two classes : — 
 
 1. Those who are natural somnambulists and clairvoyants, who have 
 fallen into this habit spontaneously. Some of these I have known who 
 have given the true diagnosis, and their prescriptions have resulted in 
 as many cures as you could affirm in favor of any of the patent medi- 
 cines, or, indeed, of many of the " regular faculty." 
 
 2. The other class, are mere imitators. The subjects are put to 
 sleep, and, without having any instinctive faculty for detecting disease, 
 they are pressed into the habit of examining and prescribing, as a 
 money making business. And, some of the medical faculty have led 
 the way in this kind of examinations It is but a short time since I saw 
 the advertisement of one of them, inviting invalids far and near, to 
 come to his office, and, as it were, have their fortunes told; but, said 
 
24 CLAIRVOYANCE. 
 
 he, *' you must not wear silk," because his subject could not see through 
 silk ! What nonsense ! * 
 
 The extreme into which many of the " Drs." and " Professors " of 
 the science have carried this business of examining disease, prescribing 
 and selling medicine, has completely overdone the thing, and disgusted 
 intelligent believers in this disputed power. Indeed, how could it be 
 otherwise, when ignorant persons carry individuals about with them for 
 examining the sick " in a state of clairvoyance," whose subjects were 
 never in a sound state of sleep ! And then, again, when they resort to 
 collusion with the clairvoyants, as I know some have done in this city ! 
 I lament this state of things, but do not see how it can be prevented, 
 unless the friends of this science unite in setting their faces against 
 these abuses. Truth should not be made to suffer, because unworthy 
 persons do, sometimes, set themselves up as its advocates ; and it does 
 seem to me to be a great injustice when this subject is made responsible 
 for the badness of character, in those cases where certain individuals 
 were notoriously infamous before they had any thing to do with it ; 
 and also, when worthy intelligent persons are hindered from doing the 
 good they might, because the ground is so extensively occupied by in- 
 competent operators. 
 
 3. And, then, there are difficulties in the way of the best subjects 
 who undertake to examine disease. They are not always in a good 
 condition — the ignorance of those who operate upon them, and the 
 fact, that this power does not last long, in the best cases; indeed, it 
 may become exhausted, or interrupted in a few days, beyond the possi- 
 bility of recovery. t And, in such cases, ignorant operators may keep 
 up a course of examinations long after the power is gone. 
 
 The same remarks might be made upon lectures, and public exhibi- 
 tions of the old process of pawing and staring subjects in the face. 
 
 * Out of some fifteen hundred persons whom I have put to sleep, I have not 
 found one who was spontaneously affected with silk, or any metallic substance, 
 according to what has been assumed by the '-'' AnimaV Magnetisers, in relation 
 to these conducting or non-conducting substances. 
 
 t "I say, "possibility of recovery," though 1 have restored it in two cases_ 
 One was a lady of one of the regular medical faculty in this vicinity, and a very 
 interesting case it was. She soon after went to Dr. Buchanan, who was then 
 in this city, and though she was one of the most susceptible subjects 1 ever 
 saw, the Dr.'s ^'■neuraura^' made no impression upon her. This was one of a 
 number of similar cases in which the Dr.'s ^'■neuraura'' was found incapable 
 of affecting highly susceptible subjects upon whom he tried his experiments. 
 
CLAIRVOYANCE. 25 
 
 For, while there are a few intelligent, and truly worthy persons en- 
 gaged in this business, there are many others who, for whatever else 
 they may be qualified, are certainly not fit for public lecturers on 
 the Science of Human Life. Some of them I have known who have 
 experimented upon persons who were never asleep, and they themselves 
 did not know enough to tell whether their subjects were asleep or not ! 
 And their manner of lecturing [!] and experimenting, of course, must tend 
 to prejudice well informed people against this subject, and lead them to 
 the conclusion, that though the thing itself is true, and may be made 
 the means of great good, yet there has been, in some instances, a vast 
 deal of humbugry mixed up with it. 
 
 But there is one remark which I would make for the consideration 
 of such persons, in relation to the abuse of this power ; it is this, — 
 every thing that is true, is liable to be abused just in proportion to its 
 importance, and the want of information, or honesty, in those who have 
 the management of it* Hence the necessity of information upon this 
 subject. Let the community be informed ; let all know what it is, and 
 how one mind may, under certain circumstances, influence another ; 
 and no one need be injured any more by this science, than they are by 
 religion, or the practice of law, or medicine. 
 
 * " I doubt not, that in regard both to Phrenology and Mesmerism, the grand 
 principle will prove true, that the more ominous of evil any branch of knowl- 
 edge seems to be, in its incipient state, the more prolific it will ultimately become 
 in illustrations favorable both to morality and religion."— -Dr. Hitchcock, Presi-^ 
 dent of Amherst College. 
 
LETTER VI. 
 
 Boston, July 18, 1845. 
 
 Dear Sir, — Pathetism comprehends the science of mind, the knowl- 
 edge of the nervous functions, the science of human life. And a 
 knowledge of this subject will enable us to account, in a rational and sat- 
 isfactory manner, for every thing peculiar to the constitution of man, 
 every thing in relation to those extraordinary mental and physical phe- 
 nomena peculiar to Sleep, Dreaming, Trance, Second Sight, Witch- 
 craft Insanity, and those curious sympathetic imitative results produced 
 among the Hindoos, Mohammedans, Anahaptists, French Prophets, 
 Roman Catholics, Shaking Quakers, Mormons, Methodists, and other 
 sects, which have by ignorant fanatics been thought superhuman or 
 miraculous. And from which it will be seen, that it claims the serious 
 attention of all who wish to understand the philosophy of Human Influ- 
 ence. 
 
 The new theory of mind, or what I believe to be such, I pub- 
 lished in my work, before alluded to, some three years ago. It was, 
 I believe, the first ever issued in the English language, in which 
 an attempt was made to show the falsity of the opinions hitherto 
 prevalent, in relation to the agency of a fluid in the production of the 
 results peculiar to a state of induced somnambulism. And, though it 
 was written in considerable haste, amidst a pressure of other arduous 
 duties, and was, in fact, a mere outline of my views, yet the reception 
 it has met with has abundantly confirmed me in the conviction, that the 
 theory advanced and advocated in its pages, is destined to prevail just 
 in proportion to the attention which intelligent, unprejudiced operators 
 may, from time to time, give to the investigation of the subject. Not a 
 single case has come to my knowledge, where any one of common in- 
 formation has given my work a candid reading, but it has resulted in an 
 admission of the truthfulness of my theory, and among professional 
 gentlemen, especially, not excepting many of the clergy, the philosophy 
 
THEORY OF PATHETISM. 27 
 
 of the mental functions, explained in that work, has been received with 
 a favor which very much encourages me to hope that the time is not 
 far distant when the great mass, the world over, will be found to agree 
 in the true science of mind. 
 
 Since its publication, I have seen enough to confirm me, also, in the 
 apprehension I expressed, years ago, that this subject had nothing to 
 fear one hundredth part so much as the injudicious handling of opera- 
 tors. To read the assumptions put forth in the advertisements of some 
 of these persons, would be amusing indeed, were it not for the import- 
 ance of the subject, and the disgust one is forced to feel, on witnessing 
 the exhibitions of such unpardonable ignorance. Nor can it be denied 
 that a part of this blame does, unquestionably, belong to professional 
 men, to those whose education and opportunities, in other respects, have 
 fitted them, more than others, for the investigation of human physiology. 
 Had they taken hold on this subject, as they might and should have 
 done, instead of treating it with ridicule, long ago it would have taken 
 its place among the positive sciences, and nothing would have been left 
 for feeble intellects to do, but to receive the benefits which this science 
 would have afforded them. But, unfortunately, it has so happened, that, 
 while many physicians and clergymen have been convinced of the truth 
 of Pathetism, they have been prevented from suffering themselves to be 
 identified with it in any way, merely from seeing it handled by so many 
 incompetent minds. This is a great inconsistency, to be sure, but it 
 is one of which we but too often find even many good men guilty, in 
 other relations besides those they sustain to science. From these facts, 
 however, we learn some of the laws peculiar to the human mind, and see 
 how it is that truth prevails, notwithstanding the numerous impediments 
 thrown in its way. 
 
 But few efforts have been made, during the last two years, in this 
 country, to keep alive the old notions of a fluid. As far as I am able to 
 judge, the theory advocated by Dr. Buchanan, under the name of " Neu- 
 rology," has made no converts, and even the Dr. himself, I believe, 
 has ceased to advocate it ; and the few who embraced it, on its first pre- 
 sentation to the public, have, as far as I know, without a single excep- 
 tion, given it up, as indefensible. In my travels through the difTerent 
 States, I have, now and then, met with a pamphlet pretending to some 
 new development of the old notions first put forth by Van Helmont, in 
 Germany, more than two hundred years ago, but I have seen nothing in 
 the form of fact or argument which confirms the truth of those notions, in 
 
28 THEORY OF PATHETISM. 
 
 the least conceivable degree, while my own opportunities for observation 
 and experiments have been increased a thousand fold, and have abun- 
 dantly confirmed me in the truth of the following 
 
 THEORY; 
 
 FIRST PUBLISHED IN MARCH, 1843. 
 I. 
 
 That Animal Life consists in ttoo alternating forces, which control 
 matter, including Electricity and Magnetism. The alternations of the 
 vital forces carry on a series of 7'evolutions, which perfectly correspond 
 with the alternating forces, or states of every thing else in nature, and 
 hence we have sleeping, waking — cold, heat — motion, rest. 
 
 II. 
 
 That these vital forces give those qualities to the body which consti- 
 tute a sympathetic system, and render all its parts susceptible to an influ- 
 ence from every other part, organ, or entity, between which and the 
 different organs or parts of the body, a difference in quality or function 
 is found to exist. 
 
 III. 
 
 The effects produced by these alternating forces depend upon certain 
 connections or relations which different parts of the body or different 
 substances, or entities, sustain to each other. 
 
 IV. 
 
 That the nature of these relations, between two or more substances, 
 organs, or entities, depends upon the difference or likeness in their qual' 
 ities or functions, and the difference in the nature or qualities of things 
 depends upon the balance of power between the two alternating forces. 
 This accounts for the difference in the susceptibilities of different per- 
 sons, to be influenced by any given substance or agency which is brought 
 into a relation with the mind, or any part of the body (as the stomach) 
 for the purpose of bringing about a change. 
 
THEORY OF PATHET13M. 29 
 
 V. 
 
 That a peculiar connection between two entities, organs or sub- 
 stances, which differ in certain qualities or functions^ produces di positive 
 relation^ or the law of sympathy. A connection between two which are 
 precisely alike, produces a negative relation^ or the law of antipathy. 
 And, where bodies or substances are brought together which do not 
 come up to a certain degree of difference, in quality or functions, a neu- 
 tral relation, or a state of apathy, is the result. 
 
 VI. 
 
 This law of duality and contrariety, in the alternating forces, pre- 
 vails in the nature of things, and, of course, in the constitution of 
 MAN, and the organs through which mind is manifested. Hence, as there 
 are two forces, so there are two perfect parts (so to speak) to one human 
 body ; two eyes, two ears, two hands, two feet, &c., and two entire 
 BRAINS, which may, and often do, act independently of each other. The 
 brains combine the different mental organs, which not only exist in 
 pairs, but in groups, or families, in each brain ; and the pairs and groups 
 are balanced by other pairs and groups, whose functions are directly op- 
 posite. On the due development of these normal relations does con- 
 sciousness and mental power depend. For, when they are deficient, or 
 become disturbed or exhausted, the results appear in the states of the 
 mind, such as idiocy, monomania, insanity, and sleep. When the nor- 
 mal sympathetic relations are disturbed between the two brains, or the 
 cerebral organs and the nerves of motion or sensation in other parts of 
 the system, the results are shown in apoplexy, paralysis, and other phys- 
 ical or jTiental irregularities. 
 
 VII. 
 
 The cerebral system possesses the power of sensatio7i, or perception, 
 without the use of the external senses ; and when this power is exercised 
 without these senses, and also without any dependence upon observation 
 or experience, it results in what we denominate instinct, or clair- 
 voyance. The aggregate of all the mental faculties, when manifested 
 through the external senses, constitutes mind. The mind is identical 
 with the cerebral or sympathetic system, and hence they reciprocally act 
 upon each other. The latter is the medium through which the emotions 
 and volitions of mind are manifested, and through the same medium all 
 its impressions are received. 
 3* 
 
30 THEORY OF PATHETISM. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Bv establishing a positive relation between two persons, the mind of 
 one may thereby control the susceptiMlity of the other ; or by applying 
 the hand of one to any part of the other, different mental and physical 
 changes may thus be produced. Hence it follows, that the only influ- 
 ence extended from one mind or body to another, depends upon the 
 kind of relation established between them, and the same is true with re- 
 gard to any influence felt by the living body, from any other cause. 
 
 IX. 
 
 A positive relation is kept up, between the vital organs and the sub- 
 stances on which the system depends for its nourishment, such as air 
 and food, and, also, by the different functions of these organs ; and upon 
 the proper balance of all the different relations depends the health and 
 vigor of the body. Their disturbance produces disease, and their anni- 
 hilation, death. 
 
 X. 
 
 The muscles, limbs, and organs, are controlled by the brain on the 
 opposite side of the body ; that is, the right brain corresponds with the 
 left side, and the left brain with the right side, and the muscles are 
 moved through these relations, which exist between different portions of 
 the same muscles, and also, between these and the sympathetic nerves, 
 through which the mind operates. From which it follows, that there is 
 a reciprocal influence between the different nerves and the other organs 
 of the entire system ; and hence it is, that the state of one organ, or 
 part, is changed by the state of another, with which it is in positive re- 
 lation. 
 
 XI. 
 
 These sympathetic relations exist between the mental organs and the 
 nerves and muscles of the face ; they shape the features, and thus lay 
 the foundation for all that may be known of Physiognomy ; they give 
 the contour to the entire system, so that relations may be traced between 
 all the mental and physical developments; and from corresponding 
 points of sympathy, throughout the body, the different cerebral organs 
 may be excited and controlled by those external agencies, between 
 ^hich and the susceptiMlity a positive relation has been established. 
 
THEORY OF PATHETISM. 31 
 
 XII. 
 
 The positive and negative relatio?is are controlled, in certain cases, 
 by the mind ; so that the system is positively or negatively affected ac- 
 cording to the mental apprehensions. In the same way relations may be 
 created, or transferred from one substance to another. When the mind 
 has been once impressed to a certain degree, from a mere apprehension 
 of an influence from any cause, it takes cognizance of this relation ; 
 and in cases of high susceptihility ^ it does sometimes either create, or 
 transfer it from one substance or agent, to another ; and hence the sys- 
 tem is affected precisely according to the anticipations of the mind^ and 
 not according to the real qualities of those things to which the relation 
 has been transferred. 
 
 xni. 
 
 The various vital., organic, and mental functions., are carried on by 
 these different relations ; and from which it must follow, that upon the 
 latter does the healthfulness and integrity of the former depend. And 
 by applying those agencies which change these relations, we may 
 increase or modify the mental or physical powers, and thus ihefive senses 
 may be transposed and concentrated entirely in the sympathetic systeiti ; 
 or they may be wholly suspended, or even controlled by the sympa- 
 thetic system of the operator. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 It is a universal laxo of nature., that positive results are produced by a 
 relation between an agent, and a subject, or two or more substances, 
 brought into relation with each other. It is only by establishing a con- 
 nection between tico things, or forms which differ in quality, that a pos- 
 itive result difiering in quality from either of the two is produced. This 
 is \hQ first law of Pathetism, and from which we see how it is, that one 
 may not be able to produce the same effects upon different persons. 
 
 The vast number of experiments which I have performed, confirm- 
 atory of the truth of the above theory., have been of every possible 
 variety, and have been performed under those circumstances which have 
 afforded me the best advantages for determining the true nature of this 
 influence., as to whether it is a fiuid., eliminated out of one brain and 
 received into another ; or, whether it must not be resolved into the rela- 
 
32 THEORY OF PATHETISM. 
 
 tions of things, and the laws by which the Great First Cause has deter- 
 mined they shall be governed. 
 
 The laws above described do obviously exist, and we daily observe 
 their results, and hence there is no necessity for attributing the phenom- 
 ena which occur, connected with the human mind^ to remote and extra- 
 ordinary causes. 
 
 I have found every imaginable variety of temperament and susceptibility, 
 necessary for the production of all those results, from which the nature 
 of this influence alone could be determined. Besides the thirty cases of 
 surgical operations on the persons whom I have rendered insensible to 
 pain, and the scores and hundreds of invalids whom I have entirely 
 cured or relieved, in New York, Boston, Providence, Lowell, New 
 Bedford, Bangor, Portland, and many other places where I have lectured 
 among which I may mention some twelve cases of insanity, which I 
 have cured by my new process of impressing the nervous system. To 
 state each case in detail would require more space than could be o-iven 
 in this letter ; nor does it seem so necessary, as these cures have been 
 effected in my public lectures, on persons who attended them for this 
 purpose. Among these cases the following may be mentioned : — Tic- 
 doloroux. Spasms, Neuralgia, Chorea, Rheumatism, Sick Headache 
 Paralysis, Insanity, Cholera Morbus, Stammering, Epilepsy, Monoma- 
 nia, Deafness, Fits, Hysteria, Loss of Voice, Hypochondria, Toothache, 
 Want of Sleep, St. Vitus' Dance, and Blindness, besides numerous Con- 
 gential Difficulties, and bad habits, such as the use of Tea, Coffee 
 Tobacco, and Intoxicating Drinks. 
 
 In this respect my lectures have, certainly, as far as I know, been 
 distinguished from those of any, and all other persons, who have attempt- 
 ed to call public attention to this subject. It has been my object to 
 make them of practical benefit, not merely to exhibit those phenomena 
 by which the truthfulness of my theory is demonstrated ; but, also, to 
 show the useful purposes to which this agency may be applied, in 
 the relief of pain, in developing the laws of mind, in explaining the 
 nervous functions, and in accounting for many strange mental condi- 
 tions, hitherto considered supernatural. How far I have succeeded in 
 these efforts, the thousands must judge who have witnessed the results of 
 my lectures, in different parts of the country, as well as the numbers 
 who have professed to be, personally, benefitted by them. There is but 
 one drawback on the pleasure which the contemplation of these results 
 affords me, and that is, the state of feeling which my success seems to 
 
THEORY OF PATHETISM. 33 
 
 have produced in the minds of a few other operators, as if the world 
 were not large enoug^h for them and me. A very few, also, of the med- 
 ical profession have been stumbled, in perceiving that I have succeeded 
 better in curing some of the worst forms of nervous disease far better 
 without medicine than they were ever able to do with it. A still larger 
 number of the profession, I am happy to say, have, after attending my 
 lectures, candidly avowed their belief in Pathetism, and not a few of 
 them have been quite successful in the treatment of disease by this 
 influence alone. 
 
 .» 
 
LETTER VIL 
 
 Boston, July 21, 1845. 
 
 Dear Sir, — It was supposed that the efforts of Dr. Buchanan, some 
 two years since, to give a new development of the old notions about a 
 Jluid, would be the last attempts of the kind, at least by any one pretend- 
 ing to scientific attainments. But that supposition, it seems, was not 
 well founded. In the work to which I have before referred, by Mr. 
 Grimes, a labored attempt is made to revive the old notions of Van Hel- 
 mont, under the new-fangled name of " Etherium /" And yet, Mr. G. 
 belabors Dr. Buchanan with great severity, for doing this very thing ! 
 This " etherium," says this author, 
 
 " Is a material substance, occupying space, which connects the planets and 
 the earth, and which communicates light and heat, electricity, gravitation, and 
 mental emotion from one body to another, and from one mind to another." • t 
 
 Admitting the truth of this new version of the fluid notion, you will, 
 undoubtedly, desire to be informed what the Deity is, or what he ever 
 did, or can do. For this " Etherium " occupies all space, communi- 
 cates all motion between matter and mind. But perhaps Mr. Grimes 
 would tell us that this " Etherium " is, itself, God. He says : — 
 
 " The motions of etherium are the ne plus ultra of human knowledge. It 
 moves and communicates its motions to other things, this is certain ; but what 
 is the origin of its motions we cannot know."* 
 
 The visions of the prophets, and the miracles of the New Testament, 
 are, by this writer, ascribed to this same " etherium :" 
 
 " The practice of laying on of hands upon the sick, to heal them, referred to 
 in the New Testament, is precisely the etheriopathic practice." 
 
 " Who that compares the ancient seers with modern clairvoyants, and pos- 
 sessors of second sight, can doubt that they all belong to the same class .-""t 
 
 * Etherology, p. 156. t lb., p. 41. 
 
CRITICAL REMARKS. 35 
 
 However, it would not be consistent with my present design, to at- 
 tempt an examination of these notions. I merely wish to show that 
 this work contains nothing new, in the form of a theor}-, which was not 
 anticipated, and, as I think, sufficiently refuted in my work on Pathetism, 
 two years ago. If the influence heretofore known under the name of 
 " Mesmerism," be a. fluid, eliminated out of one body into another, it is 
 not of the least consequence what you call it, whether Animal Magnet- 
 ism, with Van Helmont and Mesmer, or Neuraura, with Dr. Buchanan, 
 or Electiricty, Etherium, or any thing else you please. Nor is it easy 
 to see any singular merit in substituting new terms for the same old no- 
 tions. I say old notions, for, though this writer has elaborated a work 
 of some 350 pages, professedly in explanation of the " Philosophy of 
 Mesmerism," and has numerous repetitions of his ideas on the same 
 subject, yet I cannot perceive that he has, in the principal features of his 
 theor}', advanced a single step from jMesmer and Puysegar, or even Dr. 
 Buchanan. The fluid notion is common to them all, and it is one and 
 the same thing, by whatever name it may be distinguished. I find in 
 his book not a few contradictions, and incorrect statements ; and a dis- 
 play of more self-esteem than was necessary to antagonize all the ex- 
 citement he could induce in his conscientiousness, benevolence and 
 suavity combined. As he makes a show of having confuted my own the- 
 ory of Pathetism, it will not, perhaps, be out of place for me to give the 
 work a passing notice ; and in doing so, if it should appear that he has 
 made statements which will not bear the scrutiny of scientific research, 
 statements about historical facts, which are false, and, withal, if it should 
 appear that he has borrowed a few " new discoveries " from my own 
 work on Pathetism, and claimed them as his own, I will leave it to you 
 to say, how much these things are to weigh in favor of the " etherium " 
 notions of Mr. J. Stanly Grimes. 
 
 As his avowed object was to prove the truth of the fluid theory, in op- 
 position to the theory of Pathetism, it was to be expected, as a matter of 
 course, that he would have informed his readers what the theory of 
 Pathetism was, that he might have the full benefit of its confutation. 
 This, however, he has not done, and though he quotes largely from the 
 Magnet^ (and when it suits his purpose) from my book on Pathetism, yet 
 he has never once attempted to state my theory in my own words ! My 
 book contains my views on this subject, up to the time it was issued. 
 The Magnet was never designed to advocate any theory, exclusively, 
 and hence I stated in its pages, from time to time, that its object was to 
 give facts, and afford an opportunity for all friends of the science to ex- 
 
36 CRITICAL REMARKS. 
 
 press their own views in their own way. And yet, while Mr. Grimes 
 had my book before him, (for he says he " had read it carefully,") he 
 fills a dozen of his own pages with quotations, not from my work, but 
 from the numbers of the Magnet, and which contained views that I had 
 expressly repudiated in my work on Pathetism. If this was without de- 
 sign, on the part of Mr. G., it shows his ignorance ; if it was done from 
 design, it shows a dishonest motive. 
 
 But, waiving this ground of complaint, let us proceed to notice a few 
 of the rays of light which Mr. G. himself assumes to have shed upon 
 this subject. 
 
 " One mind cannot influence another but through the instrumentahty of mo- 
 tion. — p. 17. 
 
 This is obscure. He should have told us, of which mind the motion 
 is affirmed — the one that is acted upon, or the other ; and also whether 
 there can be thought without motion. Because if a mere thought may- 
 be the cause or effect of cerebral motion, or may be the necessary ac- 
 companiment of cerebral motion, there is a sense in which one mind, 
 without motion in itself, at the time, may act upon another mind. It is 
 when one mind is excited or depressed, or impressed, in any way, by its 
 conceptions, merely, of another mind. 
 
 " One thing' cannot influence another with which it is not in contact, unless 
 there is some material substance existing or passing between every portion of 
 the space which separates them." — lb. 
 
 Doubted. It would follow, from this assumption, that the Deity him- 
 self cannot influence mind without physical " contact," or that there 
 could be no relation or connection between two different minds, with- 
 out physical " contact." My mind is, at this moment, influenced by 
 my conceptions of Adam, so that it is true, that in some sense, Adam's 
 existence communicates motion or emotion to my own mind ; but it is 
 not true, that there is a " material connection " between my mind and 
 that of Adam, the first man that ever lived. 
 
 The following contains a new idea : 
 
 "The involuntary motions constitute life. — -^. 26. 
 
 What is the difference in " involuntary motions .?!' Are they not 
 alike } And if so, then it follows that all " involuntary " motions are 
 
CRITICAL REMARKS. 37 
 
 life ! Hence all magnetic, or electrical, motions constitute life, and this 
 "' etherium," which " generates," as this writer tells us, every thing else, 
 besides itself, must be alive, also ! And in the same breath he informs 
 us, in addition to the above, that this " etherium " modifies every thing, 
 and is, at the same time, modified by every object from which it is 
 emanated ! It is the cause and the effect, at one and the same time, of all 
 things !" 
 
 Here is another " etherium " definition : — 
 
 " Sympathy is when an active organ in the operator communicates its own 
 motions to the corresponding organ in the subject, so as to make it act in a sim- 
 ilar manner." — p. 36. 
 
 " Sympathy means same emotion, sa.xae feeling, same condition." — p. 160. 
 
 " The currents of the operator's etherium, after having moved the organs of 
 the operator himself, proceeded to the corresponding organs of the subject, and 
 moved them in a similar manner. This is sympathy in a strict philosophical 
 sense." — p. 196. 
 
 Let us see. The operator, it is said, wills his subject to laugh, and' 
 he laughs. The " active organ " in the operator, in this case, is his 
 vnll ; but the active organ in the subject is not his loill, but his mirth. 
 The operator, by a mere volition (it is said) causes his subject to walk ; 
 and in this, as well as in a thousand other like cases, the " active organs " 
 in the operator and his subject are not the same. Our author furnishes a 
 case in point, and I will quote it here, inasmuch as he " takes the liberty 
 to recommend it to the attention of Dr. Elliotson." To my own mind, it 
 affords conclusive evidence that the author of " Etherology " is not so 
 familiar with the real nature of the subject on which he has written, as 
 he himself seems to imagine. He says : 
 
 " Take almost any person who is unacquainted with the subject, or with the 
 object of the experiment — ask him to sit down and close his eyes, and keep 
 them closed. Take hold of his hands, as if you were going to induct him in 
 the usual manner, and, after you have held them above five or ten minutes, let 
 go carefully of one hand, and will the thumb to move, and in five cases out of 
 six it will do so, even though the subject is not in the least asleep, and though 
 he is so slightly affected that he stoutly denies that he is affected at all. "—p. 292. 
 
 And the movement of a thumb, after having been tightly held, in 
 
 this manner, " for five or ten minutes," is appealed to by Mr. Grimes, as 
 
 a demonstration that a mere volition of the operator is sufiicient to move 
 
 the muscles of the patient ! And to such an experiment he invites the 
 
 4 
 
38 CRITICAL REMARKS. 
 
 attention of one of the most able physiologists in England, for the pur- 
 pose of enabling him to make up his mind as to the effects of the human 
 will, when exerted, independently of all contact, over a subject in the 
 sympathetic sleep ! ! 
 
 The slightest attention to the sense o^ feeling, or of consciousness, 
 would seem sufficient to enable the merest novice to account for a move- 
 ment of the thumb, or any other part of the body under the control of 
 the subject's own will, after it has been subjected to the pressure of the 
 process above described. The mind, or the sense of feeling, instinctively 
 prompts one to such a movement, that he may perceive the state of the 
 part which has been compressed or subjected to a kind of involuntary 
 restraint. The eifects would be the same upon the limbs of animals ; 
 and I am serious in saying, that Mr. Grimes would be still more suc- 
 cessful, if in future, he were to try, in the way he describes, the effects 
 of his " will " upon the tail of a cat, or any of the canine race. He 
 would, undoubtedly, see their tails move in all directions, after pinching, 
 but I could not advise him to believe that they moved solely in obedience 
 to a fluid eliminated into them from his brain. Let him go through 
 with the process of clasping or pinching the thumbs, or the tails, " and 
 then let go carefully," and " will " them not to move, and see if " in five 
 cases out of six " he succeeds, or that he can satisfy "Dr. Elliotson " 
 that the results are produced by his ivill, independently of the imagina- 
 tion of the subject on whom he operates. 
 
 But, suppose the thumbs do move, as he assumes, merely because he 
 wills them to move ? How do results of this kind agree with his defini- 
 tion of sympathy, which he represents as a result that comes out from a 
 corresponding activity in the same organs, both in the operator and the 
 subject. 
 
 Mr. G. has considerable to say upon consciousness, and here is a 
 new idea upon it : 
 
 " There are some reasons for suspecting, that every atom of matter in exist- 
 ence is capable of consciousness, when placed in the circumstances and condi- 
 tions favorable to its development." — p. 140. 
 
 " If consciousness depends upon an ultimate material particle, it is not im- 
 possible that the very identical consciousness which is now possessed by Queen 
 Victoria, was once possessed by Queen Maud ; and it may be, that if Her 
 Majesty will resolutely set to work, she may be able to recollect the circum- 
 stance. If this principle be admitted, it may be also, that the future state, con- 
 dition, and associations of consciousness, will be dependent upon the aptitudes 
 and habits, the moral and physical sympathies and antipathies which it has 
 acquired in its past and present state — but we can no longer touch bottom." — lb. 
 
CRITICAL REMARKS. 39 
 
 Such is the light which this writer sheds upon consciousness^ and the 
 above is in perfect keeping with two-thirds of his book, in which he ex- 
 patiates with equal clearness, when it is equally impossible for him or 
 any of his readers to " touch bottom," or tell, with any degree of cer- 
 tainty, what his meaning is. The following extracts show us one way 
 in which this writer accounts for clairvoyance : 
 
 " I have seen a ring handed to a subject ; and the owner of the ring, who lived 
 at a distance, described — the sex, health, residence and state of mind, and many 
 other circumstances, with great accuracy. The ring being inducted by the 
 etherium of the owner, partially retains and communicates the motions which it 
 has received, just as a magnet does, or a scented handkerchief. The ring, if it 
 has continued to emanate motions of etherium all the loay from the place where 
 the owner resides, to the residence of the subject, has made a path which may 
 aid the clairvoyant subject in finding him. — pp. 233, 234. 
 
 " If it has." Why does the writer put in this " if .>" According to 
 his theory, every particle of matter is constantly emitting the " etheri- 
 um," and if the ring does not emit the etherium before it reaches the 
 clairvoyant, it emits none afterward ; and if it emits none after it reaches 
 the subject, of course he could not, according to this " etherium " theory, 
 tell where the ring came from ! 
 
 Nor is this the only difficulty : 
 
 " The motions of the etherium are peculiarly modified in each successive ave 
 nue or stage through which it is obliged to pass." 
 
 " Etherium is modified by each external object from which it emanates ; for 
 there is no doubt that every object imparts its own peculiar character, in some 
 degree, at least, to the etherium which it is constantly receiving and emitting.** 
 —p. 21. 
 
 Now, conceive, if you can, of a "^a^/t" made by this " etherium," 
 say five hundred miles, " all the way " from the place where the owner 
 of the ring resides, to the residence of the subject," and this, too, while 
 every particle of the atmosphere, and every other object with which the 
 ring has come in contact, during this immense distance, has, in ten 
 thousand ways, operated in " modifying " its " motions." The mind has 
 no faculty for conceiving the possibility of results brought about in this 
 way, except, indeed, it be done by that all potent organ of Creden- 
 civENEss, of which Mr. Grimes makes so great an account. The notion, 
 however, is not original, as Mr. Grimes seems to think. The same idea 
 is advanced by Mr. Townshend, and it is believed to have been suffi- 
 ciently refuted, in my work on Pathetism, three years ago. 
 
40 CRITICAL REMARKS. 
 
 But it is impossible to reconcile Mr. G.'s notions with his own the- 
 ory, and in his attempts to confute Dr. Buchanan's notions, he com- 
 pletely upsets his own. For instance, Mr. G. says : 
 
 " Admitting that emanations of etherium stream from the extremities of the 
 fingers, would they not be conducted away in all directions by the innumerable 
 nerve and blood vessels, the skull and membranes which intervene between the 
 spot touched and the phreno-organs which are supposed to be excited?" — p, 282. 
 
 Precisely so ! And admitting that the " etherium streams " from the 
 ring, how is it conducted into one of the clairvoyant's organs rather than 
 another ? " Etherology " does not, and cannot, tell how ; and thus 
 you will perceive, that while Mr. G. confutes Dr. Buchanan, he con- 
 futes himself also ; though, I should add, perhaps, that the above argu- 
 ment is not original with Mr. G., as it was published some two years be- 
 fore his book appeared, as you will see, by turning to my work, pages 73 
 and 343, where you will find that I used this very same argument, and for 
 a similar purpose ; it was to show the falsity of Dr. Buchanan's theory, 
 in relation to the excitement of the cerebral organs by a fluid. 
 
 The following direction for operating, will show that Mr. Grimes 
 himself has what he calls the organ of '"'■ CredenciniLsness '''' well devel- 
 oped, as well as his subjects : 
 
 " Let the subject sit down, and not cross his legs, as it will interrupt the 
 circulation." — p. 315. 
 
 Crossing the legs " interrupts the circulation " of the etherium ! ! ! 
 
 And on page 236 he gives the particulars of an experiment with one 
 of his " credencive " subjects, who saw the fluid [ ! ] or " etherium," 
 as he calls it : — 
 
 " The moment she mentioned the fluid, I interrupted her, and asked her what 
 ^wid she meant. She answered ' This,' holding out her fingers and moving 
 them as if she perceived something emanating from them ; ' this is it, don't 
 you see it ?' " 
 
 Whether our author himself actually saw the fluid, or not, he has not 
 informed us. But he has yet to learn that when " Marvellousness " is 
 once excited to a certain degree, he or his subjects can see or believe 
 any thing. He can see the " fluid " stop the moment a subject happens 
 to " cross his legs " while the operator is inducing the sleep ; and one 
 of Dr. Buchanan's followers, in New York, (S. J., Esq.,) once told me 
 that he himself had positively " seen the fluid streaming from his own 
 
CRITICAL REMARKS. 41 
 
 fingers," at a certain time, while in the act of operating for the cure of 
 some disease ! It was, he said, of " the color of smoke ! ! " 
 
 It has been in the excitement of the same organs of Marvellousness^ 
 that somnambulists have been made to declare that they " saw the fluid ;" 
 but this is not so much to be wondered at, as it is when we find opera- 
 tors, claiming a medium degree of intelligence, who profess their belief 
 in these sights. A man who could believe that his subject actually saw 
 an invisible "^wirf," must have an organ of " Credenciveness " by far 
 loo large to allow of his hesitating to believe any thing which afforded 
 the least prospect of gratification to his love of distinction, or self- 
 esteem. A change of circumstances would put him in a position of ri- 
 valship with Joe Smith, or Joanna Southcote ; and you will, I think, 
 agree with me, when I declare it as my opinion, that science has but 
 little to expect from the labors of such minds. 
 
LETTER VIII. 
 
 Boston, July 24, 1845. 
 Dear Sir, — As you desire it, I proceed to point out a few of Mr. 
 Grimes's incorrect statements — statements which are so palpably false ^ 
 some of them, at least, that I find it utterly impossible to account for 
 them, consistently with either his intelligence or honesty. If he did not 
 know that the following representations were false, he was incompetent 
 for writing upon the subject on which he undertook to enlighten the 
 public. If he made them, knowing them to be false, he is guilty of a 
 crime that renders him unworthy of public confidence as an author or 
 teacher on any subject. He says : 
 
 " My object is to rebut the absurd doctrine of Sunderland, Buchanan, and 
 others, that clairvoyance depends upon a peculiar organ, which was bestowed 
 upon man for that very purpose." — p. 218. 
 
 My theory is contained in my work, the latest publication I have made 
 on the subject of clairvoyance, and every thing else connected with this 
 subject till now. And Mr. Grimes declares, page 1 12, that he had read 
 this work carefully. I never taught that clairvoyance depended upon a 
 peculiar organ given us for this purpose. As you have seen, I resolve this 
 power into what has been denominated Instinct. There is not the 
 least reason for this representation of Mr. Grimes. 
 
 Here is another mistake : 
 
 " It should be understood that La Roy Sunderland claims to have been the 
 first to discover that the organs of the brain can be excited by touching them," 
 —p. 109. 
 
 This is not true ; as you will see by turning to pages 139, 141, and 
 142 of my book, and especially the first and second paragraphs on page 
 141. I stated, years ago, that I had no confidence in those cerebral ex- 
 citements for proving the precise locations of the mental organs. 
 
 And here is another : 
 
 " Not one of those who have adopted this doctrine concerning the excitement 
 of the phreno-organs, has yet retracted, or even expressed a doubt concerning 
 the truthfulness of their conclusions." — p. 281. 
 
CRITICAL REMARKS. 43 
 
 Almost every page of my work might be referred to as a confutation 
 of the above statement. See especially, pages 141, 145, 146, 147, 
 240, and 247 inclusive. Compare these pages with the following, and 
 it will be seen that while I make nothing at all of the excitement of the 
 phrenological organs by Pathetism, Mr. G. himself makes every thing of 
 it. He is speaking of his clairvoyant subject who saw [ ! ] the " ethe- 
 rium :" — 
 
 " I then asked her concerning the location and uses of several new phreno- 
 organs, which I suppose that / had discovered^ and, to my surprise, she answered 
 me without the least hesitation, and confirmed all my previous opinions [of 
 course she did, for she got her views from Mr. Grimes' mind, according to his 
 own theory,] not even excepting those opinions I had never mentioned to any 
 one, and which she could only have known from clairvoyance. As far as 1 
 know, this was the first attempt to learn the functions of the brain by means of 
 Mesmerism ; and notwithstanding all the boasting of the Pathetizers and Neu- 
 rologizers, I still think that this method is the only one which will be found of 
 any use." — p. 237. 
 
 Now, I depend neither upon cerebral excitements, by Pathetism, nor 
 upon the statements of clairvoyants, for fixing the locations of the men- 
 tal organs ; and all this I published to the world years ago.* 
 
 On page 250, Mr. G. informs us that the credit of having discovered 
 the head-touching principle is supposed to belong to Spencer T. Hall ; 
 but in making this statement, he only shows his want of information, as 
 you will see by turning to page 142 of " Pathetism." 
 
 Mr. G. complains bitterly of " Buchanan, Sunderland, Caldwell," and 
 even " Dr. EUiotson and others," for having, as he thinks, so strangely 
 overlooked his wonderful discoveries, for you should know, that he 
 seems to claim the credit of having discovered about every thing in 
 " Phrenology and Mesmerism " there was to be found out. 
 
 Throughout his book he has much to say on what he denominates 
 
 * When I first excited the separate cerebral organs, in August, 1841, 1 thought 
 I had made an important discovery, one by which I could demonstrate the truth 
 of Phrenology, and the precise location of each of the mental organs. But I 
 very soon found that those excitements could not be depended upon, as 1 at first 
 supposed, and becoming satisfied that what I thought was a discovery was of no 
 very great importance, and, as I found A. B. C. D., &c., throughout the coun- 
 try, claiming the same discoveries, 1 long ago relinquished my claims, being 
 perfectly willing that those who wished the credit of priority in those experi- 
 ments of exciting the mental organs, should enjoy it without any rivalship from 
 me. 
 
44 CRITICAL REMARKS. 
 
 " Credenciveness," and " Credencive experiments." By Credencive- 
 ness, he means precisely what Gall, Spurzheim, Combe, and other 
 phrenologists mean by Marvellousness, or Credulity, and precisely what 
 I explained in my book, by " Faith," or the " mental apprehensions " of 
 the patient. The drift of my entire work goes to show, that I accounted 
 for most of the results produced by Dr. Buchanan, Mesmer, Baird, and 
 others, not by ajluid, but by the operation of certain relations brought 
 to bear upon the patient's mind, through his " apprehensions," or knowl- 
 edge of the operator's design, as you will have seen from my Theory, 
 (XIII.) 
 
 It was by this law of " Credenciveness," that I accounted for the 
 results produced by Mesmer, (page 65,) also the results which follow an 
 "assertion" of the operator, (pages 232, 246, 234, and 111. In this 
 way I accounted for the effects produced by the " Tractors " of Perkins, 
 (pp. 106-108) and numerous other phenomena, which had seemed to 
 remain shrouded in mystery, or attributed to supernatural agency. In- 
 deed, this very idea may be found repeated upon almost every page of 
 my book, so that any school-boy, who reads it, as Mr. Grimes says he 
 had, " Carefully," could not fail of perceiving this fact recognized as a 
 fundamental principle in my theory. But this same Mr. Grimes, who 
 *' declines " an " acquaintance with George Combe," says he " finds it 
 impossible to understand " my theory, or, " if he does understand it, 
 it is perfectly obscured." — p. 112. 
 
 But now for the proof, that Mr. Grimes did understand my theory, 
 or a part of it, at least, and that he has horrowed it, and having baptized 
 it under the name of " Etherology," he has published it to the world as 
 his own, and claimed it as his own original discovery : 
 
 " Credenciveness will induct any part which the operator pleases, or even 
 any part which the subject believes or suspects that the operator desires to in- 
 duct. This principle of self-induction has never before, to my knowledge, been 
 announced." — p. 38. 
 
 And, lest the reader should not remember the above original an- 
 nouncement, he repeats the account again, in the following terms : 
 
 " While engaged in performing various experiments, I made a very import- 
 ant DISCOVERY, which I have never before communicated to the public in 
 writing." [ !] 
 
 Preserve your gravity. Such oracular announcements as the above 
 should be received with becoming solemnity. Here is another : 
 
CRITICAL REMARKS. 45 
 
 "This explanation of the nature of credenciveness is a key to most of the 
 wonderful experiments and discoveries of Buchanan and Sunderland, of Baird, 
 Hall, and Elliotson. It explains, also, the apparent contradictions and absurdi- 
 ties which embarrassed the celebrated French Committee of which Dr. Frank- 
 lin was a member." — p. 195. 
 
 Now, Mr. Grimes does not seem to have known that a Committee of 
 the French Academy, in 1825, accounted for Mesmeric results in pre- 
 cisely the same way ; though indeed he has, on page 67 quoted from 
 the report of that Committee, the evidence of this fact, where they 
 account for those results by the " expectation " of the subject. And in 
 precisely the same way I accounted for them ; and if you examine pages 
 111 and 113 of Mr. G.'s book, you will find he has quoted passages from 
 my work, in which I had maintained this very same doctrine, in relation to 
 the effects caused by " credenciveness," or the " apprehension " of the 
 patient ; effects which have been well known to all persons familiar with 
 mind ever since the world was made, and which Mr. G. so gravely thinks 
 no one ever knew before himself! I noticed them in my work simply 
 for the purpose of illustrating certain laws of the mind, which I had 
 attempted to arrange and classify in my Theory. And now, two years 
 after the announcement of my Theory, this writer, " while engaged in 
 performing experiments," makes and solemnly announces a most im- 
 portant and wonderful discovery of precisely the same thing ! 
 
 I have already quoted an argument he uses against Dr. Buchanan's 
 theory, (page 282,) and shown that the same argument was used two 
 years before, in my work, which Mr. Grimes says he had read " care- 
 fully." And, on pages 40, 41, he gives an explanation of Witchcrafl, 
 which he had " read carefully" in my book, page 210, On page 226, 
 he attempts to show how it is that " whole communities " are often 
 affected by sympathy and imitation, as if this explanation of those 
 strange results had never been thought of before ; but turn to my work, 
 pages 51 and 57, inclusive, and you will find the same explanation 
 had already been given, and which Mr. Grimes had " carefully read." 
 His illustrations of the clairvoyant power by " instinct," (page 232,) may 
 be found in my book, pages 213 and 214. 
 
 Mr. G. not only labors hard to establish his own priority of claim to 
 certain discoveries, but he puts forth certain claims in behalf of others, 
 which are equally unfounded, as the reader may see. Speaking of the 
 excitement of the separate cerebral organs, he says : — 
 
 " There is no evidence that Sunderland or Buchanan made their experiments 
 before the spring of 1841, whereas Mr. Garfield made his known to me in the 
 
46 CRITICAL REMARKS. 
 
 previous winter, so that if there is any honor in the priority, it belongs of right 
 to Mr. Garfield."—^. 238. 
 
 I have already referred to the places in my book, from which it will 
 be seen that I do not make any claims to priority, like those Mr. Grimes 
 represents ; and on page 141 he will find that I gave Dr. Cleaveland, of 
 Providence, R. I., the credit of having excited the cerebral organs by 
 this agency, as long ago as 1837, five years before the time when this 
 writer tells us it was first done by Mr. Garfield. Mr. Grimes must have 
 known this fact. Mr. G. refers to the first volume of the Magnet, for 
 what he says of my " claims " to priority ; and this, too, while he had 
 my work on Pathetism before him, in which I disclaimed every thing of 
 the kind, except what I have stated in the preface, page 7. 
 
 The following extracts are sufficient to show that Mr. G. has a little 
 self-esteem, as well as " credenciveness : " 
 
 " Mr. George Combe had just arrir3d in this country, at the time when my 
 work was issued, and 1 was desirous to receive his sanction of the new doctrines 
 which I had advanced. But, before I had an opportunity to make his acquaint- 
 ance, I learned that he considered my new system as dangerous to his own per- 
 sonal ambition; — under these circumstances, I declined his acquaintance." 
 P- 12. 
 
 •' I believe that I am the first who has attempted to show their fallacy." — 
 p. 281. 
 
 "I believe that I am the first to attempt to give an explanation, and on this 
 ground I claim some indulgence." — p. 300. 
 
 The above forcibly reminds one of the lion in the verses of Sir Rich- 
 ard Blackmore — 
 
 " The lordly lion looked so wondrous grim, 
 His very shadow durst not follow him." 
 
 Mr. Grimes seems to feel extreme mortification that neither " Fowler, 
 Buchanan, nor Sunderland," had ever read his work on Phrenology ! 
 and he charges them with appropriating his phrenological discoveries in 
 terms indicative of great wrath : — 
 
 " The reader may, perhaps, suppose that these great discoverers, when they 
 found that they had previously done me injustice, were prompt in acknowledge- 
 ments, and loud in their proclamations of my priority and correctness. My 
 dear reader, let me assure you that, on the contrary, they have forgotten, or 
 never knew, that such a work as that of mine was ever published." [! ! !] p. 245. 
 
CRITICAL REMARKS. 47 
 
 For Messrs, Fowler and Buchanan I cannot speak ; but for myself, I 
 am under the disagreeable and painful necessity of confessing to you, 
 that I never did know, previous to reading the above humiliating an- 
 nouncement, " that such a work " as that referred to by the said J. 
 Stanley Grimes, " loas ever published." Indeed, I scarcely knew that 
 such a man as this Mr. Grimes had ever existed ; his book I never read, 
 never saw it, that I know of, and, though I perceive that this want of 
 knowledge on my part is a cause of poignant grief to the said Mr. 
 Grimes, for the life of me I cannot tell how he may find relief, unless he 
 should set his " credenciveness " to work, and " induct " his good sense 
 enough to counteract the undue development of his self-esteem. In 
 that case he might, perhaps, upon mature reflection, come to the grave 
 conclusion, that there may be a very few other blockheads in this 
 world, who, indeed, never did know, that the said J. Stanley Grimes, 
 " Etherologist," " Counsellor at Law," " President of the Buffalo Phre- 
 nological Society," " Professor of Medical Jurisprudence," and " Author 
 of a New System of Phrenology," had condescended to enlighten the 
 world upon this or any other subject. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 019 953 49il 
 
 Preparing for the Press. 
 
 PATHETISM; 
 
 A NEW THEORY OF MIND. 
 
 ILLUSTRATING THE 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF HUMAN INFLUENCE AND ACTION, THE 
 
 SUSCEPTIBILITIES AND POWERS OF THE NERVOUS 
 
 SYSTEM, AND GIVING THE RATIONALE OF 
 
 LIFE AND HEALTH, 
 
 SLEEP, DREAMING, SOMNAMBULISM, TRANCE, ECSTACY, SPEC- 
 TRAL ILLUSIONS, VISIONS, INSANITY, CHARMS, WITCH- 
 CRAFT, SECOND-SIGHT, SPELLS, ENCHANTMENTS, 
 FASCINATION, DOUBLE CONSCIOUSNESS, HAL- 
 LUCINATION, DELUSION, INSTINCT or CLAIR- 
 VOYANCE, PRESENTIMENTS, 
 
 AND EVERY SENSATION, EMOTION, CONCEPTION, PERCEPTION, AND CON- 
 DITION, PECITLIAR TO 
 
 MIND; 
 
 TOGETHER WITH THE 
 
 EXTRAORDINARY PHENOMENA 
 
 Prevalent among the Ancient Egyptians, the Hindoos, Mohammedans, 
 Anabaptists, French Prophets, Ranters, Roman Catholics, Shaking 
 Quakers, Mormons, and other Sects, which have hitherto been considered 
 
 SUPERNATURAL OR MIRACULOUS, 
 
 And many similar and strange results sometimes connected with Reli- 
 gious, Political, and various other excitements, showing the nature of 
 Moral, Sympathetic, Mania, Temptations, the Principles concerned in 
 the Formation of Character, and the pursuit of the highest good, includ- 
 ing whatever relates to 
 
 PHRENOLOGY, PATHOGNOMY, PHYSIOGNOMY, 
 
 AND THE TRUE SCIENCE OF LIFE. 
 
 BY LA ROY SUNDERLAND. 
 
 " There cannot be a sounder maxim of reasoning, than that which points out to us the error of 
 attributing the phenomena that occur to remote and extraordinary causes, when they may, with equal 
 propriety, be referred to causes which obviously exist, and the results of which we daliy observe." 
 
 1 
 
 < 
 
 I 
 
 With Appendices, containing critical remarks on the Theories of Mesmer, 
 Townshend, Braid, Dr. Buchanan, J. S. Grimes, and others, and showing the 
 Philosophy of Religion, in its adaptation to the constitutional susceptibilities of 
 the Human Mind» &c. &c. 
 
He 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 III 
 
 019 953 493 2 
 
 Hollinger Corp. 
 pH 8.5