Animal Magnetism

Animal Magnetism, Hypnotism, Mesmerism, Electro-biology, Odylism, names given to a group of phenomena which are at present but little understood, and which have unfortunately received much more attention from those who have sought to employ them as a means of imposing upon the ignorant and credulous, than from earnest men studying the subject in a scientific spirit.

The title Animal Magnetism is a bad one, and was derived from the fanciful supposition that one person could influence the actions of another by means of a certain mysterious influence which was compared to that of a magnet; it is now, however, known that the phenomena are due to perverted action on the part of the subject, and not to any magnetic or mesmeric force emanating from the operator.

Of course, cures have been ascribed from time immemorial to supernatural agencies, the crowds who flocked to be "touched" for king's evil representing a survival of such notions to quite recent times; it was only, however, rather more than a century ago that the question assumed its modern form. Frederick Anton Mesmer, who was born in 1733, and who studied medicine at Vienna, was the originator of the notion of a magnetic fluid, or influence, by means of which he declared himself capable of producing the magnetic state in others, a process which resulted in their being cured of any form of disease from which they might happen to suffer.

His treatment of patients in Paris excited much controversy, and for a time crowds flocked to him to be magnetised. About thirty people at a time were seated around what was called the "baquet" or trough, the surroundings being full of mystery, a dim light, strange odours, and the sounds of music being employed, while Mesmer himself walked about attired like a magician. Such was the attention directed to the supposed miraculous cures effected, that the French Government appointed a commission of inquiry to investigate the results. In an elaborate report which was drawn up by this body, some of the effects claimed to have been produced were admitted, but they were attributed to the working of a highly wrought imagination in susceptible subjects, rather than to any magnetic influence.

No more light was thrown upon the question until Braid, a Manchester surgeon, commenced to study the subject in 1841. This observer showed that the mesmeric sleep could be produced by inducing exhaustion of the retina and eye muscles by causing the subject to gaze in a constrained position at some bright object. He employed his method in several forms of disease, and published a series of observations on the use of hypnotism as a curative agent. His work was a great advance on that of previous experimenters, as he did not attempt to throw any halo of mystery around what he did.

Heidenhain of Breslau, Charcot at the Salpetriere in Paris, and Liebault of Nancy are the most recent serious workers in the same field, all these observers of course denying that there is any marvellous element in the phenomena of hypnotism. The ordinary phenomena witnessed in the hypnotic state are as follows: - The condition is produced usually by prolonged gazing at a bright object, some observers attaching importance to the "passes" made with the operator's hands. After a time a kind of sleep is induced, which differs from ordinary sleep in that the subject will respond to "suggestions" made by the operator. Thus he may be made to drink castor oil under the impression that it is a refreshing beverage, and to perform many other anomalous actions, for the most part of an exceedingly useless nature. In spite of the trivial character of many of the experiments - and the practice of hypnotism seems to be inevitably associated with an element of practical joking - there can be no doubt that in suitable subjects these phenomena of suggestion are occasionally genuine.

It is claimed that by suggesting to a paralysed man that he can walk, or by suggesting to a drunkard that he should avoid alcohol, and the like, much good may be done; it is needless, however, to observe that no organic disease was ever cured by hypnotism; the patient's trouble must be one of moral weakness, or his disease of a hysterical, or to use less objectionable terms, neuromimetic or functional character, for him to obtain any benefit from suggestion. Again, the marvel, if marvel there be, lies in the patient and not in any mysterious influence exerted by the operator; and moreover the existence of cures of this description is no new thing. Moral influence wrought the cure of functional disease long before Mesmer ever conceived the idea of magnetic influence.

A curious class of phenomena observed in the hypnotic state are the rigidities of body and the way in which muscles will maintain a condition of contraction impossible in the ordinary conscious condition. Again, certain abnormalities of sensation may be present: anaesthesia is common, colour blindness may occur, and so on. All these phenomena are familiar enough apart from hypnotism. nevertheless some interest attaches to their mode of development and to the changes which can be rung upon them in suitable subjects.

Charcot's followers have gone so far as to describe three different states of hypnotism: lethargy, catalepsy, and artificial somnambulism; hitherto, however, this classification has not been accepted by other observers.

It may be taken for granted that most people can be hypnotised, provided they submit themselves to the extremely exhausting process described by Braid. After a time the hypnotic state comes, it is said, to be quite readily assumed, and in a small proportion of people this may be the case from the first; particularly does this seem to hold in France. The net result of experiments hitherto made seems to be, however, that in submitting to the process a very undesirable susceptibility may be induced, and the benefits claimed to accrue from suggestions made in the hypnotic state cannot be said to rest on any secure foundation of well-ascertained fact.