Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1843-07-14

formed Exactly the same cures, of which he
published full account in his work called
"Ofthe Imagination, as cause and cure Of
disorders, cxcmpllfed BY fictitious Tractors.
Bath, (Eng.) 1900" Pieces of rusty iron
we're used by other individuals for the same
purpose, and were the means of relieving if
not permanently curing number Of cases of
chronic diseases, which had obstinately re-
fused to yield to medicine!
In Mather's Magnalia, and works publish
ed at the same period, written by learned
and good men. we see the most strong and
convincing evidence in the shape of stubborn
facts, adduced to prove the actual existence
of witchcraf. What share the imagination
may have had in establishing this testimony
we will not venture to say, but the facts re-
corded in favor of witchcrafts and believed
to have occurred by many highly respecta-
BILE persons of both sexes, were as conclusive
as any thing which has been brought for
ward in support Of what is called Animal
Magnetism at the present day.
DR.. Miller, celebrated German author,
in an able work on Physiology, thus speaks
of the influence ofthe Imagination:
The influence of ideas upon the body
gives rise to great variety of phenomena,
which border on the marvellous. 1t may be
stated as general fact, that any state of the
body, which is conceived to be approaching,
and which is expected with perfect conf
dence and certainty of its occurrence, will
be very prone to ensue as the mere result OF
that idea, if it do not lie without the bounds
| oc ,,oe,,l,l;t,, IT,, h,,D ID,
tet, in his observations on nitrous oxide, may
be adduced as an illustration of such pheno-
mena. A young lady, Miss B., wished to
inspire this intoxicating gas; but in order to
test the power of the imagination, common
atmospheric air was given TO her instead OF
the nitrous oxide. She had scarcely taken
two or three inspirations of it, when she fe
into state of syncope, which she had never
suffered previously; she soon recovered"
DR.. Miller is evidently no believer in ami.
NAL Magnetism, as will be seen by the fol.
lowing extract from his work:
"Among the well a,tested facts of physi
ology, there is not one to support the belle
that one nerve of sense can assume the func.
tions of another. The exaggeration of the
sense of touch in the blind, will not in these
days be called seeing with the fingers; the
accounts Of the power of vision by the finger
and epigastrium, said to be possessed in the
so called magnetic state, appear to be mere
fables. and the instances in which it has beer
pretended to practise IT, cases Of deception.
1t appears from the report of the Frencl
commissioners, appointed in 1884, TO nves
tigate the subject of animal magnetism as in
troduced by Mesmer, and among who's,
members we're Bailey, Lavoiser, and gu
own Franklin, that Imagination was respon
sible for many singular results, which wer
ascribed to animal magnetism. The com
mittee in the conclusion of their report sa,
-" that there is no proof of the existence O
a universal fluid, or magnetic power, exccp
from its effects on human bodies that thes
effects can be produced without passes, o
other magnetic manipulalions; that thos
manpulations alone are insufficient to pro
duce the effects, if employed without the pa
tents knowledge-that, therefore, imagina
ton will, and animal magnetism will not, &C
count for the result produced" We do no
wish TO be understood as expressing an opln
ion that all the effects produced by what
now called Mesmerism, are brought about b.
operating on the Imagination exclusively
Some of them arc, perhaps, of nature,
accurately detailed, to preclude the possibili
ty of such course. Nevertheless, we be
leve tina, the foregoing facts show that man
of the cases, published as illustrating tn
wonders Of animal magnetism, in all its pha
ses, and vouched for by persons of rcspccta
bility, may have been, and in all probabilt
were produced by The power of the imagina
ton over the physical facuties-the powo
of the MIND over the body.-Boston Jou,