The herald., 1896-12-13
THE HISTORY Of HYPNOT|SM
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time OF the race, DefOre the blight or
materialism had nipped the human flow
er, many diseases of mankind were
cured through magnetic processes by
the initiated priests. often referred to
as "magicians." In India and in Egypt
the same system was exercised. Later,
similar means, more or less modified,
were in vogue among the Greek oracles.
and Roman sibyls. Cloaked in the allie
gories so much used in ancient times, it
was claimed by the profane that the
initiated obtained the curative powers
from the potent breath Of Cybele, the
many-breasted goddess, the daughter
Of Coelus and Terra, the names being
highly suggestive in themselves. The
genealogy of Cybele and the myths in
which she was clothed, indicated that
she was the personification and type of
the vital essence, whose fountain head
was believed by the ancients to be the
space between the earth and the vaulted
dome of the celestial sphere; all that
lives and breathes drawing their vital
ity from that source.
Tracing then, as we can, the influence
of magnetism away back into the dim
ages, we find that the subject which is
before US for consideration tonight Is
as old as the hills, yes, even older, as old
as old age, for according to arcane
knowledge magnetism is one Of the sons
Of Fohat.
fore, that subject of such hoary an
tiQuity has accumulated a mass of facts
which will require some time and some
patience to examine, and a paper like
the present can do little more than pre-
sent an epitome of the question. But
the attrition of dispute has torn away
the moss of ignorance from the rock of
truth during the last century, and we of
today are in better position to regain
some of the lost arcane knowledge of
the golden age than were those who eX-
amined the subject under the rush-light
Of materialism.
The question of animal magnetism,
although again and again disclaimed by
learned bodies, has again and again re-
asserted itself, meeting both defeat and
victory in the scientific arena. 1t will
eventually triumph, and with the rise
of spirituality it will be factor in bring
ing about the Waterloo of blind physi-
cal science. 1t is now claimed by some
advocates that it was due to lack of
method that animal magnetism was not
admitted to place among the sciences
at an earlier date, yet, be that as it may,
while the phenomena of animal magnet
ism is now fully admitted by science,
yet she is as far as ever from a salts
factory solution of the question.
In the days of old when women and
children in Egypt were wont to be in
the process was referred to as magic"
$50, too. analogous or similar states of
mesmerism or hypnotism were known
as fascination or enchantment.T Through
out all time and in all countries phe-
nonlena, more or less allied, indicating
magic, black or white, have occurred
amusing, startling, horrifying or edify-
ing the people. In Babylon there was a
belief in the spirits; the Witch of Endor
conjured the shadows of the dead, among
the Israelites; at the bottom of well
in the temple of Ceres, in Achaia was a
mirror in which the priests could pro-
duce the image of the sick for whom
cure was sought. In the temple of Apol-
10, in Delphi. the priestess was seated
on a tripod, placed over a chasm in the
ground from which vapors of sulphur
arose, and during the trance which fol-
lowed the inhalation of the gas (preceded
by fasting and mortifcation) she trans
mitted her oracies. The Greek and Ro-
man sibyls are said to have been clair
voyant but to our scientific friends of to-
day the tricks and skill of the Indian
fakir are the most wonderful and avow-
ed to even transcend the limits of "or-
dinary" hypnotism.
In the middle ages, while modern
science was sleeping in it's swaddling
clothes, and mankind was held in sub
lection by venal priesthood, all those
who possessed or exercised the powers
referred to above, good or bad, were de-
clared to be children of the, devil, and
all those who were possessed or be-
Witched, in the opinion of the high and
mighty church, suffered under the lash
of persecution, but it is an old tale and
shall not detain us. We merely remark
in passing that in the year 1900 it was
recorded that in France alone there were
100000 witches, and it was in the tortur-
ing of these poor creatures that many
of the phases now recognized as accom-
panying the hypnotic state, were wit
messed.
But we linger too long on the thresh-
hold; let us come at once to Mesmer
himself, and afterwards fill in the gaps.
Frederick Anton Mesmer was born in
the year 1874, in village on Lake Con-
stance, in Germany;he pursued his stud
les in his native country and was re-
ceived as a doctor OF medicine by the
faculty in Vienna, taking for the sub
ject Of his graduating thesis, in 1866, The
Influence of the Planets in the Cure
OF Diseases.
A large curative establishment was
founded by Mesmer in Vienna, in which
he employed, besides magnetism, cleo
tricity, metals and a variety of woods.
His fundamental doctrine he had bor-
rowed from the alchemists. 1t was his
belief that metals, as also woods and
plants, have all an affinity with and
Dear a close relation 10 lHe human Or
ganism Everything in the universe has
developed from one homogeneous, pri-
mordial substance, differentiated into
tncalculable species of matter; aud
everything is destined to return there
into. He maintained that the secret of
healing lies in the correspondence and
affinities between kindred atoms. Find
that metal, stone, wood or plant that has
the most correspondence affinity with
the body of the sufferer, and whether
through internal or external use, that
particular agent, imparting to the pa
tient additional strength to fight dis
ease, and to eXpel it, will lead invariably
to his cure. 1t is related that many and
marvellous were the cures effected by
Mesmer, he, himself, among the number,
suffering from acute rheumatism, cured
1t completely by using specially pre-
pared magnets. In 1774 he happened up
on the theurgic secret of direct vital
transmission, and so highly interested
was he that he abandoned all his old
methods to devote himself entirely to the
new discovery. Henceforth he mesmer-
ized by gaze and by passes, the natural
magnets being abandoned. The mys-
terious effects of such manipulations ne
called animal magnetism. Disciples
fiocked to him; experiments were
made in every town and city, and every
where the new" force proved, a fact and
a success; the whole world wanted to be
magnetized and Mesmer tried to do II.
He summed up his theory in twenty
seven propositions, and addressed him