Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-03-01
In years; and they covered him with
clothes. but he gat no heat

him: Let there be sought for my Lord
the king young virgin: and let her
stand before the king, and let her
cherish him. and let her lie in thy bosom
that my lord the king may get heat.
$50 they sought for fair damsel
throughout all the coasts of Israel. and
found Abishag, Shunamite, and brought
her to the king
cherished the king, and ministered to him;
but the king knew her not" Il Kings,
i:4)
Whether We consider it as purely the
result of suggestion or as dependent upon
the balancing up of forces In living or
ganisms. undoubtedly there is a benefit
to the old derivable from their associa-
ton with the young, and this Is true gen.
orally. without reference to the special
method described. So far as the facts are
cognizable such associations are without
detriment to the young. On the contrary.
they must prove mutually beneficial where
the parties are healthy and sane. That
this was not always believed In early Pc
RODS is fairly attributable to the fact that
perfect health was OF rarer occurrence
then than now-and that is saying much
and also to the earliest theory of the real
nature of life. The animistic doctrine
formulated by Stahl G69D. that the vital
principle and soul are Identical. seems
tive people. This doctrine contemplated
the soul as something different and dis
tinct from the body, and as constituting
the. innermost essence of every living
volved the belief that the soul or life
could be increased or diminished by occult
forces. usually regarded as spiritual
emanations from persons living or dead;
various doctrines of spirit agency. As
an example of the beneficial effects as
cribed to emanatiOns may be cited the
inscription found at Rome:
To Aesculapius and Health
Who lived CIV years days
By the breath Of young maids.
To be sure this does not inform us how
the young maids were affected, but the
presumption Is that they were unframed.
The case of Artefius affords an example
of the opposite sort. He Is said to have
invented cabaliStic magnet which pos
sessed the extraordinary power OF at
tracing the mysterious aura or spiritual
emanations out of young persons, which.
diffused through his own waning frame.
caused him to become periodically reJuve-
mated. 1.-The individual owners of this
new, fresh life" says Hargrave Jennings
in his history of 1.-The Rosicrucfans," 'suf-
fered in proportion to the extent In which
ne preyed vitality upon them. and some of
them were exhausted by this enchanter,
and died This was because their fresh
young vitality~had been unconsciously
drawn out of them in his baneful. devour-
ing sicety. which was unsupported be-
cause it was delightful. Now this seems
absurd: but it Is not as absurd as we
suppose
Mesmerism.
The positive form of this method.
where the subject is the presumed bene-
ficiary of the action of the person or
thing from whom or from which the
emanations proceed, is called the mag
netic or mesmeric method. Fred. Anth.
Mesmer. born in Switzerland in 1874. set
tied In Vienna, where he had graduated
in medicine and. shortly afterward pub
lished treatise ron the Influence of the
Planets on the Human Body" This
aroused so much ridfcule among his pro-
fessional brethren that Mesmer. in con-
nection with learned Jesuit, Macmillan
Helb native of Hungary, turned his at
tention to the use of the magnet in the
cure of disease. and for prolonging life.
Practically this was a deviation from a
much older method, that of laying On OF
hands-a shifting of the benefits con-
ferred. from the operator to the magnet;
though it was not very long before the
operator was recognized as the source OF
the emanationS. Some of the best sur
gical writer's of his day are authority for
the statement that Charles II cured at
least 1900 persons by the laying on OF
hands, and as many cures probably
were attributed to Mesmer and his mag
net Facts such as are connected with
mesmeric influences, have been noted from
the earliest times Asclepiades, who, We
are informed. attained prominence at
Rome as q physician, prescribed friction
in chronic and nervous affections. which
were continued till the patient fell asleep.
Magnetic cures are mentioned by the his
torians Tacitus and Suetonius as having
been performed at Alexandria by the En-
peror Vespasian. The Brahniins OF India,
the Chaldean priests and Parsees of Per-
STA practiced similar modes of treatment:
and, according to Sprengel, Jesuit mis-
sionaries report this method as formerly
in use throughout the whole Chinese en-
pire. At the beginning of the middle ages,
Inquiries were rife along this line or In
vestigation. The power OF the Will ana
the effects of metallic substances upon the
human frame were among the chief top
les of interest
AS illustrating the power OF concen-
trated will ST. Augustine records some
surprising cases in his work, DE CiVltate
Del" one of a man who could perspire
whenever he chose. and another of a
priest called Restitutus, who, by his own
volition could put himself into state
where no trace of life could be discovered
Avicenna, in his DE Animalibus." mar
rates case of a man who could paralyze
his limbs at will Petrus POmponatius
treats of the magnet and magnetic treat
ment in his work on lamentations" pub
lished in 1867, and other works of that
character were written by Goclenius
Kircher, Van Helmont. Sir .kenelm Dig
by. William Maxwell. Burgraave. Wirdig.
Bohnius. Vaninius. Agrippa Christopher
Irving. Papin. Fluid and Greatrakes. The
publicati ton of MesmerS work "Memoire
sur la DiScouverte du Magnetisme Ami
NAL giving rise to conflicting opinions
TT, De-