Magic, Witchcraft, Animal Magnetism, Hypnotism and Electro-Biology

This is a reproduction of a library book that was digitized by Google as part of an ongoing effort to preserve the information in books and make it universally accessible. https://books.google.com |G-NRLF ||||I|| * * B 51D * - 5 B E R K E L E Y LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA This is an authorized facsimile of the original book, and was produced in 1975 by microfilm-xerography by Xerox University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.A. ♦ .MAGIC, WITCHCRAFT, ANIMAL MAGNETISM, HYPNOTISM, AND ELECTEO-BIOLOGT; BEING A DIGEST OF THE LATEST VIEWS OP THE AUTHOR ON THESE SUBJECTS. / JAMES BRAID, M.R.C.S. Emh., C.M.W.S., Ac. y, THIRD EDITION^ GREATLY ENLARGED, lL ~> XHBUCIXO OBSIETIIIOIH OH J. C. COLQUHOUN'S "HISTOBY OF MAGIC," Ao. 'uacoi run, amicus iocutu, iid mioii ahica niiru." LONDON: JOHN CHUBCHILL, PEINCES 8TBBET, SOHO. ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK, EDINBURGH. 1852. BFII3/ & 7 30 ft*. "SO MEN OF I1HJEPENDENT HABITS OF THOUOIIT CAJf BE DRIVES WTO BELIEF: THEIR BEASOX MUST BE AITEALED TO, ASD T1IEIR objections CALMLY vet." — Brit, and For. Hcd.'Chir. Sevica. PREFACE. In the first edition of these " Observations," I merely intended to shield myself against the more important points upon which I considered Mr. Colquhoun had misrepresented me. In the second edition I went more into detail, and quoted additional authorities in support of my theory of the nature, cause., and extent of hypnotic or mesmeric phenomena. In the third edition I have gone so much more into detail, as to furnish a periscope or vidimus of my views on all the moro important points of the hypnotic and mesmeric speculations. By this means, after perusal of a mesmeric manual, any intelligent person can easily compare the two systems, and determine for himself which he most approves of; and by this means, moreover, I am malcing up, in some measure, for -. N V vnr.r j. the delay in the publication of another edition of my work on hypnotism, which has long been out of print, and so frequently called for. That call I hope shortly to be able to respond to, with such fulness of detail as the importance of the subject merits ; more particularly as regards its practical application to the relief and cure of some forms of disease, of which numerous interesting examples will be adduced. BrnuKOTOx House, Oxford Stree!, Manehester, Feb. 20, 1852. 7915 OBSERVATIONS ON J. C. COLQUHOUN'S HISTORY OF MAGIC, &c. A work in two volumes has just issued from the press, entitled “An IIistory of Magic, Witchcraft, and Animal Magnetism, by J. C. Colquhoun, Esq., author of “Isis Revelata, &c.” The author has brought a flood of light to bear upon his subject, and has produced a book which will amply repay any one for its perusal, being agreeably and ably written, and embodying much matter which is both entertaining and instructive. Still there are some parts of the book which I must dissent from, both as to the matter and manner in which subjects are treated, and the inferences which the learned and ingenious author has drawn from certain premises. There is one topic, in particular, which Mr. Colquhoun has undertaken to discuss, which, in my humble opinion, had better have been left in a profound magnetic slumber,—and that is his attempt to prove that there is no reality in the belief in the mythos of the Devil—that there is no such per sonage as his Satanic Majesty—and that his existence is a mere allegory of Pagan or Zoroastric origin, borrowed by the Jews from that source, and introduced by them into the sacred scriptures. At pp. 258-9, Vol. I., Mr. C. says: “We formerly observed that the actual existence of such a personage as the Devil was not originally a Jewish, but a Zoroastric motion—a 4 Chaldean or Babylonish hallucination—which had been borrowed by that people (the Jew") and transferred into their religious code at or after their captivity end exile. Even the doctrine of good and bad angels, and their continual interference in the affairs of this sublunary sphere, appears to have been derived from the same source. Ideas of this nature, however, besides being unwarranted, are calculated to per vert religion, and to embarrass and distort the minds of mankind. * * The metaphorical notion of the Devil himself, in the conceptions of mankind, is generally admitted, by all cultivated minds, to represent the evil and perverse dispositions which deform the nature of man, or the diseases, moral or physical, by which human beings may be afflicted.” For my own part, I cannot see how these views can be entertained, without rejecting the obvious interpretation of various important parts of scripture. Nor can I approve of his contrasting cures by prophets and apostles with mesmeric processes and cures. Mr. Atkinson and Miss II. Martineau lately attempted to persuade mankind that their mesmeric researches had enabled them to conne to the conclusion that there was no God, that man had no immortal soul, and that there was no future state of existence after death. For this, Mr. Colquhoun rated them right well, and most deservedly so, as I thought. Now, however, he himself, although a reli gious and Christian man, puts forth the above opinions, which will be startling to many, and may raise an unmerited prejudice in the minds of some against the whole inquiry, as leading to unchristian, unscriptural principles; and will, no doubt, ensure for the learned gentleman and his science, the benefit of clergy. The great object of Mr. Colquhoun's investigations has been to prove, by drawing from the history of all people, and of all times, that phenomena, similar to those which have been recognised in later times as producible at will in cer tain individuals, by what have been termed the processes of animal magnetism, have existed and been recognised from 6 the earlicst ages, in every elime, and amongst every people, under various designations ; oecurring spontaneously, or from unknown causes oecasionally; at other times brought into play from religious or political excitement, and then diffused extensively through the power of sympathy and imitation ; on other oecasious and places, as the result of mystical pro cesses, as in the temples, for tho purposes of divination, soothsaying, or the cure of diseases, &c. &c. Having proved the existenee of such conditions for so long a period, and oecurring under such divers cireumstanees, and so univer sally diffused, the learned author contends that they ought the more readily to be admitted in our own time, when so much bctter understood, and more readily produced by known processes. Mr. C.'s examples, instead of opposing, actually furnish strong support to my subjective or personal theory. In the case of the Convulsionurics of St. Medard, in particular, I would beg leave to ask how a nervous or vital foree could have passed from the ashes of the buried saint, and produced the effects realised at the grave of the Abbe Paris? Mental emotion, imitation, nnd faith or confidence, however, were quite adequate to aecount for all which was there manifested.* * Allusion to this f st inordinary epidemic has recalled to my mind certain reflections which occurred to mo on reading Mr. Newnham'a well-written work on " Ilumnn Magnctism," which waa published in 1845. Whilst I willingly admit that Mr. Ncwnbam's work was agrec ably and pleasantly — indecd, elegantly, written, and that ho made the most of tho materials at his disposal for tho support of tho magnctic theory, still, I euspect that he was then more of a theorctical than a pract ical magnetist, — that he had read much on the subject, and taken for granted, as true, tho objective theory of tho mesmerists, and con tented himself with merely substituting the phraseology, "communi cation of tho exuberant life of tho healthy, to repair and tuttain the deficicnt vitality of the nick," for the old term, the transmission of a *r 6 In a little brochure which I published in 1850, entitled “Observations on Trance, or Human Hybernation,” the following remarks occurred:—“I believe that the great magnetic or mesmeric fluid from the body of the operator to that of the patient. Thus, at page 17, Mr. Newnham says:—“Magnetism may be said to be the medicine of nature—to consist in the communication of the exuberant life of the healthy, to repair and sustain the deficient vitality of the sick. * * * * This is a most important principle (Mr. N. adds), and in various ways will come before us, in several stages of our future remarks; but as it is the key-stone of the arch upon which rests the security of all future reasoning, it is now especially mentioned, that at every subsequent page it may be carried with us as our guide through doubtful or intricate passages.” Mr. Newnham was well aware of the scenes enacted at the grave of the Abbé Pâris, at St. Medard. He knew that it was notorious that numerous important cures occurred there to patients whose cases had resisted all ordinary treatment; and even after the cemetery was shut up, that cures occurred to patients at their own homes, simply by addressing fervent prayers to the Saint, in firm faith and confidence in his power and will to cure them; that in other cases the cures were effected by add ing to the prayers the efficacy of some visible and tangible agency, such as a sacred relic, or a particle of earth said to have been taken from his grave, or by drinking a little water said to have been brought from a well near the resting place of the mortal remains of the Holy Deacon.

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