Appendix II. On Animal Magnetism

276. • The inventor of animal magnetism is said to be Antonius Mesmer, a German physician, who, seeking new methods of curing, thought that he had found a marvelous means of various diseases in a certain most subtle flux generally emanating from the bodies of animals ¹, similar to the flux of a magnet, which therefore he called animal magnetism.

¹ According to others, Mesmer fashioned for himself, or rather dreamed, the hypothesis of I know not what fluid, which would pervade and occupy not only animals, but absolutely all bodies. But concerning the very many things which he himself added about driving away diseases by the help of this fantastic fluid, all indeed very ridiculous, there is no need to say anything; for they lie buried with their author, his disciples having turned to other things.

The magnetic flux is supposed ² to flow from the body of the magnetizer of the one magnetizing into the body of the one magnetized by the help of various gestures and touches of one upon the other, indeed by the act of presence alone, or of the will alone of the agent; nor rarely, as they say, especially the first time, the express will of the patient is required.

² Here A. touches only a peculiar opinion of certain persons. For it is known that the crowd of those who undertook to profess an art of this kind and to say something for defending it went away into the most disparate inventions. And some indeed, called spiritualists, attributed all phenomena solely to certain spirits, and for that reason rejected as mere impostures whatever else others bring forth on this matter. Others repeat all things from the will alone of the agent or (as they say) magnetizer, and ascribe to impostures whatever is added concerning some material intermediary as if it were the cause of the phenomena. Others, on the contrary, contend that the effects are obtained by the force of some material medium; but even among these, some devised a certain magnetic fluid, others a nervous fluid, others a biotic or vital fluid, others also an electric fluid, each according to his pleasure and the force of imagination. Meanwhile, however (which indeed is most worthy of note), whatever they are accustomed to boast about their own fluid, whether magnetic, nervous, or biotic, they have nevertheless not yet brought forward even the least thing by which they prove the existence of this fluid and its emanation from bodies, or that their effect has its origin from causes of this kind. Hence A. excellently said that this fluid is supposed to flow from bodies, but by no means established. And indeed this one thing at last they chatter fearlessly, each on behalf of his own fluid or on behalf of the force of the commanding will: that those phenomena are due to the fluid devised by him; so that if perhaps you ask why this man attributes them to biotic fluid, that man to nervous fluid, those men to magnetic fluid, or what indication there is of a cause of this kind, you will find all mute, as fishes; and by wholly equal right you will decide that you can ascribe the effects to air, or heat, or oxygen. For the rest, it is indeed no wonder that in all these things certain monsters of systems are exhibited, in which there is nothing solid, nothing coherent with itself, nothing which savors of logic. For men of such a kind did not apply hand or labor to constructing them, who, accustomed to exact disciplines and cultivated by solid sciences, would know the philosophical manner of arranging things, which requires that certain principles and facts be established beforehand, from which afterward certain conclusions are deduced through the severe laws of logic; the matter is, namely, with a band of men from the lowest plebeian class of physicians, who proceed by almost that method which street jugglers also are accustomed to use. And hence it has happened that whatever at last they boasted, either by proclaiming or by writing, concerning fluids of this kind and their marvelous powers, all these things were received with laughter and contempt by the Academies of sciences, as many as are in Europe, and were sent away to charlatans.

Three principal effects or degrees of magnetism are exhibited: 1º the state of sleep, in which the senses are entirely lulled, as in natural sleep ³; 2º the state of somnambulism, in which someone, wholly destitute of the use of the senses, nevertheless sees, hears, speaks, and responds to all things which are asked of him; 3º marvelous knowledge of his own state and of remedies suitable to his diseases, as well as the vision of actions of other men even far distant, and of all those things which are being done both near and far.

³ Take the comparison between natural sleep and this artificial sleep only as to some general stupor of the senses. For otherwise stupor differs from stupor by the whole heaven. And indeed, is that done concerning natural sleep which we have concerning artificial sleep also in the Postulate of the Bishop of Lausanne (below n. 280.), when someone enters into that state of stupor, that neither the greatest crash at his ears, nor any vehemence of iron or fire can rouse him? See Caroli (Del Magnetismo Animale Part. 1. Cap. 9. n. 30.), who, after reviewing manifold difference between sleep and sleep, deservedly concludes after others that this artificial stupor does not properly merit even the name of sleep, with which, namely, it has nothing common.

Theologians and physicians have gone into three opinions ⁴, which we shall briefly report with their principal reasons.

⁴ Deservedly A. passes over a fourth opinion, namely of some, who wished either to reject as fables, or to have believed as impostures and mere prestiges of jugglers, the marvelous phenomena of magnetism, as many as are narrated. Thus, for example, Debreyne, whose wares someone thought it worth the labor to transport even into our Italy. To the other miseries, namely, this also was added by bad fate, that where it was most necessary to rouse the common vigilance, lest this plague spread more widely, these men with entirely notable imprudence directed all their cares to lulling men to sleep, thinking, as it seems, that they had won singular praise for themselves in the critical art, while in reality they were able to bring back only the mark of marvelous simplicity.

277. • The 1st OPINION rejects and execrates magnetism in every case as a diabolical work; for those marvelous effects, they say, can be traced back neither to God nor to nature.

1º Not from God. For who ever of sound mind would fashion for himself God as so obeying the nod of a man, even an impious man, that when he requires it, God immediately concurs in things so prodigious, and changes the laws established by himself, as often as it has pleased man? Can God, contrary to the order of things, be compelled by human will to manifest his infinite power? An assertion of this kind would be blasphemous.

2º Nor from nature. For to produce the effects of magnetism the will of the agent is required, indeed also of the patient, at least the first time. But no natural proportion is given between a merely internal act of the will and the effect of a physical cause. For physical causes always act in the same way, the due conditions having been posited, independently of the human will, as is clear by the example of electric flux ⁵; therefore, the proportion between effect and cause failing, this cause certainly cannot be judged natural, and consequently the effect must be traced back to infernal power. - Moreover the marvelous effects of magnetism seem wholly to surpass the powers of our nature; for it is not understood how one magnetized, even an uncultivated man, deprived of the use of reason and the senses, can at once acquire for himself so many excellent sciences ⁶, know languages entirely unknown, to see things most remote, to inspect the innermost thoughts of the magnetizer, as well as his own and others' illnesses, and to know remedies suited to these, which otherwise he utterly ignores, and of which, restored to his natural state, he does not remember.

⁵ Namely according to these men, in one there is required, as they say, the will of magnetizing, but in the other, consent to receiving the action of the other. Now if speech is about those who deny any emission and efficacy whatever of any fluid, and repeat the whole effect from the command of the will alone, the absurdity of the hypothesis will be clear per se; for no philosophy, no theology (for no one is bound to defer anything to the dreams of physicians without logic) has ever conceded this force over external objects to an internal act of the will apart from the ministry of other powers. But if it is conducted with those who repeat the efficacy from a fluid, then indeed the reasoning of the Author is valid, namely that it is most absurdly said that the action of the fluid emitted, as is supposed, is so tempered according to the pleasure of the will, that it either immediately exerts force or suspends this force, or either prolongs the effect or quickly completes it, etc. And these things indeed as to the will of the one magnetizing.

But much less can a reason be rendered (a reason, I say, which can satisfy a man still using a sound mind), why the consent of the patient is required. For where has philosophy, where has the common sense of men admitted, or will ever admit, that the consent of our will is required beforehand, so that the physical force of an external cause, for example of heat, can affect our body and senses? Some reply that the consent of the patient is required beforehand, lest the influence of a contrary will on the body impede the effect of magnetism in the bodily organs. Thus they. But 1º no obstacle of this kind can be in him who, unthinking, is put to sleep; indeed he, as tranquil, would be more prepared for receiving the effects. Why therefore do they also require consent? 2º Consent is required, that he subject himself to the action of the magnetizer, but in no way that the effects follow; hence 3º after someone has once consented, the effect follows, however much the patient strongly resists the operation and tries to impede it; see several examples of this kind in Caroli (Op. cit. part. I. Cap. 4.), in which several times you will discern the image of the raving sibyl whom the pythonic spirit wearies, taming the rabid mouth and fierce hearts, and fashions by pressing (Aeneid. Lib. 6. v. 80.). And indeed this one indication by itself would suffice for the character of these prestiges, unless someone wishes of his own accord to be blind.

⁶ These and other things of this kind, as superstitious, have already been expressly condemned by the Apostolic See in the decrees set below.

And indeed this first opinion rests upon a foundation certainly solid and firmer than the others.

278. • The 2nd OPINION holds that all the effects of magnetism can proceed from the powers of nature. Thus not a few physicians. Their reason is, 1º Because in certain human bodies there can be most subtle effluvia ⁷, after the manner of a magnet's flux, which act upon the bodies of others, and through the organs, upon the soul itself. For we do not know all the powers of nature, and innumerable are their effects, whose reason we cannot render to ourselves ⁸. - 2º Because similar effects are produced in natural somnambulism; for somnambulists see, hear, and do astonishing things, which cannot be done by them in the state of waking, nor belong to the ordinary powers of nature ⁹. - 3º Nor does it stand in the way that sometimes or ordinarily the will of the patient is required; for it is not required insofar as will, or insofar as a merely internal faculty of the soul and independent of the body; but insofar as a means for exciting the imagination and moving the subtle spirits of the body, and thus for exercising force upon the moral state of man ¹⁰.

⁷ The question here ought not to be made whether subtle effluvia can be diffused from human bodies: for all of us daily experience that effluvia of this kind, and quite often foul-smelling, indeed even harmful, are diffused not only from human bodies, both living and especially dead, but also from other bodies. But there are other things which more bear upon the matter, and which from those physicians, plainly either inexperienced in or forgetful of philosophy, still wait in vain for some study. Therefore let them prove 1º that this effluvium, which they fashion gratuitously and gratuitously call magnetic, betrays itself by some indication, not otherwise than electric fluid and magnetic currents of this sort manifest themselves; 2º let them prove that effluvia of this kind are so subject to the command of the will that this will, according to its pleasure, can retain them, emit them, and even recall them into its own body (as those men dream); 3º let them prove that those fluids, even after they have been emitted from the body, nevertheless can obey the precepts of the will (for even these things are boasted, with a heap added to other monsters of opinions), not otherwise than a servant obeys his master.

⁸ Although not all the powers of nature are known to us, nevertheless this is known: what is repugnant to the powers of nature and the laws of acting. Now from those things which these men boast, innumerable things are plainly repugnant to the laws of nature; we shall hint at a few below.

⁹ Even the patrons of magnetism themselves at last admit only a certain analogy between natural and magnetic somnambulism (which they acknowledge is improperly called somnambulism). For otherwise both the nature and the phenomena of each state are very far distant from one another.

¹⁰ These things are said wholly falsely and merely for making a cosmetic covering; and this is proved not only from the things said above (§ preceding, note a), but also because, as they themselves acknowledge, after someone has once consented, even unthinking, and therefore apart from any excitation of imagination, he is seized by stupor.

But those reasons do not lay open how an uncultivated man, plainly ignorant of things and words, enjoys infused science; how he can discern things very far distant from himself, and also discuss them. Therefore it appears not at all by what reason this practice can be excused from the crime of divination. Let the patrons of this doctrine also explain to us by what reason true miracles can be discerned from the prestiges of magnetism. For several marvels which are perpetrated by the magnetized have been held in holy men by the Church as exceeding the powers and order of nature ¹¹. Therefore this opinion, as false and full of dangers, must be rejected.

¹¹ These things attack those Catholics who, with a certain marvelous good faith, know how to suspect nothing of superstition in all these things. For unbelievers and enemies of the Christian Religion indeed abuse these phenomena, which they contend are natural, for overturning the authority of miracles. But that certain persons, for defending the authority of the same miracles, directed their effort solely to this, that partly by calling the facts themselves into doubt, partly by conjectures sometimes very poor, violently dragging the same things over to natural effects, they might show that whatever is attributed to magnetism is far removed from the notes of a true miracle, claims for itself some praise of ingenuity, but none of prudent judgment.

279. • The 3rd OPINION distinguishes among the various effects produced by magnetism. According to its patrons, it must indeed be admitted that very often the demon operates in magnetism, and this when the effect produced depends only, or at least chiefly, on the will of the agent; or when the one magnetized through infused science learns writing, letters, or even languages, the knowledge of which he entirely lacked before; or when he knows or sees those things which are done at a great distance. For this seems wholly to exceed the powers of nature, nor are such things effected in natural somnambulism. Nevertheless it is not repugnant, they say, that magnetism naturally work other marvelous effects; for marvelous is the power and efficacy of natural flux in various bodies.

Hence the patrons of this opinion conclude that the effects of magnetism in the first and perhaps in the second degree, namely in sleep and in somnambulism ¹², can probably be admitted as natural, but not in the third degree, or in the state of vision. But (which these men little notice) it would have to be proved that none of effects of this kind in any way are repugnant to physical laws ¹³, and therefore can come from nature itself.

¹² There were those who would drag even the responses of the Apostolic See into the patronage of magnetism; because, namely, the Congregation of the Holy Office, to the question whether magnetism, accepted generally and in itself, ought to be judged lawful or unlawful, on June 23, 1840, responded: that every error, sortilege, explicit or implicit invocation of the demon having been removed, the mere act of employing physical means otherwise lawful is not morally forbidden, etc.; and moreover the same Congregation, referring to the same response in Letters given to the Bishops of the Pontifical Domain in the year 1856, made express mention of the use of magnetism thus: Every error, sortilege, explicit or implicit invocation of the demon having been removed, the use of magnetism, namely the mere act of employing physical means otherwise lawful, is not morally forbidden, etc.; as if, namely, according to the opinion of the Sacred Congregation some animal magnetism, whose use is lawful, were to be admitted in reality.

But nothing is more inept. The Sacred Congregation, as the Consultors of the same Sacred Congregation have often piously testified, never instituted any examination concerning the physical question of this magnetism. This indeed is also clearly apparent from the response which His Eminence Cardinal Gousset narrates was rendered to himself by the Apostolic See (Theolog. moral. Tom. 1. n. 425.): In the year 1842 we consulted the Supreme Pontiff concerning this question, that is, whether, the abuses of the thing being set aside and every covenant with the demon rejected, it is lawful to exercise animal magnetism, and to have recourse to it as to a remedy which many hold as natural and useful for health. His Eminence the Cardinal Major Penitentiary responded on September 2, 1843: This question has not yet been seriously weighed by the Holy See, nor would it respond so quickly. Now would not a response of this kind seem to be in conflict with the preceding? Or shall we suspect that the Apostolic See in the year 1840, namely before weighing the question, resolved the same? Thus, therefore, the matter stands: that the Sacred Congregation, whatever uncertain rumors concerning magnetism were carrying, whatever also there might be in the empty dreams or conjectures of those who were quarreling among themselves concerning the cause of these phenomena, being questioned by certain persons who were struck with fear at these new prestiges, judged that sufficient provision would be made for them by recalling to their mind those first principles by which theologians have always been accustomed to use in resolving doubts of this kind, namely that there is nothing of superstition in using means proportioned to connatural ends; otherwise, if this proportion between cause and effect were absent. For rendering this response there was indeed no need to institute an examination concerning uncertain rumors about phenomena and their causes. Therefore the Sacred Congregation employed the name of magnetism, because by this name all commonly use it, and because those who had sought the responses had used the same.

¹³ This question of so great importance seems to be touched by certain persons less skillfully; and perhaps from this it happens that, rather than bringing some light to it, they wrap it in denser darkness and entangle it more.

Certain persons transfer the question from its real and concrete state to fantastic regions, and, indulging fantasy, ask whether perhaps some force is possible, whether some effect is possible, if that imaginary force were to exert its power, etc. And hence there is a most wretched illusion; for, carried away by these phantasms, they wish to give judgment concerning facts according to the rule of the same phantasms. They are to be asked that, the mockeries of fantasy having been dismissed, they inquire concretely concerning those things which really happen, and concerning the way in which they happen, and what reason is customarily rendered for them. Otherwise they will deceive both themselves and others, and, as the proverb has it, they will beat the air.

Others, however, consider the matter only inadequately, and seem to bring the whole question solely to the inquiry whether the phenomena, as they say, magnetic, can have place in natural somnambulism or not, defining from this the absence or presence of superstition, and therefore the lawful or unlawful use of magnetism. - But this theory labors under more than one inconvenience. And first indeed do we not all acknowledge, and do not these men also acknowledge with us, that in magnetic somnambulism even those phenomena appear which were expressly condemned by the Apostolic See as superstitious and diabolical, and which therefore cannot be attributed to the powers of nature even in natural somnambulism? Therefore magnetic somnambulism, whose effects and phenomena do not correspond to the powers of nature, cannot be natural. But where it is established that a cause is present which is not natural, it would be wrongly argued that that cause is natural because some effect perhaps could flow also from natural powers. For indeed from the insufficiency of a natural cause for some effect the presence and efficacy of a preternatural cause is necessarily argued; but not vice versa from a natural effect is it rightly concluded that the cause is natural, when a preternatural cause, which is present, can produce more and less, and therefore the effect of each order. Nor indeed is it only not necessary in these circumstances to have recourse to a natural cause; but sound reason forbids that we should even suspect it. And indeed constant experience establishes that in magnetic somnambulism phenomena of each order indiscriminately (so that we may speak from the opinion of these men), namely preternatural and (as they will) natural, are had; but that phenomena of this rather than of that order show themselves does not depend on some diversity of the somnambulism or on a change induced in the state of the somnambulist or sleep-talker, but merely on the choice of those standing by, who perhaps ask for this or that response, this or that prestige. But where the distinction of effects, if there is any, depends merely on an accidental extrinsic occasion, and otherwise it is established that a preternatural cause is present, able for all those effects, which undergoes no change, another causality would wrongly be sought in natural somnambulism, of which no trace appears. Therefore.

And hence indeed it is lawful to proceed further by reasoning. For if the state of somnambulism of this kind has a preternatural cause annexed, but somnambulism almost accompanies magnetic sleep, and is not separated from it except per accidens, as is established by experience; deservedly now both sleep and somnambulism will be ascribed to the same cause.

But it is preferable to prove this very thing directly, namely that magnetic stupor or sleep bears before itself so many and such manifest indications of superstition, that it is altogether marvelous that they could have escaped the eyes of men otherwise sensible. And hence it will again become clear how by vain labor certain persons, for excusing from the crime of superstition this sort of thing which they call magnetism, think that this one thing must be inquired into: whether some phenomenon of this magnetic somnambulism can be judged possible also in natural somnambulism. For if sleep itself, preceding somnambulism, is not without a superstitious work, it is now clear that doubts about the other things following the sleep itself are moved in vain. Meanwhile let this alone be held as ratified: judgment must be given concerning facts, not as someone fantastically fashions them for himself, but as they really happen and are narrated by witnesses; for once this has been established, the superstition of magnetic sleep, as they say, betrays itself with little difficulty.

And indeed it is established, and ought to be established among all, that in the case there is to be judged a superstitious and therefore diabolical work, where, on account of the defect of proportion between cause and effect, no natural cause of the phenomenon can be assigned. But on account of the defect of proportion between effect and cause, whatever things could be devised for assigning a natural cause to magnetic sleep fall in vain. Therefore.

It remains only to prove the minor proposition of the argument. Therefore, those being passed over who attribute all these things to certain spirits (for spirits of this kind could be believed to be only demoniac), no cause could be devised except either the mere will of the magnetizer, or the same will with the intermediary of some fluid, by whatever name at last one pleases to call it. But neither cause has proportion with the effect.

And as to the will alone, either we suppose a mere act immanent in it, or one using the ministry of another power. But the whole power of an immanent act is consummated in the will itself, nor does it pass transitively to an effect extrinsic to itself. But the action of the will, if it uses the ministry of a power subordinated to it, is so circumscribed by the faculty of the same power that the effect cannot exceed that faculty itself; but no one has yet dreamed that there is in any of the powers subordinated to the will the force of producing per se the effects about which the discussion is. Therefore it is manifest that a cause equal to the phenomena of magnetic stupor is not had in the will alone of the magnetizer, unless recourse is further had to another instrument.

But recourse to the help of some fluid is no less absurd. Let us touch upon a few of the many things which could be said. And indeed the matter could be completed by a single argument. For if the cause of magnetic sleep must be referred back to the force of a fluid, when the force of this fluid has been removed, sleep would in no way be had from that principle: when the cause has been taken away, the effect must be taken away. But experience establishes that this sleep is obtained even when this instrument of the fluid has been cast aside; indeed, the leading men from the patrons of magnetism frankly acknowledge that whatever things are accustomed to be said concerning the force of some fluid, or concerning the touches and gestures prescribed for transmitting the fluid, must all be sent away to impostures. Therefore it is clear that the cause of this sleep cannot be placed in any of the dreamed-up fluids.

But even if the hypothesis of some fluid is inspected in itself, this no less teems with absurdities. Certainly, since there is no middle between spiritual and material substance, we must altogether reckon this fluid among material substances. Therefore its action ought not to be repugnant to the laws of physical powers. But the phenomena of the magnetic action by which sleep is induced are found everywhere to be wholly repugnant to these laws.

And indeed 1º The action of physical powers is not varied according to the diversity of intention alone; hence if you put your hand near fire, you will be warmed, whether intention is present or not present. But any gesticulation whatever of the magnetizer has no effect unless the intention of magnetizing is present. Therefore.

2º Magnetic action so depends on intention that, when two or more persons are present and in altogether the same circumstances, according to the intention of the magnetizer, one is seized, the other suffers nothing, and this even when the magnetic effluvium cannot reach that one unless it first invades this one. But this is repugnant in a merely physical cause. Therefore.

3º It is repugnant to the action of a merely physical and material cause that it suspend a motion conceived at the mere command of the will, for example, that a stone projected into the air would retard its course at the nod of the will. But, the cause of magnetic sleep now posited, nevertheless the effect is suspended according to the choice of the will for two, three, or several hours. Therefore.

4º It is repugnant to the powers of a merely physical and material cause that it of itself seek the object to be seized, and one unknown to the principal agent, not otherwise than, namely, a dog is sent out to seek a hare. But when someone absent even by many leagues is magnetized, the magnetic fluid by itself must seek the person to be magnetized, although the magnetizer himself also does not know where he may be, whether to the east or to the west. Therefore.

5º Let the same be said concerning the phenomena of a certain partial paralysis or catalepsy, which is induced while magnetizing. For suddenly either an eye, or an arm, or a finger, or the tongue, etc., at the nod of the magnetizer the magnetic force seizes, stupefies, stiffens, and suddenly at the nod releases. Therefore it would be necessary that the magnetic fluid both understand the commands of the magnetizer and, all the other parts of the body and the rest of the nerves being passed over, most knowingly know how to touch only those nerves which are suitable for carrying out the command of the magnetizer, and which otherwise the magnetizer himself does not know. But all these things are repugnant to the powers of a merely material cause, and involve a heap of absurdities. Therefore.

6º Nor can another judgment be borne when that sleep is induced not through magnetic effluvium immediately cast into the person, but by means of some thing, as they say, magnetized. For in this hypothesis 1º the magnetic fluid, when the magnetizer thus commands, receives and keeps itself entirely collected in some small body, for example a ring, scissors, a nut, etc.; 2º and while it remains bound there in such a way that by any chemical means being applied it is not drawn away, and when the thing itself has been burned it remains in the ashes, nevertheless at the nod of the will it immediately flies away from there; 3º although, however, several persons touch, turn, retain, etc. the magnetized little body, nevertheless that one alone whom the magnetizer previously by his will designated. But it is repugnant to physical laws 1º that a merely material force, for example an effluvium of odor, once emitted, should obey the will by receiving itself wholly into a little body; 2º that by the force of the commanding will alone it should depart thence; 3º likewise that at the command of the will it should exert its power on this man and not on other men, so that, for example, the odor affects the nostrils of one only, not of others. Therefore.

7º It is repugnant to physical laws that a man's ears, while the slightest whistle affects them, nevertheless are not affected by the crash of a cannon or thunderbolt; and likewise that he perceives the touch of a finger or curl, who nevertheless does not perceive even glowing iron brought near him. But these phenomena also appear in a man induced into sleep by magnetic force. Therefore.

8º A man once induced into magnetic sleep, while he cannot be shaken out of sleep either by himself or by any other means however violent, is nevertheless awakened at the mere command of the magnetizer, even one far absent. But these things are manifestly repugnant to the action of merely physical causes. Therefore.

9º Moreover 1º a person seized by magnetic sleep experiences any sensations whatever of any object, with no object nevertheless present, according to the command of the magnetizer, as if, namely, magnetic elements understood and executed the will of the magnetizer; 2º the magnetizer by the nod of the will alone not only so draws to himself the person sunk in sleep that this person very quickly and with any obstacle overcome follows him, but by the will alone raises him upward into the air, and keeps him suspended there as long as he pleases. But these things also are repugnant both to the laws of physical powers and to the action of a merely material instrument. Therefore. (Concerning these and things of this kind, conf. Monticelli, Del Mesmerismo, P. I, and Caroli, Del Magnetismo Animale, Tom. I.).

And let these few things out of several which could be brought forward suffice, so that it may be established: 1º that, for defining whether the use of magnetism is to be judged lawful or unlawful, certain persons imprudently turn the whole question to this: whether the phenomena of magnetic somnambulism bear before themselves something similar to the phenomena either of natural somnambulism, or of a woman laboring either under a cataleptic or hysterical disease; 2º that the things which Theologians are accustomed to hand down in doubt whether an effect ought to be ascribed to a natural or preternatural cause pertain nothing here: for here no indication, no even slightly probable conjecture of disease or of another natural cause is at hand; but very grave reasons persuade that a preternatural cause is present; 3º finally, that those act most imprudently who, without any diligent inquiry being employed into what this matter is, what is being done, what evil, what danger can be feared, rashly permit the faithful to each one's own choice, who will scarcely have an excuse from invincible ignorance before the eternal Judge.

The Roman Curia, questioned concerning the use of magnetism in general, responded in the Congregation of the Holy Office on April 21, 1841: The use of magnetism, as it is set forth, is not lawful ¹⁴. This response the Sacred Penitentiary confirmed in the same words in the response to the Bishop of Lausanne on July 1 of the same year. But the question was set forth with various effects and circumstances which are customarily wont to occur in magnetism, as follows:

¹⁴ The Author does not indicate what kind was the use of magnetism which was proscribed by the Sacred Congregation as illicit. The very distinguished Peter Scavini (Th. Mor. Tr. 5. Disp. 3. Cap. 1.) hints that the question proposed was concerning magnetism with circumstances not rarely occurring, namely that the magnetized person, evidently untaught, is immediately seen to be most learned, ignorant of reading, reads Arabic writings, even closed ones, without the use of the eyes, obeys the magnetizer although he is distant from him by several leagues, and does other things of this kind, which simply cannot be held as natural effects. Likewise that magnetism very often has place with persons of different sex not without great danger to honesty.

Debreyne however (Essai sur la Théolog. moral. page 322.) reports the question proposed to the Holy See otherwise, thus: In magnetic operations there exists a tendency toward unbelief and toward the corruption of morals; one would desire, for the tranquillity of consciences, to know on this subject what is the true opinion of the Holy See. And these things perhaps correspond more to the text of the Author, who says that the question was proposed in general concerning the use of magnetism.

Whatever be the case, dangers both concerning faith and concerning honesty of morals are not vainly imagined. And indeed danger to faith threatens in two ways. For 1º those magnetic somnambulists, not otherwise than the responses of tables and spirits, often babble something either against the truth of the Catholic Christian religion, or even against certain articles of faith, especially those which regard the immutable and eternal punishment of the reprobate; to which also pertains that they proclaim certain wicked men who died without penance as blessed in heaven, and on the contrary designate others, concerning whose eternal salvation there is no reason for despairing, as thrust down to Tartarus; 2º from these phenomena, as if effects of natural powers, an occasion is taken of detracting both from the authority of miracles and from the honor and force of the graces which we are accustomed to call gratuitously given.

But as regards honesty of morals, there are indeed those who think that only something is perhaps to be feared from immodest gestures; wherefore they judge that enough provision has been made for honesty if some upright witness stands by those magnetic scenes. But experience clearly teaches that danger of this kind extends much more widely. For 1º it almost happens that magnetized persons are carried toward the magnetizer by a vehement, indeed insane love, and by an untamable affection; 2º through that deep sleep, which can be shaken off only at the command of the magnetizer, there is an obvious occasion of shamefully abusing the magnetized person, who is then neither master of herself, nor afterward remembers or can have any knowledge of those things which happened to her while oppressed by sleep; Debreyne (p. 234.) reports with others stories of women who, having suffered force during that time, afterward in amazement found themselves pregnant, and certain report hands them down; 3º while magnetic sleep and somnambulism is induced, magnetized persons, as the facts testify, are seized by venereal movements and pleasures; 4º and thence, as experience teaches, there is accustomed to follow their unbridled inclination toward venereal things; 5º since it is in the power of the magnetizer that he, according to his pleasure, excite and hold fast any sensations whatever in the magnetized person even without the presence of the object, hence another occasion and spring of foul deeds runs rampant with impunity; 6º finally there is added this, which writers on the magnetic matter hand down, that in spontaneous somnambulism also, which a person trained by long use can induce in herself, there is present the power of exciting these sensations in herself. All these things indeed abundantly suffice, so that the use of magnetism, as opening wide access to corruption of morals, ought to be judged prohibited by the very law of nature.

But besides the dangers of faith and morals, other reasons are not lacking on account of which the use of this sort of magnetism ought to be held illicit. And first indeed, by the opinion of all, it is intrinsically evil voluntarily to cast oneself into a complete incapacity of using both reason and freedom of choice, and besides to commit this very freedom wholly to the choice of another, who can abuse the faculties of soul and body and bend them to the worst things. But these things occur in the case; for it is admitted that the magnetized person in the state of sleep and somnambulism is not of his own choice, but remains wholly in the power of another (See Caroli, P. I, page 414.). Therefore. - Moreover the obligation is injured by which each one is bound both to preserve his own life and to ward off the danger of grave harm. For experience establishes that from those who permitted themselves to be magnetized, as they say, some were seized by death in the very action (See Debreyne page 314., Caroli, etc.), others fell into grave diseases, And from these things it is manifest how incautiously certain persons, after they have persuaded themselves that the use of magnetism can be believed free of superstition, now think it enough that they proclaim it lawful and plainly to be permitted to the liberty of the faithful. For even if that were true, which is very far from the truth, that there is no reason for suspecting diabolical intervention; yet there are many other things, and those sufficiently grave, which can and ought wholly to restrain the faithful from these prestiges.

others afterward were vexed by lasting illnesses, indeed through the whole life too, but others remained afterward entirely insane, finally others afterward suffered those things which we know are customary in men possessed by the demon.

Most Eminent Lord,

280. • "Since up to now the responses concerning animal magnetism seem by no means sufficient, and since it is greatly to be desired that cases not rarely occurring can be solved more safely and more uniformly, the undersigned humbly sets forth the following to Your Eminence.

"The magnetized person, who for the most part is of the female sex, enters into that state of sleep called magnetic somnambulism, so deeply that neither the greatest crash at her ears, nor any vehemence of iron or fire can awaken her. By the magnetizer alone, to whom she has given her consent (for consent is necessary), she is led to that kind of ecstasy, whether by various touches or gesticulations when he is present, or by a simple command and the same internal, when he is distant even by several leagues ¹⁵.

¹⁵ If by a simple command, and the same internal, when the magnetizer is distant even by several leagues, that effect is obtained; therefore whatever is boasted concerning touches, or gesticulations, or the emission of a fluid (by whatever name it is called), as if causes of sleep and somnambulism, must be rejected as impostures and a mockery of the simple.

"Then, when questioned by living voice, or mentally, concerning her own disease and that of absent persons wholly unknown to her, this person, evidently untaught, immediately far surpasses physicians in science; she most accurately declares anatomical matters; she points out the cause, seat, and nature of internal diseases in the human body, which are most difficult for experts to know and define ¹⁶, and unfolds their progress, variations, and complications, and this in proper terms; often also she exactly foretells the duration of the said diseases, and prescribes the simplest and most efficacious remedies.

¹⁶ Certain persons have recourse to the highest degree of sensibility (as they say), which a person sunk in sleep obtains. But it is one thing to feel, another to know causes, nature, progress, future variations, remedies, etc.

"If the person concerning whom the magnetized woman is consulted is present, the magnetizer establishes a relation between each through contact; "but when he is absent, a curl from his hair replaces it and suffices. For when this curl alone is brought to the palm of the magnetized woman, at once she declares what it is (without looking with the eyes), whose the hairs are ¹⁷, where now the person to whom they pertain is living, what things he is doing, and concerning his disease she supplies all the aforesaid documents, not otherwise than if she herself inspected the body in the manner of physicians.

¹⁷ If she knows the name, place, etc. of an absent person by the simple touch of a curl, what proportion, I ask, is there between cause and effect? Do we not have here that superstitious kind of soothsaying by which unknown and distant things are detected, and which is condemned as superstitious in the encyclical of the Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office set below?

"Finally the magnetized woman does not discern with the eyes; when these have been veiled, whatever it may be she will read, being ignorant of reading, whether a book or a manuscript, whether open or closed, whether placed upon the head or upon the belly. Her words also seem to go forth from this region. But when brought out of this state, either at the command, even internal, of the magnetizer, or as if spontaneously at the very point of time foretold by herself, she seems to be conscious of absolutely nothing concerning things done in the paroxysm, however long it lasted: what things were asked of her, what she answered, what things she endured - all these left no idea in her intellect, nor the least trace in the memory.

"Therefore the undersigned petitioner, seeing such strong reasons for doubting whether such effects are simply natural, whose occasional cause is shown to be so little proportioned to them ¹⁸, earnestly and most vehemently asks Your Eminence, that you, according to your wisdom, for the greater glory of the Omnipotent, as well as for the greater good of souls, which, redeemed by the Lord, stood at so great a price, would deign to decree whether, the truth of the aforesaid things being posited, a Confessor or Pastor can safely permit his penitents or parishioners:

¹⁸ Observe diligently that both the postulate of the Bishop of Lausanne and consequently the response of the Sacred Penitentiary regard this one question: whether the use of magnetism of this kind ought to be judged polluted by the crime of superstition, and therefore proscribed as illicit. This very thing has been clearly confirmed from the encyclical letters given by the Congregation of the Sacred Inquisition to the Bishops of the Pontifical Domain, which we shall set below.

"1º That they exercise animal magnetism endowed with those characters and other similar ones, as an auxiliary and supplementary art of medicine;

"2º That they consent to be placed into that state of magnetic somnambulism;

"3º That they consult persons magnetized in that way, either concerning themselves or concerning others;

"4º That they undertake one of the three aforesaid things, after first having had the precaution formally from the soul of renouncing any explicit diabolical pact, and also every satanic intervention, since this caution does not stand in the way that from magnetism of this kind either the same or some effects have already been obtained by some persons ¹⁹.

¹⁹ From these things you have that which the common doctrine also hands down, that protestations are employed in vain for excusing a work from the guilt of superstition, when from the defect of proportion between causes and effects the diabolical intervention can be sufficiently established.

For the rest, since here we have it defined that in the aforesaid things the intervention of the demon is certainly present; and since the opinion of the Sacred Penitentiary ought to respond to the questions made, it is necessary to conclude that the response pertains to one of the first three questions, and that in it guilt is contained on account of the intervention of the demon.

But you have those three questions so bound among themselves, that one being proscribed on account of the crime of superstition, the remaining ones must necessarily undergo the same sentence. And indeed, if by comparison, as is fitting, of this response with the decree of the Sacred Inquisition described below, you determine that the crime of superstition shows itself from divination of unknown things, it is now easy to conclude that the reason of condemnation resides at least in the third question. Therefore the Apostolic See judged that responses are sought and given from the demon, and therefore that those somnambulists are the instrument which the devil uses for deceiving and ensnaring men. But this being posited, the same condemnation certainly necessarily embraces the second question also, that is, somnambulism itself, even if the reasons which persuade (See note a, p. 243.) that this state of somnambulism cannot be traced back to natural causes are omitted. For somnambulism is so bound with superstitious and therefore condemned effects that, even when any renunciation of the works of the demon has been premised, those effects are had. But sleep or somnambulism which, notwithstanding any protestation against the intervention of the demon, nevertheless betrays itself as an instrument of the demon, cannot fail to be illicit. Therefore. And hence there is an easy transition to the condemnation of the matter proposed also in the first question, namely concerning the use of magnetism as an auxiliary art of medicine. For the whole aid is expected from somnambulism and from the responses rendered by the somnambulist. But from what has been said, all these things are to be judged infected by the vice of superstition and therefore condemned by the Apostolic See. Therefore.

"Most Eminent Lords, of Your Eminence,

"By mandate of the Most Reverend Bishop of Lausanne and Geneva, the most humble and most obedient servant, James Xavier Fontana, Canon Chancellor of the Bishop.

"Fribourg of Switzerland, from the Bishop's residence, May 19, 1841."

"The Sacred Penitentiary, the things set forth having been maturely weighed, judges that one must respond, as it responds: The use of magnetism, as it is set forth in the case, is not lawful.

"Given at Rome, in the Sacred Penitentiary, July 1, 1841 ²⁰.

²⁰ There were certain most zealous patrons of magnetism who kept saying that this response of the Sacred Penitentiary had been retracted by later decrees, or at least did not hold authority of such a kind that, on account of it, the opposite opinion must necessarily be abandoned.

But that these things are wrongly said is manifestly clear from the Encyclical letters of the Supreme Roman Inquisition, given to all the Bishops and Inquisitors of the Pontifical Domain on May 21, 1856, in which it is expressly declared that the premised response must altogether be held as a decree of the Apostolic See issued through the organ of the Sacred Penitentiary. For they read thus: From the time when the magnetic phenomena began to be spread abroad, the Holy See, having been consulted, issued various decisions through the organ of the Penitentiary and of the Holy Office relative to the particular cases proposed concerning the lawfulness or unlawfulness of the use of magnetism. Now the decrees of the Apostolic See, issued through the organ of the Sacred Penitentiary with regard to the lawful or unlawful use of magnetism, are none besides this response of the Sacred Penitentiary to the Bishop of Lausanne. Therefore.

Card. Castracane, m. p.

Ph. Pomella, S. F. Secretary."

(Friend of Religion, August 7, 1841).

281. • Several other responses of the Holy See concerning the same matter being omitted, it is pleasing to report the recent decision of the Holy Office.

"ENCYCLICAL LETTER of the Sacred Roman Inquisition to all Bishops against the abuses of magnetism.

"In the general Congregation of the Sacred Roman and Universal Inquisition held in the convent of St. Mary above Minerva, the Eminent and Most Reverend Lord Cardinals, General Inquisitors throughout the whole Christian Republic against heretical depravity, after maturely weighing those things which have been reported from all sides by men worthy of faith concerning the experiments of magnetism, decreed that the present encyclical letters be issued to all Bishops for restraining the abuses of magnetism.

"For it is established that a certain new kind of superstition is brought in from magnetic phenomena ²¹, by which several innovators are occupied not, as would be fitting, in explaining physical sciences, but in deceiving and seducing men, thinking that hidden, remote, and future things can be detected by the art or prestige of magnetism, especially by the help of little women who depend solely on the nod of the magnetizer." (But with the response already given on July 28, 1847 ²², having been related, the Sacred Congregation adds):

²¹ Since the Sacred Congregation pronounces that it is established that a certain new kind of superstition is brought in from magnetic phenomena, and indeed (as is said a little before) after the Eminent Cardinals Inquisitors maturely weighed those things which had been reported from all sides by men worthy of faith concerning experiments of magnetism, everyone sees that they are already sufficiently injurious even to the Apostolic See itself, who, selling themselves as the only clear-sighted persons in the whole human race, wish to hold as impostures whatever things are narrated concerning magnetic phenomena going beyond natural powers.

²² You may see this response inserted below into the encyclical letters to the Bishops and Inquisitors of the Pontifical Domain.

"Although by this general decree the lawfulness or "unlawfulness in the use or abuse of magnetism is sufficiently explained; nevertheless the malice of men has so increased that, the lawful study of science having been neglected ²³, pursuing curiosities with great loss of souls and detriment of civil society itself, they boast that they have obtained a certain principle of soothsaying and divining. Hence by the prestiges of somnambulism ²⁴ and of clear intuition, as they call it, those little women, carried away by gesticulations not always modest, babble that they behold whatever things are invisible, and presume with rash daring to institute discourses concerning Religion itself, to evoke the souls of the dead, to receive responses, to detect unknown and distant things, and to exercise other superstitious things of this kind, certainly to obtain great gain for themselves and their masters by divining. In all these things, whatever art or illusion at last they may use, since physical means are ordered to effects not natural, there is found an altogether illicit and heretical deception, and scandal against honesty of morals.

²³ The Sacred Congregation wisely adds these things, lest anyone take an occasion of calumniating, as if studies were reproved which, concerning the terrestrial phenomena of magnetism due to electric currents, are handled by experts in physics. But we have already said that as many learned men as cultivated this part of the physical sciences, all to a man, either were entirely silent concerning that fictitious animal magnetism to which the prestiges of somnambulism are due, or spoke with contempt as concerning mere impostures of charlatans.

²⁴ Observe how the Sacred Congregation also reckons somnambulism of this kind among prestiges.

"Therefore, for effectively checking so great a crime, most hostile both to Religion and to civil society, the pastoral solicitude, vigilance, and zeal of all Bishops must be aroused as much as possible. Wherefore, as far as they can with divine grace helping, let the Ordinaries of places, by the warnings of paternal charity, by severe rebukes, and finally by remedies of law being employed, as they shall judge expedient in the Lord with attention to the circumstances of places, persons, and times, expend every effort for repressing and tearing out abuses of magnetism of this kind, so that the Lord's flock may be defended from the enemy man, the deposit of Faith preserved whole and untouched, and the faithful entrusted to them preserved from corruption of morals.

"Given at Rome, in the Chancery of the Holy Office at the Vatican, August 4, 1856 ²⁵.

²⁵ It is useful here to set down also the encyclical letters given by the same Congregation of the Holy Office to all Bishops and Inquisitors of the Pontifical Domain in the year 1856.

To all the Bishops and Inquisitors of the Pontifical State.

From the time when magnetic phenomena began to be spread abroad, the Holy See, having been consulted, issued various decisions through the organ of the Penitentiary and of the Holy Office relative to the particular cases proposed concerning the lawfulness or unlawfulness of the use of magnetism. Then, with regard to the general maxim, after profound discussions on Wednesday, July 28, 1847, renewing the resolutions of June 23, 1840, it was decreed as follows: "Every error, sortilege, explicit or implicit invocation of the demon having been removed, the use of magnetism, namely the mere act of employing physical means otherwise lawful, is not morally forbidden, provided it does not tend to an illicit or in any way depraved end. But the application of principles and means purely physical to things and effects truly supernatural, so that they may be physically explained, is nothing other than an entirely illicit and heretical deception."

Although with such a decree that which regards physical science and the repression of vicious and reprovable magnetic applications seemed to be reconciled, nevertheless a sad experience has made known the need of more efficacious provisions. For magnetism is not employed with due modes and for natural honorable ends: but according to the continual complaints of notable subjects advanced from many cities of the same Pontifical State, there are magnetizers who dare to apply magnetism to non-natural ends with most grave harm to private and common public morality, making use of women subject to disorderly postures, with the claim also of divining and revealing hidden and future events. Therefore, since such spectacles are not separated from an illicit and irreligious illusion, it has been judged necessary to prohibit them entirely, and to punish their authors, cooperators, and favorers.

For which reason it is enjoined on all the Bishops and Inquisitors of our provinces to watch over this, and to proceed summarily in an economic way, the truth of the matter having been inspected, after the opinion of God-fearing and learned persons, proportioning the penalties to the delinquencies with incarceration determinable in time according to the greater or lesser guilt, and keeping the Supreme informed about it, particularly when the use of magnetism qualified by heretical circumstances should require a rigorous process according to the norm of the sacred canons.

This circular shall be distributed to the district Vicars, and its exact fulfillment shall be procured.

Rome, in the Chancery of the Holy Office at the Vatican, Wednesday, May 21, 1856.

V. Card. Macchi."

V. Card. Macchi.