Page:Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (1898).djvu/300



NIMAL MAGNETISM was first brought into notice in Germany, in 1775, by Mesmer. According to the

American Cyclopædia he regarded this force, which he said could be exerted by one living organism over another, as a means of alleviating disease.

His propositions are as follows :

In 1784 the French government ordered the medical faculty of Paris to investigate Mesmer's theory, and report upon it. Under this order a commission was appointed, and Benjamin Franklin was one of the commissioners. They reported to the government as follows:

In regard to the existence and utility of animal magnetism, we have come to the unanimous conclusions that there is no proof of the existence of the animal magnetic fluid; that the violent effects, which are observed in the public