Page:The Life of Mary Baker G. Eddy.djvu/371

Rh manifestations of the death symptoms they hold so definitely in mind, with all the formulating speed they are capable of."

From 1883 to 1887 the Journal devotes considerable space to mesmerism, although some of Mrs. Eddy's students besought her to place less emphasis upon this doctrine. In the Journal of October, 1885, she rebukes such conservative followers sharply:

In my public works I lay bare the capacity, in belief, of animal magnetism, to break the Decalogue, to murder, steal, commit adultery, etc.

Those who deny my right or wisdom to expose its crimes, are either participants in this evil, afraid of its supposed power or ignorant of it. Those accusing me of covering this iniquity, are zealous, who, like Peter, sleep when the Teacher bids them watch; and when the hour of trial comes would cut off somebody's ears.

In 1887 a department devoted to Malicious Animal Magnetism becomes one of the regular features of the Journal, and continues for some years. At the head of this department regularly occurs the following quotation from Nehemiah: "Also they have dominion over our bodies, and over our cattle, at their pleasure, and we are in great distress." In this department persons who believe that they have been injured in their business or tormented in body and soul by mesmerists recount their symptoms and struggles. One woman is tortured by a hatred and distrust of Mrs. Eddy (it was by producing a distrust of Mrs. Eddy that the mesmerists most frequently harried their victims), and she suffers under this "belief" until she is treated for it and cured by a fellow-Scientist. Another is tormented by a desire to write, and the tempter whispers to her that she "can write as good a book as Mrs. Eddy's." Mrs. Carrie Snider, a prominent worker in the New York church, writes