pains was taken to preclude the possibility of collusion between the operator and the subject; and we are very certain that every intelligent person who witnessed them, was satisfied that they were performed in good faith. The following are some of the phenomena which were exhibited :-The pulse of the subject was raised instantly by the will of the magnetizer, accompanied by a motion of his hand without contact, from 72 to 90 beats per minute. This fact was ascertained and attested by a disinterested physician. The subject with his eyes closed and without any visible communication with any one, named and described accurately a great variety of articles, such as penknives, coins, pencils, surgeon's instruments, &c., which were held behind his head by indifferent spectators. Under the same conditions, he read letters and words from a book, and told the time by several watches set differently, and in each case accurately even to the fraction of a minute. In all these cases the magnetizer simply fixed his own attention on the object presented, and immediately his perception was communicated by sympathy to the subject.

So, pain caused by the spectators in any part of the body of the operator, was manifestly felt in the corresponding part by the subject; though the prick of a pin in his own body produced no evidence of sensation. In the same manner tastes and smells were transferred from one to the other. The subject was compelled to raise his arm, drop it, bend it in various directions, to stand up, sit down, &c. &c., by the silent will and corresponding motions of the magnetizer standing behind him. And the possibility of collusion was precluded by the fact that the magnetizer allowed one of the spectators to dictate, by moving his own arm, the motions to be performed by the subject.

In addition to all this, a great variety of experiments in phreno-mesmerism were performed, by which it was manifest that the magnetizer could control and vary the thoughts and feelings of the subject as easily as a musician calls forth the various tones of an organ.

For further illustrations of this subject, we avail ourselves of the following extract from a pamphlet published some years ago by Charles Poyen :—

"It is a fact well established by the daily observation of all magnetizers, both in Europe and America, that from the moment a person is put in somnambulism, he becomes capable of appreciating correctly and seizing the thoughts, the will, and feelings, not only of his magnetizer, but also of those who are put in close communication with him. This surprising and very interesting mode of knowl. edge is doubtless imparted to the somnambulist through an emanation of some kind, (call it if you please, the spirit, the magnetic or vital fluid) which springs from the brain of the two parties and thus forms about them a peculiar atmos phere, the fluctuations or movements of which vary according to the direction given by the organ from which the fluid originates. The brain of the magneti. zer or of the person placed in communication, is the active instrument or appa. ratus, every operation of which necessarily impresses a new movement and direction to the fluid, which is more clearly felt by the corresponding analogous organ, viz. the brain of the somnambulist, and thus creates herein the same modifications as those which exist in the organ of the other party. Such modi. fications constitute what we call thought, reasoning, &c. &c.

"I will quote here a few lines from a distinguished author whose name can but have a great weight in the mind of every well informed man. After describing the manner in which the nervous atmosphere is formed, Dr. Rostan (see his Es.

say on Animal Magnetism, in the eighth volume of the Dictionnaire de Medecine,) continues thus :-The active nervous atmosphere of the magnetizer mingles with the passive nervous atmosphere of the magnetized person; this one is, thereby, influenced in such a manner that his power of attention is momentarily abolished; and both the impressions which he receives inwardly, and those that are transmitted to him by the magnetizer, resort to his brain through another channel.'

"The nervous agent possesses, like caloric, the faculty of penetrating through solid bodies; a faculty which is doubtless limited; but can satisfactorily explain how somnambulists may be influenced through partitions, walls, doors, &c., also it accounts for their perceptions of the savorous and odorous qualities through certain bodies, which in the natural state cannot be penetrated by those particles. The innumerable facts which prove in an indisputable manner that the magnetic action can be exercised through solid bodies, and that the presence of those bodies does not prevent clairvoyance, compel us to admit that the nervous or magnetical agent must pass through them. This is no more astonishing than light passing through diaphane or transparent substances, electricity passing through the con ductive bodies, and caloric penetrating all sorts of bodies. The mingling of the two nervous atmospheres affords a very clear explanation of the communication of the wish and will, even of the thoughts of the magnetizer to the magnetized person. The wish and will, being actions of the brain, this organ transmits them to the circumference of the body through the channel of the nerves, and when the two nervous atmospheres happen to meet each other, they are so much identified as to form but one; both individuals become one only; they feel and think together; but one of them (the somnambulist) is constantly under the dependence of the other, while in the magnetic state.'

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"In the natural state we are not capable of feeling the fluid above mentioned and experiencing its various movements, so as to become conscious of it: it is surely because in the natural state the vital energy is thrown too much out. wardly; the life of relation is then predominant, and constantly keeps our power of attention and feeling upon external objects. But through the profound change determined in the functions of the nervous system, during the state of somnambulism, catalepsy, or ecstasy, we are enabled to hold, with a being organized as we are, a communication more or less perfect; according, of course, to the respective inward organic dispositions and capacity of the two parties. Indeed somnambulism and ecstacy are particularly characterized by a suspension, for the time being, of the life of relation, whereas an inward sense, derived from a great concentration of the vital energy, seems to be developed.

"I hold it to be a well authenticated fact, that the will and thought can be communicated without the aid of language or sign, whatever the medium of that communication may be; out of fifty somnambulists, you will find upward of forty who will present this order of phenomena to a certain degree. I have seen, produced and read innumerable instances of it, and believe it as much as my own existence: I believe it, also, because I can account for it through philosophical principles, as I have above briefly stated. On the contrary, the faculty of seeing things that are transpiring at a great distance, 'in cities, for instance, where the somnambulist never was in his life, the situation and peculiar distribution of which he does not know, and perhaps never read about,' is wholly incomprehensible, and is not, indeed, substantiated by good authority; I have never observed nor ever read any instance of it in the scientific authors who have written on animal magnetism and somnambulism. I easily conceive and am willing to admit, that

certain somnambulists and ecstatic persons have been able to see objects at a distance; but it was in places where they had been, and the exact situation of which they previously knew: they had thus the means of directing their faculty of vision through the country, and taking cognizance of things and persons more or less accurately, according to the extent of this power in them. But it is totally inconceivable, that they can see equally well in places about which they have no previous correct impression in their mind! Suppose yourself a somnambulist, gifted with a high degree of clairvoyance. How could you distinguish one particular house or street out of the variety of streets and houses which form the cities of Paris, London, New York, &c., if you have never been in those places, or acquired by reading a perfect idea of them?

"I will quote a few instances of communication of thought and of the influ ence of the will, which are very well calculated to illustrate the correctness of my views,--and are not less wonderful and conclusive than those described in your narrative.

"The phenomena of the communication of thought and of the influence of the will were the first that were observed by the Marquis of Puysegur, when he discovered the state of somnambulism. In the very interesting letter written by him to some friends of his, immediately after witnessing those singular effects in the first somnambulist he had, he says-- I obliged him to move a great deal on his chair, as though he was dancing by a tune, which by singing mentally only, I caused him to repeat aloud.'

"Fournier, in his Essay on the probabilities of Magnetic Somnambulism, dwells principally on this phenomenon, as being the most common and important. He says, page 48, that he saw a somnambulist, whom he willed to get up and take a hat lying on the table in the entry, and to put it on the head of a certain person in the company.' I did not speak a word, says he, but only made a sign which traced out the line which I wished the somnambulist to follow. I must observe that he had a bandage over his eyes all the time; he rose from the chair, followed the direction indicated by my finger, approached the table and took the hat which was lying on it, among many other objects, and head of the very person I meant.

put it on the

"I might quote a large number of such facts from foreign authors on Magnetism, of undoubted veracity and merit; but I prefer to refer to some of the same description, which have occurred in this country, as being probably the more interesting and trustworthy to the American reader.

"At one of my exhibitions in Pawtucket, some nine months ago, a medical gentleman from Providence handed to me a bit of paper, upon which this sentence was written: Ask mentally to the somnambulist how far it is from Pawtucket to Providence.' I put the question to her, without either a sign made or a word spoken: she answered distinctly,' four miles from one bridge to the other,' which is the correct distance.

"At another exhibition in Boston, I was requested by an eminent gentleman then present, to will the somnambulist to rise from the sofa upon which she was sitting, and go and take another seat; I stood about twelve feet from her, and mentally put her the command. She shook her head negatively, as though she was refusing to do something. I then asked her why she shook her head so: You want me to move from my seat; I don't want to.' In reference to this fact, Mr William Jenks of Boston, who witnessed it, says in an article inserted by him in the Recorder of Feb. 17, 1837, Farther and more strange to our experience, while the eyes of the somnambule continue closely shut, (the experiments

have been tried too with bandaged eyes,) and while no gesture or sound is used, I saw the magnetiser ask the magnetised a question, (suggested on the spot, and secretly by a bystander,) and heard the patient answer audibly and correctly.'

"A scientific gentlemen, who attended the experiments performed in Pawtucket by Rev. Daniel Greene, told me that at his written request Mr. Greene willed that a piece of apple, which he held in his hand, would become a chestnut burr for the somnambulist. He, in consequence, handed it to her; and immediately she began to scratch her hand and complain that it was full of prickles. What is the cause of it?' • Why,' said she, you gave me a chestnut burr.'Mr. Greene, it is well known, has made himself celebrated in Rhode Island for the wonderful power which he exercises by his will only upon his patients.

Mr. George Wellmarth of Taunton, related to me the following admirable instance of communication of thought that occurred under his own operation. He was requested by a witness to will his somnambulist to quote Byron's well known song, the Isles of Greece.' Mr. Wellmarth mentally pronounced the first verse, and Mr. Andros, the somnambulist, starting from the last words repeated by the magnetizer, recited the whole song. Mr. Wellmarth willed him again to recite another passage; he said he did not know it by heart, but that he knew where it was in the book, and would show it to him. Indeed, the somnambulist got up, walked toward the library, with his eyes perfectly shut, took the volume, and after looking over it awhile, pointed out the precise verses that had been indicated to him.

"Innumerable instances of the same kind might be offered. I will mention a few more; the two following took place last night, in presence of forty of the most respectable citizens of Salem, Mass. A young lady of the place was put into the magnetic sleep by a member of my class, Dr. Fisk, a surgeon dentist. A tumbler of water was presented to the operator, with the written request that he would turn the liquid into brandy for the somnambulist.' The tumbler was in consequence handed to her; she drank some of it; and being asked what it was, she exclaimed apparently in displeasure, It is rum.' A moment afterward, the magnetizer was again requested to spill a little of the water upon her hand, willing it to be hot rum, So he did, and immediately the somnambulist began to move her hands and wipe them against her gown. Being asked what was the matter, she said that some hot rum had been dropped on her hands.

"A person under my care, being in the magnetic sleep, a medical gentleman passed me ten or twelve grains of aloes, contained in a paper, and requested me by writing to will it to be sugar for the somnambulist.' Aloes is known to be a bitter drastic. The somnambulist tasted it, and exclaimed, it is beautiful,' I asked her what it was. Confectionary sugar,' said she, and then swallowed a tongue full of it, apparently with much pleasure. But soon the medicine acted on her stomach, and she became quite sick.

On another evening, her eyes being blindfolded, a bunch of white grapes was held over her forehead by a gentleman of the company. I asked her what it was. It is a bunch of white fruit,' said she. Well, what is the name of it?' 'I do not know; I cannot remember it.' Then I looked at her, and mentally articu Jated the word grape, willing her to repeat it. Instantly she shook her head signifying that she understood me, and repeated aloud, It is a bunch of grapes." The faculty of understanding the thoughts and will of those who came in communication with them, was likewise remarkably developed in the ecstatic somnambulists, the possessed nuns'; of Loudun, the French Prophets or Shakers of the Cevennes, the Convulsionnaries de St. Medard, &c. This phe

Enomenon was so common and striking, that it was considered as the first proof of the reality of the possession, in the case of the ecstatic nuns of Loudun. They could reveal the most secret thoughts.' These are the very words used in the Juridic information concerning that celebrated affair. Even some of the possessed persons had the extraordinary gift of understanding all languages. Although ignorant, they could answer correctly, questions in Latin, Greek, German, and even in the dialect of some tribe, which one of the visitors had learned during a residence in America. This last fact proves indisputably, that during the very peculiar state of the nervous system, caused by religious exaltation, or the magnetic operation, the human brain acquires the power of comprehending the thoughts, and will, in whatever language it may be expressed,"

It is hardly necessary to say that we dissent from Mr. Poyen in regard to the seat of spiritual life. We believe as he teaches that a spirit emanates from the brain; but we hold that the ultimate centre of vital emanation is the heart: by which we mean, as we have before explained, not the fleshly organ on the left side of the thorax, but a spiritual organ, not discoverable by dissection, situated in the middle of the breast. In the present state of the Magnetic philosophy, (i. e. while the brain is the grand centre of inves tigation and experiment,) its professors can do but little directly for the benefit of the souls of men; and even their operations on men's bodies can rise to no higher rank than that of auxiliaries to the art of ordinary physicians. They may obtain information about diseases, and they may produce some superficial quieting effect on irritable nerves; but the vital centre is beyond their scope of operations. They may give men the fruit of the tree of knowledge, but not of the tree of life. When their philosophy and experiments shall be transferred from the brain to the heart, and their science shall enlarge itself till it becomes Spiritual Magnetism, they will penetrate beyond the body and the senses, to the affections, and find out the old Bible secret of combining lives; of joining God to man; of producing righteousness, unity, and health.

We dissent from Mr. Poyen also on another point. He makes a distinc tion between cases that can be explained by reference to the sympathy of human spirits, and those which cannot be so explained, such as those in which the somnambulists have the faculty of seeing or visiting places at a great distance, places unknown to themselves and those with whom they are in apparent communication. Poyen doubts the reality of these latter cases. We are well persuaded of their reality. Facts are reported from time to time, on evidence that cannot be questioned, showing that the power of elairvoyance in some cases far surpasses all the limits that can reasonably be assigned to mere human intelligence. We do not consider such facts inexplicable, as Poyen does. We explain them by supposing that the clairvoyant is in communication with invisible superior intelligences. To decide whether the invisible auxiliary in any given case, is a good or evil being, we must try the spirits' by scripture tests. When the object of the wonders performed is evidently to pamper curiosity, to exalt the creature, to gratify covetousness; in short when the affair has a Simon Magus aspect, we are bound to recognize the agency of the devil. On these principles we cannot