Popular Superstitions, and the Truths Contained Therein: With an Account of Mesmerism — John Shaqi
Popular Superstitions, and the Truths Contained Therein: With an Account of MesmerismMayo, Herbert
History
Popular Superstitions, and the Truths Contained Therein: With an Account of Mesmerism
Mayo, Herbert
Mesmerism; Parapsychology and medicine; Superstition
Von Reichenbach next came upon the observation that the human hand
gives out the Od force; and that the right hand displays the characters
of negative Od, the left those of positive Od. The more sensitive
subjects recognised, in the dark, the appearance of dim flames
proceeding from the tips of his fingers; and all felt the corresponding
sensations of drafts of cool or of warm air. Subsequently the whole
body was found to share the properties of the hands; the entire right
side to manifest negative Od, the entire left side positive Od.
So, in reference to this new force, the human body exhibits a
transverse polarity; the condition is thus realized which is required
to belong to the hypothetical force through which the divining rod
might be supposed to move. If any terrestrial influence were capable
of disturbing the Od force in the body, however it might affect its
intensity, a current or circuit could only be established through the
arms and hands; unless, indeed, some extraordinary means were taken,
such as employing an artificial conductor, arched half round the body,
to connect the two sides.
The sensations which attend the establishment of a current of Od and
interferences with it, in sensitive subjects, are exemplified in the
following observations:—
A bar magnet was laid on the palm of the left hand of one of the most
sensitive subjects, with its southward pole resting on the end of her
middle finger, the northward pole on the fore-arm above the wrist. It
thus corresponded with the natural polar arrangement of the Od force in
the patient’s hand and arm. Accordingly, no sensation was excited. But
when the position of the magnet was reversed, and the northward pole
lay on the end of the middle finger of the left hand, an uneasy sense
of an inward conflict arose in the hand and wrist, which disappeared
when the magnet was removed or its original direction restored. On
laying the magnet reversed on the fore-arm, the sense of an inward
struggle returned, which was heightened on joining the hands and
establishing a circuit.
When the patient completed the circuit in another way—namely, by
holding a bar magnet by the ends, if the latter were disposed normally,
(that is, if the northward pole was held in the left hand, the
southward pole in the right,) a lively consciousness of some inward
action ensued. A normal circulation of Od was in progress. When the
direction of the magnet was reversed, the phenomenon mentioned in the
last paragraph recurred. The patient experienced a high degree of
uneasiness, a feeling as of an inward struggle extending itself to the
chest, with a sense of whirling round, and confusion in the head. These
symptoms disappeared immediately upon her letting go the magnet.
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