M. C---- did not attempt ascending to first principles, in his explanations. Animal magnetism was animal magnetism--it was a fact, and not a theory. Its effects were not to be doubted; they depended on testimony of sufficient validity to dispose of any mere question of authenticity. All that he attempted was hypothesis, which he invited us to controvert. He might as well have desired me to demonstrate that the sun is not a carbuncle. On the _modus operandi_, and the powers of his art, the doctor was more explicit. There were a great many gradations in quality in his _somnambules_, some being better and some worse; and there was also a good deal of difference in the _intensity_ of the _magnetiser's_. It appears to be settled that the best _somnambules_ are females, and the best _magnetisers_ males, though the law is not absolute. I was flattered with being, by nature, a first-rate magnetiser, and the doctor had not the smallest doubt of his ability to put me to sleep; and ability, so far as his theory went, I thought it was likely enough he might possess, though I greatly questioned his physical means. I suppose it is _prima facie_ evidence of credulity, to take the trouble to inquire into the subject at all; at any rate it was quite evident I was set down as a good subject, from the moment of my appearance. Even the _somnambule_ testified to this, though she would not then consent to be put into a trance in order to give her opinion its mystical sanction. The powers of a really good _somnambule_ are certainly of a very respectable class. If a lock of hair be cut from the head of an invalid, and sent a hundred leagues from the provinces, such a _somnambule_, properly magnetised, becomes gifted with the faculty to discover the seat of the disease, however latent; and, by practice, she may even prescribe the remedy, though this is usually done by a physician, like M. C----, who is regularly graduated. The _somnambule_ is, properly, only versed in pathology, any other skill she may discover being either a consequence of this knowledge, or the effects of observation and experience. The powers of a _somnambule_ extend equally to the _morale_ as well as to the _physique_. In this respect a phrenologist is a pure quack in comparison with a lady in a trance. The latter has no dependence on bumps and organs, but she looks right through you, at a glance, and pronounces _ex cathedra_, whether you are a rogue, or an honest man; a well-disposed, or an evil-disposed child of Adam. In this particular, it is an invaluable science, and it is a thousand pities all young women were not magnetised before they pronounce the fatal vows, as not a few of them would probably wake up, and cheat the parson of his fee. Our sex is difficult to be put asleep, and are so obstinate, that I doubt if they would be satisfied with a shadowy glimpse of the temper and dispositions of their mistresses.