"'Yes,' he replied, looking at his white vest and smart attire, 'one of the girls was married this morning.' "'Indeed, sir? You should have given yourself a holiday on such an occasion, and not come down to lecture.' "'Nay,' he replied, 'egad, I came down to lecture the same day I was married myself.'"--_Memoirs of Abernethy._ [Illustration] XVIII. MIND AND MATTER. "The evidence of sense is the first and highest kind of evidence of which human nature is capable."--WILKINS. "They choose darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil."--SCRIPTURE. IN WHICH ANIMAL MAGNETISM, MESMERISM, AND CLAIRVOYANCE ARE EXPLAINED.--"THE IGNORANT MONOPOLY."--YET ROOM FOR DISCOVERIES.--A "GASSY" SUBJECT.--DRS. CHAPIN AND BEECHER.--HE "CAN'T SEE IT."--THE ROYAL TOUCH.--GASSNER.--"THE DEVIL KNOWS LATIN."--ROYALTY IN THE SHADE.--THE IRISH PROPHET; HE VISITS LONDON.--A COMICAL CROWD.--MESMERISM.--A FUNNY BED-FELLOW.--CLAIRVOYANCE.--THE GATES OF MOSCOW.--THE DOCTOR OF ANTWERP.--THE OLD LADY IN THE POKE-BONNET.--VISIT TO A CLAIRVOYANT.--"FORETELLING" THE PAST.--THE OLD WOMAN OF THE PENOBSCOT MOUNTAINS.--A SECRET KEPT.--CUI BONO?--VISITS TO SEVENTEEN CLAIRVOYANTS.--A BON-TON CLAIRVOYANT.--A BOUNCER.--RIDICULOSITY. Mind and matter! What is the connection? Why does one's yawning set a whole room full to yawning? What is the unseen power, appropriated mostly by the ignorant, which at times controls another weaker mind, or, for the time being, controls disease? The majority of medical men "get around" this question by denying the whole proposition. But that does not satisfy the jury--the people. The great community know that there is some unseen power, which is partially developed in certain persons, which has great controlling influence over certain other persons; hence over their diseases, especially mental or nervous diseases. I hope to be able to explain something of this "phenomenon." Those who practise it know nothing of its _modus operandi_, any more than the bird that sings on yonder willow knows of the science of music. To the common suggestion, "It's spirits," I say, No, _no_! If it were "spirits," why does the spirit always seek a _low organization_ through which to manifest itself? There are few exceptions to this rule. It is unnatural, inconsistent with the divine attributes for the supernatural to mingle with the natural. The circulation of the blood was once attributed to the action of the sun--hence a man fell asleep at sunset--and to supernatural causes. Science has done away with these absurd notions. "It is a manifestation of divine power," say others. Well, for that matter, everything is; but _directly_ it is not, for what answers the "spirit" suggestion answers this one also. Divine power cannot be limited. For want of a better name, let us call this power "animal magnetism."