Accordingly, five persons were selected for the experiment, who were laboring under chronic rheumatism in the ankle, knee, wrist, and hip. Wooden Tractors were prepared and painted in such a manner that the patients could not discover but that they were metal; and on the 7th of January, 1799, these _wooden_ Tractors were employed for the first time. All the patients except one, were relieved. Three were very much benefited. One felt his knee warmer, and he could walk much better, as he showed the medical gentlemen present. One was easier for nine hours, till he went to bed, and then his pain returned. The next day, January 8th, the metallic Tractors were employed with the same effect as that of the preceding day. This led to further experiments of a similar kind, and they were continued, until the physicians became fully satisfied that the wooden Tractors were of the same utility with the metallic, provided the patients _supposed_ them metallic. Similar experiments were soon after made at Edinburgh, and the result was the same. A servant girl, afflicted with a most acute headache, which had rendered her nights altogether restless for a fortnight, readily submitted to be pointed at with these _wooden_ Tractors. The operator moved them about her head, but did not touch her. In four minutes she felt a chilliness in the head. In a minute or two more, she felt as though cold water was running down her temples, and the pain was diminished. In ten minutes more, she declared that the headache was entirely gone; and the next day she returned to express her thanks to her benefactors for the good sleep she enjoyed through the night. By similar experiments, the intelligent citizens in America soon ascertained the true cause of the deception, and when these facts came to be developed, the Tractors lost all their influence on the human system, and have since been spoken of only in derision. Here, again, we behold the astonishing power of the imagination over the human system, and witness the miracles that have been performed on the ignorant and unsuspecting. Even in the _modern_ practice of the mesmeric art, a great deal of the success depends upon this tendency of the mind. A very respectable operator assures us, that he cannot magnetize persons unless he can first impress them with the belief that they are actually to become magnetized. They must have _faith_ in order that the effect may be produced. A public lecturer may hang up his watch before his auditors, and tell them to look upon that watch, and they will become magnetized. Those who expect to be affected are thrown into the magnetic state. Those who have little faith and expectation are seldom, if ever, influenced by such experiments. We, however, do not mean to avow a disbelief in the science of magnetism. On the contrary, we look forward with much interest to its perfection, unencumbered with the false pretensions of its zealous and mistaken friends. CHAPTER V.