Animal magnetism / by Alfred Binet and Charles Féré.

  • Alfred Binet
Date:
1887
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Animal magnetism / by Alfred Binet and Charles Féré. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    phenomena, of which the cause is generally admitted to be hysterical neurosis. Moreover, a considerable number of facts demonstrate that, under the influence of such crises, certain forms of paralysis, which have persisted for months, and even for years, may suddenly disappear. There was, therefore, a certain truth in the curative virtue of these convulsive phenonema. The commissioners placed themselves under treatment once a week, and experienced nothing, except from time to time, after the seance had been protracted for several hours, a slight nervous irritability or pain in the hollow of the abdomen, to which Deslon applied his hand. We can understand this negative experience since we are aware that such crises, as well as magnetism, can only be produced in a favourable soil. In the case of susceptible subjects, the commissioners observed an extreme difference between those who were treated in public and in private, and this can be still more readily explained by the well- known contagious effect of example in all hysterical manifestations. The commissioners were particularly struck with the fact that the crises did not occur unless the subjects were aware that they were being magnetized. For instance, in the experiments performed by Jumelin, they observed the following fact. A woman who appeared to be a very sensitive subject, was sensible of heat as soon as Jumelin’s hand approached her body. Her eyes were bandaged, she was informed that she was being magnetized, and she experienced the same sensation, but when she was magnetized without being informed of it, she experienced nothing. Several other patients were likewise strongly affected when no operation was taking place, and experienced nothing when the operation was