will be, that corroborative and contradictory facts will be communicated in the memorials that will be poured in among you. You will certainly be obliged to make them known to the Department-to attend the reading of some of them to submit all to the examination of commissioners-to receive the reports of the latter upon them-and to listen to frequent and fatiguing discussions. If, instead of these committees, small and easy of attack as they must be, you refer to one imposing and special committee the examination of this somnambulist, and all the memorials that may be addressed to you on Magnetism, you will place the Department in the only attitude that befits it-you will prevent its being eternally beset by these preachers of magnetic miracles-deprive the latter of that kind of celebrity which they expect to derive from the publicity of your discussions-put an end to these same discussions, of which many of you dread the effects-and economize your time; and the judgment of this committee, far more imposing than that of the three commissioners, multiplied as they must be by the number of memorials presented, will afford you, when they shall think proper to pronounce it, an indisputable guarantee, and a unity of views, such as you will never obtain from isolated commissioners. "Thus vanishes by analysis all the apparent force of this objection; thus crumbles, piece by piece, the cunninglyraised edifice of considerations, which appeared to make so deep an impression on your minds. By way of final analysis, gentlemen, are you called upon to admit all that is related of Magnetism? No. "Are you called upon to admit as demonstrated, all the concessions which our adversaries have made us, the remaining tenth of M. Laennec, the experiments of which M. Récamier has told you he was the witness and performer? No. "Are you called upon to admit as positive, or even probable, the facts published by those of our colleagues who have made a special study of this branch of science, phenomena which they tell you they have seen produced twenty or a hundred times, for weeks, months-ay, and for whole years, on different individuals? No. Are "We only call upon you to examine these facts; and would you refuse to comply with what demands neither an abandonment of your belief, nor a renunciation of preconceived opinion, nor even a sacrifice to your reason? you not aware, gentlemen, that a refusal to examine in the ordinary affairs of life is an incipient denial of justice? and that in a matter of science it is neither more nor less than the expression of a blind and culpable obstinacy? "The investigation which we ask should be confided only to men well known for their wisdom and prudence. Let the committee which is to conduct it, be composed of those among us whose age, gravity, experience, and the rank they have held, and still hold, in the medical world, afford a guarantee for the impartiality of their judgment. "Include in this committee those who have thrown out the strongest objections to our report; associate with them those who, without entering deeply into the subject of Magnetism, have, from a conviction of the necessity of investigating it, expressed no other idea on the question at issue. "Complete the committee by summoning to it those who are known to have made a special study of physiology and natural philosophy. "With such elements as these you may rest satisfied that you will not be deceived; your apprehensions with regard to the dignity and reputation of the Academy will vanish, and you may await with confidence the result of their researches. "Let this committee, so scrupulously organized, collect all the memorials that may be presented to you all the facts communicated in reference to Magnetism; let it cause former experiments to be varied, and invent new ones; let it act alike independently of the proscription which has weighed upon Magnetism for forty years, and of the high importance which some are inclined to attach to it at the present day; let the verdict which it may pronounce, not be made known to you until it has been justified by long and repeated tests, invested with the majesty of time;-then, whatever it be, let us not doubt that it will at length settle the opinion of the learned, and point out to you, in a positive manner, what you have to fear, and what to hope, from this extraordinary agent. "The committee persists in its conclusions. (Signed) 66 ADELON, "HUSSON, Reporter." PARISET, This eloquent reply was listened to with the most uninterrupted attention, and greeted with almost universal applause. The votes upon the conclusions of the committee's report were forthwith given in by secret ballot; of which the following is the result: Accordingly, the Royal Academy of Medicine adopts the proposition for appointing a permanent committee to devote itself to the study and investigation of Animal Magnetism. 9 CHAPTER VI. REPORT UPON THE PSYCODUNAMIC EXPERIMENTS BY THE COMMITTEE OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF PARIS, 1831. "GENTLEMEN :--More than five years have elapsed since M. Foissac, a young physician, of whose zeal and power of observation we have had frequent opportunities of judging, thought proper to direct the attention of the Academy of Medicine to the phenomena of Animal Magnetism. He reminded it, that among the commissioners appointed in 1784 by the Royal Society of Medicine for the purpose of making experiments and reporting thereupon, there was one conscientious and enlightened man, who had published a report contradictory to that of his colleagues; that since that time Magnetism had been the object of new experiments and new researches; and if the Academy should see fit, he proposed submitting to its examination a somnambulist, whom he thought calculated to elucidate a question which many talented men in France and Germany regarded as far from being solved, although in 1784 the Academy of Sciences, and the Royal Society of Medicine, had given their opinions against Magnetism. "A committee, consisting of Messrs. Adelon, Burdinainé, Marc, Pariset, and myself, was deputed to report to you on the proposition of M. Foissac. "This report, presented to the Department of Medicine at its sitting of the 13th of December, 1825, concluded that Magnetism ought to be submitted to a fresh investigation; this conclusion gave rise to an animated discussion, which was protracted throughout the sessions of the 10th and 24th of January, and the 14th of February, 1826. On the latter occasion, the committee replied to all the objec tions that had been levelled at its report; and on the same day, after mature deliberation, after an individual vote by ballot, (a method which had never before been adopted in matters of science,) the Department decided that a special committee should be directed to make fresh inquiries into the phenomena of Animal Magnetism. "This second committee, composed of Messrs. Bourdois, Double, Fouquier, Itard, Guéneau de Mussy, Guersent, Laennec, Leroux, Magendie, Marc, and Thillaye, was nominated at the session of the 28th of February, 1826. Some time after, M. Laennec being obliged to leave Paris on account of ill health, I was appointed to take his place, and the committee, thus constituted, addressed themselves to the performance of the duties intrusted to them. Its first care was, before the withdrawal of M. Laennec, to examine the somnambulist (Mlle. Cœline) who had been offered by M. Foissac. "Various experiments were made upon her within the walls of the Academy; but, we must confess, our inexperience, impatience, and distrust, which we perhaps manifested too plainly, only permitted us to observe certain physiological phenomena, rather singular, it is true, and which we will make known to you in the course of our report, although we saw therein none of the faculties of which she gave proofs on another occasion. This somnambulist, harassed doubtless by our exactions, ceased at that period to be at our disposal, and we had to search the hospitals for the means of prosecuting our experiments. "M. Pariset, a physician connected with the Salpétrière, might, more than any one else, have assisted us in our researches; and he lent himself to this object with an earnestness which unfortunately produced no result that answered our expectations. The committee, whose hopes were in a great measure founded on the resources which this hospital might furnish, either on account of the indi |