Note 1 — REPORT

“It must be confessed however, that the manner of directing the pretended magnetism, is different in these systems. The ancients, as well as M. Mesmer, regarded this fluid as universally diffused, as pervading the bodies of animals, and as capable of being rendered the vehicle of the most salutary influences. But, in order to call it into action, they did not, like M. Mesmer, desire to touch, or so much as to approach the patient. Their method consisted in a different order of proceeding. To give a suitable direction to the universal spirit, they were obliged to employ real parts, either extracted or evacuated, of the individual upon whom they proposed to direct the magnetism. The different humours of the human body, whether natural, as the blood, the urine, the excrements, or contrary to nature, as the pus bred in wounds; in fine, the solid parts of the frame, as the flesh, the nails, the hair, in a state of separation from the body, afforded, according to the ancient doctrine, the suitable and necessary means of employing the magnetism. These different parts, so long as they remained in a state of integrity, were supposed to be united in the link of a common vital principle with the individual who had furnished them. The union was operated by the intervention of the universal spirit, and in acting upon them, the physician was said to act also upon the person to whom they had belonged; an action, which, as it was independent of contact, and was not superseded by distance, was regarded as magnetic.” Thouret.