It must, however, be conceded that the occultists themselves hardly ever allow their phenomena to be subjected to impartial observation, and that notwithstanding their loudly proclaimed readiness to court inquiry beforehand, during the seance itself some pretext will always be found, either by the medium or his assistant, or by some occultist or spiritist, to upset every attempt at scientific investigation. And yet, whatever the difficulties, it is the scientific method of dealing with such phenomena which alone can enable us to disprove them. In the year 1877, Wieland wrote a little tract on "Magnetism" well worth reading. In it he blamed the general tendency to turn into ridicule everything alike that had to do with magic, apparitions, or mesmerism, and to treat as fools, mad enthusiasts, or impostors all those who occupied themselves with such matters. It is the bounden duty of science, as Wieland at that date already clearly perceived, to give these things due attention; wherever the cry of the werewolf is raised let the monster be hunted down, and it will invariably turn out to be an ordinary wolf among other wolves, or perhaps rather bigger than the rest of the pack.

The task incumbent on science has been sketched by Wieland in a few decisive words, which to this day retain all their force. Let us not now be too optimistic as to the results of scientific investigation of these phenomena. Mysticism is too deeply implanted in human nature, and as a contemporary current of thought, forms, perhaps, a too inevitable reaction against recent materialism for us to be over sanguine on this score. The fact, however, remains that rational inquiry and explanation are the only weapons with which we may hope successfully to combat uncritical occultism.

The phenomena which I am about to discuss are as follows: (1) animal magnetism, (2) the influence of mineral magnetism on human beings, (3) super-sensual thought-transference (telepathy, suggestion mentak), (4) clairvoyance, (5) transposition of the senses, (6) the effect of drugs on approach or contact, (7) occultism in general.

In animal magnetism a leading part is played by the personal influence exerted by one individual over another, an influence brought about neither by suggestion nor by any other psychic agency. The following examples will make this clear.

An individual, A., says, for instance, to another, B., "You cannot speak." B. hears this and is mute. This is suggestion. If, now, A. makes mesmeric passes over B.'s arm, and analgesia results in consequence, this may also be attributed to suggestion, as B. is perfectly aware that A. has made the passes. Let us now suppose that C. also makes passes over B.'s arm, without analgesia ensuing. This, too, may be explained by suggestion, by the belief on B.'s part that A. alone can produce analgesia, in consequence of which C.'s manipulation remains ineffective. Suggestion then will account for all these phenomena. But the case is a different one if B. does not know whether it is A. or C. who makes the passes. According to the believers in animal magnetism, the so-called mesmerists, B. does then experience analgesia when magnetized by A., but not when it is C. who magnetizes. It is just by virtue, they maintain, of a peculiar force residing in him that a personal influence is exercised by A., which neither suggestion nor any psychic process will account for. They alone who are endowed with this force are able to magnetize others.

These illustrations may serve to show what is at the present day understood by the expression animal magnetism (vital magnetism, bio-magnetism, zoo-magnetism, mesmerism). There is, however, a great difference of opinion among believers in this power as to the precise meaning to be attached to it. Some consider it a common property of all mankind, which, however, under unfavourable conditions in many cases remains simply latent. To some its possession implies the capability of influencing all people alike, whilst others, again, hold certain individuals alone to be receptive to this influence. Here, as in the case of suggestion, there are those who admit the theory that an individual who has proved refractory to the experiments of one magnetizer may, after all, quite well be magnetized by another.

They who are endowed with magnetic power are supposed to be enabled thereby to produce certain active results, such as local or general analgesia, or contractions, also either partial or general, on the persons of those magnetized by them. According to Rochas, the subject may occasionally, in spite of analgesia, perceive some stimulus, such as a prick, for instance, at a certain distance from the epidermis. Boirac cites similar instances, without, however, adducing satisfactory evidence that in the carrying out of his experiments proper precautions were taken. Voisin's testimony is negative, whilst Crocq goes so far as to deny the feasibility of utilizing such experiments as the basis of any theory of animal magnetism, pointing out the wide scope for error they afford, it being impossible to control the vibrations of the air and fluctuations of temperature by means of which the magnetized person could become aware of the approach of the needle.

Among the further results of mesmerism must be noted the healing powers to which it lays claim. Magnetism has the power, we are told, of restoring the sick to health. In reply to the possible objection that these cures might be attributed to the influence of suggestion, special stress is laid on the fact that quite small children, infants less than a twelvemonth old, have been successfully magnetized. Liebeault, who published a refutation of animal magnetism in 1866, subsequently, in 1883, recanted, the change in his opinions being chiefly brought about by his observation of the susceptibility of small children to magnetic influences, to which his attention had been drawn by the magnetizer, Longpretz. The cures effected among children had, Liebeault avers, completely convinced him of the existence of animal magnetism. Even if the greater part of that which was set forth among the claims of mesmerism were easily to be explained by suggestion, there yet, he thought, remained something inexplicable except by the hypothesis of animal or zoo-magnetism, - to adopt the name that had been used by Athanasius Kircher, and afterwards by Bartels at the very beginning of the nineteenth century. Later on, Liebeault certainly gave up his belief in animal magnetism.