Contenting myself with mere reference to the fact that certain mesmerists (Nasse, Barbarin, and others) do not believe in the existence of the magnetic fluid, I pass over various theories, practically valueless from the scientific point of view.

In support of their contention that the magnetic conditions are in no way connected with hypnotism, mesmerists often bring forward the argument that sleep is by no means requisite for the exercise of magnetic influence. In reply to this, we may remark, that also with persons being hypnotized it is only in the case of a comparatively small minority that sleep is induced (cf. p. 60). And in any case, suggestion may, as we have seen, be exercised independently of either sleep or hypnosis. As a further distinction, they are fond of pointing out the important part played by the personality of the magnetizer, in the means he employs. The very use of magnetized objects shows, however, that this is not absolutely correct, even were the magnetizing of the same as essential as, without sufficient evidence, they constantly assert. Not that mesmerists are in the least embarrassed to account for these discrepancies. Should an object, as in following Braid's method, not have passed through a magnetizer's hands, then, as Moricourt explains, it will suffice for the subject to gaze fixedly at it so that his own magnetic fluid may be reflected therein, and by this he will in turn himself be influenced.

Nor must the simple fact that it is in the power of another person to provoke physiological or psychological results, which we ourselves by the use of apparently precisely similar means cannot obtain, be interpreted as an argument in favour of animal magnetism. Take the well-known example of the laughter occasioned by tickling. We can none of us make ourselves laugh by tickling. And there are plenty more examples of the same kind. I had earlier (p. 85) occasion to remark, how if another person's hand approaches our eye, we have a natural tendency to close it, even if we do not in the least dread actual contact. In another place (p. 400) I pointed to the special results obtained by the frequent repetition of the same words on the part of the doctor; these results the patient is quite powerless to produce, however carefully he may repeat the same words to himself. It is an undisputed fact that by the touch of a sympathetic person a pleasurable sensation may be evoked, and by that of an unsympathetic person a disagreeable one. In the case of local pains and certain other sensations, the touch of a sympathetic person may have a beneficial effect, - not that of an unsympathetic one.

It thus becomes evident, that the very same physiological and psychological stimuli, when applied by ourselves, may be very far from giving the results obtained by them when they originate with another person. The whole question still demands much elucidation, although endless physiological and psychological theories have been started for the purpose. That of Demonchy would attribute the sleep-inducing power that lies in the touch of a hand to a merely thermal influence. And yet this would most assuredly not suit all cases, the application of warm compresses, for instance, having very varying results. It is undeniable that purely physiological processes often play here a highly important part. This appears most clearly in sexual intercourse, in which the very same physiological stimulus and the very same psychological process produce quite different results, according to the degree in which they correspond to the feeling of the person employing them. Normal sexual intercourse, even at the supreme moment, never produces complete gratification in a homo-sexual man.

And yet here the peripheral stimulus cannot be said to be at fault, but simply the fact that it does not correspond to the feeling in question.

In this, as in other examples given of difference in the results brought about by similar physiological agencies, animal magnetism plays no part. We have in reality to deal here with innate tendencies and psychological processes, a detailed analysis of which certainly at present exceeds our powers. The assumption of the existence of animal magnetism is, however, utterly superfluous, and it furnishes no explanation at all of the phenomena under consideration, whether the reflex-closing of the eyelids, or the effect produced by the touch of the hand or persistent repetition of the same words.

It is surely a somewhat wrong-headed proceeding, if, in order to account for phenomena which are not quite clear to us, we drag in the agency of a perfectly hypothetical force, when we know the whole time that this force, even if its existence were proved, would be incapable of explaining the phenomena in question. Already some time ago, Lemoine, in his book, Du Sommeil, laid stress on the fact that the phenomena of magnetic somnambulia, clairvoyance, transposition of the senses, etc., cannot, even if we accept them, be explained by animal magnetism. The attempt, therefore, to make these phenomena, even if we admit their existence, the basis of a theory of animal magnetism, must be distinctly negatived.

To convey magnetic force from one person to another, various manipulations, and more especially the magnetic passes, are constantly employed. At times mere contact, the interchange of a fixed gaze, or light breathing of the magnetizer over the subject, may prove efficacious (Barety). In conjunction with such manipulations, or even without them, according to some of the older mesmerists (Puysegur, Nasse), entire concentration of thought and of the will on the result aimed at is specially recommended, and there are not wanting in the younger school of mesmerists those who consider that this should in itself suffice. In all books dealing with animal magnetism are to be found a number of precepts concerning the best method of magnetizing. Much information is also given about the direction of the magnetic passes. Accordingly as they are made upwards or downwards, and with the palm or the back of the hand, their effect is said to vary. There is also supposed to be a difference observable in their action on the right and left side of the body. Reference to magnetic polarity is also made.