Mesmerism, or System of Interactions

XVII

had withdrawn from the world's tumult into the greatest silence and seclusion.

Yet such a man could not remain idle, even in his very
advanced age; with philanthropic readiness he granted
comfort and help to every sick person who approached him, so that
particularly among the poor of that region, Mesmer’s
name is held in blessed memory and will long remain so.
He thereby fulfilled that long-previously uttered, remarkable word which has been
publicly preserved for us, *) and which he uttered at the time
when he was demanding from the government in France a guarantee
and security for the scientific practice of his healing method,
especially in a public hospital to be granted to him,
and for its communication, in that he desired students,
but by no means judges in a matter which, without the clear
instruction he was prepared to give, could not be judged.
— "If," he said, "my proposals are rejected in France,
"then I shall finally not leave this country without regret.
"Should such continue to be rejected everywhere, I still hope that there
"will not be a lack of a sanctuary for me. Armored with my
"rectitude against all inner reproach, I shall gather around me a small number of that suffering
"humanity to whom I had so desired to become generally useful."

*) Observations on animal magnetism by M. D’Eslon,
Doctor-Regent of the Faculty of Medicine of Paris, and
ordinary physician to Monseigneur the Count D'Artois. 1780. p. 146.