Report of the Commissioners on Animal Magnetism

...way as to concentrate the Magnetism there; it is a large reservoir from which it spreads through the iron branches that are plunged into it.

The Commissioners subsequently assured themselves, by means of an electrometer An early instrument used to detect and measure electric charge. and a non-magnetized iron needle, that the tub contains nothing that is either electrical or magnetic; and upon the declaration that Mr. Deslon made to them regarding the interior composition of this tub, they recognized in it no physical agent capable of contributing to the announced effects of Magnetism.

The patients, arranged in very great numbers and in several rows around the tub, thus receive Magnetism through all these means at once: through the iron branches which transmit that of the tub to them; by the rope wrapped around the body, and by the joining of thumbs which communicate to them that of their neighbors; by the sound of the piano-forte, or of a pleasant voice which spreads it through the air. The patients are also magnetized directly, by means of the finger and the iron wand, moved before the face, above or behind the head and over the diseased parts, always observing the distinction of poles Mesmerists believed the human body had magnetic poles similar to a magnet; treatment required moving the "fluid" in the correct direction between these poles.; they are acted upon by the gaze and by fixing their eyes upon them. But above all, they are magnetized by the application of the hands, and by the pressure of the fingers upon the hypochondria: in 18th-century medicine, this referred to the upper lateral regions of the abdomen, then believed to be the source of various "nervous" and emotional disorders and upon the regions of the lower abdomen; an application often continued for a long time, sometimes for several hours.

Then the patients present a very varied picture through the different states in which they find themselves. Some are calm, tranquil, and feel nothing; others cough,