Report of the Commissioners on Animal Magnetism

...that one feels warmer, results from the movement of air following the finger, the temperature of which is always below the degree of animal heat A term used in 18th-century physiology to describe the internal heat generated by living organisms, a topic of great interest to Commissioner Lavoisier.. When, on the contrary, one brings the finger close to the skin of the face—which is colder than the finger—and leaves it at rest, one causes a feeling of heat to be experienced, which is simply communicated animal heat.

It is no more detectable by the sense of smell.

It is also claimed that this fluid has an odor, and that it is smelled when either a finger or a conducting iron rod is held under the nose; it is even said that these sensations differ between the two nostrils depending on whether the finger or iron is directed at a "direct pole" or an "opposite pole." M. Deslon Charles Deslon, a physician to the Count d'Artois and a leading proponent of Mesmerism who cooperated with the Royal Commission. performed this experiment on several Commissioners; the Commissioners repeated it on several subjects; none experienced this difference in sensation from one nostril to the other. And if, by paying close attention, some odor was indeed recognized, it was either that of the iron itself (warmed and rubbed) when the iron was presented, or when the finger was presented, it was the smell of the emanations of perspiration—an odor often mixed with that of the iron with which the finger itself was imprinted. These effects were mistakenly attributed to Magnetism; they all belong to natural and known causes.

The existence of this fluid can only be confirmed by its action on living bodies.

Thus, M. Deslon never insisted on these passing impressions; he did not believe he should present them as proof. On the contrary, he expressly declared to the Commissioners that he could only demonstrate the existence of Magnetism through the action of this fluid as it produced changes in living bodies. This