Vol. I. JUNE, 1887. No. 5. Project Gutenberg's Buchanan's Journal of Man, June 1887, by Various This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: Buchanan's Journal of Man, June 1887 Volume 1, Number 5 Author: Various Editor: J. R. Buchanan Release Date: August 23, 2008 [EBook #26401] Language: English Character set encoding: UTF-8 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BUCHANAN'S JOURNAL OF MAN *** Produced by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net BUCHANAN’S JOURNAL OF MAN. The Most Marvellous Triumph of Educational Science The Grand Symposium of the Wise Men The Burning Question in Education MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE—Bigotry and Liberality; Religious News; Abolishing Slavery; Old Fogy Biography; Legal Responsibility in Hypnotism; Pasteur’s Cure for Hydrophobia; Lulu Hurst; Land Monopoly; Marriage in Mexico; The Grand Symposium; A New Mussulman Empire; Psychometric Imposture; Our Tobacco Bill; Extinct Animals; Education Genesis of the Brain (concluded) 1 Business Department The Most Marvellous Triumph of Educational Science. In the dull atmosphere which stagnates between the high walls of colleges and churches wherein play the little eddies of fashionable literature, which considers the authorship of an old play1 more interesting and important than the questions that involve the welfare of all humanity or the destiny of a nation,—an atmosphere seldom stirred by the strong, pure breezes of the mountain and the ocean,—the best thought and impulse of which humanity is capable is stifled in its birth, or if it comes forth feels the overshadowing influence that chills its life. Not there, amid the pedantries of “culture,” do we find the atmosphere for free and benevolent thought, but rather far away from such influences, in the forests, the mountain and prairie, where man comes more nearly into communion with nature, and forgets the inheritance of ancient error which every corporate institution preserves and perpetuates. It is to this widespread audience that the Journal of Man appeals and offers a new suggestion. In sending forth the “New Education,” hoping for some appreciative response from educational circles in which collegiate influences prevail, I did not deem it prudent to introduce some of the noblest thoughts that belong to the great theme. The book was sent forth limited and incomplete, hoping that, heretical as it was, and quite irreverent toward the ignorance descended from antiquity, it might still receive sufficient approbation and appreciation to justify later introduction of matter that would have hindered its first reception. It has reached the third edition, but it has been very apparent that its reception was cordial and enthusiastic only among the most progressive minds, the number of which increases as we travel westward, and San Francisco called for more copies than the leading cities of the East. The time has now arrived (when this Journal is hailed cordially throughout the country) that I may venture to announce the most remarkable feature of the art and science of education. There is an additional reason, too, for speaking out at this time, which should mortify the pride of an American citizen. The philanthropic science which I thought it imprudent to mention then in this free country, is beginning to be studied in France, where such themes are not suppressed by the sturdy dogmatism which is so prevalent and so powerful in the Anglo-Saxon race. THE NEW METHOD IN FRANCE. As the French National Scientific Association, in their meeting at Grenoble, two years ago, recognized in their most startling form the phenomena of human impressibility which are illustrated in the “Manual of Psychometry,” and reported the most marvellous experiments in medicines,—an act of liberality which has no parallel in English-speaking nations,—so at the late meeting of their Scientific Congress, as I learn from the German magazine, the Sphinx, the new principle of education was broached which I feared to present in the “New Education,” and was received with general approbation by that learned body. Of course there was not a complete presentation of the subject, for that would require a complete knowledge of the brain, which no scientific association claims at present, and which will have its first presentation to the readers of the Journal of Man, but the process of educational development was studied by the French savants from the standpoint of mesmeric science and its leading methods, which are now (freed from the name of an individual) styled hypnotism; or, the sleep-producing process. In that passive and impressionable condition which is called hypnotic, mesmeric, somnambulic, or somniloquent, it has long been known that the subject may be absolutely controlled by the operator, or by a simple command or suggestion, or by his 2 own imagination. This has been so often demonstrated before many hundred thousands of spectators, that it is a matter of general knowledge everywhere among intelligent people,—everywhere except, perhaps, in the thick darkness of medical colleges, where ignorance upon such subjects has long been made the criterion of respectability, and perhaps among a few very orthodox congregations, where such things have been associated with the idea of witchcraft, and considered very offensive to the Lord. Such was the doctrine of my old contemporary at Cincinnati, Dr. Wilson, at the head of the leading orthodox congregation; and it was equally offensive to the champion debater of Presbyterian orthodoxy, the Rev. N. L. Rice, whom I arraigned before a vast audience for his antiquated falsehoods. If the church and the college are getting a little more enlightened now, I cannot forget the condition in which I found them, of stubborn hostility to scientific progress, and these things should not be forgotten until they have repented, reformed, and ceased to be a stationary obstruction. We are not accustomed to look to a Catholic country like France for advanced thought, yet, in these instances just mentioned, we find French scientists entertaining advanced ideas which the leaders of American science treat with either indifference or hostility. The Popular Science Monthly and medical journals generally treat all such matters with stubborn aversion and injustice. The learned collaborators of Johnson’s Cyclopedia were unwilling even to have the science of psychometry mentioned in it, and it was introduced by the publisher against their protest. These things I mention now, that the great public to which I appeal may better understand the real value of the opinions of those who stand in positions of authority and influence. I would not wish to diminish by harsh criticism the sentiment of reverence which is already too feeble in the American mind. We cannot be too reverent to real intellectual and moral greatness, but to reverence beyond their worth the teachers of old inherited falsehoods, is to be a traitor to truth. The literature of to-day is controlled by ancient or mediæval errors, and the fresh science seeking expression in the Journal of Man could not have found expression in periodical literature. Our leading periodicals would not have opened their pages to the exposition of educational methods which is to be given in this essay. Intolerance is the inheritance which the generation of to-day has received from ancestors who two or three centuries ago delighted in hanging or even burning the exponents of opinions contrary to their own; and where intolerance is not in the way, the energy of literary cliques is exerted to hold exclusive possession of the field. With this exordium, which the occasion seemed to require, let us proceed to consider the most powerful and radical measure, which belongs to the science of education, and which has been developed by the science of anthropology. DEFINITION OF EDUCATION. Education, rightly understood, signifies the development of all the faculties or capacities of the soul, and, as a necessary consequence, of the brain, in which that soul is lodged, and of the body, which is as essential to the brain as the brain is to the soul. For without the brain there is no soul expression, and in proportion to the condition and development of the brain is the expression of all the soul faculties. A soft and watery brain is always accompanied by feebleness of character and mind. In like manner the manifestations of the brain depend for their strength upon the body, when the lungs and heart fail to send a vigorous current of arterial blood to the brain, its power declines proportionally; and when the current ceases entirely, the action of the brain itself ceases, and with its cessation all manifestations of the soul cease also. Or when the disordered viscera fail to supply a healthy blood, as in fevers of a low type, the brain, like all other organs, is brought down to the level of the depraved blood, and shows by its utter feebleness and by the incoherent expressions of the patient that brain and soul depend upon the body for their power and all their action in this life.2 FOUR EDUCATIONAL METHODS. The process of education by a teacher consists chiefly in establishing the control of his stronger mind over that of the pupil, by placing the latter in the most passive and receptive condition, in which the pupil not only receives the intelligence he gives, but also feels the influence of his will and principles. There are four methods by which the influence of the teacher is made effective: 1st, the power of conviction or reason; 2d, the spirit of obedience; 3d, the spirit of imitation; and 4th, the spirit of passive sympathy. In the first method he addresses the understanding, enabling the pupil to understand what is best for him. If Socrates had been right in maintaining that knowledge was the 3 4 one thing needful to overcome practical errors, and that men sinned only through ignorance (which was a very grave mistake), this would be the most effective method of teaching. But it is effective only with those who are conscientious and thoughtful, who are seeking to do right, and need only to be instructed. It is entirely ineffective with the great majority of wrong doers, whose moral nature and self-control are insufficient to curb their animalism. The second method, the spirit of obedience, is the method of religion, which is far more effective. Jesus and other religious teachers impress their followers that there is a great and benevolent power, the power to which we are indebted for our present lives and our hope of unlimited future happiness,—to which we owe a profound gratitude, with an unhesitating love and obedience. Our love should not be withheld from our grand benefactor; and if his wisdom transcends our own, the wisest thing that we can do is to ascertain what that wisdom dictates, and obey it implicitly. That which we supremely love and reverence we delight in obeying. OBEDIENCE AND IMITATION. The teacher or parent, therefore, should endeavor to hold something like the Divine relation to the child,—should show a superiority of knowledge, an inflexible firmness, an unvarying love, and irresistible attraction, ever endeavoring to win love, while enforcing the supremacy of his will, so that obedience may be a pleasure. Thus may a woman with a masculine strength of will, or a man with feminine strength of love, develop that willing obedience which insures the moral elevation of the pupil. But whenever the teacher fails to elicit both respect and love, his power for good is lost. In this evolution of good the power of the teacher is vastly enhanced by that of music, especially in the form of song, when the pupil is made to sing songs of exalted sentiment; and there are very few natures so depraved as to resist long the combined power of exalted music and a superior teacher, to which should be added the social influence of numbers already elevated by such influences. In such schools, the power of the third element, imitation, is very great, for the pupil is generally more influenced by the example of his numerous associates in the school and family, with whom he is continually in contact, than by that of his teacher. To get the full benefit of imitation requires not only the influence of well-trained schoolmates, but systematic exercises in reading, singing, declamation, and deportment, the teaching being given by example. When a boy or girl is taught by example to express a noble sentiment in a natural manner, he is thereby compelled to feel the sentiment in some degree with sincerity. When he is required to imitate and practice certain forms of politeness which express the best sentiments, those sentiments must gradually become a part of his nature. The acts of respect, of kindness and courtesy to which he may be naturally averse, cannot be daily practised without rousing in his nature the sentiments to which they correspond. VALUE OF DANCING. Among the many disciplinary methods which have been neglected in our educational systems, I would give a high rank to dancing. Rightly conducted, it embodies so much of grace, dignity, cheerfulness, playfulness, health, and the desire of pleasing, as to entitle it to a high rank in the promotion of health and virtue. Dancing is one of the imitative arts, and involves the amiable influence of imitation, as well as the more lively sentiments. The hostility of the orthodox churches to this refining exercise is probably the effect of the infernalism of their theology, which places mankind upon the brink of hell, in full view of the infinite agony of their friends, relatives, and ancestors, so as to render every sentiment but that of gloom and terror inappropriate. How bitter their hostility to all gaiety! “Yes, dance, young woman,” said a famous Methodist preacher about twenty years ago, “dance down to hell!” At the same time, his own private record did not indicate any deep sincerity in his fear of hell. The same hostility is still kept up, and overflows in the popular harangues of Rev. Sam Jones, and many others. Popular Christianity, in the majority of the churches, is therefore one of the greatest hindrances to a normal educational system, and to social refinement, notwithstanding its support of some of the essential virtues. THE REVOLUTIONARY METHOD. The fourth method, of passive sympathy, is the most scientific, the most novel and the most powerful of all,—the most competent to grasp the helpless, hopeless, half idiotic, and 5 half criminal classes and restore them to normal intelligence and virtue. It was not mentioned in the “New Education,” for fear of alarming the orthodox stolidity of the medical college and the church, but it will appear in future editions. It is the method of bringing the subject into absolute sympathy and absolute subordination under the operator. It has been known throughout this century that certain persons can be brought under the control of those of stronger wills, so as to realize the thoughts, and even sensations of the operator, feeling what he feels, tasting what he tastes, apparently more familiar with his body than their own, and passively subject to his will. They are said to be en rapport with him, and with no one else. In this condition his will is substituted for their own, which is entirely passive, and he is able to fix impressions on their minds and produce changes in their feelings and sentiments which may remain after his control is removed. It is self-evident that in this process we have the most powerful lever ever discovered for uplifting the fallen, and doing more in an hour than can be done by the usual methods in many months. Why, then, have we not had the benefit of this potent method throughout the century? The answer is one word, Stolidity! These proceedings, which are called magnetic, or named after Mesmer, mesmeric, have had to battle for recognition, for existence even, against the college and the church. The medical and clerical professions have been everywhere educated to deny, despise, and resist this species of science, and would, if they had the power, suppress it by law, their education having made them ignorant of its merits and ignorant of its deeply interesting literature. Prejudice and ignorance are inculcated as easily as science, and they are inculcated in all colleges. But all who are acquainted with the history of animal magnetism during the present century know that it has nobly fulfilled its mission as a system of therapeutics, by alleviating or curing all forms of disease of both body and mind. That which cures bodily diseases and sometimes overcomes insanity has certainly power enough to modify the action of the brain; and if the large number of magnetic physicians who have been successfully occupied in conquering disease had been employed in modifying the action of the brain in the young, we might have had as satisfactory reports of their success, which neither the medical nor the clerical profession would have been so much moved by jealousy to oppose. In the light of anthropology, however, it is not necessary to adhere to the old formulæ of the followers of Mesmer. The hypnotic or mesmeric state is simply a condition arising from the exercise and predominance of a faculty belonging to all human beings,—a faculty which may be evoked by other methods, or by the voluntary action of the subject, or by the spontaneous action of the brain, as in those who in sleep pass into the state of somnambulism, and go forth in the night, walking in dangerous places with perfect safety, but in an unconscious state. This condition is also produced by gentle manipulations over the head toward the eyes, or upon the chest down to the epigastrium (pit of the stomach). The reason of these processes was entirely unknown until my discovery of the organ of Somnolence in the temples, and the corresponding region in the body showed that the results were produced by manipulations which concentrated the nervous action to those two locations. The entranced or mesmeric state, in which the subject is in a dreamy condition with but little power of will and with extreme susceptibility, which is also a state of great mental clearness, may be produced by directly stimulating the proper organs with the fingers, which should be placed upon the organ of Somnolence on each side of the head, in the temples, about an inch horizontally behind the brow. In persons who are impressible this produces a quiet dreamy feeling, and a disposition to close the eyes. If carried further, the eyes become closed so that it is difficult to open them, and the unconscious state soon follows. The same effect may be produced by placing the hand on the body just below the breastbone (sternum). In this condition, the character, or action of the brain, is under the control of the operator, and by gently applying his hand over any portion of the brain, its organs may be brought into predominant activity, while other organs may be quelled or quieted by gentle dispersive manipulations. Thus, placing the hand gently on the top of the head, touching very lightly, all the amiable or moral organs will be brought into play, producing the most admirable and pleasing disposition; or if the operator has the necessary knowledge of the locations he may bring out each faculty separately, such as Love, Hope, Religion, Kindness, Conscientiousness, Firmness, Cheerfulness, Imitation, etc. At the same time, if there be any evil propensities, such as a quarrelsome, irritable temper, a love of turbulence and cruelty, selfishness, avarice, jealousy, etc., all of which lie at the base of the brain, they may be for the time entirely suppressed by gentle 6 7 dispersive manipulations from the organs of such propensities either down toward the chest or upward. What I state thus of the moral and selfish tendencies or faculties is equally applicable to all the faculties and their organs. We may stimulate all forms of intelligence, observation, memory, or reason, or check excessive intellectual activity when it disturbs sleep and exhausts the brain. We may thus cultivate modesty, obedience, prudence, industry, application, imagination, refinement, truthfulness, faith, spirituality, originality, invention, literary capacity, patience, perseverance, fortitude, hardihood, health, temperance, and, in short, every good quality that we desire to see developed, if we understand cerebral science; and if we understand only its general-outlines we can at least improve the character by giving a predominance to the superior regions of the brain. But while this may be done more effectively in the somnolized condition, it is not absolutely necessary to induce that condition. Speaking of the entire fourteen hundred millions now on the globe, we may say that a large majority are susceptible, in various degrees, of feeling such influences without any previous somnolizing. Nearly all the inhabitants of the torrid zone are subject to such influences in their habitual condition, and actually require no medicine, because their treatment by the hand of an enlightened anthropologist familiar with therapeutic sarcognomy will control all their diseases. The greatest triumphs of sarcognomy are yet to be realized in such climates. In the United States, the susceptibility increases as we go South. The majority of the southern population are impressible, and there are some who would even maintain that a majority are, in the North; and certainly magnetic healers have been very successful in New England. But whatever may be the case with adults, I believe that a majority of the young everywhere possess a considerable degree of impressibility, and that the mother’s hand, gently applied upon the upper surface of the head, will generally quiet the evil passions and promote good humor. This is more especially true of girls. It is rare to find one who does not show in her youth, especially from ten to twenty years of age, a degree of susceptibility which makes her a good subject for the manual treatment of disease, and also for improving the action of the brain, by the scientific use of the hand upon the head, by which despondent, restless, fretful, hysterical, or other evil conditions may be quickly overcome. The speedy relief of headache is especially remarkable. My own experiments upon the brain have been made for the development and cultivation of science, or the assistance of the sick. I have not had time to undertake the systematic cultivation and change of character by such processes in the young; but when I see how quickly and completely the condition of a patient may be changed, and all cloudy, depressed conditions of the brain removed,—how easily I can produce a state of insanity, idiocy, or pugnacity, and as quickly remove it entirely,—I cannot doubt that a little perseverance in cultivating the nobler qualities until they become by habit a second nature will change even the most depraved, if the process be begun in childhood or youth and steadily maintained, unless there be a great organic deficiency in the brain, which cannot be remedied. The teacher of the future, duly educated in anthropology, will lay aside the rod, and will find in the scientific application of his hands the means of overcoming acquired or even hereditary evils; and special asylums will be established, in which the most degenerate youth may be restored to honor, not by cerebral treatment alone, but by all the appliances of industry, music, religion, and love, which have already reformed so many youthful criminals at Lancaster, Ohio, and given them to society as good citizens. The method of direct operation on the brain, which was introduced by my discovery in 1841, is that with which I am more familiar, but the mesmeric method has long been known, and the modification of this, which might be called the imaginative method, has been made familiar during the last fifty years under the popular name of psychology, and sometimes under the absurd name of electro-biology. This method is simply that of assuming control of the subject when he is in the passive state, and making him believe anything he is told, as, for example, that a handkerchief is a snake, that a piece of money is burning hot, or that he is a king, a hero, an orator, an auctioneer, or anything else suggested by the fancy of the operator, which is at once carried into personation by the subject. This is a familiar, popular exhibition, which never fails to attract and amuse, but has unfortunately not been applied to its philanthropic uses in healing disease and elevating the character. If disease can be overcome by making the subject believe a glass of pure water a powerful restorative medicine, or by believing himself marvellously well and vigorous; or if his vicious or indolent habits can be overcome by making him for a time believe himself a religious saint or an energetic business man,—such experiments should be made a powerful adjunct in education, and in 8 9 the reformation of criminals; and this application has recently been made in France, which has the honor of leading in this important philanthropy. The passive state required may be produced by fixing the gaze intently for a few minutes upon some object near the eyes which requires them to be turned inward, or by gazing at the eyes of the operator. The operator tells him if his eyes are shut that he cannot open them, or that he cannot lift his foot, or cannot step across a certain mark, and he seems unable to do so, but does readily whatever his operator suggests, and believes himself to be whatever his operator says—experiments which have been made a source of infinite amusement to public audiences. For example, about forty-five years ago a Mr. Keeley was making such exhibitions in Louisville, and found an old lawyer named Dozier a good subject. He informed Mr. Dozier on the platform that he was Mr. Polk, President of the United States, whereupon he attempted to assume a corresponding dignity. Then, bringing up Mr. Geo. D. Prentice, the witty editor of the Louisville Journal, he informed the quasi-President Polk that this was his wife, Mrs. Polk, just arrived, whereupon an amusingly cordial reception of the quasi-wife occurred. The utilization of these principles by the French is shown in the following translation from the German. HYPNOTISM AND EDUCATION. BY EDGAR BERILLON. [Translated from the German in Sphinx, for the Journal of Man.] The careful study which the school of the medical faculty of Nancy has devoted to the phenomena of suggestion, and their actual progress in that department, present the question whether the time has not arrived for teachers to participate in this scientific movement. The numerous observations by Dr. August Voisin of the Salpetriere have positively proved in his own practice not only the curability of mental diseases, but the great assistance which may be given to moral culture, so that we might successfully introduce hypnotism in educational schools. Dr. Voisin with great ease cured his first patient in the trial of hypnotic suggestion —a girl by the name of Johanna Schaaf, who was not only a thief, but dissolute, lazy, and unclean. He transformed her into an honest industrious, neat, and obedient person. For several years she could not be induced to read a line. Under the control of Dr. Voisin she was made to read several pages of a moral work, which she repeated before the class. Then with great facility he roused her feelings of sympathy, which appeared to have become extinct. This cure was so thorough that she has since been appointed a nurse in the hospital, and has given complete satisfaction, showing herself quite conscientious. Many other experiments were made quite satisfactorily, and similar results were produced in his city practice. In one case, by hypnotic suggestion treatment Dr. Voisin transformed the character of a quarrelsome woman, making her a mild affectionate wife to her husband. Voisin’s experiments related principally to adults, but Dr. Liebeault of Nancy made experiments with children, of which he has mentioned two cases. Once a child was brought to his clinic with great suffering from a nervous affection, but would not submit to a hypnotic treatment till her little brother present offered himself, not being afraid. When he was put to sleep his mother told the physician that the boy in school was always in the lower grades, without making any progress. While in the sleep he was strongly impressed for diligence and zeal, and the subsequent result was perfect; within six weeks he became an example of diligence and perseverance, and soon got promoted. The second case was that of a young idiot. He was incapable of intellectual culture, and could not be taught reading or arithmetic. Dr. Liebeault submitted him to many hypnotic sittings, making a very great effort to rouse his attention, though he seemed to have no capacity for being instructed. Finally he succeeded so well that after two months he could read, and could cipher in the four rules of arithmetic. A great number of similar cases were treated by Dr. Dumont at Nancy with decided success. In one of his clinics Prof. Bernheim maintained that all children are receptive of hypnotic suggestion or transference of thought, and even more so 10 when they enter the age of reasoning. Not only in sleep, but also in the waking condition, they may be affected; and the school of Nancy deserves great credit for presenting this important matter to the world in its true light. One of the signs of the hypnotic sleep or state is the automatic condition of the individual. In consequence of having for the time an enfeebled will, the individual will yield to all impressions upon it; and this weakness of will may take place in a wakeful state, when, if there is no opposition, the individual will accept all assurances in good faith. In case there is no exertion of influence by others, the subject will act by his or her own imagination. Such auto- suggestion is the result of a tendency to imitation which seems to be developed in children particularly, and develops in the waking state in undisciplined minds or in a fatigued and passive state. These important principles and facts render it the duty of every educator to study the efficacy of suggestion and imitation in children. The experiments made thus far, authorize us to establish the following rules for practice: If we have to deal with children of lazy, unintelligent, and indifferent character, we should confine ourselves to practicing verbal suggestion in their waking state, and to be effective it would be best to follow the experiments at Nancy, especially of Dr. Liebeault, and make great effort to gain the implicit confidence of the child. Seat it by itself on a chair, place your hand on its forehead, and enforce the suggestions by a mild voice and patient manner, but with firm determination. When, however, our treatment is to ameliorate the future destiny of the children,—when their faculty of observation is deficient, when they have no diligence whatever, and are full of vicious, headstrong, evil inclinations, it is our opinion that by all means we should apply hypnotism fully to these degenerate creatures. The suggestions in the hypnotic sleep are of greater efficacy, more durable and profound, and probably in many cases it will be necessary to repeat these procedures frequently, until the imperfect intellectual faculties are developed, and the evil inclinations suppressed. Thus may we guide these young souls to a better and purer future. In conclusion, I do not hesitate to assert the importance of hypnotism, in spite of all objections in its application to the mental and physical faculties of healthy persons. Its application as an educational method will be of vast importance to sick and depraved subjects. The train of thought in the above essay, which Dr. Berillon has published in the September number of his Revue de l’Hypnotisme, inspired the contents of a lecture presented at the Scientific Congress at Nancy (August, 1886), out of which arose a discussion in which Dr. Liebault observed that the facts mentioned by Dr. Berillon are entirely true. “My long practice,” said he, “has permitted me to gather a great number of other cases, which will sustain the doctrines of the speaker. I have never seen a child continue entirely unreceptive of suggestion treatment. In the persons, children, and adults, with whom I have experimented, counting by thousands, I have never observed the least injurious consequences whatever.” The report of the discussion given us above in Sphinx shows that these important suggestions met with only one unfriendly criticism, and that of little force. M. Desjardins, Esq., suggested that it was highly important that other honorable gentlemen, like Dr. Liebault, Dr. Voisin, and Dr. Dumont, should be officially appointed to carry on such experiments. He expressed his desire that the Congress should recommend that hypnotic suggestion for the purpose of moral improvement should be tried upon the worst class of pupils in the public schools. The suggestion was seconded with energy by Dr. Leclerc, who expressed his surprise that any one should object. It may be said to have met with the general approbation of the Congress. T he Public Ledger of Philadelphia published last year the following sketch of the progress of the marvellous in France: MARVELS OF MIND AND BODY. For several years past a number of French physicians have been experimenting on hypnotised or mesmeric subjects and on hysterical patients, with results of the most extraordinary character. It is our purpose to very 11 briefly describe some of these remarkable experiments, from which, we may say, the standing of the doctors engaged in them, and the critical care with which they were conducted, seem to remove all questions of fraud or inaccuracy. In these hypnotic experiments as practised by Dr. Charcot, of the Salpetriere; by Dr. Bernheim, Professors Beaunis and Liegeois and other persons of high professional standing, the most striking feature is that the influence exerted upon the patient does not vanish with the conclusion of the experiment, but may produce its effects days, weeks or even months afterwards, when the patient is seemingly in a normal state and controlled solely by his own thoughts. For instance, a sensitive person may be hypnotised, or mesmerized, to use the better known word, and it be suggested to him by the experimenter to go at a certain hour of the next or some succeeding day and shoot some person and then deliver himself up to justice. On being brought back to the normal state no recollection of this suggestion is present in his mind. And yet, if the experiment work as truly as it often seemingly has worked, he will endeavor at the time fixed to perform the action indicated, with the full belief that the impulse to do so is his own. We may quote some instances in corroboration of this seemingly improbable statement. Cases of Hypnotic Suggestion.—Among minor instances of this result, Frederick Myers relates that he suggested to a hypnotised subject, who was engaged in coloring a sketch, that it would be a good idea to paint the bricks blue. He repeated his suggestion several times, and then brought the subject to the normal state. She had no recollection of what had passed, yet on resuming her painting some time afterwards she hesitated, and then said to a lady companion, “I suppose it would never do to paint these bricks blue.” “Why blue?” “Oh, it only occurred to me that it would look rather nice.” She acknowledged that the idea of blue bricks had been persistently in her mind, with the notion that the color would look well. In another instance, Dr. Bernheim, of Nancy, suggested to a hypnotised person to take Dr. X.’s umbrella when awake, open it, and walk twice up and down the gallery. On being awakened he did so, but with the umbrella shut. When asked why he acted so, he replied: “It is an idea. I take a walk sometimes.” “But why have you taken Dr. X.’s umbrella?” “Oh, I thought it was my own. I will replace it.” These are harmless instances of this strange power. There are others the reverse of harmless in this significance. One or two of these we may quote: Prof. Liegeois, in his recently published pamphlet, “Of Hypnotism in its relations to Civil and Criminal Law,” describes experiments with the subjects of M. Liebault, a well-known hypnotiser. In these experiments he took pains to induce the patients to commit crimes. As he relates, Mdlle. A. E. (a very amiable young lady) was made to fire at her own mother with a pistol, which she had no means of knowing was unloaded. The same lady was made to accuse herself before a judge of having assassinated an intimate friend with a knife. Yet in both these instances she was wide awake at the time and supposed that she was acting from her own impulse. Many other instances might be given, but these will suffice for illustration. As to the length of time in which such a suggestion may remain operative, Prof. Beaunis relates a case in which he suggested to a hypnotised subject that he would call on her on the next New Year’s day (172 days after the date of the experiment). On that date, being perfectly conscious, she seemed to see him walk into the room where she was, pay his compliments, and retire. She insisted that this had really happened, and could not be convinced to the contrary. A striking feature of this incident was that he seemed to be dressed in summer attire (as at the date of experiment), though it was now the dead of winter. A natural conclusion from the facts above detailed is, that the strange power here indicated might prove a very dangerous weapon in the hands of an unscrupulous man. If a person can suggest to a subject in the hypnotic sleep that, at a certain future day, he or she shall kill a person obnoxious to the experimenter, or perform some other criminal act, and if the act be duly performed, the subject being in a seemingly normal state, and fully convinced that he acted solely through an impulse originating in his own mind, it might appear as if there was little safety left for honest people, and that a villain 12 13 might carry out his murderous schemes with perfect impunity. In such a case as we have said, the mind of the patient would cease to be his own, but would partly belong to the person whose deadly thoughts it contained, and whose involuntary agent it had become. Will the jurisprudence of the future have to take account of such possibilities as this? Yet it must be remembered that the great majority of people are not susceptible to hypnotic influence, and that those whose will can be so completely subjected to that of another are comparatively few. Very few such have yet been found in France. In America, the realm of a less excitable people, still fewer could be found. It may be said, moreover, that this influence in several cases has been exerted for the good of the patient. One instance is given in which the patient was a great smoker and drinker, and voluntarily gave up both under the influence of hypnotic suggestion. Several other cases of the same kind are related, while a humorous instance is given of an idle school boy who, impelled by a hypnotic suggestion, became a very ardent student. After working off that spell, however, he obstinately refused to be hypnotised again, apparently with the impression that there was something uncanny in his unusual fit of devotion to study. The Grand Symposium of the Wise Men of the Nineteenth Century. The question of our future destiny is paramount to all others in dignity and importance. Upon this subject all wise men must have clear and positive views. The editor of the Christian Register of Boston, according to the very common idea that men in prominent positions as professors and decorated with college honors must be the wisest, thought it well to ask them if science could take cognizance of the question of immortality, and if its verdict was for or against a future life. Such questions he addressed to twenty- three professors, presidents, doctors of laws, etc. But he did not reflect that there were several hundred gentlemen in Boston who had more knowledge on this subject, and who could give him positive and reliable information, and he entirely forgot that the only scientist who has examined this question from the physiological standpoint resides in Boston. The editor did not obtain what he was ostensibly seeking, but he did obtain an amount of evidence of ignorance, in high places, which I should be happy to record, but for the fact that it would occupy more than half of one number of the Journal of Man. Nevertheless, I cannot deprive my readers of the pleasure and amusement derived from this correspondence. I have condensed the responses into a readable compass leaving out their useless verbiage, and putting them in a poetic form, as poetry best expresses the essence and spirit of an author’s thought. I think the learned gentlemen, if they could peruse these doggerel rhymes, would acknowledge that their meaning has been expressed even more plainly and forcibly than in their own prose. The reader will observe that of the whole twenty-three only two appear to have any knowledge on the subject, the famous A. R. Wallace and the brilliant Dr. Coues. The following is the essence or rather quintessence of the voluminous responses in the order in which they were published. The learned gentlemen ought to feel grateful for the increased candor, brevity and explicitness of their replies, when boiled down into the rhyming form, bringing out new beauties which were not apparent in the original nebulous condition of vagueness in which some of them disclaim opposition to immortality, while their only immortality is that of atoms and force. While there is something amusing in these responses (which I shall carefully file away for the future), which may furnish matter for surprise and laughter in a more enlightened age, and which may cause the writers, if they live long enough, to realize a feeling of shame for the wilful ignorance or affectation of ignorance displayed, we cannot overlook the very serious fact that the educational leadership of our country is in the hands of men of whom a large proportion are destitute of the very foundation of the sentiment of religion, while another large portion are so utterly regardless of scientific truth as to 14 ignore the best attested facts, which are continually in progress within their reach—a degree of bigotry which is not surpassed in the history of the “Dark Ages.” Verily the shadow of those ages rests upon the leading institutions of to-day. 1. Response of Prof. Charles A. Young, LL.D., of Princeton College. I must confess this creed of Immortality Hath not in the light of science much reality; But all such questions are beyond our science, And revelation is our sole reliance. 2. Prof. James D. Dana, LL.D., of Yale College. Though very much hurried—not to say flurried, I will venture to say, as my answer to-day, There is nothing in science to prevent our reliance On the solemn reality of life’s immortality. 3. Prof. Asa Gray, LL.D., Harvard University. Were the gospel light out, we should all be in doubt, For science looks on, astride of the fence, And never can tell us the whither or whence; But I shrewdly suspect it is slightly inclined To harmonize now with the Orthodox mind. 4. Prof. Joseph Leidy, M.D., LL.D., University of Pennsylvania. Your doctrine of life eternal And everything else supernal Might well he pronounced an infernal; Delusion! For Solomon said at an ancient date That everything dieth early or late, And man or beast, or small or great, Hath but one fate. Your future life is an awful bore; I’ve tried life once, and I want it no more. You may guess and imagine o’er and o’er, But where’s the proof? Yet nevertheless, I won’t deny You may live without brains in realms on high, But as for myself I’d rather not try, I’d rather die. 5. Simon Newcomb, LL.D., F.R.A.S., etc. Science deals only with matters of sense, It has nothing to do with a mere pretence. ’Tis one thing to say, that the soul survives, And another to say that a cat has nine lives; But I do not say the one or the other, Nor affirm nor deny that the monkey’s my brother. I’ve nothing to say of angels or sprites, Or the spooks that appear in the darkest of nights. For if we can’t see them, nor chase them nor tree them, They can’t be detected, nor caught and dissected, So science must be mum—and I, too, am dumb. 6. J. P. Lesley, State Geologist of Pennsylvania, an ex-Reverend. Science knows nothing about this matter, But fancy may come to talk and flatter. And as all mankind in this agree, There’s a future life for you and for me. Let science slide; we’ll go with the tide, Uplift ourselves above the sod, And claim to be a part of God; Though God extends through time and space, While man, alas! soon ends his race, And whether he lives his own life again Or is lost in the infinite, I do not think plain. 15 7. Lester F. Ward, A.M., of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington. As for immortal life, I must confess, Science hath never, never answered “yes.” Indeed all psycho-physical sciences show, If we’d be logical, we must answer no! Man cannot recollect before being born, And hence his future life must be “in a horn.” There must be parte ante, if there’s a parte post, And logic thus demolishes every future ghost. Upon this subject the voice of science Has ne’er been ought but stern defiance. Mythology and magic belong to “limbus fatuorum” If fools believe them, we scientists deplore ’em But, nevertheless, the immortal can’t be lost, For every atom has its bright eternal ghost. 8. Edward Morse, Ph.D., of Salem. That immortality which Science denies Cannot be admitted by those who are wise, For if we give up and concede Immortality, There’s nothing to check its wide Universality. The toad-stool and thistle, the donkey and bear Must live on forever,—the Lord knows where. I tell you, dear sir, that Science must wake up And grapple these spooks to crush them, and break up This world of delusion of Phil. D’s and D.D’s, Who are all in the dark, as dear Huxley agrees, Proud Huxley’s “The Prince of Agnostics,” you see, And Huxley and I do sweetly agree. 9. Prof. Josiah Parsons Cooke, LL.D. of Harvard University. I freely confess that the life of the dead Is a mystery alike to the heart and the head Of all the mortals that dwell on earth, Although revealed since our Saviour’s birth, And I fully believe in the old-fashioned God, Who, walking in Eden, made man of a clod; And I fully believe the same Deity still Controls all things, here by the fiat of will. 10. Edward D. Cope, A.M., Ph.D., author of “Theology of Evolution.” Dr. Cope answers in a very voluminous and intricate manner, but the following is the essence of his answer. Of life eternal little can we know, And yet we hope some glimmerings may grow, By patient inference as facts appear. I hope there’s something coming near. Science but sees extinction in our death, And life the incident of fleeting breath. We travel round the ologies to see Naught but a grand revolving mystery; But then if we have a controlling mind, Why should not God have the same kind? “Kinetogenesis” was ruled by will, The conscious thought goes with it still, And as conscious thought erst “ruled the roast,” Why may it not become a ghost? But as ghosts are like a vapor mixed, All speculation is lost betwixt The possible this, and the possible that, And so philosophy falls flat. 11. Sir John William Dawson, LL.D., F.R.S., Principal of McGill University, Montreal. We are bound to believe in eternal life, ’Tis an instinct which in humanity’s rife, Of savages, some have been found so low, As neither a God or a heaven to know; If civilized men sink down to their level, 16 17 They are on the highway to the realms of the Devil. 12. J. Sterry Hunt, LL.D., F.R.S. In a terrible hurry, I cannot say much, But Science, I think, opposes all such Belief in the future. But God is so great, I accept what he gives as my future state. 13. William James, M.D., Prof. Philosophy, Harvard University. I can only say my philosophy floats In the German life-boat of Prof. Lotze, At one opinion we both arrive, That all who ought to will survive. 14. Benjamin Apthorp Gould, LL.D., Astronomer, Cambridge. My faith is firm, but I have no time To explain it all in this tuneful rhyme. Science cannot say much, I fear, But must admit that God is here, And if the priests would let us alone, Perhaps a little more might be known. Spirit is fact, and this I assume, For Matter is nothing but solid Gloom. 15. Alfred R. Wallace, the compeer of Darwin. Spiritual science has told the whole story Of the claims of mankind to realms of glory. Our facts are abundant, harmonious and true, They satisfy me and should satisfy you. No baseless hypothesis shapes our knowledge, No dogmatic rule derived from a college, As we fearless explore the worlds unseen, And learn what all their mysteries mean. The science we study is truly Divine, They only reject it who are mentally blind. 16. Thomas Hill, D.D., LL.D., Ex-President of Harvard. As for life after death, a life without breath, Though science says no, I don’t think it’s so, For ’tis wel...