netary influence, and
imagined he could foretell the periods of accession and remission. Having
thus accounted satisfactorily to himself for the origin of the disease,
the idea struck him that he could operate a certain cure if he could
ascertain beyond doubt, what he had long believed, that there existed
between the bodies which compose our globe an action equally reciprocal
and similar to that of the heavenly bodies, by means of which he could
imitate artificially the periodical revolutions of the flux and reflux
before mentioned. He soon convinced himself that this action did exist.
When trying the metallic plates of Father Hell, he thought their efficacy
depended on their form; but he found afterwards that he could produce the
same effects without using them at all, merely by passing his hands
downwards towards the feet of the patient, even when at a considerable
distance.

This completed the theory of Mesmer. He wrote an account of his discovery
to all the learned societies of Europe, soliciting their investigation.
The Academy of Sciences at Berlin was the only one that answered him, and
their answer was any thing but favourable to his system or flattering to
himself. Still he was not discouraged. He maintained to all who would
listen to him that the magnetic matter, or fluid, pervaded all the
universe--that every human body contained it, and could communicate the
superabundance of it to another by an exertion of the will. Writing to a
friend from Vienna, he said, "I have observed that the magnetic is almost
the same thing as the electric fluid, and that it may be propagated in the
same manner, by means of intermediate bodies. Steel is not the only
substance adapted to this purpose. I have rendered paper, bread, wool,
silk, stones, leather, glass, wood, men, and dogs--in short, every thing I
touched, magnetic to such a degree, that these substances produced the
same effects as the loadstone on diseased persons. I have charged jars
with magnetic matter in the same way as is done with electricity."

Mesmer did not long find his residence at Vienna as agreeable as he
wished. His pretensions were looked upon with contempt or indifference,
and the case of Mademoiselle Oesterline brought him less fame than
notoriety. He determined to change his sphere of action, and travelled
into Swabia and Switzerland. In the latter country he met with the
celebrated Father Gassner, who, like Valentine Greatraks, amused himself
by ca