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Works on Mental Philosophy, Mesmerism, Electro-Biology, &c. 179

ART. VI.-1. Medical Notes and Reflections. By Sir HENRY HOLLAND, Bart., M.D., F.R.S., &c., Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, Physician-Extraordinary to the Queen, and Physician in Ordinary to His Royal Highness Prince Albert. London, 1840. 8vo. Pp. 638.

2. Chapters on Mental Physiology. By Sir HENRY HOLLAND, Bart., M.D., F.R.S., &c., founded chiefly on Chapters contained in "Medical Notes and Reflections," by the same Author. London, 1852. Pp. 302.

3. Researches on Magnetism, Electricity, Heat, Light, Crystallization, and Chemical Attraction, in their Relations to the Vital Force. By KARL BARON VON REICHENBACH, Ph. D. Translated and edited, at the express desire of the Author. By WILLIAM GREGORY, M.D., Professor of Chemistry in the University of Edinburgh. Parts 1 and 2. 8vo. London, 1850. Pp. 456.

4. Physico-Physiological Researches on the Dynamics of Magnetism, Electricity, Heat, Light, Crystallization, and Chemism, in their relation to the Vital Force. By BARON CHARLES VON REICHENBACH. The Complete Work, with Preface, by JOHN ASHBURNER, M.D. London, 1851. 8vo. Pp. 610. 5. Isis Revelata. By J. C. COLQUHOUN, Esq. 2 vols. 8vo. Edinburgh, 1844.

6. An History of Magic, Witchcraft, and Animal Magnetism. By J. C. COLQUHOUN, Esq. 2 vols. 8vo. London, 1851. 7. Lectures illustrative of Certain Local Nervous Affections. By SIR BENJAMIN C. BRODIE, Bart., F.R.S. 8vo. London, 1837. Pp. 88.

8., Hypnotic Therapeutics, illustrated by Cases, with an Appendix on Table Moving and Spirit Rapping. By JAMES Braid, M.R.C.S. London, 1853. Pp. 44.

9. Neurypnology; or the Rationale of Nervous Sleep considered in relation to Animal Magnetism. By JAMES BRAID, M.R.C.S.E. London, 1843. 12mo. Pp. 266.

10. The Epidemics of the Middle Ages. From the German of HECKER. By B. G. BABINGTON, M.D. F.R.S. 8vo. London, 1844. Pp. 418.

11. The Power of the Mind over the Body. By JAMES BRAID, M.R.C.S.E., &c. London, 1846. 12mo. Pp. 36.

12. Mesmerism in India. By JAMES ESDAILE, M.D. London, 1846. 12mo. Pp. 286.

13. Facts in Clairvoyance. By JOHN ASHBURNER, M.D. London, 1848. 8vo. Pp. 32.

14. Zoistic Magnetism, containing Original Views and Investiga

tions respecting this Mysterious Agency. By the Rev. W. SCORESBY, D.D., F.R.S., &c. London, 1849. 8vo. Pp. 144. 15. Letters on Animal Magnetism. By WILLIAM GREGORY, M.D., F.R.S.E., &c. London, 1851. Pp. 528.

16. Observations on Trance, or Human Hybernation. By JAMES BRAID, M.R.C.S.E. London, 1850. Pp. 72.

17. Electro-Biological Phenomena. By JAMES BRAID, M.R.C.S.E. Edinburgh, 1851. Pp. 33.

18. The Introduction of Mesmerism as an Anæsthetic and Curative Agent. By JAMES ESDAILE, M.D. Perth, 1852. 8vo. Pp. 46.

19. The Magnetoscope. By T. LEGER. London, 1852. 8vo. Pp. 68.

20. Magic, Witchcraft, Animal Magnetism, Hypnotism, and
Electro-Biology. By JAMES BRAID, M.R.Č.S. London,
1852. Pp. 122.

21. A Few Sober Words of Table Talk about Table Spirits, and
the Rev. N. S. Godfrey's Incantations. By JOHN PRICHARD,
F.R.C.S. Leamington, 1853. 8vo. Pp. 20.
22. Human Electricity, the Means of its Development.

By J. O. N. RUTTER, F.R.A.S. 12mo. London, 1851. Pp. 244. 23. Fiends, Ghosts, and Sprites, including an Account of the Origin and Nature of a Belief in the Supernatural. By JOHN NETHEN RADCLIFFE. London, 1854. 12mo. Pp. 276. 24. Observations on Mental Education. By PROFESSOR FARADAY. London, 1854.

25. Literature, Art, and Science, considered as Means of Elevating the Popular Mind. By the REV. G. E. BIBER, LL.D., Ph. D. London, 1854. Pp. 24.

26. De la Baguette Divinatoire, du Pendule dit Explorateur, et des Tables Tournantes. Par M. E. CHEVREUL, Membre de l'Institut. Paris, 1854. Pp. 258.

27. Esprits Frappeurs. Par Dr. SCHIFF, Comptes Rendus, &c. 12th June 1854.

28. Letters on Table Moving; or the Recent Miracle at Tramutola, and on the Influence of Animal Motion on Attraction. By A. B. London, 1853. Pp. 20.

THERE is no department of knowledge in which so little progress has been made as in that of Mental Philosophy. The human mind has been studied as if it were independent of the body, and, generally speaking, by philosophers who possessed a comparatively small share of physical knowledge. No attempt, indeed, has been made to examine its phenomena by the light of experiment and observation, or to analyze them in their abnormal phases, when modified by external influences, or by the various

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Slow Progress of Mental Philosophy.

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conditions of that complex and mysterious organization on which life and its functions depend. The science of mind, therefore, if it can be called a science, cannot boast of many indisputable truths, or many admitted laws. Without data, without axioms, without definitions, it proposes problems which it cannot solve; it draws corollaries from assertions which are not proved; and however ingenious have been its cultivators, their ingenuity has been more displayed in overturning the speculations of their predecessors than in establishing their own. Nor is this a result which ought to surprise us. Viewed as material by one inquirer, as spiritual by another, and by others as mysteriously compounded of both, the human mind escapes from the cognizance of sense and reason, and lies, a waste field with a northern exposure, upon which every passing speculator casts his mental tares, choking any of the good seed that may have sprung up towards maturity.

During the last century, however, the attention of physicians and physiologists has been directed to new classes of mental phenomena, which have excited much difference of opinion, and in the inquiries and discussions to which these phenomena have given rise, a new light has been thrown on the mysterious agencies from which they spring. The high pretensions of mesmerism, in which blindfold man fancies he sees the distant in space, and the remote in time; and those of phrenology, in which he scans what is spiritual through screens of bone and folds of epidermis, have been reduced to their proper level, and the few truths which they really embrace have taken their place among the sober results of inductive science. But no sooner had these mental errors been exploded, and the moral atmosphere cleansed from their noxious exhalations, than new heresies arose, more fanatical in their character, though fortunately less powerful in their grasp heresies resting, in some cases, on slender foundations of truth, but in others on the morbid suggestions of diseased and distempered imaginations. We allude, as our readers will see, to phreno-mesmerism, electro-biology, table-turning, spiritrapping, and all those influences yet unnamed, which are supposed to reside in the human body, and to control, not only the corporeal and mental condition of man, but to communicate to dead matter new qualities and powers.

When these different heresies were occupying the public mind, and raging with epidemic fury among all ranks of society, but most virulently among the educated classes, it was in vain to appeal to experience or to reason. The scepticism of the scientific inquirer was met by an array of facts which he had scarcely the courage to question. The child appealed to the never questioned testimony of a father, the pupil to that of his teacher,

the citizen to that of his pastor, the presbyter to his diocesan; and a mass of evidence was thus collected which but few philosophers were able to analyze. When the scientific sceptic did venture to doubt, he was himself summoned within the magic circle, and often found himself under the same influence, and a witness to the same results by which his brother conjurors were misled. Under such circumstances, it was in vain to resist an epidemic, for which self-exhaustion was the only remedy. It accordingly assumed a variety of forms, each more wild and towering than its predecessor. Without a medium to carry it, it rushed into the unseen world, summoning the dead from their graves, the saints from their place of bliss,-the wicked from their penal settlement,-and the very God of nature from his throne. The fury of the moral tornado was thus quickly expended. Man-credulous and worshipping man-stood aghast on the threshold upon which he had been thrown, and, with opened eye, saw scattered around him the few fragments of truth upon which he had erected his Titanic superstructures.

In venturing to describe to our readers these various forms of the mysterious and supernatural, and attempting to inquire into their true nature and origin, the writer of this article feels that he has, at least, one qualification which may fit him for the task. Accustomed to researches of a rigorous kind;-sufficiently credulous, too, to admit the truth of well authenticated phenomena which he cannot understand, or reconcile with existing laws; and believing that there are mysterious influences in the spiritual and material world which have not yet been explained, he willingly studied the various mysteries of which he is now to treat, discussed them with their most devoted adherents, and took such pains to inquire into the accuracy of their results, that he has been ranked among the most credulous of their supporters.

At a very early stage of the inquiry, it was obvious that some of the most incredible results-some of those, for example, which were obtained in electro-biology, were real phenomena, though ascribed to influences that had no existence; and notwithstanding that these phenomena were stoutly denied and denounced as tricks by physiologists and sceptics of all degrees, yet we have now the satisfaction of seeing them adopted by the most eminent and philosophical of our physicians. Sir Henry Holland has particularly distinguished himself in the investigation of that branch of mental physiology which treats of the influence of the mind over the body, and in the two interesting volumes which we have placed at the head of our list of books, he has presented us with the valuable results at which he has arrived. Instructed in modern science, in all its branches, he has success

Great Value of Sir Henry Holland's Researches.

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fully employed the lights which it bears in the elucidation of mental phenomena, and has convinced us how much might have been achieved by the metaphysician, had he been guided in his inquiries by the never flickering torch of physical knowledge. But it is not merely from their bearing on the exciting questions of the day that the writings of Sir Henry Holland possess a peculiar interest. They are replete with lessons of high instruction to the medical profession, so high, indeed, that we can scarcely consider a physician entitled to practise his profession, who has not drunk deeply in the lessons of wisdom and experience which these volumes contain. Free from the technical discussions which can be relished only by the practitioner, the general reader will find in the " Medical Notes and Reflexions" of our author, information not only interesting but useful to him, either in reference to his own health, or to that of others of which he is the guardian. It is only, however, to that portion which relates to mental philosophy, that we can at present call the attention of our readers, and we shall find it of peculiar value in reference to the different subjects of which we have to treat.

In the discussion of questions of a medical nature, we must not expect that kind of evidence which we are accustomed to demand in questions of law or of physical science. The principle of life, and the action of the mind on the bodily organs, introduce new and complex relations, which expose all our reasonings to new sources of error. Sir Henry Holland justly states, in his preliminary chapter on this interesting subject, "that it is the want of a right understanding of medical evidence which makes the mass of mankind so prone to be deceived by impostors of every kind; whether it be the idle fashion as to particular remedies, or the worse, because wider, deception of some system professing to have attained at once what the most learned and acute observers have laboured after for ages in vain;" and he subsequently mentions the important fact, "that during the last twenty years, omitting all lesser instances, he has known the rise and decline of five or six fashions in medical doctrine or treatment; some of them affecting the name of systems, and all deriving too much support from credulity, or other causes, even among medical men themselves." The same difficulties which are thus inherent in all medical questions, are increased tenfold in the examination of those sciences falsely so called, which are treated in the works under our consideration. If medical men, highly educated, and occupying a distinguished social position, have been seduced from the sober paths of their profession into new and ephemeral systems which fashion sanctions and imposture sustains, we need not wonder at the temporary success of wilder theories where the illiterate and the

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