observed, and put every thing in action; hence the numerous dynasties of gods that occur in the history of Egypt, all expressive of physical and metaphysical ideas. A second circumstance is, that they have all a material and an intellectual side, and in the religion of Egypt, Osiris, the Sun, the Nile, &c., represent the material principle, while Hermes or Thoth is the personification of the intellectual life, the ideal of the priest, the minister of science and religion. In all these religions we may discern the philosophical or ideal system of the higher castes mingled with the material and symbolical system invented for the vulgar; body and spirit unite and mingle; the highest idealism is combined with the grossest materialism; on one side all is pure, spiritual, and elevating, on the other sensual, coarse, and debasing.

Like all the Oriental sages, the priests of Egypt held the doctrine of the pre-existence of the soul. They taught that when a soul wished to quit the bosom of the Supreme Father, it was committed in charge to demons who conducted it along the zodiac to earth, and there clothed it in the garment of mortality. It was then forced to remain on earth for a space of three thousand years, during which time it is united to a variety of different bodies of men and inferior animals, until, having purged off the stains which it had contracted, it re-ascends to its former abode by the Gate of the Gods, situated in Capricorn, as it had descended by the Gate of Men, placed in Cancer.

When the soul quits the human body, its first mansion on earth, it descends to Amenthis, the kingdom of Isis and Osiris. It there remains so long as the body to which it had been attached remains undissolved, and the number of merensomatoses (metempsychoses, the usual term employed, expresses a contrary idea,) may therefore be abridged, but yet not entirely done away with. Hence resulted the great anxiety of the ancient Egyptians for the preservation of the body; hence the practice of embalming; and hence also the magnificence of their Necropoles, or cities of the dead, compared with the meanness of their private dwellings, which they regarded but as inns. The policy of the sacerdotal caste retained to themselves the purer doctrine of the immortality of the soul: this last dogma they gave to the people, aiming thereby to fix a wandering population by reverence for the places containing the material vehicles of their ancestors. Their policy was successful; and the bustling and crowded cities of Egypt rose in the neighbourhood, of the silent cities of the dead.

We have thus endeavoured, in such space as our narrow limits afford, to convey to our readers some idea of the contents of the first volume of the profound and elaborate work of Mr. Creuzer, elucidated and improved by the labours of his learned and elegant translator. Three more volumes, which will continue the subject, and unfold, in a similar manner, the mythologies of Minor Asia, Greece, and Italy, remain to be published, and we look forward

with some impatience for their appearance. Highly as we prize the original of Mr. Creuzer, we cannot but regard as superior the French translation of M. Guigniaut; and this latter we therefore recommend in preference, to those who take an interest in such studies. It may indeed be asked in what the utility of such works and such studies consists, and we must confess that in the view of political economy they are of little consequence, their influence on production is nought, and on consumption not considerable. But there is a hunger of the mind which demands gratification as well as that of the body; and while the literature and monuments of Greece and Rome exist, while the temples and tombs of Egypt attract the curiosity of the traveller, and the caverns of Ellora and Salsette, and the mythological poetry of India, fill the European mind with amazement, so long will a craving continue for some consistent explanation of all these strange and various appearances, and so long will works like the present, the produce of deep thought and extensive learning, be hailed by the philosophical enquirer, who traces, with feelings of interest, the history of the origin, the progress, and the development of his species. For such minds Mr. Creuzer's volumes are intended. The pursuits of men are various; and subjects which are entirely devoid of interest for one will excite the liveliest emotions in the breast of another.

ART. VI. Lettres Physiologiques et Morales sur le Magnétisme Animal, contenant l'Exposé Critique des Expériences les plus récentes, et une Nouvelle Théorie sur les Causes, les Phénomènes, et les Applications à la Médecine. Par J. Amédée Dupau, Docteur en Médecine, &c. &c. 8vo. pp. 248. 7s. 6d. Paris, Gabon; et Treuttel et Wurtz, à Londres. 1826.

We had thought that the vulgar delusion of animal magnetism had been exploded long since from cultivated countries. But we were mistaken for at Paris, the cradle of this spurious science, it has been lately revived, and now boldly challenges the highest legitimate sanction. Scarcely half a century has passed away since the doctrine of animal magnetism was first broached (as it was afterwards regularly practised) by Mesmer, a German physician, of too sanguine a character to be contented with the ordinary methods of attacking disease. He met the fate of most prophets; obtained little credit in his own country, and he went to Paris, where he set himself assiduously to propagate his new opinions.

The foundation of his doctrine was the assumption that there exists throughout nature an universal fluid, by means of which bodies may be made to influence each other mutually; and that living bodies were endowed with properties similar to those of the magnet, and could receive and give out this fluid. Here, there

fore, was a method of universal application, of healing and preserving mankind. Mesmer, however, laboured in vain for a while; and it is probable that this, one of the most mischievous heresies which science has yet had to deplore, would have fallen to decay almost at its birth, had it not been for the accession of a proselyte to the new doctrine in the person of a royal physician. From that moment influence, honours, and riches accumulated on Mesmer. He performed the most wonderful cures; and the court of France offered him a magnificent establishment, if he would impart the secret of his art to physicians of its appointment.

Mesmer, it must be allowed, bore his victories meekly; he declined those brilliant offers, and seemed to be satisfied (as well he might) with the fruits of that enthusiasm which he had excited in his favour amongst all classes. There are instances of educated men disposing of their effects, and renouncing their ordinary callings, in order to be at liberty to apply themselves more devotedly to the study of magnetism. The Academy of Sciences and the Society of Medicine were constrained to give the subject a formal consideration, and they appointed commissioners, of which the illustrious Franklin, Lavoisier, and La Place were three, to enquire into the nature of animal magnetism and its effects. In due time, they deliberately reported that it had undoubtedly produced a variety of nervous phenomena, but that these effects were to be ascribed solely to the influence exercised on the imaginations of the patients by external means. This learned judgment, together with some unfavorable accidents, drove Mesmer from France, where, however, he left some very ardent disciples.

As might naturally be expected in such a case, the pupils became masters themselves, and each sect had its special improvement. The most eminent of these teachers was the Marquis Puysegur, who undertook to reform altogether the old method of magnetising. The apparatus used by Mesmer consisted of a bucket or tub four or five feet in diameter, and one foot in depth. It was covered by a lid, which had two holes for the admission of iron rods to the interior of the vessel, so that whilst one end of the rod was inserted in the lid, and in contact with the contents of the tub, the other might be brought to touch the patient in any part of the body. On the bottom of this tub, bottles filled with water and well corked, were arranged with their necks pointing towards the centre so as to resemble so many converging rays, whilst at the centre other bottles were placed in an opposite form, so as to be like diverging rays. Water was then poured in till the bottles were covered, and sometimes iron-dust and broken glass were added. Around this mystic tub the patients formed a ring holding each other by the hand, and being sometimes encircled by a cord.

The Marquis Puysegur, who operated chiefly in the country, rejected these instruments, and performed the magnetic operation by means of an elm-tree, which he first magnetised, and

To

then caused the patients to stand round it in a circle as before. magnetise a tree, all that was necessary to be done was for the operator to approach it, and by repeatedly opening the hand towards it he accumulated the magnetic fluid within it. To magnetise a bottle of water it was sufficient to hold it with one hand, and pass the other up and down along the same side for two or three minutes. It will easily be believed, that with this enchanted tree the Marquis performed wonders amongst the simple peasantry of his neighbourhood. Convulsions, ecstasies, epilepsies, and all sorts of nervous crises were the ordinary effects of the process; and it was during one of his experiments that he made the grand discovery of magnetic somnambulism or lucid sleep, which is now boasted to be the most decisive proof of the reality of animal magnetism.

The power of producing somnambulism at discretion by magnetism alone, is the foundation on which its supporters now seek to obtain the sanction of the Academy of Medicine at Paris, for their art. A short time since a proposition was made to this scientific body by M. Foissac, to be allowed to perform some experiments before them, as a preliminary measure to justify them in afterwards entering upon the formal enquiry on the subject. Those members of the Academy who are most celebrated for their scientific knowledge, such as Magendie, have urged the Society to take the magnetisers at their word, being convinced that the result of the application of such a test must be to expose delusions and to set aside pretensions which are not revived without doing a great deal of injury. The learned body, however, chooses to fret itself with discussing the previous question, whether or not the subject should be entertained by them, a debate which at present promises to be as interminable as it is likely to prove ineffectual.

There cannot be the least doubt but some very extraordinary effects have been produced by persons affecting to have the command of the magnetic fluid as they call it. But there is not one of the phenomena which have yet resulted from the process of magnetism that cannot be accounted for by causes entirely natural. Doctor Petetin, a famous magnetiser, states the case of a young woman, who after violent convulsions became perfectly insensible, -she was motionless, her eyes closed, but she continued singing in the most enthusiastic manner. Every means of resuscitation were tried in, vain, until by accident the Doctor placed his hand upon her stomach, saying, at the moment, What a pity it is that I cannot prevent this woman from singing?" The patient instantly replied, "Don't be angry Doctor, I'll sing no more." The Doctor took away his hand, the patient was instantly insensible again, he replaced it, and as long as it remained there she heard and spoke as if in perfect health. The conclusion drawn by the magnetisers from this case was, that the girl heard by her stomach. But this is not the fact; for pathological enquiry has

proved that parts of the body, the epigastric region for instance, may have their sensitiveness so inordinately quickened that they shall for a time become the sole medium of sensation. The celebrated Van-Helmont relates, that the sensitiveness of the organs of his own stomach was so excited by a dose of narcotic poison, that he appeared to himself to perform the functions of hearing, seeing, and what is more extraordinary, of thinking by his stomach. Professor Fouquet gives an account of a young woman, who, during a fit of catalepsy to which she was subject, thought she spoke and heard by her stomach. The Professor placed a piece of cake on the stomach, and she immediately began to move her jaws, and believed, at the moment, that she was really chewing sweet cake. Such are the phenomena which the investigations of science have shown to be perfectly in accordance with natural operations.

The slightest acquaintance with the true history of animal magnetism will show, that its influence has been chiefly exercised on a certain class of patients, and that with respect to others, it is comparatively inefficient. All its wonderful effects have been confined to those who are afflicted with nervous disorders, principally young women, whose constitution, naturally weak, is still more enfeebled by suffering, and in whom, from the nature of their malady, the influence of the imagination is rendered unusally predominant. Hence it is that the most remarkable cases of the power of animal magnetism are those in which hysterical women were the patients.

The great sources, then, of the success of this delusive system we may venture to state to be, first, the existence of nervous disorders, or a tendency thereto, and, in the next place, a credulous imagination. This explains why magnetisers have agreed upon a ritual for performing the ceremony, and why it is that an imposing manner, mysterious words, solemn tones, apparatus of different sorts, significant gestures, and, in some cases, soft music, are deemed necessary to the accomplishment of the process. The person who operates must be of respectable, nay, attractive appearance, advanced in life; it is desirable that the person should be of superior rank to the patient, and of a different sex. The process is thus performed: - The patient and doctor place themselves opposite each other, so that their knees and feet are in close contact. The doctor takes the patient by her thumbs, and holds them till they are as hot as his hand, he next places both his hands upon her shoulders, and after keeping them there a few minutes, he draws them along the arm, and resumes his former hold of the thumbs. He This manœuvre is repeated three or four times. then places his hands on her stomach, until she perceives the communication of heat, when he draws his hands down as far as the knees, and back again outside her dress. During all this time the doctor is addressing his patient in the most endearing manner.

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