Note: Every student longs to obtain through literature, one of the best means of conveying ideas, an instruction on Mesmerism that is at once concise, compelling and interesting. The author of the following pages remembers well his first introduction to these subjects, and his desire to obtain just that something which he felt he had not yet gleaned from the books then existing, however richly and wisely constructed. Some of these, which have been a source of great satisfaction ever since, were then too ponderous and heavy, while others did not contain the satisfactory practicality desired. It is for this reason that an attempt is made here not to give the philosophy of mesmerism-which may be a pleasure of the future-but to introduce a simple but practical volume of instruction. |