f 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 formulae 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.

[Illustration]

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 ma