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Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions

C >> Charles Mackay >> Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions




It was by this means that she was enabled to see the inhabitants of
the moon. She said, that on the left side of the moon, the inhabitants
were great builders, and much happier than those on the right side. "I
often see," said she to her magnetiser, "many spirits with whom I do
not come into contact. Others come to me, and I speak to them; and
they often spend months in my company. I hear and see other things at
the same time; but I cannot turn my eyes from the spirits; they are in
magnetic rapport with me. They look like clouds, thin, but not
transparent; though, at first, they seem so. Still, I never saw one
which cast a shadow. Their form is similar to that which they
possessed when alive; but colourless, or grey. They wear clothing; and
it appears as if made of clouds, also colourless and misty grey. The
brighter and better spirits wear long garments, which hang in graceful
folds, with belts around their waists. The expression of their
features is sad and solemn. Their eyes are bright, like fire; but none
of them that I ever saw had hair upon their heads. They make noises
when they wish to excite the attention of those who have not the gift
of seeing them. These noises consist of sounds in the air, sometimes
sudden and sharp, and causing a shock. Sometimes the sounds are
plaintive and musical; at other times they resemble the rustling of
silk, the falling of sand, or the rolling of a ball. The better
spirits are brighter than the bad ones, and their voice is not so
strong. Many, particularly the dark, sad spirits, when I uttered words
of religious consolation, sucked them in, as it were; and I saw them
become brighter and quite glorious in consequence: but I became
weaker. Most of the spirits who come to me are of the lowest regions
of the spiritual world, which are situated just above our atmosphere.
They were, in their life, grovelling and low-minded people, or such as
did not die in the faith of Jesus; or else such as, in expiring,
clung to some earthly thought or affection, which now presses upon
them, and prevents them from soaring up to heaven. I once asked a
spirit whether children grew after death? 'Yes,' replied the spirit,'
the soul gradually expands, until it becomes as large as it would have
been on earth. I cannot effect the salvation of these spirits; I am
only their mediator. I pray ardently with them, and so lead them by
degrees to the great Saviour of the world. It costs an infinity of
trouble before such a soul turns again to the Lord.'"

It would, however, serve no good purpose to extend to greater
length the reveries of this mad woman, or to set down one after the
other the names of the magnetisers who encouraged her in her delusions
-- being themselves deluded. To wade through these volumes of German
mysticism is a task both painful and disgusting -- and happily not
necessary. Enough has been stated to show how gross is the
superstition even of the learned; and that errors, like comets, run in
one eternal cycle -- at their apogee in one age, at their perigee in
the next, but returning in one phase or another for men to wonder at.

In England the delusion of magnetism may for the present be
considered as fairly exploded. Taking its history from the
commencement, and tracing it to our own day, it can hardly be said,
delusion though it was, that it has been wholly without its uses. To
quote the words of Bailly, in 1784, "Magnetism has not been altogether
unavailing to the philosophy which condemns it: it is an additional
fact to record among the errors of the human mind, and a great
experiment on the strength of the imagination." Over that vast inquiry
of the influence of mind over matter, -- an inquiry which the embodied
intellect of mankind will never be able to fathom completely, -- it
will, at least, have thrown a feeble and imperfect light. It will have
afforded an additional proof of the strength of the unconquerable
will, and the weakness of matter as compared with it; another
illustration of the words of the inspired Psalmist, that "we are
fearfully and wonderfully made." If it serve no other purpose than
this, its history will prove useful. Truth ere now has been elicited
by means of error; and Animal Magnetism, like other errors, may yet
contribute its quota towards the instruction and improvement of
mankind.

THE END.

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