[On Mesmeric Healing]

Insane by Electricity.—A young man, twenty-four years of age, named George Odette, has just been adjudged insane and committed to an asylum for lunatics, in Illinois (U.S.A.). His case is very interesting from a scientific point of view. His madness was caused by an overwhelming shock of electricity given to him as a practical joke by some ignorant companions. The American journal from which the above facts are taken very sensibly remarks upon the extreme danger there is in suddenly pouring through the delicate nerve-matter of the brain and spinal cord a strong current of electricity, and suggests that the best if not the only remedy in such a case is the application of the vital magnetic current of some powerful mesmerizer or “healer.” It might have added that it is equally dangerous to saturate a nervous patient’s brain with mesmeric fluid, as is too often done by thoughtless tyros in magnetism. The human vital force is the most potent of all known agencies, and health of body or mind is only possible when there is a perfect magnetic equilibrium in one’s system. The “healer” heals simply by restoring that balance in his patient by the force of his benevolent desire and will.