But there is something more than these vulgar arts now and then to be
perceived. There are statements supported by unquestionable testimony,
which ought not to be passed over in silence, and yet I cannot but
approach them with hesitation. They are so revolting to the laws of
exact science, so alien, I had almost said, to the experience of our
lives. Yet is this true, or are such experiences only ignored and put
aside without serious consideration? Are there not in the history of
each of us passages which strike our retrospective thought with awe,
almost with terror? Are there not in nearly every community individuals
who possess a mysterious power, concerning whose origin, mode of action,
and limits, we and they are alike in the dark? I refer to such organic
forces as are popularly summed up under the words clairvoyance,
mesmerism, rhabdomancy, animal magnetism, physical spiritualism.
Civilized thousands stake their faith and hope here and hereafter, on
the truths of these manifestations; rational medicine recognizes their
existence, and while it attributes them to morbid and exceptional
influences, confesses its want of more exact knowledge, and refrains
from barren theorizing.
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