Practical Instruction on Animal Magnetism

...that the reading of this writing determines them to execute, better than I have been able to do, the plan I have proposed. I invite them to take from my instruction everything that appears to them worth preserving, and to cite me only to rectify errors that may have escaped me. Our wish, for us all, is to do good; this wish unites us, it identifies us, so to speak, one with the other; when a success is obtained, we enjoy it equally, whoever its author may be. It is possible that one might take some pride in having discovered a truth: one never takes any in having performed good deeds.

A physician who is already famous might perhaps increase his reputation by publishing a good work on magnetism; he would call attention to an order of phenomena that belongs to the living nature, he would found a school, he would find disciples among his colleagues. This type of success is impossible for us; our adversaries condemn us...