Practical Instruction on Animal Magnetism

direction imparted by the will. It is this substance, the same which sustains life within us, that we call the fluide magnétique magnetic fluid. The nature of this fluid is unknown, its very existence is not proven; but everything happens as if it existed, and that is sufficient for us to admit it into the guidance we provide for employing magnetism.

6. Man is composed of a body and a soul, and the influence he exerts participates in the properties of both. It follows that there are three actions in magnetism: 1°. physical action; 2°. spiritual action; 3°. mixed action. We will see subsequently that it is easy to distinguish which phenomena belong to each of these three actions.

7. If the will is necessary to direct the fluid, belief is necessary so that one may make use of the faculties one possesses without effort and without hesitation. Confidence in the power with which one is endowed also ensures that one acts without effort and without distraction. Furthermore, confidence is merely a result of belief; it differs from it only in that one believes oneself to be endowed with a power whose reality one recognizes.