Isis Revelata: An Inquiry into Animal Magnetism

of which every competent inquirer might satisfy himself, as I had done, by study and experiment.

But, despite the apparent simplicity of my project, I could not help feeling that, in carrying my determination into effect, I would have many serious difficulties and disadvantages to contend with. The subject—at least in its scientific relations—was new in this country, and almost, if not entirely, unknown to the great majority of those whom I would have to address; and, besides, as far as causes are concerned, it was by no means easy to explain. Probably few, if any, men of scientific pursuits in this kingdom were prepared for a serious investigation of the details to be submitted to their judgment. The terms, too, by which the doctrine has been designated until now, savored of mysticism, with which, indeed, it had been generally—at one time, perhaps, not altogether unjustly—associated; while the very extraordinary character of the facts to be presented must almost necessarily have caused them to be viewed with the utmost suspicion and skepticism, at least, if not treated with absolute ridicule. From the gentlemen of the medical profession, whose opinion would naturally have much weight with the inexperienced public, I had, for obvious reasons, nothing to hope for but, at most, an armed neutrality; although it was principally in a deficient