Isis Revelata: An Inquiry into Animal Magnetism

granting its study, at last, the approval of that learned body. While the original Commissioners had previously—during the very beginning of the investigation—in days of relative ignorance—prematurely condemned the doctrine and practice of Animal Magnetism as deceptive and dangerous; a recent Committee of qualified individuals, appointed from within their own ranks by one of the most learned scientific societies in Europe, has now—with much more extensive and mature knowledge of the subject, an infinitely larger amount of evidence before them, and a praiseworthy enthusiasm tempered with truly philosophical caution—re-investigated the facts, reviewed the question, and found reason to reverse the hasty and ill-considered judgment of their predecessors.*

It is curious, and by no means uninformative, to

<em> Dr. Bertrand states it as an important fact that, in the discussions preceding the recent investigation and Report by the Royal Academy of Medicine, there was hardly a single member who opposed the proposal for a new examination who did not also admit that magnetism exerts a real influence on the animal system*. This provides one instance among many of the irrational inconsistency of some of the opponents of Animal Magnetism. They claim to admit the existence of the agent while they stubbornly refuse to investigate the reality of the phenomena through which alone its effectiveness can be proven.

Some, out of weariness of searching for the truth, lazily succumb to any opinion rather than choosing to persevere with stubborn diligence in exploring the truth. — Minucius Felix.