Modern philosophy has admitted a plenum or universal principle of fluid matter, which occupies all space; and that as all bodies moving in the world, abound with pores, this fluid matter introduces itself through the interstices and returns backwards and forwards, flowing through one body by the currents which issue therefrom to another, as in a magnet, which produces that phenomenon which we call Mesmerism.
In more simpler terms, it is believed that every human body can be uplifted to a state of trans via the universal liquid which propagates in all mediums.--Where he is neither alive nor dead. This is supposedly the so called "Mesmeric state". The ususl question that arises after this is that. Is mesmerism hypnotism??
The answer to this question is simply a NO.
The terms "mesmerise" and "hypnotise" have become quite synonymous, and most people think of Mesmer as the father of hypnosis, or at least as its discoverer and first conscious exponent. Oddly enough, the truth appears to be that while hypnotic phenomena had been known for many thousands of years, Mesmer did not, in fact, hypnotise his subjects at all.
The various theories at present entertained regarding the phenomena of mesmerism may be arranged thus:— First, those who believe them to be owing entirely to a system of collusion and delusion; and a great majority of society may be ranked under this head. Second, those who believe them to be real phenomena, but produced solely by imagination, sympathy, and imitation. Third, the animal magnetists, or those who believe in some magnetic medium set in motion as the exciting cause of the mesmeric phenomena. Fourth, those who have adopted my views, that the phenomena are solely attributable to a peculiar physiological state of the brain and the spinal cord
This phenomenon is a subject for research still, though there are a wide number of stories attributing to this. I would like to share the summary of d story I came across as shortly as possible.
The narrator presents the facts of the extraordinary case of Valdemar which have incited public discussion. He is interested
in Mesmerism, a pseudoscience involving bringing a patient into a hypnogogic state by the influence of magnetism, a process
which later developed into hypnotism. He points out that, as far as he knows, no one has ever been mesmerized at the point
of death, and he is curious to see what effects mesmerism would have on a dying person. He considers experimenting on his
friend Ernest Valdemar, an author whom he had previously mesmerized, and who has recently been diagnosed with phthisis
(tuberculosis).
Valdemar consents to the experiment and informs the narrator by letter that he will probably die in twenty-four hours.
Valdemar's two physicians inform the narrator of their patient's poor condition. After confirming again that Valdemar is
willing to be part of the experiment, the narrator comes back the next night with two nurses and a medical student as
witnesses. Again, Valdemar insists he is willing to take part and asks the narrator to hurry, for fear he has "deferred it
or too long". Valdemar is quickly mesmerized, just as the two physicians return and serve as additional witnesses. In a
trance, he reports first that he is dying - then that he is dead. The narrator leaves him in a mesmeric state for seven
months, checking on him daily. During this time Valdemar is without pulse, heartbeat or perceptible breathing, his skin cold
and pale.
Finally, the narrator makes attempts to awaken Valdemar, asking questions which are answered with difficulty, his voice
seemingly coming from his swollen, blackened tongue. In between trance and wakefulness, Valdemar's tongue begs to quickly
either put him back to sleep or to wake him. As Valdemar's voice shouts "dead! dead!" repeatedly, the narrator takes
Valdemar out of his trance; in the process, Valdemar's entire body immediately decays into a "nearly liquid mass of
loathsome—of detestable putrescence."
Very little has been found on this subject....and it still continues to manifest the human mind..
