The power of volition may be employed to produce some influence or effect, either upon the person who exercises it, or upon some other person. Many remarkable cases of the former kind of influence have been observed and recorded by men every way worthy of credit. The celebrated Kant wrote an article on the power which the will can exert to overcome pain. Cases of this kind are related by Passavant, Brandis, and Boerhaave; but the most remarkable case of the seeming power of the will over the body, is that of Colonel Townsend, related by Dr Cheyne. Like the Faquirs of India, this man could at will simulate death for a lengthened period. It may prove a warning to others, who, from vanity or any other cause, may venture on such rash experiments, to state that this unfortunate man died, not seemingly,but really in the course of his last experiment. Of the latter kind of effects, those which human volition can produce upon others, analogous and antecedent to those of Mesmer, many singular instances have been recorded. The reality of this power was maintained by many eminent writers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. A list of these authors, the most re markable of whom were Pomponatius, Van Helmont, and William Maxwell, will be found in Colquhoun’s Report on Animal Magnetism, p. 23. The following are some of the more remarkable effects said by these authors to be produced by the operation of the will, and the imagination acting upon the organization of others.

1. It is assumed as a fact generally acknowledged, that there are men endowed with the faculty of curing certain diseases, by means of an emanation directed through the will and imagination towards the patient. This is a principle which will be found to lie at the foundation of all the mesmeric theories.
2. This force affects the blood and the spirits, which produce the intended effects by means of an evaporation thrown outwards. (Pomponatius)
3. The person operating should have great faith, strong imagination, and a firm desire to cure the patient; and the confidence of the patient contributes to the efficacy of the remedy. (Pomponatius)
4. It is further maintained, that this power may render the very elements and matter itself subject to the command of man. (Pomponatius) Mesmer asserted that he magnetized the sun.
5. It is maintained that there is an ethereal vital spirit or essence which penetrates all bodies, and acts upon the mass of the universe. In man this influence resides in the blood, and is worked and directed by volition. (Van Helmont)
6. This virtue in man may be impressed on external bodies, such as vegetable substances, which derive additional virtue from the imagination of the man who gathers them. (Van Helmont)
7. The effect produced is in proportion to the energy of the will in the operator, and the weakness of the person operated on. (Van Helmont)

We might adduce many more instances of doctrines maintained by these older writers, in all of which, as well as in those quoted above, the most superficial observer will perceive the striking similarity to, if not complete identity with, the doctrines taught by Mesmer, Puysegur, and their followers. Besides the works of Colquhoun, the Histoire Critique du Magnétisme Animal of M. Deleuze, and the Researches and Doubts on Animal Magnetism of M. Thouret, may be consulted with advantage. Our space will not permit us to enter farther into the subject here. We shall, therefore, proceed to the consideration of the History of Mesmer and his Doctrines.