Magnetism and somnambulism taught by the Church.

We have just seen magnetism recognized by Medicine, but here is another endorsement which, from another point of view, is of no less capital importance, since it is proof of the weakening of the prejudices that sounder ideas cause to disappear each day: the endorsement of the Church. We have before us a small book entitled Abrégé en forme de catéchisme [Summary in the form of a catechism], of the Elementary Course of Christian Instruction; for use in catechisms and Christian schools, by Abbot Marotte, vicar general of the archbishopric of Verdun;

This work, written in the form of questions and answers, contains all the principles of Christian doctrine concerning dogma, Sacred History, the commandments of God, the sacraments, etc. In one of its chapters on the first commandment, where the sins that oppose religion are treated, and after referring to superstition, magic, and sorceries, we read the following: Q. What is magnetism?

Answer. – It is a reciprocal influence that sometimes operates between individuals, according to a harmony of relations, whether through the will or the imagination, or through physical sensitivity, and whose principal phenomena are drowsiness, somnambulism, and a convulsive state.

Q. What are the effects of magnetism?

Answer. – It is said that magnetism ordinarily produces two principal effects: 1st – a state of somnambulism in which the magnetized person, entirely deprived of the use of the senses, sees, hears, speaks, and answers all the questions addressed to him; 2nd – an intelligence and a knowledge that exist only in the crisis; he knows his state, the remedies suitable to his illnesses, as well as what certain people are doing even when far away.

Q. In conscience, is it permitted to magnetize or to allow oneself to be magnetized?

Answer. – 1st – If, for the magnetic operation, means are employed, or if through it effects are obtained that suppose a diabolical intervention, it is a superstitious work and must never be permitted; 2nd – The same applies when the magnetic communications offend modesty; 3rd – Supposing that care is taken to remove from the practice of magnetism every abuse, every danger to faith or to morals, every pact with the demon, it is doubtful that it be permitted to resort to it, as we do with a natural and useful remedy.

We regret that the author put this final corrective, in contradiction with what precedes it. Indeed, why would the use of a thing recognized as salutary not be permitted, when all the inconveniences pointed out from his point of view are removed? It is true that he does not express a formal prohibition, but a simple doubt about the permission. Be that as it may, this is not found in an erudite, dogmatic book, only for the use of theologians, but in an elementary book, for the use of catechisms; consequently, intended for the religious instruction of the masses; it is not at all a matter of a personal opinion, but of a consecrated and recognized truth that magnetism exists, that it produces somnambulism, that the somnambulist enjoys special faculties, that among those faculties is that of seeing without the concourse of the eyes, even at a distance, of hearing without the aid of the ears, of revealing knowledge that he does not possess in the normal state, of indicating salutary remedies. The author's standing carries great weight here. It is not an obscure man who speaks, a simple priest emitting his opinion: it is a matter of a vicar general who teaches. A new defeat and a new warning for those who judge with too much haste.