Investigation by French Academy of Medicine Mr. Braid's Examination of Mdlle. Bernard MESMERISM, SPIRITUALISM, &c.1 LECTURE I. ་ THE aphorism that History repeats itself' is in no case more true than in regard to the subject on which I am now to address you. For there has been a continuity from the very earliest times of a belief, more or less general, in the existence of 'occult' agencies. capable of manifesting themselves in the production of mysterious phenomena of which ordinary experience does not furnish the rationale. And while this very continuity is maintained by some to be an evidence of the real existence of such agencies, it will be my purpose to show you that it proves nothing more than the wide-spread diffusion, alike among minds of the highest and of the lowest culture, of certain tendencies to thought, which have either created ideal marvels possessing no foundation what The Lectures, as here presented, include several passages which were necessarily omitted in delivery. |