Foreseeing that people with an inert or idle mind would be astonished at the important part assigned to the imagination by the commissioners’ experiments in the production of mesmeric phenomena, Bailly instanced:  sudden affection disturbing the digestive organs; grief giving the jaundice; the fear of fire restoring the use of their legs to paralytic patients; earnest attention stopping the hiccough; fright blanching people’s hair in an instant, &c.

The touching or stroking practised in mesmeric treatments, as auxiliaries of magnetism, properly so called, required no direct experiments, since the principal agent,—­since magnetism itself, had disappeared.  Bailly, therefore, confined himself, in this respect, to anatomical and physiological considerations, remarkable for their clearness and precision.  We read, also, with a lively interest, in his report, some ingenious reflections on the effects of imitation in those assemblages of magnetized people.  Bailly compares them to those of theatrical representations.  He says:  “Observe how much stronger the impressions are when there are a great many spectators, and especially in places where there is the liberty of applauding.  This sign of particular emotions produces a general emotion, participated in by everybody according to their respective susceptibility.  This is also observed in armies on the day of battle, when the enthusiasm of courage, as well as panic-terrors, propagate themselves with so much rapidity.  The sound of the drum and of military music, the noise of the cannon, of the musquetry, the cries, the disorder, stagger the organs, impart the same movement to men’s minds, and raise their imaginations to a similar degree.  In this unity of intoxication, an impression once manifested becomes universal; it encourages men to charge, or determines men to fly.”  Some very curious examples of imitation close this portion of Bailly’s report.

The commissioners finally examined whether these convulsions, occasioned by the imagination or by magnetism, could be useful in curing or easing the suffering persons.  The reporter said:  “Undoubtedly, the imagination of sick people often influences the cure of their maladies very much....  There are cases in which every thing must first be disordered, to enable us to restore order ... but the shock must be unique ... whereas in the public treatment by magnetism ... the habit of the crises cannot but be injurious.”

This thought related to the most delicate considerations.  It was developed in a report addressed to the king personally.  This report was to have remained secret, but it was published some years since.  It should not be regretted; the magnetic treatment, regarded in a certain point of view, pleased sick people much; they are now aware of all its dangers.