[CCCXCIX.] Hamburgh, Saturday Evening, 31st.

Oh, had I not to write with thick tavern ink! But this is one of the petty miseries of life which it is difficult to conquer. My pen, also, is not of the best, as I have mended it by candlelight, and my narrative will no doubt bear the traces of both evils. You may judge from these preliminary complaints, dear heart, that nothing very important has occurred… . .

I have not as yet seen many people, except Louisa Reichardt, D. Sieveking, and the family Perthes. To-morrow, however, we are to dine at Flotbek with the Sieveking circle, which is said to comprise many interesting persons. To-day we have been running about in the city, on the exchange, and in the harbour. Hamburgh gives one an impression of great animation and great commercial activity. In this point it seems grander than Francfort, but on the other hand it has not so antique and historical a character.

Schleiermacher to Charlotte von Kathen.

[CCCC.] Berlin, 9th January, 1817.

Dearest sister, I cannot resist the temptation to intervene in your and Jette’s discussions upon mesmerism and its various phenomena, more particularly as my case in relation to these is so frequently referred to by you both. Not that I would endeavour to shake the resolution that you have taken, to have nothing to do with it, though at one time you seemed so greatly attracted by it; but under existing circumstances I look upon it as a duty, which I owe to you and to the friends surrounding you, to explain my views on the subject as far as this is possible without writing a whole essay. Partly that you may not be attributing to me opinions and beliefs which I do not entertain, partly also because you all seem to me to look at the subject from a wrong point of view.

Through scientific experiments the phenomenon which we designate by the name of animal magnetism, has gradually been discovered. Again, that aspect of it that relates to the nervous system, and through this to the whole animal economy of man, has been introduced into medical practice after a series of experiences very nearly as complete as that which any other curative system has been subjected to, and I cannot therefore acknowledge that there is any moral objection to the use of mesmerism more than to the use of any other medicine. There are other curative means as well, in regard to which it cannot either be ascertained with exactness beforehand what secondary effects they may produce upon the body or even upon the mind, as for instance, quicksilver, cantharides, belladonna, and many other poisons. As in regard to these the patient depends upon the judgment of his physician, so also in regard to mesmerism; and on the physician devolves the duty of observing in each case what relation the secondary effects bear to the primary, and of acting accordingly.

If, however, an individual should say, I will rather die than allow myself to be cured in this way—this is a matter which every one must settle with his own conscience, but he must not make his decision a rule for others. The same holds good in regard to the secondary effects of magnetism. The so-called lucid states are mostly temporary and entirely limited to the period of sleep, are quite disconnected, and exercise no influence over the rest of the patient’s life. For a phenomenon such as F——,² is quite exceptional. I cannot see therefore why any one should hesitate to avail himself of this means of cure, when recommended by his physician, because he might possibly fall into these temporary states, which, if he so chooses, may be allowed to pass by without in any way being used. As for what has been said of the mental dependence in which the patient is brought to the magnetizer, this is in the most cases untrue, and where it does exist, it will probably be found to be nothing more than the affection and confidence which other patients feel for a highly valued family doctor.

I have not yet seen Schubert’s new book… . . He is quite right not to undertake any magnetic cures, and ought never to have allowed himself to do so, as he is not a doctor, and would never think of undertaking other cures. He cannot, therefore, have had the same feeling of confidence, and as a matter of course the secondary effects produced under his treatment must have assumed a distinct character, because he stood in a very different relation to the persons practised upon from that of a regular physician. If therefore his experiences were such as to alarm him and warn him not to continue, he may attribute this to himself. In fine, I would never hesitate to allow any person who is dear to me to be magnetized on the recommendation of a physician, and by a duly qualified person; but I would keep a watchful eye on the secondary effects produced, in like manner as I would were they subjected to any other drastic remedy.

Further, as regards the medical advice given by persons in the mesmeric state, when their attention is directed towards the ailments of others, I do not see why a physician should be denied the right to ask this advice and to turn it to account. It is a use which he makes of a state which he has himself called forth, and a use in immediate connection with his profession. It seems to me to be nothing more than when he takes the lymph from a person whom he has inoculated with the cow-pox, to vaccinate another person. As for the confidence to be placed in the advice given, that is a matter for the physician’s own judgment; and for this very reason a man who knows nothing of medicine ought not to seek such advice, because he has not the means of judging of its value, and because, moreover, the answer given to a person ignorant of the art will no doubt be very different to that given to a man that has studied it.

I should never have asked F—— to turn her attention to my case, and, indeed, I did not even approve of Wolfart’s doing so, as I was totally unknown to her, and it seemed to me to be an act of indiscretion. However, that was his affair, not mine; and I have only followed the advice given in as far as Meier, who is my regular medical attendant, approved of it, or, at least, declared it to be innocuous; contrary to the desire of my doctor I would never have used it. Thus, also, it has been in the case of the drops, as I hereby repeat for the tranquillization of all those who have seen me use them, and who have witnessed their beneficial effects. From the very beginning Meier limited me in the use of them, in so far that he told me I must cease to take them as soon as I perceived that they caused loss of appetite or nausea; F—— had fixed a limit of time. I saw that Jette was very desirous that I should adhere to the directions of the latter; but I would hardly have done this under any circumstances, or had I done so it would have been contrary to my own convictions and merely for the sake of making her easy—for which purpose I may, and do sometimes, either wholly or partially give up my own convictions—had not the nausea and the loss of appetite come on previous to the expiration of the time.

Respecting the mental phenomena of mesmerism, my opinion is this: I would by no means consider it sinful if any one allowed himself to be magnetized by a man well acquainted with the art, for the purpose of instituting experiments in regard to the phenomena. And why? Because we are called upon to make ourselves acquainted with all the phenomena of nature. Forgive me for saying so, but it does seem to me very strange that the men who surround you should tell you that magnetism is an unfathomable thing; for how can we know this until we have examined into it, except in as far as all things are unfathomable? but this ought not to prevent us from trying to penetrate into them as deeply as we can. As it is, we have not, indeed, gained any very deep insight into the power in question, because, judging from all experiments hitherto made, magnetism produces no effects on a healthy body. It is, therefore, only sick persons that are mesmerized, and these, of course, are to will nothing but to be well, as also their physician is to be intent on nothing but to make them well. And even in invalids the physician cannot arbitrarily produce the higher phenomena, nor can the patient do so. This has been fully proved by the cases of various patients who have ardently desired to be thrown into the state of somnambulism without having been able to effect it.

On the other hand, there are many mesmerizers who believe that it depends upon their will to produce the state of clairvoyance; however, this has by no means been established as a fact: but when the higher phenomena—such as the power of seeing at a distance, or into the future—do appear, I should not either consider it sinful of the patient to allow his physician, or any other scientific man, to ask questions of him, while in the lucid state, which might conduce to throw light upon the nature of the phenomena, provided these questionings did not interfere with the progress of the cure. But though I should not consider it sinful, I believe it would be useless; for such experiments could never lead to any satisfactory result, as the state of the patient would be disturbed by outward influences. However, to make use of the somnambulic state of a patient for such experiments, without his consent, that I would consider sinful, because we have no right to make any human being the object of an experiment without his own consent, or, in other words, we have no right to reduce him to the level of a lifeless thing.

As to whether or not we are allowed to make ourselves acquainted with these higher phenomena, I would not undertake to lay down any general rule, except in as far as our duties towards the sick may be concerned. Many persons have reason to keep themselves aloof from everything that may over-excite them; and such would doubtless do best not to fill their heads with these matters. Others would derive nothing better from it than the useless satisfaction of their idle curiosity, and such I would never allow to approach a patient of this kind; for we ought never to make an idle spectacle of a human being. But any one who stood beforehand in a personal relation to a mesmeric patient, as, for instance, Jette to F——, or any one who has a serious purpose in endeavouring to make himself more thoroughly acquainted with the phenomena, why should he not seek to become a witness of them? I would always admit physicians, naturalists, and philosophers into the presence of clairvoyant patients (provided the latter did not object to it, and there was no fear of its being injurious to them), even when in their most ecstatic states; although sick persons (and, if we would judge correctly, we must not forget that clairvoyants are always in a sickly state) can, of course, never be regarded as public characters, and their mental activity does not, therefore, belong to the sphere of public life.

My opinion in regard to the nature of these mental phenomena, and to their truth, is this: any distinction between the natural and the supernatural, between the comprehensible and the incomprehensible, I do not, upon the whole, recognize. Everything is in one sense natural, and in another supernatural. Even that the Son of God was made man must, in a higher sense, be natural.

In what category the magnetic phenomena are to be placed is still a subject of inquiry; but, in order to obtain to a knowledge of this, we must observe them. It may be said, in general, that by changes introduced in the physical conditions, certain limits to which the mind is usually subject are for a time removed. To the removal of such limitations, indeed, we owe all that is sublime and divine in the ancient prophecies; for, otherwise, the men would not have been men during the period of prophesying or of inspiration, but would have been some other kind of beings. The greatest interest attaching to the higher phenomena of mesmerism is exactly this—that, when well understood, they will tend to throw new light on the original and essential range of the mental capacities of man; and in connection with this, no doubt, also on many points relating to the dark ages and sacred history of all nations. Finally, as regards the amount of truth in these phenomena, and the amount of credence to be attached to them, I can only say that in human affairs there is no more absolute distinction between the true and the false than there is between the natural and the supernatural. There is no error, even of the most pernicious kind, which has not an admixture of truth or which is not connected with some truth, and there is no truth that does not include the possibility of error. This holds good even of the old prophets. For, firstly, in believing that God specially called upon them to prophesy, they were as liable to be mistaken as other men; secondly, the Bible itself shows cases in which they resisted the voice of God; and, thirdly, they beheld events in images; and when they translated these into words, the ecstatic state had already ceased, and their representations might therefore contain errors or misunderstandings. The same is the case with people in the mesmeric state. They also behold almost everything in visions; the putting of these into words is no longer part of the original superior activity, during which the usual limitations are removed, but is in a great measure an interpretation of the visions rendered through means of the ordinary human faculties; and, therefore, error is more likely to attach to the interpretations than to the visions themselves. I even anticipate that it will ultimately be possible to ascertain and determine, by close observation of somnambulists, on whose’ good faith one may implicitly rely, which visions they can explain and interpret with the greatest correctness, and which with the least. But if the original and increased activity be really owing to the removal of limitations otherwise existing, it follows that, in as far as truth is the essence of the human mind in all its branches of activity, the higher activity must necessarily embrace a greater amount of truth than the lower; but only on condition that the state induced be left undisturbed. For this reason every distinct question put is, in a manner, a violation of the mesmeric state (and herein consisted the offence of the heathens in regard to the ancient oracles), which, if a pure result is to be obtained, must be left entirely undisturbed, to work it out of itself. Indeed, he who cannot approach a spirit thus liberated and elevated, without such arbitrary interference, should rather stay away altogether. But, on the other hand, I cannot understand the great reluctance to approach persons in this state; and I do not see why the mesmerized patient, who is besides a suffering individual, should be further punished by being deprived of all friendly relations with others. This reluctance seems to me either to arise from weakness or cowardice. It is true there may be individuals who have a special repugnance to witness such states, and they ought to be exempted; but it ought not, therefore, to be considered a proof of unusual morality and piety, when a person gives way to this repugnance even under circumstances that would render it natural that he should be present during the phenomena. F—— falls asleep each time I come in to her, and give her my hand. Now if, in consequence of such repugnance as I have mentioned, I should refuse to see a person in such friendly relations with my wife, I should not by any means consider the refusal praiseworthy.

But I am shocked to find that I have written a whole volume, and I pity you who are to read it. I began by candlelight, and could not find a pen to suit me. One thing more I must add: I cannot in the least understand, and must beg you once more to explain, what you mean when you say you fear that the contemplation of such phenomena may render people unfit for the ordinary avocations of human life.

And now a few words on other subjects. My health is, thank God, progressing as favourably as I have any right to expect; I have, at times, slight reminiscences of the evil, but very rarely, and I feel more brisk and animated than I have been for a long while, for which reason I am also as industrious as circumstances will allow. We must strike the iron while it is hot; but as I do not believe in a complete cure, but anticipate relapses, I am careful not to overwork myself, lest I may thereby accelerate a return of the paroxysms. Jette has written to you about our hopes, which I am sure have contributed not a little to renovate my life. I acknowledge it with gratitude and feel very happy! God grant it may go off well! This also gives you a delightful object for your visit to us. Do not come until the late autumn, when I shall have returned from the vacation ramble which I shall probably take, and when Jette will be quite well again; that is to say, about the beginning of October. By that time the expected little one will be in its third month, and old enough to afford you pleasure as a plaything. I am of opinion that we ought to send our Jette to you this summer, and I dare say my wife will eventually make up her mind to it. Your Lotte is a much prized guest among us, and her tone of voice, movements, and expression of countenance often remind me of you in a most pleasing manner.

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Footnotes

1. This friend of the family, a confirmed invalid, had become clairvoyante, in consequence of a long course of mesmeric treatment. During her states of lucidity she was in the habit of indicating (under the guidance of a medical man) what she thought might be good for persons suffering under various ailments. She had given much attention to the case of Schleiermacher also, who had for years been subject to violent attacks of cramps in the stomach, which had baffled all the skill of the physicians, and threatened to put an early limit to his life. Even independently of their practical bearings, the mesmeric and clairvoyante states, which were mostly connected with a deeply religious spirit, exercised great attraction over Schleiermacher’s wife, whose enthusiastic mind was deeply imbued with mysticism and a love of the marvellous, and who saw in these states the possibility for man to place himself in immediate connection with the Holiest and the Highest. Schleiermacher has expressed his views of mesmerism and its various phenomena in a letter to Charlotte von Kathen, which will appear in the sequel. Through the mesmeric treatment he was ultimately entirely cured of the painful hereditary disease under which he suffered for so many years, and never had a return of it during the latter part of his life. ↩

2. In her case this limitation did not exist. ↩