Magnetism" in this and other European countries believed that certain of their subjects possessed the power of vision without the use of the eyes. Sometimes the power of vision was believed to be transferred to some other part of the body—the pit of the stomach, the fingers, or the back of the head. Sometimes it had no apparent relation to the bodily organism, but was thought to be exercised by the soul itself, released for a time from the prisoning flesh. It was the supposed clairvoyance at close quarters, however, which first attracted attention. The Commission appointed by the Royal Academy of Medicine at Paris, which presented their report on the phenomena of Animal Magnetism in 1831, stated that they had found certain subjects who in the magnetic trance could distinguish objects placed before them when their eyes were fast closed and normal vision was impossible. During the next thirty years many exponents of this supposed faculty gave public exhibitions, especially in this country and in France. Some careful experiments with a view to test the reality of the alleged faculty were made by the Rev. C. H. Townshend in 1840–50. Townshend convinced himself that certain mesmerised persons could see objects placed outside the range of vision. Indeed, as described, it seems impossible to account for some of his results by the exercise of the normal senses. In most of the experiments it was found necessary for the object to be held in front of the eyes, which were, however, so bandaged as to make it impossi-
