Hypnotism: Its History, Practice and Theory

 

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such an attitude.

We do, indeed, flatter ourselves that knowledge has reached an extraordinarily high degree of perfection. But if we look back, we find that the same opinion was held in the past. "No one acquainted with universal history and the ever-increasing field of scientific research can doubt that our century which is now drawing to a close, and more especially the last ten years of it, will be placed by an impartial posterity at the head of the most brilliant and marvellous epochs in the annals of mankind. . . . No matter whether we direct our attention to the domain of the sciences or the realms of nature, we are filled with astonishment and wonder at the extraordinary progress made in our days." That was the opinion expressed by Fikenscher in 1799. And Wieland wrote in his essay on magnetism, published in 1787:—" At a period in which

5 54 HYPNOTISM.

knowledge is so much more general than it used to be, and science stands on a higher pedestal than it ever did before, etc." Belief in the unparalleled development of science is common to all ages, and for this very reason it is our duty to discover whether it is justified. Our knowledge is so incomplete, and whichever way we look so many riddles meet our gaze, that we have no right to flatly refuse to recognize any domain of research.
In spite of the progress which the exact sciences have made, we must nevertheless admit that the inner connection between the body and the mental processes is utterly unknown to us. Under these circumstances we should not refuse to examine the apparently inexplicable. Let us, however, impose severe conditions, and not accept any facts on authority without proof

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