sensitiveness. From that moment, in order not to be ranged among the
insensible, both men and women, when near the _rod_, assumed the
appearance of epileptics.

Was not Father Hervier really in one of those paroxysms of the disease
when he wrote, "If Mesmer had lived contemporary with Descartes and
Newton, he would have saved them much labour: those great men suspected
the existence of the universal fluid; Mesmer has discovered the laws of
its action"?

Count de Gébelin showed himself stranger still. The new doctrine would
naturally seduce him by its connection with some of the mysterious
practices of ancient times; but the author of _The Primitive World_ did
not content himself with writing in favour of Mesmerism with the
enthusiasm of an apostle. Frightful pain, violent griefs, rendered life
insupportable to him; Gébelin saw death approaching with satisfaction,
so from that moment he begged earnestly that he might not be carried to
Mesmer's, where assuredly "he could not die." We must just mention,
however, that his request was not attended to; he was carried to
Mesmer's, and died while he was being magnetized.

Painting, sculpture, and engraving were constantly repeating the
features of this Thaumaturgus. Poets wrote verses to be inscribed on the
pedestals of the busts, or below the portraits. Those by Palisot deserve
to be quoted, as one of the most curious examples of poetic licences:--

"Behold that man--the glory of his age!
Whose art can all Pandora's ills assuage.
In skill and tact no rival pow'r is known--
E'en Greece, in him, would Esculapius own."[7]