In France, in particular, the study and practice of mesmerism as a curative agent was zealously pursued by some, and roundly condemned by others. The Marquis de Puységur, the Abbé Faria and others, having observed what succeeding practitioners called "community of sensation," the French Academy of Medicine appointed a commission to investigate the subject. After five years’ work the commission presented its report in 1831. This affirmed, amongst other matters, the reality of "l’'action à distance;" but the Academy, rendered fearful by the findings, obstinately refused to publish the report. In the same spirit the British Association of 1842 was to refuse to listen to James Braid's paper on hypnotism, and that of 1876 was to omit Barrett's paper from its printed Transactions.
The moral to be drawn from the mystery which has hitherto enshrouded the exhibition of Clairvoyance entertainments, coupled with this explanation of " how it is done," should warn people not to be too ready to ascribe to the supernatural that which they do not understand. The fact that a person does not comprehend the cause of a given result is evidence rather that he does not know everything, than that the cause is supernatural or even abnormal.