The Philosophy Which Shows the Physiology of Mesmerism and Explains the Phenomenon of Clairvoyance — Text and Context

The Physiology of Circulation Without Systole

Pasley's account of blood circulation directly challenges the standard model of the heart's systolic pump. He asserts that blood is circulated 'not by the systole, but by the general pressure' of the medium of space. The heart's contraction, he claims, results from normal external pressure, while the arterialising minus-pressure element within the blood reduces pressure on the ventricle walls, allowing collapse. This minus-pressure matter, derived from inspired oxygen, enters the blood through the lungs and propels it through arteries, capillaries, and veins. The blood loses this element to organs to promote their function; deoxygenated blood then acquires electric matter, giving it a livid appearance, which is expelled in the lungs. Pasley's model is a closed mechanical system where respiration, circulation, and organic action are linked through pressure differentials.

The Spleen as a Lateral Channel

In a section titled 'Use of the Spleen,' Pasley addresses an organ he says is 'considered useless by some, to all of unknown utility.' He proposes that the spleen serves as a lateral channel of arterial blood direct from the heart, supplying vessels not reached by the great arterial system—specifically those of the diaphragm and, via the umbilical cord, the fetus. This function, he argues, is indispensable for conveying minus-pressure matter throughout the fetal body in the absence of respiration. The spleen thus becomes a crucial component in his mechanical physiology, ensuring that all parts of the organism receive the imponderable element needed for motion and function. This speculative anatomy reflects Pasley's broader effort to assign a purpose to every organ within his pressure-based framework.

Clairvoyance and the Medium of Space

Although the excerpts do not contain the full section on clairvoyance, the table of contents lists 'Clairvoyance,' 'Long Vision,' and 'Opaque Vision' as distinct topics. The treatise's preface frames clairvoyance as a phenomenon that has long been 'the riddle, jest and wonder of the world,' and promises to explain it through the same mechanical principles applied to physiology. Pasley's dedication suggests that clairvoyants will one day use the telescope and microscope to 'unfold the wonders of the entire universe.' The catalog subject 'Mesmerism' is thus treated not as a mystical art but as a branch of natural philosophy, with clairvoyance presented as a physical capacity grounded in the medium of space and minus-pressure matter. Readers should note that the excerpts provide only the physiological groundwork, not the promised explanation of clairvoyance itself.

Pasley's work is best approached as a specimen of mid-nineteenth-century mechanical philosophy applied to the controversial subjects of mesmerism and clairvoyance. Readers interested in the history of science or alternative medical theories will find a systematic, if speculative, attempt to unify physiology, physics, and psychic phenomena under a single pressure-based model. The excerpts reveal a writer deeply engaged with the language of imponderables, inertia, and equilibrium, but the full argument for clairvoyance remains outside the available text.

Reading about Pasley’s minus-pressure matter, I remembered sitting on my grandfather’s porch, watching him sort through boxes of old medical journals, and how he’d mutter about invisible forces. Later, The Secret Doctrine, Vol. 3 of 4 The Synthesis of Science, Religion, and Philosophy — Text and Context gave me that same shiver—the sense that every era’s confident explanations are just elegant glances at something vast and unresolved.