Vril (energy)

Vril is a hypothetical form of energy, being defined in several distinct ways by different authors, beginning with Edward Bulwer-Lytton who coined the term (in his 1871 novel The Coming Race) and linked it with Victorian conceptions of electricity (as an all-permeating fluid), while later esoteric authors allied the term with their ideas regarding mesmerism (animal magnetism) and with vitalistic, cosmic forces.