BIBKBLir 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 CAUFOBNIA / 
 
 8I0SCIENCES LIBRARY 
 
MESMERISM IN INDIA 
 
 PRACTICAL APPLICATION IN SURGERY 
 AND MEDICINE. 
 
 JAMES ESDAILE, M. D., 
 
 CIVIL ASSISTANT SURGEON, H. C. S., BENGAL. 
 
 "I rather choose to endure the wounds of those darts which envy casteth at novelty, 
 than to go on safely and sleepily in the easy ways of ancient mistakings. — Raleigh, 
 
 UMIVFR-^.TY 
 
 OF 
 
 AMERICAN EDITION 
 
 PRINTED BY 
 
 THE PSYCHIC RESEARCH COMPANY, 
 
 THE COLONNADES, 
 
 ViNCENNES Ave., CHICAGO. 
 
iiolpUBI 
 
 OOPTRIGHT. 1902, BT 
 
 THE PSYCHIC RESEARCH COMPANY 
 
 CHICAGO AND LONDON. 
 
PREFACE TO THIS EDITION. 
 
 There is a frankness, an absence of art, about this book which makes 
 its testimony to the power of mind over matter of double worth. No one 
 may question the facts here recorded. They are FACTS, and they are 
 recorded, as Truth should be, in simple speech. 
 
 It may be asked by the non-professional reader if it was necessary to 
 present to the laity this record of the somewhat sickening surgical opera- 
 tions performed painlessly by Dr. Esdaile sixty odd years ago in India. 
 
 Our answer is that this is Dr. Esdaile's book, as he wrote it, and as he 
 would wish it to be reprinted were he alive today. It will be very easy for 
 the lay-reader to skip those portions which oflfend his taste. He will find 
 sufficient other matter in these pages to repay his close attention. The 
 Psychic Research Company has rescued this book from oblivion because 
 it contains the simplest, clearest and most convincing data on the power of 
 the mind to control agonizing pain. 
 
 It is nothing that we disagree with Dr. Esdaile touching the nature of 
 the power or force manifested. To Dr. Esdaile the marvel lay in the 
 thing — Mesmerism ; in the operator, or mesmerizer. To us this book is 
 clearest evidence of the power that lies in the subject — the mesmerized 
 person. To the author his work was a tribute to the power of a man to 
 help his fellow. To use it is a promise of the time to come when man 
 shall help himself. The full importance of this collection of facts can only 
 be appreciated when we grasp the idea that all the phenomena here pro- 
 duced by mesmerism are capable of reproduction by auto-suggestion. The 
 control of pain; the restoration to health, &c., are effects which man, with- 
 out the aid of another, can, and some day shall perfectly, accomplish in him- 
 self by the power of his own will while he is in a normal waking condition. 
 
 Let us honor the man who blazed the path. We have little to do now 
 but cut away the underbrush. SYDNEY FLOWER, 
 
 The Psychic Research Company. 
 Chicago, May, 1902. 
 
ENGLISH EDITOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 Appearing before the public as the Editor of a work on Mesmerism, 
 I trust I may be pardoned for alluding to the circumstances under which 
 I have been called upon to undertake such a duty. Several months 
 ago my brother, a medical officer in the service of the East India Com- 
 pany, surprised me by announcing that he had now found something to 
 dispel the cmiui of Indian life, and that his mission was to become "the 
 Apostle of Mesmerism in India." More than twelve years ago, my atten- 
 tion had been arrested by reading M. Cloquet's account of his having 
 removed a cancerous breast from a lady while in the mesmeric trance, 
 and by his certifying her insensibility to pain. Knowing the eminence 
 of M. Cloquet as a surgeon, and his reputation as a man of veracity, I was 
 constrained to believe in the reality of the mysterious agent denominated 
 Mesmerism, or Animal Magnetism; and my belief was confirmed by 
 the fact of the operator not being a believer in Mesmerism. From that 
 hour I never doubted that many things, scouted by most people as frauds 
 or delusions, were merely new manifestations of this incomprehensible 
 power. The evidence w-as so strong, that incredulity seemed irrational. 
 Professional avocations hindered me paying further attention to the sub- 
 ject; and I had almost ceased to think of Mesmerism when it was again 
 unexpectedly brought before me by my brother. Being thoroughly con- 
 vinced of his honesty, as well as of his ability to detect imposture, I read 
 his communications, transmitted from time to time, with the liveliest 
 interest, and rejoiced to be at length informed that he was about to com- 
 municate his experience to the public ; and that he relied on my services in 
 seeing his work through the press, and in making any necessary alterations 
 in the MS. 
 
 A determination to know the truth, and to afford to others the oppor- 
 tunity of investigating it for themselves, has induced me to read my 
 brother's work with care, and to undertake the responsibility of prepar- 
 ing it for the press. In justice to him I must add, that the only alterations 
 I have made in the MS. have been merely verbal ; so that whatever merit 
 is due to the work, either as a literary performance, or a philosophical 
 treatise upon an imperfectly understood branch of science, none of it be- 
 longs to me. 
 
 While he will be gratified to learn that his literary oflfspring has as- 
 sumed so little of the aspect of a changeling, by being transferred to my 
 care, I fear that on another point he will be mortified, and that some 
 
ENGLISH editor's PREFACE. 5 
 
 of his readers will share in his regret. His MS. was accompanied by 
 nine beautifully executed drawings, also intended for publication. After 
 consulting with friends interested in Mesmerism, it has been resolved 
 that these drawings shall not be published. They are very striking; but, 
 unfortunately, their very fidelity is a reason for their non-publication, for, 
 assuredly, they are fitted to shock the delicate, who are unaccustomed to 
 witness the fearful ravages of disease on the human frame. Moreover, to 
 publish them would add materially to the price of the work— a result 
 which would frustrate, to some extent at least, the object of the author, 
 who obviously desires that the British public shall have every facility in 
 procuring information regarding the derided science of which, and with 
 such good reason, he is so decided an advocate. 
 
 On the probable reception of the work in this country, it may be 
 imprudent to speculate ; but I cannot help hoping that the evident honesty 
 of the writer, and his willingness to receive assistance, even from his 
 opponents, in detecting the imposture of Mesmerism, if imposture it be, 
 will conciliate the most incredulous, and induce them calmly to examine 
 a multitude of facts accumulated by a man who has never been suspected 
 to be either a knave or a fool. Every body is alike interested in fair 
 play being afforded to the propounders of the strange facts and theo- 
 ries connected with Mesmerism. It is to be borne in mind, that it may 
 be used for evil as well as for good; and that, if we obstinately refuse 
 even to examine the subject, we expose ourselves, defenceless, to the 
 abuse of a power capable of being perverted to the most nefarious ends. 
 This, perhaps, will not be reckoned a fanciful danger by those who 
 carefully peruse the author's remarks on the singular trial for the abduc- 
 tion of a boy. And if from this case, corroborated by the general im- 
 pression in India of the frequency of far more detestable crimes, the public 
 arrive at the conviction that Mesmerism is a terrible engine in the hands 
 of a villain, as we have good reason for believing it to be, surely our 
 legislators, who spend laborious nights in perfecting bills of pains and 
 penalties against the felonious abductors of favourite poodles and the 
 various members of the canine race, will see it to be their duty to make 
 the practice of Mesmerism penal, save by regularly educated medical 
 men. If my brother's book does nothing more than arouse the public to a 
 sense of danger, it will not have been written in vain. Small as is my 
 personal experience of Mesmerism, I have yet, with my own hands, done 
 enough to impress me with a profound conviction that, manifold as are 
 the blessings it confers, it must be used with care, and that it is a most 
 formidable source of mischief in the hands of the ignorant and the un- 
 principled. In a note, in the body of the work, will be found an account 
 of the influence I exerted over a young gentleman in London. I can now 
 relate a still more striking case. When lately inviting a lady to pay me a 
 visit, I thus wrote to her :— "Unbeliever in Mesmerism as you are, I hope 
 to convince you of its reality by setting you asleep." In her reply she 
 observed :— "You will, indeed, find me hard to be convinced; but if you 
 
6 ENGLISH EDITOR S PREFACE. 
 
 can procure ine refreshing sleep, it will be the greatest blessing, for I have 
 not had a sound sleep for eighteen months.'' Knowing the anguish she 
 had endured by family bereavements, and that her health was much im- 
 paired, a desire to relieve her sufferings made me resolve to try whether 
 she could be brought under the influence of Mesmerism. An opportunity 
 presented itself shortly after her arrival here. On the evening of the Qth 
 of this month (June,) the oppressive heat of the weather rendered her 
 languid ; her voice was very rough, and she was evidently labouring under 
 a slight attack of bronchitis. Believing that the inflammation might be 
 subdued by means of Mesmerism, I requested permission to try its efficacy. 
 This having been kindly granted, I subjected her to the usual manipulation 
 for half an hour. She became perfectly placid, but did not fall asleep ; 
 she was merely drowsy, and disinclined to rise. No marked symptoms 
 having been exhibited, I concluded that the experiment had failed ; but, 
 next morning, I was agreeably surprised to learn that she had passed a 
 most comfortable night, and had slept for seven hours and a half without 
 waking. Her voice also was clear, the expression of languor had left her 
 countenance, and she felt so well that she ventured to dine at the house 
 of a friend, distant three miles from the Manse. Whatever was the cause 
 of the improvement, I was delighted to see my friend evidently better, and 
 resolved again to mesmerise 'her. On our return from a saunter in the 
 garden, on the evening of the nth (June.) she lay down on the sofa, 
 waiting the entrance of the servants to prayers. As they happened to be 
 longer in coming than we expected, I said "Suppose I try to mesmerise 
 you?" The reply being "Very well," I commenced my manipulations at 
 five minutes before ten. Before that hour struck, we had the following 
 conversation. "Oh ! I am very sleepy." "Do you really think I am exert- 
 ing any influence over you?" "How can I doubt it? I never felt this way 
 before. I am in a state of the most delightful placidity." — "Why, then, I 
 had better put off the prayers, and keep the house quiet for 
 a little." — "No, no, don't do that. I am very drowsy," and 
 with these words she relinquished the attempt to rise, and sank her head on 
 the pillow. Having slipped out of the room, and ordered no noise to be 
 made, I found her on my return still very somnolent, and, without saying 
 another word, proceeded with my manipulations for twenty minutes. I 
 then spoke, and, receiving no answer, proceeded to get a witness of my 
 subsequent doings. Calling my housekeeper, I said — "Come and try if you 
 can waken Mrs. C: I have mesmerised her, I think." She tried every 
 means so to do, but in vain. Her respect for the lady would not allow her 
 to obey my order to prick her with a pin ; I therefore took a sharp-pointed 
 instrument, and pricked her hand till the marks were visible. No uneasi- 
 ness being manifested, I was now certain that the mesmeric sleep was 
 established, and proceeded to test its intensity by loudly calling, and clap- 
 ping my hands clo;;c to the face of the sleeper. Not a feature moved; 
 and the exquisitely placid countenance of my entranced friend will long 
 live in my memory. 
 
ENGLISH KDITOR S PRIi:FACE. 7 
 
 As she was laid on a sofa in the dining-room, I could not permit her 
 to remain there without sitting up all night to watch her, or causing my 
 servants to do so. Circumstances rendering this inconvenient, I proceeded, 
 at II o'clock, to demesmerise her. This proved a work of the greatest 
 difficulty: for half an hour I used all the methods resorted to by the mes- 
 merists, but with hardly any success. Being resolved, however, to break 
 in upon her repose, I applied the strongest smelling salts to her nostrils, 
 threw cold water on her face, and blew upon it with a pair of bellows. 
 This rough usage roused her a little; but even after I got her to sit up, 
 she fell helplessly into my arms, and, if let alone, would instantly have been 
 as fast asleep as ever. 
 
 On questioning her next morning, she could give no account of what 
 had happened. She only remembered that she lay down, and that I soon 
 made her very drowsy. She acknowledged that I might have done with 
 her whatever I chose, and expressed her conviction that had I amputated 
 a limb, she would have been unconscious of the operation. What a power, 
 then, is this for evil as well as for good I How foolish in people to expose 
 themselves to the machinations of the wicked, by treating Mesmerism as 
 a fraud or a delusion ! It is a fact, proved by incontestable evidence ; and 
 capable of being applied to the relief of suffering humanity, or perverted 
 so as to accomplish the designs of villainy. As a clergyman, I shall be 
 happy to apply it, gratuitously for the relief of the sick, until medical men 
 become convinced of the therapeutic value of Mesmerism, and introduce 
 it into their practice. And for the encouragement of non-professional per- 
 sons, who, like myself, are anxious to investigate the truth, I am glad to 
 be able to state that a benevolent bishop in England, and his amiable fam- 
 ily, are successfully employed in relieving the afflicted; and that my friend 
 Mrs. C. expresses the warmest gratitude for the benefit she has derived 
 from my mesmeric treatment. 
 
 The above remarks are for the general reader. I would now respect- 
 fully invite the attention of the medical profession to the facts detailed 
 by my brother. He is neither a quack nor an enthusiast, but a regularly 
 educated, truth-loving physician, whose reputation for talent and honesty 
 is unquestionable. The facts he adduces cannot be controverted, and, as 
 I was happy to learn from a medical man just arrived from Hooghly, are 
 admitted both by Europeans and natives, on the spot where they occurred. 
 If he, then, in eight months, has performed no less than seventy-six opera- 
 tions, besides relieving eighteen medical cases, how can medical men in 
 this country justify their heartless apathy in regard to Mesmerism? It is 
 a fact, in the highest degree disgraceful to them, that our doctors will not 
 be persuaded even to try whether their patients can be benefitted by the 
 mesmeric agency. They insist on going on inflicting tortures, without an 
 attempt to ascertain whether they may not be obviated by Mesmerism. The 
 Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society of London permitted Dr. Copland, 
 without a word of disapprobation, to declare that "pain is a wise pro- 
 
8 ENGLISH editor's PREFACE. 
 
 vision of nature ; and patients ought to sutYer pain while their surgeon is 
 operating; they are all the better for it, and recover better." A London 
 dentist has announced that several of his fraternity have resolved not to 
 extract the teeth of persons in the mesmeric sleep! By this combination 
 of doctors and dentists, we are threatened with the infliction of pain, 
 whenever we are so unfortunate as to fall into their hands ; and our 
 agonies are to be soothed by Dr. Copland's pious assurance that pain is a 
 wise infliction intended for good ! Let others do as they please, for my- 
 self I shall only say, that, having twice suflfered under the surgeon's knife, 
 all the doctors in Europe shall not persuade me to permit them again to 
 mangle my "pleasant flesh," until a persevering attempt has been made 
 to reduce me to insensibility by means of Mesmerism. As the best per- 
 suasive to induce sufferers to form a similar resolution, I request their 
 attention to the subjoined resume of my brother's mesmeric practice, as 
 published by him in a Calcutta newspaper, on the eve of his departure 
 for the army of the Punjaub. 
 
 It now only remains that I should publicly offer my warmest thanks 
 to Dr. Gregory, Professor of Chemistry in the University of Edinburgh, 
 and to Mr. Colquhoun, author of "Isis Revelata," and many other well- 
 known works, for the highly flattering commendations they have bestowed 
 on my brother's labours, and for many friendly and generous communica- 
 tions addressed to myself. David Esd.\:le. 
 
 Manse of Rescobie, Forfar, 
 13th June, 1846. 
 
 Postscript. 19th June. — To-day I have had a new proof of the value 
 
 of Mesmerism in relieving the sick. I was visiting Isabel A , a young 
 
 woman recovering from fever ; the fever had left her, but the second 
 night before I saw her an attack of inflammation in the breast had rendered 
 necessary the application of leeches. I found her in pain from the inflam- 
 mation, and also from toothache, and complaining of inability to sleep. In 
 ten minutes I threw her into the mesmeric trance ; this was at 9 p. m. : she 
 awoke at 2 a. m., refreshed and hungry. 23d. — The change of weather 
 has injured my relative, Mrs. C. This evening she had a dreadful cough, 
 which banished sleep, and gave her much pain. I proceeded to mesmerise 
 her in the usual way : the paroxysms of the cough rendered the process 
 more laborious than formerly ; at last I succeeded in allaying the spasmodic 
 motions of the thorax, by placing my fingers on her throat, and breathing 
 continuously on the spot which appeared to be the seat of the irritation 
 which annoyed her. In half an hour she was fast asleep ; she slept two 
 hours, and awoke refreshed. The cough had left her, and has not returned 
 at this date (25th June). These are facts; and I record them for the bene- 
 fit of the suffering. Let sceptics scoff, and doctors talk of danger: I have 
 alleviated pain ; and any one who will honestly make the attempt may do 
 the same. — D. E. 
 
TO THE 
 
 REV. JAMES ESDAILE, D. D. 
 
 My Dear Father, 
 
 However new and strange the subject of this work may be to you, I 
 am sure that it will afford you pleasure to know that I have introduced, 
 and I hope I may say established, a new and powerful means of alleviating 
 human suffering among the natives of Bengal. 
 
 I shall soon ascertain to what extent other varieties of mankind are 
 capable of benefitting by this natural curative power, as I am ordered to 
 join the army in the field, and depart tomorrow, by dak, a journey of 
 eleven hundred miles ! 
 
 I am, your affectionate son, 
 
 James Esdaile. 
 
 HooGHLY, Feb. 1st, 1846. 
 
 U^'!VERSlTY 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 If this production should be unfortunate enough to attract attention at 
 home, I hope that criticism will be chiefly expended upon a careful 
 examination of the alleged facts, and their practical application to the 
 improvement of Surgery and Medicine. 
 
 What I now ofTer to the public is the result of only eight months' 
 mesmeric practice, in a country charity hospital ; but it has been sufficient 
 to demonstrate the singular and most beneficial influence that Mesmerism 
 exerts over the constitution of the people of Bengal, and that painless 
 surgical operations, and other medical advantages, are their natural birth- 
 right ; of which I hope they will be no longer deprived. 
 
 Duty calls me to another and more extensive field, (the Civil Sur- 
 geons being ordered to join the army of the Sutlej.) where I hope to work 
 out this curious and interesting subject in all its practical bearings, and to 
 live to communicate my experience to the public. 
 
 HoGghly, Feb. ist, 1846. 
 
 10 
 
MESMERIC FACTS. 
 
 REPORTED BY JAMES ESDAILE, M. D. 
 
 To the Editor of the Englishman. 
 
 Sir, — Before proceeding to join the armj-, I have the pleasure to send 
 you a "resume" of my mesmeric practice during the last eight months. 
 
 My experience has demonstrated the singular and beneficial influence ex- 
 erted by Mesmerism over the constitution of the natives of Bengal, and 
 that painless surgical operations, with other advantages, are their natural 
 birthright, of which they will no longer be deprived, I hope. 
 
 Duty calls me to another and more extensive field, where I hope to 
 work out this curious and interesting subject in all its practical details, 
 and to ascertain to what extent other varieties of mankind are capable of 
 being benefitted by this natural curative power. 
 
 I am, your obedient servant. 
 
 James Esdaii.e, M. D. 
 
 Hooghly, 22d Jan., 1846. 
 
i^ REPORT OF 
 
 A Return showing the Number of painless Surgical Operations pcrformec 
 at Hooghly, during tlie last eight months. 
 
 Arm amputated ------ i 
 
 Breast ditto ------- i 
 
 Tumour extracted from the upper jaw - i 
 
 Scirrhus testium extirpated - - - 2 
 
 Penis amputated ------ 2 
 
 Contracted knees straightened - - - 3 
 
 Ditto arms -------3 
 
 Operations for cataract - - - - 3 
 
 Large tumour in the groin cut off - - i 
 
 Operations for Hydrocele - - - - 7 
 
 Ditto Dropsy ------ 2 
 
 Actual Cautery applied to a sore - - - i 
 
 Muriatic acid ditto ----- 2 
 
 Unhealthy sores pared down - - - 7 
 
 Abscesses opened ----- 5 
 
 Sinus, six inches long, laid open - - I 
 
 Heel flayed -------i 
 
 End of thumb cut off ----- i 
 
 Teeth extracted - - - - - - 3 
 
 Gum cut away - - i 
 
 Prepuce cut off - - - - - 3 
 
 Piles ditto ------- i 
 
 Great toe nails cut out by the roots - - 5 
 
 Seton introduced from ankle to knee - - i 
 
 Large tumour on leg removed - - - i 
 Scrotal tumours, weighing from 8 lb. to 80 lb., 
 
 removed 17 - - - -- - 14 
 
 Painless operations - ' - - 73 
 
MESMERIC FACTS. 
 
 13 
 
 A Return of Medical Cases cured by Mesmerism, during the last eight 
 
 months. 
 
 Nervous Headache . . - 
 Tic-dolourcux . . - - 
 Nervousness, and Lameness from 
 Rheumatism of 2>2 years' 
 standing ----- 
 Spasmodic Colic - - - - 
 Acute inflammation of the eye 
 Chronic ditto - - - - 
 
 Acute inflammatioti of testes 
 Convulsions . . - . 
 
 Lameness from Rheumatism 
 Lumbago ----- 
 
 Sciatica - - - - - 
 Pain in crural nerve 
 Palsy of one arm - - - - 
 Ditto of half the body - 
 Feeling of insects crawling over 
 the body 
 
 3 cured by one trance. 
 I ditto. 
 
 I by chronic treatment.* 
 
 I by one trance. 
 
 I by repeated trances in 24 hours. 
 
 I by chronic treatment. 
 
 I by repeated trance in 36 hours. 
 
 1 by one trance. 
 
 2 by chronic treatment. 
 
 I by general and local mesmerising 
 
 for a week. 
 
 I ditto. 
 
 I ditto. 
 
 I ditto for a month. 
 
 I ditto for 6 weeks. 
 
 I by one trance. 
 
 18 
 
 It will be perceived that the above cases are chiefly diseases of the 
 nervous system. But as sleep and the absence of pain is the best condi- 
 tion of the body for promoting the resolution of inflammation by the pow- 
 ers of Nature, I have extinguished local inflammations by keeping the 
 patients entranced till this was eflfected. 
 
 *By chronic treatment is meant daily mesmerising without the intention 
 of entrancing the patient, which is not necessary. 
 
14 REPORT OF 
 
 I beg to state, for the satisfaction of those who have not yet a prac- 
 tical knowledge of the subject, that I have seen no bad consequences what- 
 ever arise from persons being operated on when in the mesmeric trance. 
 Cases have occurred in which no pain has been felt subsequent to the 
 operation even ; the wounds healing in a few days by the first intention ; 
 and in the rest, I have seen no indications of any injury being done to the 
 constitution. On the contrary, it appears to me to have been saved, and 
 that less constitutional disturbance has followed than under ordinary cir- 
 cumstances. 
 
 There has not been a death among the cases operated on. In my 
 early operations, I availed myself of the first fit of insensibility, not know- 
 ing whether I could command it back again at pleasure. 
 
 But if the trance is not profound the first time, the surgeon may safely 
 calculate on its being deeper the next, and when operating in public, it 
 will be prudent to take the security of one or two preliminary trances. 
 Flexibility of the limbs till moved, and their remaining rigid in any posi- 
 tion we put them in, are characteristic of the trance : but there are excep- 
 tions, and these are equally diagnostic, and to be depended upon. It 
 sometimes happens, that the limbs become rigid as they lie, and on bend- 
 ing them they have always a disposition to return to a state of spas- 
 modic extension. At other times, there is a complete relaxation of thg 
 whole muscular system, and the limbs can be tossed about like those of 
 a person just dead. 
 
 The eyes are usually closed, .but the eyelids are sometimes seen a 
 little separated, or half-open and tremulous, and the eye is even occasionally 
 wide open, fixed, and insensible to the light. On one occasion, having 
 ordered a man to be entranced, I returned after two hours, and was told 
 by my assistant that the man was not affected. I went to see, and found 
 him with half-open eyes, quivering eyelids, and trembling hands. I 
 immediately said that he was ready, and, without further testing his condi- 
 tion, performed a most severe operation upon him, without his knowing 
 anything about it. 
 
 I also wish to remark that I have seen no symptom of congestion of 
 blood on the brain; the circulation in the trance being usually quite nat- 
 ural, like that of a sleeping person. My patients appear to escape the 
 stimulating stage of the mesmeric influence altogether, and to pass at 
 once from life to temporary death. This I am disposed to attribute to 
 the concentrated uninterrupted manner in which the power is applied. 
 As soon as it is felt, there is no time given to the system to rally from 
 the first impression, and it succumbs without a struggle to the con- 
 straining power. 
 
 Some patients, when suddenly awakened, say that their vision is hazy, 
 and their heads light ; but I take this to arise from the imperfectly recov- 
 ered sensibility of the brain and the organs of sense, which are not at 
 
Me5^IERIC FACTS. 15 
 
 -^>' (-'. ■ 
 
 once roused up into the full possession of their waking powers, just as is 
 seen in persons suddenly aroused from profound natural sleep. 
 
 That the mesmeric torpor of the brain and nerves does not arise from 
 sanguine congestion, is often beautifully seen in the first actions of per- 
 sons awaking from the trance. 
 
 They open their eyes, and at the same moment recover all their fac- 
 ulties; but it is seen that the pupil is insensible to the light: this they also 
 become aware of; they know that their eyes are open, and that they 
 ought to see, but do not. The thought fills them with horror, and with 
 a fearful cry they bury their faces in their hands, like persons struck 
 blind by lightning ; but this soon passes off, and the retina recovers its 
 sensibility by a little rubbing of the eye. The dreadful shock given to 
 the mind under such circumstances, or when a somnambulist awakes and 
 finds himself standing in some strange attitude naked, in the midst of 
 strangers (an experiment I have often made,) is a trial of the nerves 
 which it would be very imprudent, and even dangerous, to make with 
 any but such singularly impassive subjects as my Indian patients. 
 
 This, and the inconveniences of inducing the mesmeric disease (spon- 
 taneous mesmeric action in the system) by doing more than is necessary 
 for the cure of disease, appear to me to be the real dangers to be avoided 
 in the use of Mesmerism as a remedy. 
 
 I am now able to say from experience, that debility of the nervous 
 system predisposes to the easy reception of the mesmeric influence, and 
 I augur well of a patient's powers of submission, when I recognize in 
 him the listless dejected air, "I'air abattu," that usually accompanies 
 functional debility of the nerves. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Aversion of the old Schools and the Public to new Ideas. — Some old No- 
 tions must be suspended in fairly considering Mesmerism. — Irrational 
 Incredulity. — Mesmerism to be tried by the usual Laws of Evidence. — 
 Medical men not entitled to decide the Matter for the Public. — The 
 Public invited to judge of the Matter of Fact. — Medical Men in this 
 Country favourably placed. — Personal Labour necessary. — All easy 
 afterwards. — Qualifications of a Mesmeriser. — The Mesmeric Power very 
 general. — The Sick the proper Subjects for Experiment. — The Natives 
 of Bengal very susceptible to the Mesmeric Influence. — Nature the 
 School of the true Physician. — Mesmerism a natural Power of Man. — 
 Instincts of Animals. — Mesmerism known and practised in India.— 
 Trial of Skill with an Eastern Magician. — Dangers of Mesmerism no 
 Reason for rejecting it. — No need to interfere with the mind in Bodily 
 Disease. — My Patients bad subjects for the Mental Phenomena. — The 
 Public invited to judge the Question practically and fairly - Page 19 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The French Commission of 1779. — Both Right and Wrong. — The Mes- 
 merists properly punished. — Condition required in the Patient. — State 
 of my mind before experimenting for myself. — Report of the Bishop of 
 Lausanne to the Pope. — His Reply. — Accidental Nature of my First 
 Experiment. — Accidental Nature of my Second Experiment. — First Mes- 
 meric Surgical Operation. — Conclusion ----- Page 34 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Mesmerism the same in India and in Europe. — Examples of Mesmeric 
 Sleep. — Sealing of the Eyes. — Altered Sensibility. — Temporary Par- 
 alysis. — Muscular Rigidity. — Insensibility to Pain. — Exaltation of partic- 
 ular Organs. — Convulsions. — Delirium. — Injustice done to the Memory 
 of the first Mesmerists. — Every available Evidence here given. — Impos- 
 ture morally and physically impossible. — Mode of Proceeding. — Mes- 
 meric and Non-Mesmeric Operations contrasted. — Physiological Dem- 
 onstration of the Impossibility of Imposture . - - Page 50 
 
 I 
 
 16 
 
CONTENTS. 17 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Soinnambulism. — Definition. — Singular Introduction to it. — Suspected 
 Child-stealing by its Means. — First Experiment m making a Somnam- 
 bulist. — Trial of Mesmeric Skill in a Court of Justice. — Men stolen out 
 of Court. — Truth of Mesmerism publicly proved. — Natural Sleep, and 
 Its Varieties, can be imitated by Artificial Means. — Mesmeric Sleep. — 
 Mesmeric Day-mare. — Mesmeric Sleep-walking. — Mesmeric Sleep-wak- 
 ing. — Mesmeric Dreaming. — How to make Somnambulists. — Imitative 
 Stage of Somnambulism. — Communicative Stage of Somnambulism. — 
 Mesmeric Catalepsy. — Mesmeric Coma. — Natural Clairvoyance. — Mes- 
 meric Clairvoyance. — Nature of the Mesmeric Power. — Illustrative Ex- 
 amples - Page 62 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The Mesmeric Processes. — Publicity the best Security to the Public. — 
 Ignorance and Indifference the Real Dangers. — Mesmeric Treatment of 
 Disease a Field for the Philanthropist. — Puysegur and Deleuze, unpro- 
 fessional Men. — Processes for producing Coma. — Tumour in Upper Jaw 
 removed during Coma. — Hypertrophy of Scrotum, ditto. — Trance re- 
 newable at Pleasure. — Three consecutive Operations on one Person. — 
 Mode of Mesmerising in Chronic Diseases. — Cure of Rheumatism and 
 Nervousness. — Local Mesmerising. — Mesmerised Water. — Process for 
 preparing it. — First Experiments with it. — The last. — Means of awaking 
 Persons Mesmerised -------- Page 90 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Mesmerism as a remedy. — Coma as a Medical Agent. — Journal of Practi- 
 cal Mesmerism. — Chronic Inflammation of Eye cured. — Nervous Head- 
 ache ditto. — Acute Inflammation of Eye ditto. — Return of Nervous 
 Headache prevented. — Rev. Mr. Fisher's Report. — How to make a Con- 
 vert. — Tooth drawn in the Trance. — Convulsions cured by ditto. — Arms 
 straightened in ditto. — Sense of Formication removed. — Lumbago, Sci- 
 atica, Pain in Crural Nerve, cured. — Palsy of an Arm ditto. — Hemiplegia 
 greatly benefitted. — Tic cured. — Rheumatism ditto. — Mesmerism as a 
 Disease. — Resembles Hysteria. — Ignorant charges of Imposture. — The 
 Public abused. — The Public disabused. — Folly and Unfairness of its 
 would-be Guides. — Spontaneous Development of the Mesmeric Disease. — 
 Mesmerising by doing nothing taught by the Mesmerists themselves. — A 
 natural Consequence of frequent Mesmerising.- Examples of Mesmer- 
 ising by doing nothing. — Hysteric Theory. — Hope to hear of Hysteria 
 as a Remedy soon. — Rational Mode of studying Mesmerism Page 103 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 Mesmerism in Surgery. — Journal of Practical Mesmerism. — Mesmeric 
 Trance: A Leg straightened in; Colic cured by; Penis amputated in; 
 
1 8 CONTENTS. 
 
 Arm straightened in; Arm amputated in; Breast cut off in; Abscess 
 opened in; Heel flayed in; Tooth extracted in; End of Thumb cut off 
 in; Arm laid open in; Three Abscesses opened in; Sinus laid open in; 
 Gum cut away in. — Invasion of the waking by the Sleeping State. — 
 Mesmeric Trance: hypertrophied Prepuce cut off in; suppurating Pile 
 in; both great Toe Nails cut out in; Knee straightened in; Ulcer on 
 Temple burned with Muriatic Acid in; Seton introduced, &c., in; Tu- 
 mour in Groin removed in ; Fungoid Sores pared off in ; scirrhus Testes 
 extirpated in ; Cataract operated on in ; Malignant Disease of Testes 
 extirpated in ; unhealthy Sore pared in ; hypertrophied Prepuce cut off 
 in ; Pain extinguished by ; Return on Awakening ; Amputation of Penis 
 in ; unhealthy Sores pared in ; Two Operations for Hydrocele in. — Mes- 
 merism alike favourable to the Operator and the Patient - Page 120 
 
 CHAPTER Vni. 
 
 Hypertrophy of the Scrotum; different Causes of. — Elephantiasis endemic 
 in Bengal and Lower Egypt ; probable Causes of. — Example of Malarious 
 Fever. — True Elephantiasis of the Scrotum. — Hypertrophy from Hydro- 
 cele; from Syphilis; Condition of the Organs involved; Mode of oper- 
 ating; Mismanagement by the Native Doctors; Number of Operations 
 for six Years previous to April, 1845; in the Mesmeric Trance, for 
 Eight Months. — First Case. — Some Cause for the late Increase of Cases. 
 — Operations in the Mesmeric Trance ----- Page 134 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Curiosities of Mesmerism. — Unsatisfactory Nature of Public Exhibitions. 
 
 Apology for giving one. — Account of it by a Visitor. — The modes in 
 
 which the Mesmeric Fluid can be transmitted. — It acts at great Dis- 
 tances. — Is absorbed by Water. — Can pass through a Wall. — Final 
 Experiments ---. Page 145 
 
 Appendix Page 156 
 
MESMERISM IN INDIA. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Aversion of the old Schools and the Public to nezv Ideas. — Some 
 old Notions must be suspended in fairly considering Mesmer- 
 ism. — Irrational Incredidity. — Mesmerism to be tried by the 
 usual Lazvs of Evidence. — Medical Men not entitled to decide 
 the Matter for the Public— The Public invited to judge of the 
 Matter of Fact.— Medical Men in this Country favourably 
 placed.— Personal Labour necessary.— All easy afterwards. — 
 Qualifications of a Mesmeriser.—The Mesmeric Pozver very 
 general.— The Sick the proper Subjects for Experiment.— 
 The Natives of Bengal very susceptible to the Mesmeric Influ- 
 ence.— Nature the School of the true Physician.— Mesmerism 
 a natural Pozver of Man. — Instincts of Animals. — Mesmerism 
 knozi'u and practised in India.— Trial of Skill zvith an Eastern 
 Magician.— Dangers of Mesmerism no Reason for rejecting 
 it— No need to interfere ztnth the Mind in Bodily Disease. — 
 My Patients bad Subjects for the Mental Phenomena.— The 
 Public invited to judge the Question practically and fairly. 
 
 On the first broaching of any new branch of knowledge, there 
 is ever a great commotion and combination among the old-estab- 
 Ushed schools, which have thriven on the wisdom of their ances- 
 tors, and desire nothing more than "stare super vias antiquas/' 
 satisfied with things as they are, and content to "let well alone" ; 
 and there is also a general dislike in society to have its mind un- 
 settled, and to be called upon to think again about matters sup- 
 posed to have been set at rest long ago. We have the same 
 afifection for old familiar ideas that we entertain for old coats, 
 shoes, and hats, because they humour the peculiarities of our 
 constitutions. 
 
 But I hope the time has at last come for the public, and the 
 medical profession, to listen patiently to a medical man, while he 
 relates facts that have fallen under his observation regarding 
 Mesmerism, and for the truth of which he pledges his private 
 and professional character, as I hereby do. 
 
 19 
 
20 SOME OLD NOTIONS NOT TENABLE. 
 
 Under such circumstances, a writer has a right to expect 
 that his statements shall be believed till they are disproved, or 
 till dishonesty in any of the parties concerned shall be detected. 
 
 In considering a subject so new and wonderful, it will be 
 necessary to clear away many thorns and thistles which have 
 grown up in the mental soil, exhausting its strength, and unfitting 
 it for receiving the seeds of truth, however freely and carefully 
 sown. At present it will be sufficient, if, as a preliminary, the 
 reader will dismiss the respectable old notion, that the vital 
 powers of our bodies are confined within their own limits, and 
 cannot be transferred to and act upon others. On the contrary, 
 there is good reason to believe that the vital fluid of one per- 
 son can be poured into the system of another, upon which it 
 has various effects, according to constitutional peculiarities, the 
 demand for it as a remedy, and the manner and extent to which 
 it is exhiBited in order to answer different purposes. Man is not, 
 as commonly supposed, shut up in that pent-house, his body, 
 isolated, and impotent to affect his fellow-creatures beneficially 
 by a benevolent will, and his own innate resources. A merciful 
 God has ingrafted a communicable, life-giving, curative power 
 in the human body, in order that when two individuals are found 
 together, deprived of the aids of art, the one in health may often 
 be able to soothe and relieve his sick companion, by imparting to 
 him a portion of his vitality. To believe that we possess such a 
 power is, surely, a proud and exalting idea, which I hope the 
 public will entertain with pleasure; and I trust to be able to 
 prove to the satisfaction of all dispassionate and reflecting minds, 
 that this is no fond delusion of an excited brain, but a substan- 
 tial blessing, daily at work for good, extending immeasurably 
 man's individual power of doing good by his unaided natural 
 powers, and bringing healing and comfort to suffering humanity, 
 all over the world. 
 
 Such is the force of habit, and aversion to a new train of 
 thought, that this proposed extension of man's power has bceti re- 
 ceived with as much distaste, as if it had been intended to deprive 
 him of a limb, or one of his senses, and has been subjected to an 
 irrational incredulity which nothing can satisfy. Nothing is more 
 common than to hear persons boast, "that they will not believe it 
 till they see it:" — some go a step farther in smothering their 
 reason, and declare, that "they would not believe it if they saw it ;" 
 — and I have known others, not only refuse the evidence of their 
 senses, but deny their own deeds, because they had declared 
 
IRRATIONAL INCREDULITY. 21 
 
 the thing to be "impossible !" It is a common and ludicrous error 
 to see people mistaking obstinacy for strength of mind, and self- 
 sufficiency for knowledge; and aiding the delusion, by calling 
 themselves "Sceptics," that name having once been respectable in 
 philosophy ; — whereas, they have never had any doubt about the 
 matter, and will never condescend to hear the subject mentioned 
 without emphatic expressions of contempt and disgust. These 
 are the "eiifaus perdus" of knowledge, and must be left to the 
 free indulgence of their passions and prejudices; for a man who 
 never doubts, will never learn : he may grow older, but not wiser. 
 Few, in the solution of their doubts, can be privileged to the 
 extent of St. Thomas ; and the horizon of human knowledge 
 would be miserably circumscribe J, if we rejected all that we did 
 not understand, and refused to believe facts, except on the evi- 
 dence of our own senses. There is absolutely no merit in believ- 
 ing what we have seen and handled ; this is no exercise of the 
 judgment, and is level to the understanding of a savage : but it is 
 the privilege of reason to be able to believe in the most surprising 
 statements of others, if properly supported by evidence, and to 
 adopt their conclusions, although tlie facts may have been ob- 
 served, and the deductions drawn, by our antipodes. One such 
 rational conversion is worth a thousand produced by crediting 
 the senses ; for its influence extends to reasoning minds all over 
 the world. When a person says, "I would not have believed it, 
 unless I had seen it," he must not be surprised at his neighbour 
 requiring equal satisfaction. As a lover of truth for its own sake, 
 I am very little gratified by being told by my friends, "I believe it, 
 because you say so." This is a very barren belief, and reaches 
 only a small circle ; our faith and opinions should be built upon 
 a broader basis than personal confidence in any one. There are 
 recognised laws of evidence for testing the credibility of human 
 testimony, upon whatever subject i!: may be given ; and however 
 new or strange the proposition may be, we shall, by a careful and 
 dispassionate examination of the proofs, be able to determine 
 what we may safely believe, on what points w6 ought to suspend 
 our judgments, and how much should be rejected. In spiritual 
 matters, we have been told, "Blessed are they that have not seen, 
 and yet have believed." This blessing also follows the ready, but 
 discriminating, reception of truth in philosophy, morals, and secu- 
 lar affairs. Mental satisfaction, honour, and profit, if cared for, 
 reward the first discoverers of the secrets of nature ; riches await 
 the men of clear sense, who know how to turn the new truths to 
 
22 MEDICAL MEN NOT ENTITLED 
 
 practical purposes ; and in medicine, the early application of new 
 remedies removes much human suffering that would probably 
 have been otherwise hopeless. It is a curious psychological phe- 
 nomenon, that a hard disbelief in Mesmerism seems to be in pro- 
 portion to the extraordinary facilities afforded to every one of sat- 
 isfying himself by his own deeds, and the evidence of his own 
 senses. No "hocus pocus," no pretensions to exclusive powers, no 
 attempts at concealment, are resorted to by many Mesmerisers, 
 whose word has never been doubted, and who are well know-n to 
 be neither fools nor knaves. They say to us, "Do thus, and you 
 will probably become as wise as ourselves ; or if you cannot, or 
 will not, be at the necessary trouble, — come and see." 
 
 But people in general prefer to dictate laws to nature from 
 their easy chairs, and amuse themselves at the expense of her 
 followers, chasing the shapes of their own imaginations, as they 
 are pleased to say. To those who really desire to know the truth, 
 whatever favourite ideas it may upset, I would venture to recom- 
 mend that they should examine the evidence in support of Mes- 
 merism, just as they would any other matter worth inquiring 
 about ; and I can confidently promise that they will be richly re- 
 warded. To encourage them, I would remind them in the words 
 of Bacon, "that the inquiry of truth, which is the love-making 
 or wooing of it ; the knowledge of truth, which is the presence 
 of it ; and the belief of truth, which is the enjoying of it ; is the 
 sovereign good of human nature;" and that this highest gratifi- 
 cation of humanity can only be attained by carefully training and 
 exercising our intellect, to which the senses are only handmaids. 
 
 The public are too apt to consider the subject of Mesmerism 
 as a professional one, and not to take the necessary means to be- 
 come acquainted with it till the doctors shall have decided w^hat 
 is to be believed about it. This is an error on the part of the 
 public, for, I am sorry to say, medical men in general as yet 
 know nothing about it; and there is nothing in their previous 
 knowledge, however great and varied, that bears upon the sub- 
 ject, or can entitle them to decide, ex cathedra, on the truth or 
 falsehood of the new discoveries. As the question at present 
 stands, it is one of facts, and of evidence in support of them, of 
 which a jury of sensible unprofessional men can judge as well 
 as so many doctors, to whom the subject is equally new and per- 
 plexing. When the doctors shall have experimented for them- 
 selves, or taken the trouble to witness the practice of others, 
 and carefully studied the subject, the public cannot do better 
 
TO DECIDE THE MATTER FOR TTTE PUBLIC. 23 
 
 than take them for their guides ; but this "consummation devoutly 
 to be wished" is so remote, I fear, that not many of this genera- 
 tion will live to benefit by Mesmerism, if they wait till it is ad- 
 mitted into the Pharmacopoeia. 
 
 I would therefore recommend the public to exercise their 
 common sense, and sober judgment, in determining for the doc- 
 tors the matter of fact ; and if the community decides that it is 
 really a remedy of great efficacy, that there is no resisting the 
 proofs in support of it, that to know nothing about it is no recom- 
 mendation to a medical man ; then Mesmerism will assume its 
 proper rank as a remedial agent, and be lodged in the hands of 
 those who should alone practise it ; for it is subject to enormous 
 abuses in the hands of the ignorant and unprincipled. Instead of 
 doubting and dogmatising about Mesmerism, I would earnestly 
 entreat my medical brethren to put it to the test by personal 
 experiment, for it is a thing to be done, and not talked of only : "I 
 want facts, and not zvords," will be the answer of every person of 
 common sense to the most dogmatical and ingenious objectors. 
 
 It is by medical men in this country taking up the subject 
 experimentally, without previous knowledge of it, and having no 
 theories to make good or defend, that the truth or falsehood of 
 Mesmerism may be very speedily decided. By following the 
 instructions to be hereafter given, I doubt not that many will be 
 as successful as myself, for they are the means of putting in mo- 
 tion a law of nature whose springs are hidden from us, but whose 
 effects are most wonderful and beneficial to humanity, when 
 properly directed. 
 
 But I beg leave to warn all who have not yet a practical 
 knowledge of the subject, that to produce the phenomena of Mes- 
 merism is by no means a thing so light and easy as some imagine. 
 In singularly sensitive persons the extreme degree of coma, so 
 intense as to permit the performance of surgical operations, with- 
 out awaking the patient, may sometimes be obtained in a few 
 minutes ; but, in general, it takes an hour or two, and the process 
 often does not succeed till the second, or even fourteenth time. 
 In this, as in everything else, nature will not "unsought be won," 
 and only yields her secret treasures to those who court her with 
 earnestness, sincerity, and resolution. "Lahore ct sudore" ought 
 to be the Mesmerist's motto, until he has produced the desired 
 results by his personal efforts, and thereby given confidence to 
 himself and others. After this, all is easy, for any number of 
 proper assistants may be taught to act under our superintendence; 
 
24 QUALIFICATIONS OF A MESMERISER. 
 
 and this is the only way in which a physician can practise Mes- 
 merism to any extent. 
 
 But I would venture to suggest, that it will not be enough to 
 set people to mesmerise for us by the book. It is exacting too 
 much of human nature to expect people to sweat for hours paw- 
 ing the air, &c., for our incomprehensible objects. But let them 
 look on and see the wonderful effects produced by the labours of 
 their superiors ; and a host of willing and efficient Alesmerisers 
 will spring up, to execute the will of the directing mind, and re- 
 lieve it from the drudgery of the needful bodily exertion. Much 
 has been written about the physical and moral qualities necessary 
 in a Mesmeriser, and such a picture of a "perfect monster" has 
 been drawn, that it is enough to deter one from making the at- 
 tempt. If asked to select a natural Mesmeriser, I should be dis- 
 posed to choose a person of a high organisation, in whom the 
 nervous and circulating systems were equally active, with deter- 
 mined will, a resolution to do the thing if possible, and a love 
 of truth and humanity, that would induce him to "do for love 
 what gold could never buy." But, when the way has been shown, 
 far less energy of mind and body is quite sufficient for all prac- 
 jtical purposes. / Healthy young persons, who are tractable and- 
 patient, and who will give the necessary degree of attention, can 
 be made to work out our intentions in the most efficient manner ; 
 'and I hope to make it appear that the mesmeric power is a far 
 more general gift of nature than has hitherto been supposed. 
 Finding it impossible, after the first month, to prosecute the sub- 
 ject in my own person, owing to the great bodily and mental 
 fatigue it caused, — for I spared neither, — I set to work my 
 hospital attendants, young Hindoos and Mahomedans ; and such 
 has been my success, that every one I have taught has become 
 a skilful Mesmeriser. Now I do not need to mesmerise at all, 
 having a dozen assistants to execute my wishes, whether it be 
 in mesmeric treatment of medical cases, or for procuring coma 
 in surgical operations. 
 
 To those who, by their own powers, may desire to test the 
 truth for themselves, I would venture to suggest that an earnest 
 desire to know the truth, a fixed attention, and a resolution to 
 overcome first difficulties, are essential conditions of mind for 
 the operator, as the means of concentrating and keeping up the 
 continued action of the vital agent, whatever it may be. First 
 experiments should be made cin the sick, in the hope of benefitting 
 them ; which hopes, if strongly felt, will be a stimulus to exertion, 
 
THE SICK THE PROPER SUBJECTS. 2$ 
 
 and an element of success totally wanting in experimenting on 
 healthy subjects, who are also more difficult to be affected. "The 
 whole need not a physician, but they that are sick;" and how- 
 ever bountiful nature may be to her creatures, she is never prod- 
 igal, and never wastes unnecessary power. Mesmerism is the 
 "Medicine of Nature;" and she refuses, very wisely, to take it 
 when it is not needed; and if forced upon her in a state of health, 
 it is very likely to do mischief ; for any attempt to be better than 
 "well" is pretty sure to make one ill. People say to me, "I would 
 like to ascertain if I can be mesmerized ; do try." I reply, " You 
 very probably cannot ; and I should as soon comply with your 
 desire to feel the effects of opium as mesmerise you without a 
 cause ; when you need it, you will probably be benefitted by it." 
 Besides, a person in health resisting the influence is no proof 
 that he will remain insensible to it in an altered state of the body, 
 when there may be an actual craving of the nervous system for 
 this sustenance from without. 
 
 As yet, I am sorry to add, I cannot, with any degree of con- 
 fidence, say who are the persons susceptible to the mesmeric in- 
 fluence, without first trying. But it is satisfactory to know, that 
 by far the majority of persons acted upon by me, and my assist- 
 ants, have been affected in different degrees, all of which are in- 
 valuable to their possessors, for the relief and cure of their dis- 
 eases ; and in most of the failures I have little doubt that we 
 should have succeeded, if the process had been prosecuted. 
 
 The people of this part of the world seem to be peculiarly 
 sensitive to the mesmeric power ; and as it has been observed 
 that a depressed state of the nervous system favours its reception, 
 we can understand why they, as a body, should be more easily 
 affected than Europeans. Taking the population of Bengal gen- 
 erally, they are a feeble, ill-nourished race, remarkably deficient 
 in nervous energy ; and natural debility of constitution being still 
 further lowered by disease, will probably account for their 
 being so readily subdued by the Mesmerist. Their mental con- 
 stitution also favours us ; we have none of the morbid irritability 
 of nerves, and the mental impatience of the civilised man, to 
 contend against ; both of which resist and neutralise the efforts 
 of nature. The success I have met with is mainly to be attrib- 
 uted, I believe, to my patients being the simple, unsophisticated 
 children of nature; neither thinking, questioning, nor remon- 
 strating, but passively submitting to my pleasure, without in the 
 smallest degree understanding my object or intentions. How far ^ 
 
 TY 
 
26 NATURE THE TRUE PHYSICIAN. 
 
 artificial man may have forfeited his birthright I have not yet 
 had the means of knowing ; but out of the small number of Euro- 
 peans who have come under my observation, the majority have 
 also succumbed to the influence ; and if the proud sons of civilisa- 
 tion will condescend to return for a moment to the feet of their 
 mother Nature, they also will probably benefit by her bounties. 
 We have so far deserted Nature, that, in return, she has re- 
 nounced us as unnatural children, and left us to our self-suffi- 
 ciency and artificial resources ; but these, in general, are mere 
 make-shifts and palliatives, compared with the steady and endur- 
 ing curative powers of nature, when properly understood and 
 brought into action. The whole art of the true physician is ex- 
 erted to induce nature to interfere and take up the case of his 
 patient ; and when he sees signs of her gracious presence, he only 
 reverentially looks on, and confines himself to removing impedi- 
 ments in her way. But the routine practitioner w^ll rarely con- 
 descend to divide with nature the merit of the cure. He and his 
 pills, powders, and potions, must have all the credit ; and if any 
 one pretends to be able sometimes to cure disease by the unassist- 
 ed powers of nature, he is called quack, impostor, or fool, and 
 hunted down as a fcra naturae. But, in my estimation, the gen- 
 uine medical quack is he who, professing to cure disease, yet al- 
 lows his patients to suffer and perish, by ignorantly, or presump- 
 tuously, despising any promising or possible means of relief. The 
 Father of Medicine thought very differently from his degenerate 
 sons, for he says, — "Nothing should be omitted in an art which 
 interests the whole world, which may be beneficial to suffering 
 humanity, and which does not risk human life and comfort." 
 But a time was, when apothecaries, chemists, and diploma'd 
 physicians did not exist ; when man was an unreasoning animal, 
 devoid of all the resources of art, yet subject to all the ills that 
 natural flesh is heir to ; and it is a subject of deep interest to the 
 philosopher and the physician to ascertain what were his natural 
 remedies, in common with the other animals ; whether his in- 
 stincts were as strong as theirs, and to what conservative powers 
 he resorted when labouring under disease. That he possessed 
 such appears to me to be extremely probable, from the analogies 
 of the animal creation, and the universal benevolence of the Deity 
 to his creatures. It must be most important and instructive to 
 discover what were, or, if not yet known, what arc, the natural 
 remedies of man ; for by observing their effects we shall best 
 understand the restorative processes of Nature, and be able to 
 
ANTIQUITY OF MESMERISM. 27 
 
 imitate them by art, with a certainty hitherto unaltaiiicd liy medi- 
 cine. 
 
 So far from Mesmerism being a new and unnatural art, 
 there is every reason to behave that it is the oldest and most 
 natural mode of curing many of the severe, uncomplicated dis- 
 eases of the human race. Let us imagine, for a moment, the 
 condition of savage men, before, by long experience, they had 
 learned to avail themselves of the medicinal virtues of the vegeta- 
 ble and mineral kingdoms, for the cure of their most pressing 
 diseases. Man, in this state, would be more helpless than the 
 brute creation ; they have happy instincts, many of them known 
 to us, by which they are directed not only to their natural food, 
 but to their natural medicines. But man, so far as we yet know 
 him, could in his sufferings only make vague experiments on the 
 natural objects around him, in the desperate hope of stumbling 
 upon some suitable remedy. This might occasionally happen, 
 but he was more likely to be poisoned than cured by his first ex- 
 periments. The very fish were more favoured than he. The 
 salmon, by an infallible instinct, quit the sea at a certain season, 
 and ascend the rivers, thereby getting rid of their tormentors, 
 the sea-lice (which the fresh water speedily kills,) and at the same 
 time reaching the spots destined for the propagation of their 
 kind. After depositing the spawn, the parent fish, black, lank, 
 and sick, distasteful to themselves, and unwholesome to us. hasten 
 to the sea to renovate their health ; whence, again, they issue in 
 another year, increased in size, and brilliant as silver, to run the 
 same course as long as life continues. The young fry, also, the 
 moment they break the egg, turn their heads seaward, and never 
 stop till they reach the ocean, whose action is necessary for their 
 growth and health. 
 
 The dog eats grass, and licks his sores when sick ; the cow, 
 and calf even, sham dead, to induce the crows to pick the vermin 
 from their eyes and ears ; the chick, as soon as it breaks the shell, 
 pecks gravel, to aid digestion ; the mongoose, after being bitten 
 by its enemy, the snake, retires to the fields, to seek its antidote 
 against the poison ; and this it finds, for it comes back quite well ; 
 and at certain seasons the wild animals resort, from the most 
 distant parts of the country, to the "salt-licks," to renovate their 
 constitutions. Numberless instances of the same kind will occur 
 to the naturalist, and the humble observer of nature even ; and is 
 it imaginable that the ever-watchful, all-bountiful Providence of 
 God should have left the "noble savage," alone of all His crea- 
 
28 MESMERISM THE UNIVERSAL CURE 
 
 lures, to run such cruel risks, and perish helplessly in his natural 
 ignorance ? Reasoning a priori, we should say not ; and our posi- 
 tive knowledge of the equal care bestowed by God on all his 
 creatures, forbids the supposition. Man, then, had probably some 
 instinct by which he was directed to a natural medicine of sov- 
 ereign virtue, and by which the hunter and his family were saved 
 from starvation, when disease, for a time, deprived his right 
 hand of its cunning, unnerved his iron sinews, and bowed his 
 gallant head. If this be a natural supposition, what could be his 
 resource if not Mesmerism — that inherent power, implanted, as 
 I conceive, in the human being, for the solace of his sufTering 
 fellow creature? This is the simplest and most speedy restorative 
 of the powers of Hfe, in cases adapted to it (for, like every nat- 
 ural agent, it has its conditions and limits;) and men in pain 
 have an instinctive tendency to perform the required processes. 
 From its simplicity, how consonant with all we know of the laws 
 of nature would be such a power, and how admirably adapted to 
 meet the exigencies of savage life ! 
 
 The more observing among savage men, it is presumable, 
 would soon detect the latent curative powers of their bodily sys- 
 tem, and develope them into an art for the cure of disease, and 
 the advancement of their own interests. But when experience 
 had given them skill, and it became a source of gain, they made, 
 we may suppose, a mystery of their calling, and attempted to se- 
 cure the lucrative secret for themselves and families. Hence, 
 among the savage races of mankind, we see the healing art prac- 
 tised exclusively by conjurors, either artfully concealing the secret 
 of their power by incantations, and other mummery, or, possibly, 
 themselves deceived into a belief of the efficacy of such accom- 
 plishments. If the Mumbo Jumbo men of Africa, the medicine 
 men of America, and the charmers of this country, ever succeed 
 in relieving their patients (and here they do,) I am disposed to 
 think that it is generally in cases curable by Mesmerism. The 
 following extract from my "Mesmeric Journal" will show that 
 this is not so fanciful a speculation as it may at first appear, and 
 that Mesmerism is actually practised in this country, and has 
 probably been so from time immemorial, like every other custom 
 in this imnnitable society. 
 
 June 9th, 1845. — I had to-day the honour of being introduced 
 to one of the most famous magicians in Bengal, who enjoys a 
 hi^h reputation for his successful treatment of hysteria, and had 
 been sent for to prescribe for my patient (whose case will be 
 
AMONGST SAVAGE NATIONS. 29 
 
 afterwards given,) but came too late; the success of my charm, 
 Mesmerism, having left him nothing to do. Baboo Essanchunder 
 Ghosaul, deputy magistrate of Hooghly, at my request intro- 
 duced me to him as a brother magician, who had studied the art 
 of magic in different parts of the world, but particularly in 
 Egypt, where I had learned the secrets of the great Sooley- 
 mann, from the moollahs and fuqueers, and that I had a gfcat 
 desire to ascertain whether our charms were the same, as the 
 hakeems of Europe held the wise men of the East in liigh estima- 
 tion, knowing that all knowledge had come from that quarter. I 
 proposed that we should show each other our respective charms, 
 and, after much persuasion, he agreed to show me his process 
 for assuaging pain. He sent for a brass pot, containing water, 
 and a twig with two or three leaves upon it, and commenced 
 muttering his charms, at arm's length from the patient. In a 
 short time he dipped his fore-finger into the water, and, with the 
 help of his thumb, flirted it into the patient's face ; he then took 
 the leaves, and commenced stroking the person from th.e crown 
 of the head to the toes, with a slow drawing motion. The knuckles 
 almost touched the body, and he said that he would continue the 
 process for an hour, or longer, if necessary ; and it convinced me 
 that, if these charmers ever do good by such means, it is by the 
 Mesmeric influence, probably unknown to themselves. I said 
 that I was convinced of the great efficacy of his charm, and 
 would now show him mine ; but that he would understand it bet- 
 ter if performed on his own person. After some difficulty, we 
 got him to He down, and, to give due solemnity to my proceed- 
 ings, I chanted, as an invocation, the chorus of the "King of the 
 Cannibal Islands !" I desired him to shut his eyes, and he clenched 
 his eyelids firmly, that I might find no entrance to the brain by 
 that inlet. In a quarter of an hour he jumped up, and said he 
 felt something disagreeable coming over him, and wished to make 
 his escape. He was over-persuaded to lie down again, however, 
 and I soon saw the muscles around the eye begin to relax, and 
 his face became perfectly smooth and calm. I was sure that I 
 had caught my brother magician napping, for, in a few minutes, 
 he bolted up suddenly, clapped his hands to his head, cried he 
 felt drunk, and nothing could induce him to lie down again ; 
 "ahiit, excessit, evasit, eritpit!" Next day I saw him, and said, 
 "Well, you were too strong for my charm last night ; I could not 
 put you to sleep." "Oh ! yes, Sahib," he answered, "you did ; I 
 allow it ; it is allowed that you put me to sleep." 
 
30 CONTRARY TENDENCIES OF MESMERISM, 
 
 A gentleman, whose case will be given hereafter, immediately 
 recognised the identity of the two processes, and told me that he 
 had been Mesmerised, he now knew, in a different part of the 
 country, and with much relief, in a painful affection of the leg. 
 In addition to the traction with the leaves, his mesmeriser had 
 breathed carefully upon the pained part, just as my assistant had 
 done when mesmerising him locally for rheumatism. It thus ap- 
 pears that the beneficial effects of the Mesmeric processes are 
 known in this country, and the secret has probably descended 
 from remote antiquity, in certain families, or castes. — Farther on, 
 when speaking of Somnambulism, a curious history will be given, 
 which leads me to suspect that they knew the evil, as well as 
 good, of Mesmerism, and practise it for the most villainous pur- 
 poses. The possible evil resulting to society from the practice of 
 Mesmerism has been a favourite objection, even when the evi- 
 dence of its existence and power could no longer be resisted. 
 
 But the tendency of all power depends upon the direction 
 given to it for good, or evil ; and to eject opium, mercury, and 
 prussic acid from the pharmacopoeia, because, when injudiciously 
 administered, they poison, instead of curing our patients ; or to 
 reject the agency of steam for the purposes of life, because it 
 sometimes takes us a longer journey than we intended, would 
 be as reasonable as to refuse to be cured by Mesmerism, because 
 it could also injure us, if ignorantly and injudiciously applied. 
 That this agent may, and will, be turned to the most diabolical 
 purposes, is most certain, if the public will not be at the trouble 
 to think upon the subject, and defend itself by common-sense 
 precautions. But the power as it comes from the Creator is 
 pure, and the perversion of it is the work of the creature. The 
 object of man's life here clearly is — to separate the good from 
 the evil; "to prove all things, and hold fast that which is good;" 
 and this can be done in Mesmerism, as in anything else : the 
 abuse, and not the use of any great power, is to be dreaded and 
 guarded against. I have great hopes that my experiments will 
 go far to separate the regions of mind and body, which, it seems 
 to me, have been unnecessarily and perplexingly intermingled 
 by former Mesmeric observers; and this will not only simplify 
 the Mesmeric treatment of disease, but remove the principal 
 objectior^ to it; namely — the necessity of acting on the mind, 
 often injuriously, during the cure of a bodily infirmity. It will 
 appear, that in the exercise of tb.e art, as a medical agent of the 
 most benign as well as powerful nature, the mind has never been 
 
SIMPLICITY OF MESMF,RISM. 3I 
 
 attempted to be influenced by me, nor has it ever been heard of in 
 my practice. In subjecting my patients to the sanative influence 
 of Mesmerism for bodily complaints, no mental rapport has ever 
 been thought of; and if so much can be done without it, I am 
 sanguine that it will soon be proved to be a tedious and unneces- 
 sary complication of the art, and "more honoured in the breach 
 than the observance." In the management of mental disease, it 
 will probably be required, and be useful, as the mind depends 
 much more upon organisation than is generally supposed. But 
 this is only an extension of the blessing, if the power is wielded 
 in all honour and simplicity of purpose. In this, as in other mat- 
 ters, the danger lies in the company we keep. The possessor of 
 a well-filled purse does not seek the companionship of pick- 
 pockets ; and the honest man eschews the society of knaves ; and if 
 Mesmerism is thought likely to benefit us, the same common- 
 sense mode of proceeding should influence us in the disposal of 
 our bodies and minds, when affected by disease. I am convinced 
 that in the majority of bodily evils removable by this means, 
 there will be no need to interfere with the mind at all. To do so 
 is a mere travelling out of the record ; and where a mixed treat- 
 ment is required it can be safely adopted, by using the simple 
 precaution of seeking an honest man with the necessary knowl- 
 edge of the subject; and let us hope that such will soon abound. 
 Many will be disappointed that I have no mental wonders to 
 relate; but no inference against the existence of such wonders 
 can be fairly drawn from the silence of my patients. My re- 
 searches have been purely physical, and preclude me from getting 
 at the mind at all, for all activity of mind is the natural enemy 
 of the purely physical impressions made upon the system ; I 
 therefore seclude the brain from all external impressions as rap- 
 idly as possible ; the object being to extinguish bodily and mental 
 sensibility together, and altogether ; and in proportion to our 
 success in efl!^ecting this, is the early inducement of Coma for 
 surgical purposes. It is quite unreasonable to expect to extract 
 music from a fiddle without strings : and I endeavor to break at 
 a blow, as it were, all the strings of the mind — the five senses. 
 It is true, that this treatment is only required for acute diseases, 
 or to induce insensibility to pain, and it might be expected that 
 in the treatment of chronic diseases, I should be able to elicit the 
 mental phenomena, if they exist in nature. But as my principal 
 object is to ascertain how far this new agent is capable of alle- 
 viating bodily suffering, I have purposely -kept myself from em- 
 
32 MESMERIC SOMNAMBULISM. 
 
 barking on the troubled sea of metaphysics, till the more pressing 
 bodily problem shall be solved, and a "terra firma" of indisputable 
 facts created, from whence we may securely, and at leisure, ex- 
 amine, and attempt to understand, the high and mysterious ob- 
 jects above us. 
 
 My patients, being the poorest and most ignorant of the peo- 
 ple, and convicted felons from the same degraded orders, are 
 the most unfavourable subjects for psychological experiments. As 
 to physique, men are nearly the same all the world over: an uni- 
 versal vital law reduces all to the same level of animal, and the 
 coolie, therefore, may be able to mesmerise the philosopher ; but 
 the difference in morale is so great, not only among races, but 
 individuals, as to preclude all sympathy, and to often amount to 
 actual antipathy, and mutual repulsion. Although in producing 
 the physical effects of Mesmerism, I have not seen any necessity 
 for the sympathy and rapport we read so much about, I can 
 readily understand, 'that in eliciting the higher mental phenomena, 
 these fine mental sympathies may be developed, and be necessary 
 for the success of the abnormal mental manifestations ; but my 
 patients and I have probably too little in common to admit of 
 mental sympathy between us. It will be seen, however, in the 
 chapter on Somnambulism, that I have created a singular houle- 
 versement in the minds of coolies and pariahs even, when under 
 the Mesmeric influence. 
 
 The public, when examing a subject so deeply interesting to 
 them, will, I hope, take an enlarged and liberal view of the mat- 
 ter, and look for fundamental and incontrovertible truths, which 
 are practically important, and not allow themselves to be cheated 
 out of their senses and judgment, by the doubtful, mysterious, 
 and theoretical parts of the subject being exclusively dwelt upon, 
 by those who zvish Mesmerism to be untrue, or by others who 
 have neither the desire nor capacity to acquire new knowledge. 
 Errors of observation and of judgment must often occur in in- 
 vestigating a new and difficult subject, but I hope such uninten- 
 tional mistakes will be excused ; and wherever they shall be 
 pointed out in my observations, I shall be ready to acknowledge 
 and correct them. Let all doubtful evidence be totally rejected, 
 and a mass of substantial important truth will remain, which, I 
 am confident, the public "will not willingly let die ;" for human 
 nature can ill afford to lose any new and promising source of 
 comfort to suffering humanity. 
 
 Before concluding these prefatory remarks, I beg the reader 
 
MESMERISM AXD Mi;i)ICINE. 33 
 
 not to do me the injustice to think me a Mesmeric doctor, for it 
 would be as true to call me a rhubarb, jalap, or castor-oil physi- 
 cian. Mesmerism often comes to the aid of my patients, when 
 all the resources of medicine are exhausted, and all the drugs 
 of Arabia useless ; and therefore, I consider it to be my duty to 
 benefit them by it, and to assist in making it known for the ad- 
 vantage of mankind. 
 
CHAPTER 11. 
 
 The French Commission of 177c). — Both Right and Wrong. — The 
 Mesmerists properly punished. — Condition required in the 
 Patient. — State of my Mind before experimenting for myself. 
 — Report of the Bishop of Lausanne to the Pope. — His Reply. 
 — Accidental Nature of my First Experiment. — Accidental 
 Nature of my Second Experiment. — First Mesmeric Surgical 
 Operation. — Conclusion. 
 
 The most formidable, because the most reasonable argument 
 against the existence of Mesmerism as a natural power, is, per- 
 haps, the report of the French Commission in 1779, of which 
 Franklin was president. The verdict of the Savans was fair 
 enough, considering the nature of the evidence placed before 
 them; but yet, (such is human fallibility,) in this case summuni 
 jus was also summa injuria; truth was sacrificed to falsehood, as I 
 think will clearly appear from a short analysis of their proceed- 
 ings. This will probably not be time wasted, as I have heard in- 
 telligent gentlemen say, that the report of the French philosophers 
 still decided their opinions. They had a series of axioms in Mes- 
 merism presented to them, whose truth they were to examine, and 
 the efficacy of certain processes was to be proved to their satis- 
 faction by experiment. 
 
 The Mesmerist's object seems to have been, to try to convince 
 the commission that he had a secret worth knowing, and yet 
 continue to keep it to himself, by hiding its extreme simplicity 
 under a load of comj)licated machinery and various kinds of mum- 
 mery. D'Eslon, the pupil of Mesmer, propounded his laws of 
 animal magnetism, after this fashion: — 
 
 "I. Animal magnetism is an universal fluid, constituting an 
 absolute plenum in nature, and the medium of all mutual influence 
 between the celestial bodies, and betwixt the earth and animal 
 bodies." 
 
 This is only a gigantic assertion. 
 
 "II. It is the most subtle fluid in nature, capable of flux, 
 and of reflux, and of receiving, propagating, and continuing all 
 kinds of motion." 
 
 34 
 
FRENCH COMMISSION OF 1779. 35 
 
 The first two clauses arc probable enough ; the last is only 
 rash dogmatism. 
 
 "III. The animal body is subjected to the influences of this 
 fluid by means of the nerves, which are immediately affected 
 by it." 
 
 We see no other way, at present. 
 
 "IV. The human body has poles, and other properties, anal- 
 ogous to the magnet." 
 
 The first proposition has never been proved, and takes every- 
 thing for granted ; there is only likelihood in the second. 
 
 "V. The action and virtue of animal magnetism may be com- 
 municated from one body to another, whether animate or inani- 
 mate." 
 
 True, as regards the relations between animate bodies ; and 
 these can also impregnate inanimate substances. 
 
 "VI. It operates at a great distance, without the intervention 
 of any body." 
 
 True. 
 
 "VII. It is increased and reflected by mirrors, communicated, 
 propagated, and increased by sound, and may be accumulated, 
 concentrated, and transported." 
 
 Soothing sounds may possibly assist in lulling the brain, but 
 quiet is far more essential ; the other assertions are borne out 
 by modern experience. 
 
 "VIII. Notwithstanding the universality of this fluid, all 
 animal bodies are not affected by it ; on the other hand, there are 
 some, though but few in number, the presence of which destroys 
 all the effects of animal magnetism." 
 
 The first part correct, the last not improbable. 
 
 "IX. By means of this fluid, nervous diseases are cured imme- 
 diately, and others mediately ; and its virtues, in fact, extend to 
 the universal cure and preservation of mankind." 
 
 True ; to so great a degree, that we do not yet know how far 
 it may go. 
 
 Is it surprising that the Commission dismissed contemptu- 
 ously such a mass of sheer assertion and unsupported theory, 
 seasoned wdth truth to be sure, but so diluted and obscured as not 
 to be recognisable? Like a Bengal witness, D'Eslon was not con- 
 tent to tell the truth simply, but added so many corroborating 
 inventions of his own, that no one knew what to believe, and the 
 case was dismissed as unworthy of further investigation. He 
 ruined himself, and his cause, also, (perhaps in ignorance, how- 
 
36 RELIEF IN MESMERISM. 
 
 ever,) by loading the truth with a parcel of trumpery machinery, 
 through which he hoped the power of nature would nevertheless 
 penetrate. But Nature, like an over-loaded camel, turned upon 
 her driver, and threw him and his paraphernalia of magnetic plat- 
 forms, conducting-rods and ropes, pianos, magnetised trees and 
 buckets, into the dirt ; and truth retired in disgust to the bottom of 
 her well, there to dwell till more honest men should draw her 
 forth again to surprise and benefit the world. 
 
 As far as my observation goes, all that is necessary for suc- 
 cess, if the parties are in the relation of agent and subject, is pass- 
 ive obedience in the patient, and a sustained attention and patience 
 on the part of the operator. The process being a natural one, the 
 more the parties are in a state of nature the better : the bodies of 
 m.y patients being naked, and their heads generally shaved, is 
 probably of no small consequence in the proceedings. 
 
 Before presenting to the reader my first experiment in mes- 
 merising, I may perhaps be excused the egotism of giving a brief 
 sketch of the history of my belief in Mesmerism, as it is a re- 
 markable epoch in a man's life the day he discovers that he pos- 
 sesses the temporary power of life and death over his fellow- 
 creatures. 
 
 Ever since Dr. Elliotson declared, years ago, that he "should 
 despise himself if he did not declare his conviction of the truth 
 of Mesmerism," I ceased to regard it lightly, and paid attention 
 to all well-attested reports upon the subject. At last the facts 
 became so numerous, and were so well supported by credible wit- 
 nesses, and kept their ground so firmly, both against adverse rea- 
 soning and ridicule, that I felt compelled to surrender my belief 
 in the existence of the Unknown Pov/er, or cease my reason and 
 judgment. Ten days before making my first experiment, I thus 
 wrote to a friend in England : — "What think you of this new mys- 
 tery. Mesmerism ? For my part, I am thinking seriously about it, 
 and cannot help suspecting that we have hit upon one of Nature's 
 great secrets. I keep myself perfectly neutral, and hear th.e pro 
 and con. If it turns out to be a delusion, I shall be happy to assist 
 in digging its grave." 
 
 The uniformity of the phenomena described by different per- 
 sons, and coming from various parts of the world, strongly 
 arrested my attention, and impressed me with the conviction that 
 some new general law of Nature had been discovered. England, 
 France, Germany, and America, all combined to give the same 
 evidence in support of the new doctrines, or, rather, new phe- 
 
riSTTOp or lafsannk's report. 37 
 
 nonicna of Xature. About the time that Miss Martineau's dis- 
 closures appeared, I also read a curious and striking document 
 written in May, 1841, by the Archbishop of Lausanne and 
 Geneva, and addressed to the Sacred Penitentiary, at Rome. As 
 it may possibly make the impression upon others that it did on 
 me, it is here transcribed. 
 
 "Most Eminent Lord, 
 
 Since that which has hitherto been answered respecting ani- 
 mal magnetism seems by no means to suffice, and it is much to 
 be wished that cases not unfrequently occurring may be solved 
 more and more uniformly, the undersigned humbly lays before 
 your Eminence that which follows : — 
 
 "A magnetised person, who is generally of the female sex, 
 enters into that state of sleep called Magnetic Somnambulism so 
 deeply, that not even the greatest noise at her ears, nor any vio- 
 lence of iron or fire, is capable of raising her from it. She is 
 brought into this kind of ecstacy by the magnetiser alone, to 
 whom she has given consent (for consent is necessary,) either by 
 various touches or gesticulations, when he is present, or by a 
 simple command, and that, too, an internal one, when he is at a 
 distance of even several leagues. 
 
 "Then, being interrogated, aloud or mentally, concerning her 
 own disease, or those of absent persons entirely unknown to her, 
 this person, who is evidently one unlearned, at once exhibits great 
 superiority in science to medical men ; announces most accurately 
 anatomical matters ; indicates the cause, seat, and nature of in- 
 ternal diseases in the human body, which, to the skilful, are most 
 difficult of understanding, and unravels their progress, variation, 
 and complications ; and this in the terms proper to them, and 
 prescribes the most simple and effi.cacious remedies. 
 
 "If the person concerning wliom the magnetised woman is 
 consulted is present, the magnetiser establishes the relation be- 
 tween them by means of contact. If, however, he be absent, a 
 lock of his hair supplies his place, and suffices ; for, when this 
 lock of hair is brought into the proximity of the hand of the 
 magnetised person, he declares what it is (without casting his 
 eyes on it,) whose hair it is, where the person is actually sojourn- 
 ing, to whom the hair belongs, what he is doing, and affords the 
 above-mentioned information respecting his disease not otherwise 
 than if, after the manner of medical men, he were inspecting the 
 interior of his body. 
 
38 BISHOP OF LAUSANNF.'S REPORT. 
 
 "Lastly, the magnetised person does not see with the eye. 
 The eyes being covered, though not knowing how to read, he 
 will read off whatever is placed on his head or stomach, whether 
 a book or manuscript, open or shut. His words, too, seem to 
 issue from this region : but when brought out of this state, either 
 at the order, even internal, of the magnetiser, or, as it were, spon- 
 taneously at the moment previously announced by himself, he 
 appears to be not at all conscious of the things gone through by 
 him in the paroxysm, how long soever it may have lasted ; what 
 may have been demanded of him ; what he may have answered ; 
 what he may have undergone ; all these things have left no idea 
 in his understanding, nor the least vestige in his memory. 
 
 "Therefore, the undersigned petitioner, seeing valid reasons 
 for doubting whether such effects, the occasional cause of which 
 is shown to be so little proportioned to them, be simply natural, 
 earnestly and most fervently prays that your Eminence in your 
 wisdom, for the greater glory of the Omnipotent, as well as the 
 greater good of souls, which have been redeemed by the Lord at 
 so great a price, may be pleased to decide,whether, admitting the 
 truth of the premises, a confessor or curate may safely permit 
 to his penitents or parishioners : — 
 
 "i. That they practise animal magnetism, endowed with such, 
 or other lilvC characteristics, as an art auxiliary and supplemen- 
 tary to medicine. 
 
 "2. That they consent to be thrown into such a state of mag- 
 netic somnambulism. 
 
 "3. That they consult persons magnetised in such a manner 
 either concerning themselves or concerning others. 
 
 "4. Or that they undertake one of these last mentioned three 
 things, having first taken the precaution of formally renouncing 
 in their minds every diabolic compact, explicit or implicit, as 
 well as all satanic interventions, since, notwithstanding such pre- 
 cautions, similar effects, or some such effects, have been obtained 
 by some persons. 
 
 "Most Eminent Lord, by command of the most Rev. the Arch- 
 bishop of Lausanne and Geneva, your Eminence's most humble 
 and most obedient servant, 
 
 "James Xavier Fontana, 
 "Chancellor of the Episcopal Chancery. 
 
 "Friburgh, in Switzerland, JLpiscopal Palace, the 19th of 
 May, 1841." 
 
REPLY OF TTIF. PENITENTIARY. 39 
 
 RESPONSE. 
 
 "The Sacred Penitentiary, the premises having been maturely 
 weighed, considers that these should be answered as it now 
 answers : — the use of magnetism, as set forth in the case, is not 
 permissible. 
 
 "Given at Rome, in the Sacred Penitentiary, the ist day of 
 July, 1 84 1. "C. Card, Castracane, M. P. 
 
 "Ph. Pomella, of the S. P. Sec'y. 
 
 "Certified as a copy conformable to the original. — Friburgh, 
 the 26th July, 1 84 1. 
 
 "By order, J. Perroulaz, Sec'y. of the Bishopric." 
 
 It will be observed, that though the subject is held in dread 
 by the reporter, as probably of diabolic origin, yet it is treated 
 as a "great fact," known to, and believed in, by a large com- 
 munity, so that catholics and protestants are found alike profess- 
 ing a belief in Mesmerism. If the twentieth part of what was 
 reported was true, it well deserved careful investigation ; and, as 
 I had no dread of knowing anything that God has permitted to 
 be known, I determined to try to find out the truth for myself, 
 on the first favourable opportunity. In choosing a proper subject 
 to experiment upon, I should probably have selected some highly 
 sensitive female of a nervous temperament, and excitable imag- 
 ination, who desired to submit to the supposed influence. But, 
 I beg it to be particularly remarked, my first essay was not guided 
 by theory, and was not made on a subject supposed to be favour- 
 able. On the contrary, the very worst specimen of humanity, 
 theoretically considered, was the person destined to be my first 
 mesmeric victim ; he being none other than a Hindoo felon of 
 the hangman cast, condemned to labour on the roads, in irons. 
 Accident alone determined my choice, and decided the matter for 
 me, perhaps much better than theory would have done; for I 
 should as soon have thought of commencing operations on the 
 first dog or pig I met on the road, as of selecting this man for 
 his good mesmeric "material." 
 
 There are some interesting particulars in this first successful 
 mesmeric experiment in India, to which I beg leave to direct the 
 reader's attention. 
 
 I. The purely accidental and unpremeditated nature of the 
 experiment. 
 
 II. All want of consent between the parties. 
 
40 NATURE OF MY FIRST EXPERIMENT, 
 
 III. The operator's want of belief in his own power; for I 
 had never seen Mesmerism, and all I knew about it was from 
 scraps in the newspapers. 
 
 IV. The absolute ignorance of the patient ; it being impossi- 
 ble that he should ever have heard of Mesmerism. 
 
 V. The impossibility, therefore, of imitating the mesmeric 
 phenomena. 
 
 Under all the circumstances of the case, collusion between 
 the parties will not, I presume, be suspected : and every possible 
 care was taken to exclude any source of fallacy in the experiment. 
 European gentlemen, sceptical and critical, or so strong in dis- 
 belief that they would have reasoned themselves out of their 
 senses, if they could : Ignorant Hindoos and Mussulmanns, who 
 merely used their eyes and ears without an attempt at reflection, 
 will all be found, by their separate and independent reports, 
 bearing testimony to the same series of phenomena. As I might 
 never succeed again, I endeavoured to make this case as perfect 
 as possible in all its parts, by bringing the senses of different 
 people to bear upon it, in all its stages ; and, I must say, that I 
 cannot see any possible opening for mistake or deception. It 
 has for many months been before the Indian public, who were 
 invited to point out any source of error that may have escaped 
 me, and no attempt has been made to disprove the facts, or 
 explain them away, except by the easy and sweeping charge of 
 imposition in the patient, and delusion in the observers ; of the 
 probability of which I shall now give the reader the means of 
 judging. 
 
 First Experiment. 
 
 Madhab Kaura, a hog-dealer, condemned to seven years' im- 
 prisonment, with labour on the roads, in irons, for wounding a 
 man so as to endanger his life, has got a double Hydrocele. He 
 was ordered to be taken from the jail to the charity hospital, to 
 be operated upon. 
 
 April 4th. — The water was drawn oflf one side of the scrotum, 
 and two drachms of the usual cor. sub. injection were thrown in. 
 On feeling the pain from the injection, he threw his head over 
 the back of the chair, and pressed his hands along the course 
 of the spermatic cords, closing his eyelids firmly, and making the 
 grimaces of a man in pain. Seeing him suffering in this way, I 
 turned to the native sub-assistant surgeon, an elcve of the med- 
 ical college, and asked him if he had ever seen Mesmerism? He 
 
FIRST SURGICAL OPKRATION, 4I 
 
 said that he had seen it tried at the medical college, but without 
 effect. Upon which I remarked, "I have a great mind to try it 
 on this man, but as I never saw it practised, and know it only 
 from reading, I shall probal^ly not succeed." — The man continu- 
 ing in the position described, I placed his knees between mine, 
 and began to pass my hands slowly over his face, at the distance 
 of an inch, and carried them down to the pit of his stomach. 
 This was continued for half an hour before he was spoken to, 
 and when questioned at the end of this time his answers were 
 quite sensible and coherent. 
 
 He was ordered to rem.ain quiet, and the passes were con- 
 tinued for a quarter of an hour longer — still no sensible efifect. 
 Being now tired (thermometer 85°,) I gave it up in despair, and 
 declared it to be a failure. While I rested myself, the man 
 remained quiet, and made fewer grimaces, and when ordered to 
 open his eyes, he said there w^as smoke in the room. This 
 roused my attention, and tempted me to persevere. I now 
 breathed on his head, and carried my hands from the back of 
 his head over his face and down to the epigastrium, where I 
 pressed them united. The first time this was done, he took his 
 b.ands off his groins and pressed them both firmly down upon 
 mine ; drew a long breath, and said, 'T was his father and mother, 
 and had given him life again." The same process was persevered 
 in, and in about an hour he began to gape, said he must sleep, 
 that his senses were gone ; and his replies became incoherent. 
 He opened his eyes, when ordered, but said he only saw smoke, 
 and could distinguish no one; his eyes were quite lustreless, and 
 the lids were opened heavily. All appearance of pain now dis- 
 appeared ; his hands were crossed on his breast, instead of being 
 pressed on the groins, and his countenance showed the most per- 
 fect repose. He now took no notice of our questions, and I 
 called loudly on him by name without attracting any notice, 
 
 I now pinched him, without disturbing him, and then asking 
 for a pin in English, I desired my assistant to watch him nar- 
 rowly, and drove it into the small of his back ; it produced no 
 effect whatever; and my assistant repeated it at intervals in 
 different places as uselessly. His back had continued to arch 
 more backwards latterly, and he now was in a state of "opisthoto- 
 nos ;" the nape of his neck resting on the sharp back of the chair, 
 and his breech on the edge of it. Being now satisfied that we 
 had got something extraordinary, I went over to the Kutcherry, 
 and begged Mr. Russell, the judge, and Mr. Money, the collector, 
 
42 FIRST SURGICAL OPERATION. 
 
 to come and see what had been done, as I wanted the presence 
 of intelligent witnesses in what remained to do. We found him 
 in the position I had left him in, and no hallooing in his ears could 
 attract his attention. Fire was then applied to his knee, without 
 his shrinking in the least; and liquor ammonise, that brought 
 tears into our eyes in a moment, was inhaled for some minutes 
 without causing an eyelid to quiver. This seemed to have re- 
 vived him a little, as he moved his head shortly afterwards, and 
 I asked him if he wanted to drink; he only gaped in reply, and I 
 took the opportunity to give, slowly, a mixture of ammonia so 
 strong that I could not bear to taste it ; this he drank like milk, 
 and gaped for more. As the "experimentum crucis," I lifted 
 his head, and placed his face, which was directed to the ceiling 
 all this time, in front of a full light ; opened his eyes, one after 
 the other, but without producing any effect upon the iris ; his 
 eyes were exactly an amaurotic person's, and all noticed their 
 lack-lustre appearance. We were all now convinced that total 
 insensibility of all the senses existed, and I ordered him to be 
 placed on a mattrass on the floor, and not to be disturbed till I 
 returned. It was now i o'clock, the process having commenced 
 at II A. M. 
 
 I returned at 3 o'clock, and was vexed to find that he had 
 awoke, and been carried back to the jail hospital. The native 
 doctor of the jail had come in ; and on hearing that the Sahibs 
 could not awake the patient, he set about doing so, and succeeded 
 by throwing water on his face, &c. I again went to Messrs. 
 Russell and Money, and requested them to accompany me to 
 the jail, to be present when he was interrogated regarding his 
 reminiscences ; and we put down a series of questions to be put 
 to him, at once, and without explanation. We found him looking 
 well, with a lively expression of face, and the following questions 
 were put to him ; his answers being taken down at the same 
 time : — 
 
 "How do you feel?" 
 
 "Very well." 
 
 "Any pain in the throat, or elsewhere?" 
 
 "A little uneasiness in the throat, no pain anywhere else." 
 
 "What has happened to you to-day ?" 
 
 "I went in the morning to the Imbarah Hospital, to get the 
 water taken out of my scrotum." 
 
QUESTIONS PUT TO PATIENT. 43 
 
 "Was the water drawn off?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "What do yon remember after tke operation?" 
 
 "I went to sleep soon after, and remember nothing else." 
 
 "Did you eat or drink after the operation?" 
 
 "I felt thirsty, but got nothing to drink till Kurreem Ali, the 
 native doctor, awoke me." 
 
 "Did any body prick, or burn vou?" 
 
 "No, no>' 
 
 "Did ycu smell anything disagreeable?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 "Were vou happy when asleep?" 
 
 "Very." 
 
 "Did you hear anything when you were asleep?" 
 
 "I heard voices, but did not understand them." 
 
 "Did you see any gentleman in the hospital but me?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 "Did you feel any pain in the scrotum after going to sleep?" 
 
 "I felt none till I awoke." 
 
 "Anv pain in that part now?" 
 
 "A very little." 
 
 "How many motions have you had to-day?" (he was suffer- 
 ing from chronic diarrhcea.) 
 
 "Four, before going to the hospital, none since; belly is 
 much easier than it has been for some time." 
 
 Having answered all these questions readily and frankly, he 
 began to cry, thinking it Vv-as some kind of judicial investigation, 
 I suppose. 
 
 "The above is an exact relation of what took place in our 
 presence, and we are thoroughly convinced that there was a com- 
 plete suspension of sensibility to external impressions of the most 
 painful kind. 
 
 (Signed) F. W. Russell. 
 
 D. J. Money. 
 BuDDEN Crundf,r Ciiowdaree, 
 
 Sub-Assistant Surgeon." 
 
 April 5th. — There is less than the usual inflammation, and 
 he makes no complaint. I intend to operate on the other side in 
 a few days, mesmerizing him first, if possible, and have invited 
 many persons to be present. 
 
44 SECOND EXPERIMENT. 
 
 Second Experiment. 
 
 April 6th. — ii o'clock, a. m. The inflammation has become 
 high during last night; the part is hot, and excessively tender; 
 the lightest touch causes great pain. Skin hot ; pulse quick. I 
 could not resist the temptation of satisfying myself still further, 
 and relieve him at the same time. So, turning to the native doc- 
 tors, I said that I would try the "Belatee Muntur" (the Europe 
 charm,) and began the process as before; he lying in bed. In 
 ten minutes the mesmeric haze (smoke he always calls it) was 
 produced. After half an hour he still complained of the pain in 
 the inflamed part, and could not bear its being touched ; in three- 
 quarters of an hour the coma was established, and I squeezed the 
 inflamed part with no more effect than if it had been a bladder. 
 Having business to attend to in Chandernagore, six miles off, 
 I called, in passing, on the Rev. Mr. Fisher, and said that he 
 might now satisfy himself by going to the hospital in my absence ; 
 and that, except mesmeric means, he was at liberty to use every 
 possible means to awake him, or make him feel. Here I have 
 the pleasure to introduce a report of the proceedings of Mr. 
 Fisher and Mr. Money while I v»^as at Chandernagore : — 
 
 "To J. Esdaile, Esq. 
 
 "My Dear Sir, — I beg to certify that I twice saw the native 
 whom you had put into a mesmeric trance, or state of catalepsy, 
 and from the successful application of different tests I have no 
 hesitation in stating, should my statement add weight to your 
 own testimony, or be of any service to the cause of the imper- 
 fectly known, and hitherto unfairly treated, science of Mesmer- 
 ism, that the individual in question was in that state entirely 
 insensible of pain, and that I believe, if you had cut his leg off, 
 he would not have felt it. I saw, when I was in England, both 
 publicly and in private, many cases of Mesmerism accompanied 
 by unnatural and wonderful phenomena, without being con- 
 vinced. But your case is one so free from all possibility of sus- 
 picion, that to have doubted it, one might as well have doubted 
 his own existence. Yours truly, 
 
 "D. J. Money. 
 
 "Hooghly, gth April, 1845." 
 
 "I have only to add to the above, that I was present upon the 
 last occasion referred to by Mr. Money, and fully concur with 
 him in thinking that the patient, during the Mesmeric trance, 
 
REPORT OF KURREEM ALT KHAN. 45 
 
 was totally insensible to pain. Indeed, all the senses appeared 
 to be unnaturally suspended from any manifestation of their ordi- 
 nary operations, and every available test was tried in vain. Dr. 
 Esdaile upon this occasion was absent at Chandernajjore, having 
 previously put the patient into the trance. 
 
 "F. FiSIIER." 
 
 Returned to the hospital at 3 o'clock, and found him lyinp: 
 just as I had left him. Awoke him in a few minutes, by rapid 
 transverse passes, blowint,^ in his face, and giving water to drink. 
 Is free of pain, and still desires to sleep ; says his head turns. 
 
 Translation of a Report from Kurreem Ali Khan, native doctor, 
 of what he sazv and heard in the Jail Hospital, on the 6th 
 April, 1845. 
 
 "At II o'clock, A. M., the patient, Madhab Kaura, was in a 
 fever, and there w^as an acute pain in the scrotum. The worthy 
 Dr. Sahib (may he ever prosper) came to the hospital, and began 
 to do something to him. When the experiment was going on, 
 Madhab was asked, — 
 
 "What do you see?" 
 
 "I cannot see clearly; something like smoke is before my 
 
 „ >> 
 eyes. 
 
 "Do you see the doors?" 
 
 "No, nothing but snioke." 
 
 "Do you see Dr. Sahib?" 
 
 "No, I see nobody, but perceive some one is talking near me." 
 
 "Is there any pain in your body?" 
 
 "Yes, breathing causes pain in the belly." 
 
 "Is there pain in the scrotum?" 
 
 "Yes, as acute as ever." 
 
 "How do you feel now?" 
 
 "I feel cold and sleepy." 
 
 After the Doctor Sahib had tried for nearly three-quarters of 
 an hour, he fell into a deep sleep, and there seemed to be no pain 
 in the scrotum ; he slept so sound, that even the pricking of his 
 body with a pin did not restore his senses, or awake him. Before, 
 a touch of the scrotum was painful, but after he was asleep, even 
 pricking it caused ho pain whatever. 
 
 He continued in this state for three hours, when, the Dr. 
 Sahib calling him aloud twice or thrice, he came to his senses, 
 and opened his eyes. He asked for water, which he drank, and, 
 feeling cold, covered himself." 
 
4.6 REPORT OF NOBOO. 
 
 Translation of a Report from Noboo, native doctor, of what he 
 saw and heard in the Jail Hospital, on the 6th April, 1845. 
 
 "On the morning of the 6th of April, I went to the hospital, 
 and found the body of Madhab Kaura hot and feverish, and he 
 felt a great pain in the scrotum. 
 
 At II o'clock, Dr. Esdaile, the civil doctor, came and made 
 some operations on the body: something I do not know. While 
 the operation was going on, the patient was asked if he could 
 see plainly, but said no. When asked if he could see any one, 
 he answered, that he could see no one, but knew by the sounds 
 that some people were there. 
 
 Again he was asked if he felt any pain ; he said, that he felt 
 a severe pain in the belly, on breathing, and also in the scrotum, 
 and felt very cold. Soon afterwards he became senseless. 
 
 At 2 o'clock p. M. the Rev. Mr. Fisher and Mr. Money came 
 to the hospital, and tried to bring him to his senses by pricking 
 him with a pin, putting fire on his hand, and beating a gong in 
 his ear, but all proved ineffectual." 
 
 I forgot to note down what these reports notice ; — his com- 
 plaining of feeling cold soon after the process began ; and that 
 v/hen I left him the temperature of his body was natural. 
 
 On these two occasions, the effects were witnessed by all the 
 patients and hangers-on in and about both hospitals. 
 
 April 7th. — Has had a good night, is a little feverish ; pain in 
 the scrotum much less. He now complains, for the first time, of 
 pain in the places where he was pricked and burned. 
 
 This makes one ashamed of incredulity, and I will never put 
 a patient to the "question" in this way again. It is only excusa- 
 ble for the first time, when we can hardly believe the evidence of 
 our senses. 
 
 Third Experiment. 
 
 April nth. — Took the sub-assistant surgeon with me to-day 
 to the Jail Hospital, and desired him to watch the time taken to 
 produce the different effects. There is still considerable pain in 
 the side operated upon. Pulse regular, 60; skin warm. At 11 
 o'clock A. M. I seated him on the floor with his back against the 
 wall ; placed myself before him on a stool, and proceeded pretty 
 much as before. The process, in one particular, was varied ; I 
 leaned my elbows upon my knees, placed my mouth over the 
 back of my joined hands, and breathed along their upper surface ; 
 the points of my fingers being pointed steadily at his eyes, nose, 
 
THIRD EXPERIMENT. 47 
 
 and forehead, in succession. This seemed to be very effectual, 
 and was done with the idea of concentrating the mesmeric influ- 
 ence of the whole body into one conductor. It was curious to 
 observe that he had begun to think on the subject, and was ob- 
 serving the effects for himself, and testing his senses as we 
 proceeded. After manipulating for a few minutes, he opened his 
 eyes, looked sharply and minutely about him, and being asked 
 if he saw quite well, he said, "Oh, yes." In a minute or two he 
 repeated his inspection, and answered again, that he saw quite 
 distinctly ; in seven minutes he again looked about him, seemed 
 surprised, and said he only saw "smoke." 
 
 In fifteen minutes he was pinched; aritl when asked if any 
 one was pinching him, he replied that he could not tell, as I 
 might now cut a piece out of his body without his feeling it. I 
 now tried for an abnormal mental manifestation; certainly not 
 expecting to be gratified. I asked, — "What will cure your com- 
 plaint ?" 
 
 "You know best." 
 "Has the Baboo any complaint?" 
 "How should I know?" 
 
 I understood this as a hint to attend to the business in hand, 
 the body, and therefore proceeded to induce the mesmeric coma 
 as quickly as possible ; and succeeded in twenty minutes from 
 the commencement. I then said to the sub-assistant surgeon that 
 I would operate upon him in this state, if I could find some of 
 the European gentlemen to be witnesses. On going to Chin- 
 surah, two miles off. I fortunately found a considerable party, 
 consisting of the Baron Law de Clapernou, Governor of Chan- 
 dernagore, Mr. Russell, the judge, Mr. Wauchope, the magis- 
 trate, J. St. Pourcain, Esq., Mr. Clint, Principal of Hooghly Col- 
 lege, and Mr. Clermont, head master of the Lower School ; who 
 all accompanied me back to the hospital. The man had fallen 
 down, and was lying on his back. The large gong of the jail was 
 brought, and struck violently within a few inches of his ear, 
 with no effect. I then pierced the scrotum, and threw in the 
 injection, without any one being sensible of the smallest move- 
 ment in his face or body. His limbs were quite flexible ; but on 
 holding one of his legs in my hand for a few seconds, it grad- 
 ually became quite rigid, and we could not bend it again; the 
 same occurred in the other leg. The arms were supple, and lay 
 in any position into which they were thrown; and when the 
 fore-arm was bent upon the humerus, and then let go, it fell 
 
48 THIRD EXPERIMENT. 
 
 upwards, or downwards, instantly. But on placing my united 
 fingers over the ends of his, the arm remained fixed at a right 
 angle in the air, and swayed to and fro, according to my move- 
 ments. The insensibility of the iris was also tested, and proved. 
 
 6 o'clock, r. M. Still sleeps ; most complete relaxation of all 
 the limbs now exists. The legs and arms can be tossed about in 
 every direction, and where they fall there they lie. Being curious 
 to ascertain the effect of the artificial state on the natural process 
 of inflammation, I did not awake him, but saw that the part was 
 as flaccid as when the water was just withdrawn. 
 
 April I2th. — He av/oke at 12 o'clock last night, spontaneously. 
 Recollects nothing aft^r going to sleep ; sees the water is gone, 
 knows not how ; supposes the Dr. Sahib did it. The testicle is 
 considerably enlarged to-day; there is little pain, and it did not 
 swell till after he awoke. He has had chronic diarrhoea for some 
 time; four and five motions a day, but has had none since yes- 
 terday forenoon till this morning. Natural, artificial, and dis- 
 eased actions have therefore been all equally arrested for the 
 last thirteen hours ; a practical fact of the utmost importance, 
 which will not be lost sight of by myself, or others, I hope. What 
 a blessed prospect this opens to sufferers who may be sensible 
 to the Mesmeric influence ! In time we may hope to discover 
 who they are, by detecting the laws which regulate this power 
 of Nature, and thereby save ourselves much trouble and disap- 
 pointment. In the mean time let us accumulate facts, as the seed 
 for a correct theory hereafter. Although I should never succeed 
 again, I will in future think, speak, and write of Mesmerism as 
 being as much a reality as the principle of gravitation, or the 
 properties of opium. For, under all the circumstances, I cannot 
 but consider these to be unexceptionable facts; and if I should 
 not again be able to elicit them, it would not shake my belief in 
 the existence of Mesm.erism; I should only conclude that the 
 failure arose from my ignorance of the conditions required by 
 Nature, or from some personal disqualification. The rarity of 
 the occurrence would not make it less a reality; and to deny a 
 fact because it has been seldom witnessed, would be as reasonable 
 as to doubt the existence of comets because they are rare appear- 
 ances. 
 
 Great weight is very justly attached to first experiments in 
 any new subject of investigation, for these are oiten a voluntary 
 and unexpected evolution of the powers of nature ; and when the 
 results surprise the experimenter even, we feel confident that he 
 
THIRD EXl'KRI.MKNT. 40 
 
 only relates what he actually saw, and that he is not seduced, 
 by previous theory and prepossession of mind, to interpret ap- 
 pearances in support of a foregone conclusion. In making these 
 experiments, I was in the situation of a chemist, who has heard 
 that a new elementary suljstance had been discovered by a cer- 
 tain process, and who thereupon sets his apparatus to work in 
 the way prescribed, and is rewarded by obtaining the same results 
 as the first discoverer. 
 
 Besides the general results, I noted in this case the following 
 particulars as facts, which determined the course of my future 
 proceedings. 
 
 I was sure that there could be no imagination at work in the 
 matter. 
 
 That there was no consent between the parties. 
 
 No m>cntal sympathy. 
 
 That the patient's eyes need not be open. 
 
 I therefore came to the conclusion, that in this instance, the. 
 influence must have been of a purely physical description, and 
 on this supposition I conducted my subsequent experiments ; 
 with what success will be shortly seen. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 Mesmerism the same in India and in Europe. — Examples of Mes- 
 meric Sleep. — Sealing of the Eyes. — Altered Sensibility. — 
 Temporary Paralysis. — Muscular Rigidity. — Insensibility to 
 Pain. — Exaltation of particular Organs. — Convulsions. — De- 
 lirium. — Injustice done to the Memory of the first Mesmer- 
 ists. — Every available Evidence here given.— Imposture mor- 
 ally and physically ijupossiblc. — Mode of Proceeding. — 
 Mesmeric and Non-Mesmeric Operations contrasted. — Phy- 
 siological Demonstration of the Inipossibility of Imposture. 
 
 Having, by the experiments described in the last chapter, 
 satisfied myself of the existence of the Mesmeric power, I lost 
 no time in applying it to practical purposes. The effects pro- 
 duced were nearly as various as the different persons acted upon, 
 and corresponded perfectly with the appearances observed in 
 Europe ; and when the public see the same effects following like 
 causes on the banks of the Thames, and the Seine, the Rhine, and 
 the Hooghly; I presume it will conclude, that the same agent is 
 at work, provided the same evidence, in support of matters of 
 fact, is received for hot and cold climates, and it is not supposed 
 that the truth is affected by degrees of latitude. In a late number 
 of the "British and Foreign Medical Review," the reviewer gives 
 a summary of the Mesmeric symptoms as known to himself, and 
 recorded by various writers on Mesmerism, and acknowledges a 
 perfect accord in all the accounts of the bodily phenomena. The 
 following extract will place these appearances succinctly before 
 my readers, and I beg them to compare my account of Mesmer- 
 ism in Bengal with this statement of its effects in Europe, and 
 then say whether the identity of the thing in the east and west 
 is not established : — 
 
 "Sometimes, however, there is said to supervene a state of 
 coma ; at others, exaltation, depression, or some anomalous 
 modification of sensibility; and occasionally, a state somewhat 
 approaching to that of reverie, wherein the individual, although 
 conscious, feels incapable of independent exertion, and spell- 
 bound, as it were, to a particular train of thought or fooling. 
 The occurrence of convulsive action, and of muscular rigidity, 
 
 50 
 
MESMERISM DF.SCRinED. 5 1 
 
 is described as taking place in some cases to a greater or less 
 extent. These results are said to constitute the simpler phenom- 
 ena of Mesmerism. We shall illustrate them by some extracts 
 from accredited writers upon the subject. 
 
 "In this peculiar state of sleep, the surface of the body is 
 sometimes acutely sensible, but more frequently the sense of 
 feeling is absolutely annihilated. The jaws are firmly locked, 
 and resist every effort to wrench them open ; the joints are often 
 rigid, and the limbs inflexible ; and not only is the sense of feel- 
 ing, but the senses of smell, hearing, and sight also, are so 
 deadened to all external impressions, that no pungent odour, loud 
 report, or glare of light, can excite them in the slightest degree. 
 The body may be pricked, pinched, lacerated, or burnt; fumes 
 of concentrated liquid ammonia may be passed up the nostrils ; 
 the loudest reports suddenly made close upon the ear; dazzling 
 and intense light may be thrown upon the pupil of the eye ; yet so 
 profound is the physical state of lethargy, that the sleeper will 
 remain undisturbed and insensible to tortures, which in the wak- 
 ing state, would be intolerable." — (Diipotct, p. 36.) 
 
 The above concise sketch corresponds very closely with what 
 is laid down in other works of Mesmeric repute. A few brief 
 quotations, exhibiting this correspondence, we subjoin. The 
 first we take from Deleuze's Practical Instructions, wherein he 
 states that "the magnetised feels the necessity of closing the 
 eyes ; his eyes are so sealed that he cannot open them ; he experi- 
 ences a calm, a feeling of comfort ; he becomes drowsy ; he is 
 put to sleep." — Teste, another writer of distinction, speaking of 
 the physical insensibility, says, "it exists, not only in the skin, 
 but in the subcutaneous tissues, in the muscles, and even in the 
 nervous ramifications." Dr. Passavant of Frankfort, an author 
 often referred to, avers as follows : "As an especial effect of 
 the power of animal magnetism, results the magnetic sleep. This 
 is mostly deeper than ordinary sleep, the mediation of the senses 
 is yet more decidedly suspended. The sensibility can so have 
 vanished in a moment, that the loudest sound, the brightest light, 
 even bodily injuries, are not perceived in this sleep." Indeed, all 
 the authorities seem to coincide very much in their accounts, and, 
 this we say, after referring to Chenevix, Elliotson, Townshend, 
 Gauthier, Foissac, and others." 
 
 1 shall now present to the reader illustrations of all the sin- 
 gular states of the system described above, and drawn from my 
 practice here. 
 
52 CASES OF MESMERISM. 
 
 Mesmeric Sleep. — This simulates, perfectly, sound natural 
 sleep, and is more refreshing, even if it has been resorted to for 
 soothing- pain, or disturbance of the system, and can be had 
 recourse to when it would be improper or useless to administer 
 common narcotics ; — over which it has the advantage of not in- 
 ducing a disagreeable constitutional derangement, after the spe- 
 cific influence has ceased. The restorative powers of mesmeric 
 sleep seem to depend upon an actual infusion of nervous vigour 
 into the body, and, when induced as a remedial agent, this may 
 account for its superiority over common sleep. 
 
 April 7th. — Janokee-Sing, a hardy looking peon ; the wliole 
 of the scrotum is sloughing, from the application of some acrid 
 leaves, and the pain is most intense. 
 
 April 15th. — The whole scrotum has sloughed oflt; has not 
 slept since coming to hospital. The compounder, a healthy, in- 
 telligent Hindoo, succeeded in putting him to sleep to-day, in half 
 an hour. He awoke when pinched, or called upon by name, but 
 instantly fell asleep again. 
 
 April i6th. — Has slept, almost without interruption, from 11 
 o'clock A. M. yesterday till 7 o'clock this morning, tlie only sleep 
 he has had since he was burned. 
 
 April 19th. — He has been mesmerised daily, and sleeps the 
 greater part of his time ; to mesmerise him, becomes more easy 
 every day ; — and a few minutes no>v suffice to overcome him. 
 
 April 20th. — Kowsoalla ; aged forty, a peasant woman. I 
 subdued her to-day, for the first time, in ten minutes ; she awoke 
 when called upon, but, in a second, fell asleep again. The limbs 
 are quite loose, but when I let them remain for a moment in any 
 new position, they become rigid, and require to be dragged into 
 a new attitude; the muscles yield precisely like lead, without a 
 vestige of re-action, when the bending force is removed. 
 
 April 25th. — She can now be mesmerised in a minute. 
 
 May 3rd. — Bissumber Chowdry : has had retention of urine 
 for three days ; the bladder is prominent at the navel, and no 
 instrument can be introduced. Ordered to lie in the easiest pos- 
 ture, and to be put to sleep, if possible. 
 
 May 4th. — He slept for two hours yesterday, and voided his 
 urine freely, when he awoke. 
 
 May 4th. — Deenoo, a prisoner; convalescent from cholera, is 
 tormented with incessant hiccough for the last twenty-four hours. 
 Opii Grs. ii. 
 Confect. Arom. Grs. x. 
 
 I 
 
ALTEREQ SENSiBILTTV. 53 
 
 If this does not check it, a blister to be applied over the dia- 
 phragm. 
 
 May 5th. — No better — To be mesmerised. I returned after 
 three hours, and found him asleep — awoke him : has no hiccough. 
 
 May nth. — No return of tlie hiccough. 
 
 Scaling of the eyes. — The quivering of the eyelids, and their 
 subsequent spasmodic closure, is one of the most specific mes- 
 meric symptoms. 
 
 June 27th. — The woman Alunga complains of considerable 
 pain from the extension of her arm yesterday, and the nerve at 
 the elbow is very tender. I passed my fingers along the course 
 of the nerve for a few minutes, which removed the pain ; I then 
 held my fingers before her eyes, and in a few seconds she fell 
 into my arms quite insensible. I soon after awoke her, and she 
 sat up conversing with us as usual, but could not possibly open 
 her eyes; when ordered to do so, she was obliged to pull the 
 eyelids asunder with her fingers ; but they would not remain 
 open, and the difiliculty was only removed by my rubbing, and 
 blowing in her eyes. I have shown this peculiarity, in numerous 
 cases, to great numbers of persons. 
 
 Altered sensibility. — Rajah , an intelligent Hindoo gen- 
 tleman, who has received an English education, and speaks our 
 language perfectly well, wished to be operated on for hydrocele, 
 while in the mesmeric trance. After half an hour's manipulating, 
 I extended his arm, and it took a fix in any position I put it : 
 it was put perpendicular into the air, and remained motionless 
 for ten minutes ; on depressing it again, it bent like lead, in the 
 true cataleptic fashion. Having replaced his arm at his side, 
 I began to open his dress, when he awoke with a violent start, 
 and instantly said that he had no feeling in his arm ; that it was 
 very cold, which we all felt, and on putting a thermometer into 
 his hand, we found it to be two degrees colder than the other. 
 He remembered my raising his arm, and felt me let go my hold 
 of his thumb, but what became of his arm after that, he could 
 not tell — he imagined it was lost. Having lately felt the sensa- 
 tion of galvanism, he said, that he felt slight shocks in his skin 
 during the process, exactly like what he had experienced from 
 galvanism. I have observed this in other patients. 
 
 Temporary paralysis of muscles. — Madub, a shopkeeper. This 
 man was operated on for hydrocele, when in the trance, without 
 feeling it, and ever since has been very easily affected; I have, 
 therefore, made him the subject of several experiments. In a 
 
54 CASES OF MESMERISM. 
 
 minute or two, his eyelids begin to quiver, then slowly close, 
 opening heavily at short intervals, till at last they remain closed 
 altogether. If at this stage he is ordered to open his eyes, the 
 effort to do so only strains the eyelids, which appear to be glued 
 together, and he says it is impossible to separate them. Being 
 desired to help himself with his fingers, he rubs his eyes vio- 
 lently, and then forcibly separates the eye-lids, when nothing but 
 the white of the eye is seen ; the cornea being turned up to the 
 roof of the orbit. While rubbing his eyes, I sometimes seize his 
 hands and extend his arms horizontally on either side ; the arms 
 become fixed in a moment, and when desired to apply his hands 
 to his eyes now, he says that he cannot, that he does not know 
 where his arms are. If I blow on one arm, or impel a current 
 of air against it by fanning, the rigidity disappears, and he uses 
 his arm as desired, but the other continues catalepsed and use- 
 less, till relieved in the same way. When I urge him to use both 
 arms, he says he has only one, and on being desired to seek for 
 the other, he passes the flexible arm across his body, and gropes 
 at the other side for it, but soon gives up the search, saying, it 
 is not there: being desired to look for it higher up, he carries 
 his hand up the opposite side till he reaches the catalepsed arm, 
 and tries in vain to depress it ; the arm remains horizontally ex- 
 tended, and resists all his efforts. 
 
 Muscular rigidity. — Is usually attendant on mesmeric coma, 
 of which numerous instances will be given, when treating of the 
 medical part of the subject. My first patient, by repeated experi- 
 ments, became excessively sensitive, and affords a good specimen 
 of mesmeric catalepsy. 
 
 May 13th. — Madub Kaura; this man can be catalepsed in less 
 than a minute ; and the effects are passing strange. If, when he 
 is standing, I point my fingers at him for a few seconds, his eye- 
 lids immediately droop, his arms fall by their mere weight to his 
 sides ; his whole body begins to tremble, owing to the incipient 
 loss of command over the muscular system; and, if not supported, 
 he would fall down in a heap. But give him a moment's support, 
 and he becomes as rigid as a statue, and if the centre of gravity 
 is well poised he will remain in any posture he is put into, and 
 that for a longer time than I have waited to see. The muscles 
 must be dragged out of the fixed position they have assumed, 
 and allowed a moment to contract in a new attitude, out of the 
 perpendicular; for if suddenly pushed, he goes down, head fore- 
 most, like a statue from its pedestal, and his life is endangered. 
 
CONVULSIONS. DELIRIUM. 55 
 
 However inconvenient, or grotesque, tJie position may be, he is 
 equally well satisfied, and continues to sleep, quite comfortably, 
 with his heels behind his neck ; and if his forehead is placed 
 against the wall at an acute angle, he remains sticking out from 
 it, like a buttress, longer than I have ascertained. 
 
 Insensibility to pain. — This will be copiously illustrated in m.y 
 numerous surgical operations. 
 
 Somnambnlisni. — Will have a chapter to itself, and need not 
 be now introduced. 
 
 Exaltation of particular organs, — convulsions, — delirium. — 
 Instances of all these will occur in the course of this work, 
 and be found to correspond with the irregularities observed in 
 Europe ; so that the general rule, and its exceptions, will be recog- 
 nised to be the same in the eastern and the western hemispheres ; 
 thereby proving the universality of the truths declared by many 
 honest and independent men, during the last sixty years, and for 
 propounding which they were laughed at, and scorned. 
 
 Apart from the personal gratification of being admitted to see 
 the secret processes of nature's workshop, and the advantages 
 of being able to imitate her processes, for the alleviation and 
 removal of human suffering; it will be a great satisfaction to 
 me, if any evidence and labours should assist in raising the dis- 
 honoured dead into the public consideration and respect, due to 
 them as benefactors of mankind, and in exciting a regret that 
 wisdom called so long in the streets, without any one regarding 
 her. 
 
 I now know (and I deplore my long ignorance) that the bat- 
 tle was fought, and won, before I was born, by the truthful and 
 benevolent Puysegur, Deleuze, and their companions, and that 
 I, under the tropics, am only again demonstrating what they, on 
 the banks of the Seine, had long ago established. The people of 
 the continent have been familiar wath both the good and evil of 
 Mesmerism for the last thirty years, while we in England are 
 only now giving an unwilling ear to the expounders of a law 
 of nature, which is as much a part of the human constitution as 
 the processes of thought and digestion. It is to be hoped that, 
 on this subject, our neighbours will no longer have reason to 
 reproach our insular ignorance and presumption, and that if Mes- 
 merism is rejected by the English public, it will be after study 
 and experiment, and not from prejudice and passion. 
 
 Knowing the new and wonderful nature of the subject, and 
 that the public was ill prepared to receive the naked truth on 
 
56 IRREFRAGAELE EVIDENCE 
 
 individual testimony, I have called in all the available evidence 
 on the spot; and the facts related by me will be found to be 
 vouched for by disinterested, honourable, and intelligent gentle- 
 men, both residents and strangers; and if there is not a cloud 
 of European witnesses, it is simply because no more exist in this 
 neighbourhood. I would have preferred the plain of Calcutta 
 for my theatre, and all the inhabitants for spectators, if it had 
 been possible. All I have done, or may hereafter do, has been 
 done, and shall be done, in open day, and every case related has 
 had from half a dozen to hundreds of witnesses. The patients 
 are on the spot, or can easily be found, and a host of eye-witnesses 
 are ready for any one who may take the trouble to investigate the 
 matter on the spot. 
 
 Taking these general circumstances into account, I might 
 leave the cases to be adduced to speak for themselves, but I hope 
 to be excused for pointing out some particulars which will, I 
 trust, demonstrate that imposture, in the generality of my cases, 
 is morally and physically impossible. 
 
 It is morally impossible that I could have taught my patients 
 what I did not know ; for I knew not the existence of the diversi- 
 fied symptoms they exhibited, till, day by day, I became a witness 
 of their unexpected occurrence. I had never read a Mesmeric 
 book, when I made my first experiment ; and having succeeded 
 In getting nature to speak, I determined to listen only to her for 
 some time, and for months purposely refrained from reading on 
 the subject, in order that my senses might not be predisposed to 
 see things in any particular light, and that my judgment might 
 be left unbiased by the opinions of others. My reason did not 
 teach me to expect what was presented to my senses; but was 
 gradually instructed by what I saw and did : and all that I know 
 about Mesmerism has been acquired by reading the book of 
 nature, without guide or interpreter. If I was ignorant of the 
 subject, the peasants and coolies of Bengal must have been 
 equally so, I presume. No rumour had gone abroad regarding 
 the existence of such a power; Mesmerism had not become the 
 village talk in Bengal, so as to enable some clever rogue to 
 exhibit the phenomena of which he had heard: — there was no 
 type to imitate, therefore imitation, in the first instance, was im- 
 possible. Be it observed also, that the cases did not happen 
 among people in hospitals at the same time, but arose, day by 
 day, among patients newly arrived from diiYerent parts of the 
 country. The routine followed is ibis. A i)crson presents himself 
 
OF THE TRUTH OF MESMERISM. 57 
 
 before me for the first time, and I see he has a disease requiring 
 an operation for its removal ; he is desired to go into another 
 room (which is dark,) and repose himself after his journey, not 
 a word being said about an operation, as this would cause a 
 mental excitement, destructive to the mesmeric influence. One 
 of my assistants follows him; seats himself (if unpcrceivcd, so 
 much the better,) at the head of the bed ; and by using the process 
 to be hereafter described, often reduces the patient to a state of 
 coma by the end of my visit : I then do what is necessary, whether 
 it be to take off, or straighten a limb, without his knowledge or 
 consent. Now, supposing these poor ignorant people to be im- 
 postors, whence comes their intimate knowledge of the mesmeric 
 phenomena, from the quivering of an eye-lid onwards to insensi- 
 bility to the most cruel tortures? If they are not what they seem 
 to be, then are they heaven-born impostors, or have had super- 
 natural instruction, — on earth they could not have learned it. 
 
 It may be said, that it is the taste of the coolies of Bengal to 
 have themselves cut to pieces, and to have corrosive acids, and 
 red-hot pokers applied to their sores, without showing a sign of 
 life; or that, knowing my hobby, they come from all quarters to 
 be silently tormented, in order to please my Honour. Or we may - 
 be told, that the passive endurance of pain is no sign of the ab- 
 sence of it, for the North American invites his enemy to tear him 
 at the stake, and the Indian Fuqueer voluntarily torments himself. 
 
 To do justice to this ingenious hypothesis, I shall present the 
 reader with some examples of the way in which pain is borne by 
 my patients, in the mesmeric and non-mesmeric condition of the 
 body. 
 
 June I2th. — Lokee, a peasant woman, aged 60, has a tumour ^ 
 on the calf of the leg of nine years' standing; it is full of deep ' 
 ulcerations and maggots. I tried to subdue her yesterday, but 
 the pain did not allow her to get beyond common sleep. To-day, j 
 after much trouble, first by one person, and then another, she was / 
 entranced, and I cut out the tumour in the presence of Captain ' 
 Elder, without her feeling it, and we left her sleeping. I 
 
 June 13th. — She awoke three hours after the operation ; felt 
 no pain on waking, and asked me to-day, who cut off the tumour? v/'' 
 
 Oct. 24th. — The woman Lokee has come back to hospital, with 
 a return of the tumour, cut out in June last, to be mesmerised. 
 
 Oct. 27th. — She has been mesmerised daily, for two hours, 
 but without effect. I therefore operated on her to-day, as we 
 could spare no more time for her, others requiring equal atten- 
 
58 INSENSIBILITY TO PAIN 
 
 tion. The poor old woman screamed miserably the whole time, 
 crying, that I was murdering her ; and she continued in the great- 
 est pain for hours afterwards. 
 
 If the old woman shammed insensibility on the first occasion, 
 why did she not do so on the second? She had had practice; 
 every facility and encouragement were given her, and she knew 
 what was wanted of her, and yet would not pretend to be asleep ! 
 
 This perverse and inconsistent conduct appears to me to be 
 easily accounted for, from the very fact of her being aware of 
 what was wanted and intended to be done ; her anxiety to go to 
 sleep neutralised her good intentions : — excitement of mind being 
 destructive of the mesmeric influence for the production of coma. 
 
 August 13th. — Dr. Finch freely applied muriatic acid (such 
 as is furnished by the Company's dispensary) to a sore, covering 
 all the right temple of the woman Gendo (who was mesmerised, 
 in his presence, by one of my assistants,) without her showing 
 the smallest degree of consciousness ; and it was with great diffi- 
 culty I awoke her, after he had failed to do so. During the burn- 
 ing with the acid, her pulse fell from 88° to 80°, and her respira- 
 tion, which was quite natural before she was mesmerised, became 
 entirely diaphragmatic, and abdominal ; the voluntary and semi- 
 voluntary muscles of the chest being completely paralysed. 
 
 August i8th. — Dr. Bedford to-day asked permission to apply 
 the acid to the woman Gendo's sore, when she was awake ; and 
 though I thought this most irrational scepticism (he having wit- 
 nessed Dr. Finch's experiment) I consented, in order that it 
 might not be said that I interfered to save my phenomena. He 
 accordingly wetted the end of the glass stopper with the acid, 
 and touched the sore with it, and the woman, for a few seconds, 
 did not show any signs of acute pain. There could be no doubt 
 about it, she was found out! The arch deceiver, having set a 
 snare and delusion for me, was now laughing at my beard ; and 
 I was not relieved from my thick-coming fancies by Dr. B. kindly 
 suggesting, "that she was probably a very insensible person 
 naturally." I was soon roused from my trance of bewilderment, 
 however, by hearing the woman cry out, that "we had put pepper 
 to her head !" and she sat up, showing signs of great pain ; imme- 
 diately after, she declared "her head was on fire," and got out of 
 bed, walking about distractedly in great agony. I ordered her 
 head to be bathed, and, as the best anodyne, threw her into the 
 trance : the sore being surrotmdcd by tubercles, which retarded its 
 healing, I took the opporlunity to pare them oft"; and to this she 
 
WtflTLR IN MESMERIC TRANCE. 59 
 
 was perfectly indifferent. In half an hour, I awoke her with 
 much difficulty, in order that Dr. I>. might hear her first words, 
 which were, that she knew nothing about what we were talking 
 of, having even forgotten the burning ; an invasion of the waking 
 by the sleeping state, which will be seen in another patient, when 
 Mrs. Clermont's case is given. So that if Mesmerism did not 
 protect this old woman, we have the curious fact of muriatic acid, 
 applied in large quantities to a raw surface by Dr. Finch, acting 
 as a direct anodyne and narcotic, calming at the same time the 
 circulation, and revolutionising the respiration, while a drop in 
 the hands of Dr. Bedford causes the greatest suffering and gen- 
 eral excitement ! — "Non nobis fanfas componcre lites." 
 
 Oct. loth. — Beppo Dass, a prisoner, was entranced to-day; 
 in the presence of Dr. Roer, Mr. Bradbury, Major Riddell, Mr. 
 Higgins, Mr. Muller, Mr. Graves, Messrs, Savigny, Mr. Bartlett ; 
 and I operated on him for hydrocele. The injection was thrown 
 in without his showing a vestige of feeling, and his arm, which 
 I had placed in the air, on purpose, at the commencement, never 
 moved, and had to be taken down after the operation ; this was 
 the second operation performed on the man during the last fort- 
 night; and on both occasions he slept for two hours afterwards, 
 knew nothing of what had happened on waking, and felt no pain 
 till the artificial inflammation commenced at 9 o'clock at night ; 
 the operation having been performed at noon. This has been 
 called a painless operation. 
 
 "They laugh at scars who never felt a wound," 
 
 and I shall therefore transcribe a passage from a friend's letter, 
 written shortly after the publication of my first case. 
 
 "When I was first operated on, some years ago, for hydrocele, 
 and the injection was thrown up, the pain was like a coir rope, 
 round my loins, being pulled at each end by some persons as hard 
 as they could ; and the perspiration ran down my head as if some 
 one was sprinkling water on my hair ; so this is what you have 
 laid dormant by your Mesmerism." 
 
 But it is for the sequel of this case, that I here quote it, and 
 in order to show the man's behaviour in his natural and artificial 
 states. On the day after the operation, the inflammation is 
 usually high, and from the sensitive nature of the parts, pressure 
 is excessively painful. Now, on both occasions, I have requested 
 numerous gentlemen to press the part, and ascertain if it was 
 really painful: "a question not to be asked," was always their 
 
6o MESMERIC FACTS. 
 
 reply. The man was then entranced, and the experiment repeated 
 by the same persons, when he allowed the part to be pressed as 
 if it was a bottle : — he was then awakened, and on being now 
 pressed, showed all the signs of instant and acute pain. 
 
 The cases above cited, along with, if I may use the expres- 
 sion, very numerous painless severe surgical operations, might 
 be safely adduced as demonstrations of the physical impossibility 
 of imposture ; but I shall now submit to the physiologist a series 
 of facts which, to him, will be more convincing than all the cut- 
 ting, tearing, and lacerating we can invent. For although we 
 may pretty certainly conclude, that men will not exhibit insen- 
 sibility to torture, without some adequate object to be gained, 
 yet the incentive may escape our observation, or be unintelligible 
 to us. It is, therefore, desirable to discover something which 
 it was impossible for a man in a natural condition to do, under 
 the influence of any passion, or under the temptation of the 
 highest bribe. To perform the following feats, will, I imagine, 
 be found above the power of the most accomplished impostor : 
 to keep the pupils dilated, without the use of drugs, in passing 
 from darkness into sunshine, — to lower the pulse at pleasure, — 
 to breathe only by the diaphragm, for hours, and diminish the 
 temperature of the body, at will. The dilation and insensibility 
 of the pupil are recorded in my first case, and have since been 
 frequently seen. 
 
 June nth. — Kaloo, a Fuqueer, has an excrescence, larger than 
 a man's fist, at the end of his penis, and the body of the organ is 
 also much enlarged. I entranced him in a few minutes, on the 
 first trial, and in the presence of Major Riddell, Captain Ander- 
 son, Mr. Bennett, and Mr. Jackson, dissected out the organ, but 
 was obliged to sacrifice the glans, as it was a cartilaginous degen- 
 eration of all the structures of the part : — the man did not awake 
 till I was amputating the organ, after a long dissection. Won- 
 derful to say, he relapsed into the trance again in a few minutes, 
 and remained for twenty minutes, quite rigid, and insensible, with 
 his eyes wide open, and the pupils dilated, in a full noonday light, 
 »to which they Vv'ere wholly insensible. This is not the only in- 
 stance in which the eyes have been wide open during the trance, 
 and would not remain shut when I closed them, showing, I con- 
 ceive, the absolute extinction of muscular power. In most cases 
 the muscles of the eyeball continue to act involuntarily, after the 
 rest of the muscular system has gone to rest, and on opening the 
 eyelids, the ball of the eye is seen rolling round the orbit, like an 
 
MKSMKRIC FACTS. 6l 
 
 agitated magnetic needle. Under the most intense degree of the 
 influence, the msuclcs of the eye, and iris, also lose their con- 
 tractibility, and the eye becomes as motionless and insensible to 
 light as that of a dead man. That the second trance was not a 
 faint, we all satisfied ourselves, not only from the general rigidity 
 of the body, but from the regular natural pulse. 
 
 Sept. 17th. — In the presence of the Reverend Mr. Fisher and 
 Dr. Heathcote, I to-day operated for cataract on a man while in 
 the mesmeric trance. The pupil was so much dilated that Dr. H. 
 asked if belladonna had been applied? After depressing the lens, 
 and withdrawing the needle, the lens rose again, and such was 
 the continued dilation of the pupil, that it passed into the anterior 
 chamber, and came in contact with the cornea ; the man being 
 insensible all the time. 
 
 Sept. i8th. — To-day, in the presence of the Reverend Mr. 
 Bradbury, T entranced a man for the first time, in the hope of 
 subduing an inflammation of one eye, by removing all pain and 
 irritation, and thereby allowing the restorative powers of nature 
 to act undisturbed ; he was entranced sitting on a stool, in order 
 to lessen the flow of blood to the head. We counted his pulse 
 beforehand ; it was 100 in the minute ; respiration 20 ; thoracic 
 movement natural ; temperature higher than usual. After 20 
 minutes, his pulse had sunk to 70, his respiration to 18, and, by 
 comparing his chest with that of a man lying alongside of him, 
 we ascertained that there was not a vestige of thoracic movement. 
 All above the diphragm was as fixed as the trunk of a statue, 
 and the temperature of his body had become lower than natural. 
 
 If these tests are not considered an "cxperimentum crucis," 
 I am at a loss to imagine what will be reckoned more satisfactory 
 by the human physiologist. It appears to me, that when we see 
 the involuntary organs of the body revolutionised, it is absurd 
 to attribute it to the effect of the will. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Somnamhnlism. — Definition. — Singular Introduction to it. — Sus- 
 pected Child-Stealing by its Means. — First Experiment in 
 making a Somnambulist. — Trial of Mesmeric Skill in a Court 
 of Justice. — Men stolen out of Court. — Truth of Mesmerism 
 publicly proved. — Natural Sleep, and its Varieties, can be 
 imitated by Artificial Means. — Mesmeric Sleep. — Mesmeric 
 Day-marc. — Mesmeric Slcep-zualking. — Mesmeric Sleep-wak- 
 ing. — Mesmeric Dreaming. — How to make Somnambulists. — 
 Imitative Stage of Somnambulism. — Communicative Stage of 
 Somnambulism. — Mesmeric Catalepsy. — Mesmeric Coma. — 
 Natural Clairvoyance. — Mesmeric Clairvoyance. — Nature of 
 the Mesmeric Pozuer. — Illustrative Examples. 
 
 Before submitting to the reader the results of my observa- 
 tions on somnambuHsm, I beg leave to prefix the following sum- 
 mary of the appearances recognised as distinctive of the som- 
 nambulistic state in Europe. It is given in the British and 
 Foreign Medical Review, already quoted : — "Somnambulism is 
 a condition in which certain senses and faculties are suppressed, 
 or rendered thoroughly impassive, whilst others prevail in most 
 unwonted exaltation ; in which an individual, though asleep, feels 
 and acts most energetically, holding an anomalous species of com- 
 munication with the external world, awake to objects of atten- 
 tion, and most profoundly torpid to things at the time indifferent ; 
 a condition respecting which, most commonly, the patient on 
 awaking retains no recollection ; but, on any relapse into which 
 a train of thought and feeling related to, and associated with, 
 the antecedent paroxysm, will very often be developed." 
 
 I intended to have reserved this branch of the subject till I 
 had examined it in all its purely medical bearings ; but I was 
 forced, by most extraordinary circumstances, to enter prematurely 
 into this difficult and obscure field of experiment, in order to 
 enable me to give my evidence in a court of justice ; and in de- 
 scribing my experiments, I hope it will be borne in mind, that I 
 had never seen a somnambulist, or thought of making one, up 
 to this date. My first essay was as extemporaneous and accidental 
 
 62 
 
SOMNAMBULISM. 63 
 
 as the production o: mesmeric coma, on the first occasion I tried 
 to mesmerise : — the facts are simply these. 
 
 June 17th. — About a fortnight ago, I was driving through 
 Hooghly Bazaar, and saw a crowd collected before the police 
 office. On asking what was the matter, I was told that a man 
 had been apprehended in the act of stealing a boy, and that the 
 parties were inside the guard-house. Upon hearing this, I 
 entered the house, and found a boy of ten or twelve years old, 
 sitting on the lap of a man who w^as said to have rescuerl him. 
 The boy was half stupid, and one of his eyes was swollen ; I 
 therefore ordered him to be taken to the hospital. The culprit 
 was then shown to me. He said he was a barber ; and a bundle 
 containing his instruments of trade, was produced ; this I care- 
 fully examined, but only found the usual barber's tools. The 
 boy soon recovered his senses, and told me, readily and con- 
 sistently, the following tale, which I again heard him repeat 
 before the magistrate, in a different sequence, but without a tittle 
 of variation. He said, that early in the morning he went into a 
 field close to a house, and that shortly after, a strange man left 
 the road, and came up to him: as soon as he was near him, he 
 began to mutter charms, and then took hold of his hand ; very 
 soon after, he passed his hand across his eyes, and that thereupon 
 he lost his senses, and only recollected that the man led him away, 
 but without force, and that he felt compelled to follow him. When 
 he came to his senses, it was at the gate of Chandernagore, two 
 miles from where he had met the man ; and this was all he had 
 to say. He had not eaten, drunk, or smoked, in company with 
 the man ; and his master and friends all said he was a clever, 
 well-behaved boy, and had never been known to have fits, or 
 walk in his sleep. I then examined the man who was said to 
 have rescued him : his evidence was to this effect ; that on the 
 morning in question, he saw the boy, whom he knew very well, 
 following a strange man ; that he stopped him, and asked what 
 he was doing there? The boy made no answ^er, and appeared 
 to be idiotic : upon seeing this, he became alarmed, brought water 
 to throw on his face, and used other means to revive him ; in 
 which he at last succeeded. On again questioning him, he said 
 that he did not know why he was there ; that he was obliged to 
 follow that man, though he did not know him, and after saying 
 this, he fell down, and bruised his eye on the ground. In the 
 mean time, the man was making off, but was apprehended, and 
 brought to Hooghly. I then called in the barber; and this was 
 
64 FIRST EXrERIMENT 
 
 his story : lie met the boy on the road crying and looking stupid, 
 and on asking him what ailed him he said that he had lost his 
 way. Upon hearing this, he desired the boy to accompany him 
 to the police station, and that a policeman would take him home. 
 The strange nature of the transaction, whichever side was true, 
 strongly arrested my attention, and the trade of the man roused 
 my suspicions ; as I had heard that barbers in this country, while 
 performing their tedious processes, could put people to sleep; 
 and reports are rife, all ever the country, of people having been 
 obliged to follow persons who had charmed them ; and the victims 
 are said to be usually women. The barbers, all over the world, 
 are a shrewd, observing race; their occupation brings them into 
 close contact with the surfaces most sensitive to the mesmeric 
 influence; and they are, therefore, very likely to have become 
 possessed of the secret of Mesmerism at an early period, and 
 perhaps it has descended to them as a mystery of their craft. I 
 could only see two roads out of the dilemma : it was either a case 
 of natural, or artificial somnambulism ; and if the latter, how 
 could it be brought about unless by Mesmerism? As accident 
 had made me a witness in the case, I anticipated that I should 
 be called upon to speak as to the possibility of such a mode of 
 abduction ; and as I was completely ignorant of the subject, I 
 determined to make experiments, to satisfy myself. I thought 
 it probable, that if this could be done by Mesmerism, I should 
 perhaps be able to imitate it, as the greater power includes the 
 less ; and that I had only to stop short in the progress to insensi- 
 bility, in order to produce like effects, if obtainable by this means. 
 I therefore repaired to the Jail Hospital, and mesmerised a 
 man ; in whom I had subdued inflammation of the eye, by en- 
 trancing him several times ; but only went to the extent of induc- 
 ing the cataleptic tendency, and leaving him the power of moving 
 and hearing, but very imperfectly. At this point, I led him away, 
 and then letting him go, he stalked to the other end of the en- 
 closure, till brought up by the wall ; being turned, he walked in a 
 straight line till some obstacle obstructed him, and then stood help- 
 lessly still. If allowed to stand motionless for some minutes, the 
 trance deepened, and he became insensible to sounds ; by blowing 
 in his eyes, and addressing him all the time, he revived, and re- 
 peated after me, with great exactness, both English and Hindo- 
 stanee; on awakening him, he had no recollection of any part of 
 his proceedings, and said that he had never stirred from the spot, 
 although he was at the opposite end of the enclosure from where 
 
IN MAKIXC, A S(JMNAMBULIST. 6$ 
 
 we commenced. Being summoned to the Magistrate's Court as 
 a witness, I was asked, "if I thought it practicable to carry off a 
 person in the way described in the evidence?" I rephed, that 
 "I thought it possible, because I had just done something very 
 like it, by making a prisoner follow me round the hospital en- 
 closure, without his knowing it." The magistrate committed the 
 case; but when it came to be tried before the judge, it was found 
 to be utterly impossible to convey even a glimpse of my meaning 
 in the minds of the native law officers who had to try tlie case; 
 and the judge therefore asked me if I had any objection to show 
 the Moulavies in court that it was possible for one person to make 
 another follow him involuntarily, as I said. I answered, that I 
 was willing to make the experiment, but would engage to do 
 nothing: if he would order three men, whom I named, to be 
 sent for to Court, I would try what could be done, — the men to 
 be kept in total ignorance of our intentions. 
 
 In a Jay or two after, I was requested to attend the judge's 
 court, which was crowded with Europeans and natives. Nazir 
 Mahomed was brought in, and placed at the bar : I mesmerised 
 him in a few minutes, and led him, \vith his arms catalepsed, out 
 of the court, and set him walking down the road for some dis- 
 tance, making his arms rigid in any position, as long as I pleased. 
 T then replaced him at the bar, where the judge and Moulavies 
 all addressed him, without his paying any attention to them ; and 
 they were obliged to ask me to av/ake him.. This I did, and 
 on being asked from the bench, if he had left the room since he 
 first entered it, he confidently answered, "No." While they were 
 speaking to him in front, I approached, unperceived, behind, and 
 entranced him on the spot, in the act of speaking. The words 
 died on his lips, and he became insensible to all voices that 
 addressed him ; he Vv?as again awoke by blowing in his eyes. 
 Madub was put in the dock, and he did not see me on entering. 
 The judge and Moulavies engaged him in conversation, and 
 while he was speaking with animation and intelligence, I cata- 
 lepsed him from behind, while in the usual praying attitude of 
 a prisoner at the bar, and, in a moment, he ceased to speak or 
 hear: I was told by those in front, that his lips moved as if in 
 the act of speaking, after he ceased to be heard. He was so 
 deeply affected that all motive power w^as nearly extinguished, 
 and I had to push him from behind with my finger, to make him 
 walk: he walked a few yards with difficulty, and then becoming 
 suddenly rigid from head to foot, a slight push sent him down 
 
66 TRIAL OF MESMERIC SKILL 
 
 licadlong upon the floor, in a most alarming manner : the fit of 
 rigidity was so instantaneous that I was not aware of it- He 
 was revived with some difficulty, and fortunately was not injured 
 by his fall. 
 
 Sooroop Chund was next brought in, and, as I had not seen 
 him for a month, I began asking him about his health, &c., mes- 
 merising him all the time. In a few minutes, he ceased to answer, 
 and I took him out of the dock, turned him round like a teetotum, 
 his arms rigidly fixed all the time, and then restored him to his 
 former place in a state of complete insensibility ; no one could 
 make him hear, or show the slightest sign of life. When I 
 blew in his eyes, he instantly recovered his senses, and declared 
 he had never left the spot. 
 
 Whether the barber stole the boy mesmerically or not, I will 
 not pretend to decide, but it gave me an opportunity of proving, 
 in the most public manner, that the thing could be done, and no 
 one has ventured to deny publicly that I stole the men ; and, with 
 the facilities of a native barber, I could almost engage to steal a 
 man, woman, or child, daily. From the moment that I witnessed 
 the extreme degrees of Mesmerism, I became deeply impressed 
 with a conviction of its power for evil as well as good ; and I 
 have driven it thus far, in the hope of rousing the public mind 
 to a sense of the dangers, as well as benefits, that may be expected 
 from it ; and I trust the day is not distant, when public opinion 
 will strongly condemn all those who practise the art, except for 
 philosophic and medical purposes. 
 
 That the barber was in illegal possession of the boy's person, 
 however obtained, was so clear, that he was sentenced to nine 
 years' imprisonment, and labour in irons ; and the sentence was 
 confirmed by the superior court. But the government called for 
 the proceedings, and thinking, I suppose, that the mesmeric ex- 
 periments had made too deep an impression on the mind of the_ 
 court, graciously pardoned the barber. 
 
 When puzzled by the unexpected exhibition of new and won- 
 derful bodily, or mental phenomena, instead of solving our diffi- 
 culties by denying the existence of the phenomena, or dismissing 
 them contemptuously as the offspring of deception, or delusion, 
 we shall do much better, and generally be nearer the truth, if we 
 suspect that we have overlooked some power of the human con- 
 stitution, and resolve diligently to betake ourselves to the study 
 of the nature of the new agent. Like the careless knitter, we 
 find, at the end of our work, tliat some stitches have been dropped. 
 
IN A COURT OF JUSTICE. 67 
 
 and that wc must recommence our work dc novo. By a com- 
 parison of the effects of natural and mesmeric sleep on the human 
 system, it will be seen, I think, that they only differ in degree, and 
 in the greater command we have over the artificial than the 
 natural state of sleep ; and I feel disposed to think that extreme 
 conditions of the nervous system, its exhaustion or repletion, and 
 the irregular distribution of the nervous secretions, produce the 
 same effects on the bodily and mental organs in normal and 
 abnormal sleep. 
 
 I shall attempt to exemplify tliis, by instituting a comparison 
 between natural sleep and its diseased varieties, and the mesmeric 
 phenomena ; from v/hich it will be apparent that most of the latter 
 exist in the routine of life, and that the novelty consists in our 
 being able to produce and vary them, at will, by a new direction 
 of the nervous energy. 
 
 Com moil Sleep. — In tliis condition of the system there is an 
 absolute repose of body and mind ; at least, there is no conscious- 
 ness of movement in either, on awaking. 
 
 Mesmeric Sleep exactly resembles common sleep, with added 
 restorative and curative power, of which the following cases are 
 examples. 
 
 July 8th. — Geereah, a Hindoo girl ; aged lo : is suffering from 
 suppression of urine for two days, in consequence of violence 
 done to the perineum, by which the recto-vaginal septum has 
 been destroyed : the bladder extends up to the navel, and no 
 instrument can be passed, owing to the painful condition of the 
 parts. I mesmerised lier for half an hour, after which she slept 
 an hour, and on waking voided licr urine freely ; all disagreeable 
 symptoms immediately disappeared, and she was cured without 
 a dose of medicine. 
 
 July loth. — Oboychurn Roy, a Hindoo land-ov;ner : had his 
 left arm struck off, twelve days ago, in defending his house 
 against a gang of dacoifs. There are two white rings on his arm, 
 made by ligatures applied to staunch the blood ; and it is wonder- 
 ful that mortification has not been produced. Several pieces of 
 bone required to be removed, and this gave him great pain: he 
 v/as mesmerised, locally, with great relief, and afterwards gener- 
 ally : he dropped asleep in half an hour, and slept the whole of 
 that night ; the only sleep he had had since the infliction of the 
 injury. 
 
 2. Night-marc. — If the brain is disagreeably affected by in- 
 ternal physical impressions, such as an unequal distribution of 
 
68 MESMERIC DAY-MARE. 
 
 blood, or nervous energy, then a confused train of painful images 
 take possession of the mind, which is filled with causeless fears 
 and shadowy horrors ; and the sleeper struggles helplessly to 
 shake ofif the incubus that oppresses him. 
 
 Mesmeric day-mare. — This very much resembles night-mare, 
 but with a greater tendency to walk and talk, and appears to 
 depend upon the irregular distribution of the nervous power, and 
 the consequent derangement of the respiration and circulation. 
 This is so alarming an effect of Mesmerism, that I do not envy 
 the amateur who may produce it. 
 
 July 4th. — Bunnoo, a Hindoo girl ; aged 15. She sprained her 
 ankle, ten days ago, by a fall : the foot, ankle, and half the leg, 
 are much swollen, infiltrated, and very painful. I mesmerised 
 her for an hour, but she only slept for a few minutes, and little 
 relief was given. 
 
 July 5th. — She was again mesmerised to-day, and in ten 
 minutes she became much agitated ; her chest was convulsed, and 
 she showed all the signs of a violent attack of hysteria. The 
 convulsions were soothed in a short time, by generalising the 
 mesmeric influence, and then she became delirious, crying out, 
 that there was a man before her with great eyes, and desiring him 
 to be taken away. Her eyes were wide open, but she said I was 
 a Bengalee ; thought she was in her own house, and did not know 
 her own, or her mother's name, who was standing by her. I 
 placed her mother before her, whom she took for a man, and 
 ordered away, covering him with the choicest flowers of Bengalee 
 abuse. She was sitting up, and carefully protecting her leg all this 
 time, answering all my questions about it quite clearly. As it 
 was not in a comfortable position, I desired her to place it to her 
 liking, as she would not allow it to be touched : this she did, and 
 said it was now right. I then asked, if she would go to sleep: 
 she answered "yes ;" upon which I pointed my fingers at her eyes, 
 and she fell back as if shot, and went into the trance. 
 
 The leg could now be freely pressed all over, without disturb- 
 ing her, and I made my assistants apply their hands to it, to show 
 them that the heat had also disappeared ; the inflamed parts were 
 now cooler than our hands. 
 
 This was not a case in which the mesmeric trance could rap- 
 idly subdue inflammation ; it was of too long standing, and the 
 ligaments had been too much injured, but local manipulations 
 gave great relief, and induced sleep even. 
 
MESMERIC SLEEP-WALKING. 69 
 
 Slccp-zvalking. — Sometimes from irritability of the muscular 
 system, there is a craving for motion as the natural source of 
 relief, and, volition sympathising to the required degree only, the 
 person gets up, and walks till tired : having thus exhausted the 
 muscular and nervous irritation by exercise in the cool night air, 
 he returns to bed, sleeps soundly, and, next day, has no recollec- 
 tion of his nocturnal promenade. 
 
 Mesmeric Sleep-zvalking. — July i8th. — I entranced five men 
 to-day, in the presence of the Rev. Mr. Fisher, and jMr. Clint, 
 Principal of Hooghly college : two of them awoke, on being pulled 
 up, and set on their feet ; the others slept standing. 
 
 No. I could not possibly open his eyes, though he understood 
 my order to do so, and tried with all his might ; nor could he walk 
 when desired, but being set in motion, he poked helplessly for- 
 ward, till he came in contact with the wall, against which he 
 bowed his head, and then stood motionless. Being relieved from 
 his dilemma, and set a-going again, he slouched about, a most 
 forlorn-looking wretch, till he got embayed between a window 
 shutter and the wall, and there he would have remained till the 
 fit went off, if I had not taken pity on him. 
 
 No. 2 OU' being raised, and roused a little by rubbing, and 
 blov/ing in' his eyes, half opened them, and saw sufficiently to 
 enable him to avoid obstacles. Being ordered to walk, he stalked 
 out of the room like a walking corpse ; descended four steps, very 
 cautiously, and continued his course in a straight line: when 
 ordered to stop, he did so, and would never have moved again, 
 of his own accord, till the unnatural state disappeared. 
 
 No. 3 being roused, opened his eyes wider than natural, but 
 saw no better than the others. I think he even saw less, as he 
 had to be warned of the steps, to prevent his falling: his pupils 
 were dilated, and he never winked. Having got upon the grass, 
 his actions portrayed the most helpless timidity : he walked as if 
 upon glass, and stared intently at every tuft of grass in his way ; 
 sometimes turning aside to avoid what, to his disordered senses, 
 probably appeared to be insurmountable obstacles. He turned, 
 when ordered, and made towards the hospital again, picking his 
 steps very cautiously, and never looking up till he cam.e to t.he 
 steps leading up to the verandah ; he then stopped, looked up, 
 carefully studied the nature of the impediment, and, seeing the 
 mass of building before him, gave up the idea of ascending the 
 steps as hopeless, and turned along the road running round the 
 hospital, till he came to where we were standing. Here I stopped 
 
70 MESMERIC SLEEr-WAKING. 
 
 him, and very distinctly told him the nature of the obstacle ; four 
 steps, namely, and desired him to come to me. This he under- 
 stood, undertook, and accomplished ; being assisted by my warn- 
 ing him at each of the steps, and counting them. All the men, 
 as usual, were unconscious of having left the spot where they 
 went to sleep. 
 
 Sleep-ivaking. — At other times, one or more senses remain 
 active after the others have gone to rest ; the wants of the waking 
 organ are transmitted to the sensorium, and are followed by an 
 efiort of the will to gratify them. The sleeper rises, and performs 
 the actions necessary to satisfy his desires ; eye-sight, to a small 
 extent, usually assists ; if not, hearing and touch come to his aid, 
 and guide him with singular accuracy in known localities. I 
 may here give an illustration, from my own experience, of the 
 preternatural acuteness of hearing, developed to aid the somnam- 
 bulist in getting out of his troubles. In my youth, I was an 
 eager sportsman, by flood and field ; and one night, after a 
 fatiguing day's sport, I found myself in the middle of the room, 
 and very cold, but could not possibly contrive to get back to bed 
 again. My last waking impression was made by the ticking of 
 my watch under the pillow, and this recollection came to rescue 
 me from my difficulties. After the most mature reflection, it 
 occurred to me, that if I could.only detect my watch by its ticking, 
 I should also find my bed. Acting upon this happy idea, I hunted 
 my watch by ear, till I actually tfound it; and got into bed again, 
 as the reward of sound reasoning and perseverance. 
 
 I may also liere notice a similar instance which occurred to my 
 brother, a clergyman in Scotland. I give it in his own words : — 
 "Returning to London, after a tedious and dangerous voyage from 
 the continent, I retired to bed shortly after reaching my hotel. I 
 had taken possession of a spacious apartment, in which w'cre two 
 beds, of which only one was occupied. I soon fell asleep, as I 
 thought, but in a short time left my bed, and wandered about in 
 the greatest perplexity, under the idea tliat I was still on board 
 the foreign steamer, which I had recently left. I went from berth 
 to berth, as I conceived, beseeching all and sundry to shov/ me 
 my own berth. At last I came in contact with the empty bed, and 
 creeping over it, got embayed between it and the wall. I was 
 long of getting out of this new dilemma, and resuming my sup- 
 plications to the numerous sleepers by whom I fancied myself 
 surrounded. I remember well one part of the affair, which filled 
 me with the greatest trepidation. I came up to a small table, on 
 
MESMERIC SLEEP-WAKING. 7' 
 
 which I distinctly heard a watch ticking. The idea came into 
 my head that should the owner awake, and find me in such sus- 
 picious proximity to his watch, he would denounce me as a thief. 
 I spoke long and eloquently, rebutting the base suspicion, but the 
 sleeper remained unmoved ; I paced about in despair. I came to 
 the door, but having locked it, it did not yield to my attempt at 
 opening ; but on coming to the window I drew up the blind, and 
 was still more bewildered on seeing the mighty mass of London 
 spread out before me. The light of the moon, however, striking 
 on the watch, was at last the means of restoring me to the full use 
 of my senses. It suddenly occurred to me that the watch was my 
 own. I instantly seized it, and forthwith was wide awake. I was 
 in the middle of the room, and in a cold sweat. A considerable 
 time must have elapsed, during the occurrences above described, 
 and the curious thing is, that my eyes were wide open the whole 
 time. I spoke only French, and that with the greatest volubility." 
 Mesmeric Slecp-n^aking.— The following is a beautiful exam- 
 ple of the same condition of mind, produced by art. 
 
 Mrs. , an English lady, wished to be entranced, to have 
 
 a tooth taken out by the dentist, who was shortly expected to 
 arrive. I told her husband, that my labour would be in vain, if 
 she thought advantage was going to be taken of her sleep ; fear 
 and anxiety being quite destructive to the production of coma ; 
 and suggested that when the dentist arrived, I should then pro- 
 pose to make a preliminary experiment, telling her, that if it 
 succeeded she could then suit her convenience, and be entranced 
 at any time, to have the tooth taken out. 
 
 The dentist came, and his arrival being carefully concealed 
 from the ladv, I proposed to test her powers of submission. ^ At 
 the end of half an hour, her arms appearing cataleptic, I desired 
 her husband to order the carriage, and go for the dentist. In a 
 quarter of an hour they arrived, and I bent back the lady's head, 
 and began to open her mouth without any attempt at resistance ; 
 but, on the window being thrown open to give the dentist light, 
 she' awoke with a sudden start, and said the dentist was present. 
 She thus described her feelings: she very soon became uncon- 
 scious, after feeling a general sense of warmth and oppression 
 on the chest; she felt me raise her arms, and leave them in the 
 air without the power to move them, but did not hear me desire 
 her husband to get the carriage ready. She heard the carriage 
 wheels, however, and then it flashed across her brain that her 
 husband had gone to bring the dentist, (although she firmly be- 
 
72 MESMERIC DREAMING. 
 
 lieved him to be in Calcutta,) and this conviction, from that 
 minute, took complete possession of her mind. She greatly 
 wished to call back her husband, or to get up and run, but she 
 could not move tongue or foot, and showed all the time the most 
 perfect repose of body and feature. She heard the carriage 
 return, and knew it brought the dreaded dentist ; was sure it was 
 he who was speaking to her husband, and yet remained fixed to 
 her seat, like a statue. In this instance, the sense of hearing was 
 the only means of communication with the outward world, but 
 it excited a former train of ideas ; and how accurately did fear 
 and causality come to a right conclusion, from the ear having 
 transmitted a suspicious sound ! 
 
 This case opened out to me the nature of Somnambulism, and 
 taught me how to make somnambulists. 
 
 Dreaming of the Organs of Sentiment and Intellect. — Perhaps 
 no demand is made on the organs of sense ; but the waking parts 
 of the brain are those connected with the passions, feelings, hopes, 
 and fears of the individual. The imagination becomes inflamed 
 by sympathy with the excited organ, and the most vivid sensa- 
 tions of pain or pleasure, ecstacy and agony, are excited, accord- 
 ing to the organ stimulated, and the control, more or less, of the 
 reflecting power. The lover, the miser, the philanthropist, and 
 the murderer; the man who hopes for coming good fortune, and 
 he who lives in constant dread of coming evil; all enjoy, or 
 torment, themselves to a height of pleasure, or horror, that cannot 
 be felt when awake. If the reflecting organs are chiefly called 
 into play, then the man of business does a stroke in trade, or 
 conceives a capital speculation that might be of use to him, if he 
 could recollect it when awake : the student easily conquers his 
 difficulties ; the mathematician solves the problem, and the his- 
 torian removes a doubt ; the poet's thoughts and lines no longer 
 leave his brain like bird-lime, but he pours forth his soul "in 
 thoughts that breathe, and words that burn." All good dreamers, 
 in fact, confess that they think, say, and do better things when 
 asleep than when awake. Or, let us suppose that the reflecting 
 organs have been intensely engaged during the day, in consider- 
 ing our proper course of action in certain circumstances, and the 
 probable consequences, or that a craving to penetrate the future 
 has been the haunting idea ; then the judgment is undisturbed by 
 external impressions, and undistracted by passion, self-interest, 
 and routine habits of thought, and supplied by memory only with 
 the past experience and knowledge that bear upon the question ; 
 
MESMERIC DREAMING. 73 
 
 under these circumstances it is imaginable that the mind may 
 jump to just conclusions, and receive a clear and happy glimpse 
 into futurity. These impressions, when rcmemljcred on waking, 
 and verified by subsequent events, are naturally converted into 
 inspired dreams, and supernatural warnings, merely by the train 
 of reasoning having been lost. The persons, in reality, have 
 reasoned correctly, but by an unusual mode, whose processes 
 have penetrated the future, only by comparing it with the past. 
 In this way 
 
 "Old experience maj' attain 
 
 To somc'hing like prophetic strain." 
 
 And such dreams being remembered, and the reasoning analysed, 
 may be of real use to us, in shaping the course of our present and 
 future conduct, because our sleeping conclusions have been come 
 to from just premises, and the natural process of connecting 
 cause and effect: whether this is done sleeping or waking, is of 
 little consequence, the results being equally correct. 
 
 If the state of one's health has intensely occupied the thoughts, 
 and the hope of being cured of some distressing complaint is the 
 leading idea ; then the man of medical and p|iysical knowledge 
 may possibly hit on the precise nature of his disease in dreaming, 
 and prescribe for its cure in sleep better than he could have done 
 by waking reflection ; and, perhaps, the animal instinct of self- 
 preservation may be concentrated on the case, and suggest a 
 course of proceeding, the rationale of which we do not under- 
 stand, but which yet may benefit the patient if acted upon ; just 
 as morbid longings, as we call them, (though frequently they are 
 promptings of nature, and ought never to be despised by the 
 physician,) often do the system good, when yielded to and 
 gratified. This is called dreaming of what will do one good. 
 VL Mesmeric Dreaming of Different Organs. — As in natural 
 sleep the organs are often preternaturally excited, and their 
 powers singularly increased, by the concentration of the nervous 
 energy upon them ; so, in the mesmeric sleep, this may be effected, 
 and of course to a greater and more wonderful extent, by the 
 person being under the control of a reflecting and directing agent, 
 instead of being left to the fitful lights of his own imagination, 
 and the short unsustained flights of his intellect, as in common 
 dreaming. This power of acting on separate portions of the 
 brain, and thereby inducing such trains of thought as we may be 
 pleased to excite, will perhaps be found of practical utility in the 
 treatment of mental diseases; the diseased haunting idea might 
 
74 MESMERIC DREAMING, 
 
 be banished, and a more healthy tone of feehng and reasoning 
 substituted and sustained, till a new and better habit of mind 
 was produced. I see no reason to doubt that the mental organs 
 can be isolated and exalted by the mesmeric influence under the 
 direction of a skilful leader and suggester, and can readily be- 
 lieve that the mind, by this artificial stimulus, may be excited 
 into more vigorous activity than when acted upon by the usual 
 conditions of life. If persons may derive benefit from night 
 thoughts in dreams, their sleep-waking day thoughts should be 
 more valuable ; but the one has no more pretensions to super- 
 natural power than the other. The night-dream is woven out of 
 past impressions lighted up by a flickering imagination and a 
 wavering judgment; and the somnambulist has only the advan- 
 tage of having his thoughts sustained and concentrated by his 
 mental director. Nor, considering the excessive nervous delicacy 
 developed in the course of mesmeric treatment, and the power 
 of fixing the whole attention upon their bodily sensations, do I 
 think it impossible that somnambulists may acquire an instinctive 
 perception of the condition of their organs, and occasionally be 
 able to prescribe something for their relief; just as persons dream, 
 under nearly an analogous state, of what will do them good, and 
 which sometimes really does so. My psychological experiments 
 have been very limited, partly because I feared to bewilder 
 myself at the outset, and also from want of proper subjects to try 
 them on. The mental range of my patients is so circumscribed, 
 that the topics of food, drink, and clothing, almost exhaust it, 
 and with most of them I have no common language. But I have 
 done enough to show me how the higher grades of somnambulism 
 may be reached ; and with more highly organised and intellectual 
 natures, I should have good hopes of doing so. 
 
 If properly set about, somnambulism may be produced at a 
 very early stage of the mesmeric phasis, or can be developed as 
 the first step in the return to life from the mesmeric trance ; but 
 in the latter case, the sleeper is apt to wake up, at once, to perfect 
 consciousness. To make the simple somnambulist, it is only 
 necessary to operate on the person till his arms become cataleptic ; 
 all expression then vanishes, and even when the person answers 
 on subjects of deep interest to himself, no sign of mental emotion 
 ever disturbs his countenance. This statue-like serenity of fea- 
 tures may be singularly broken by concentrating his attention, 
 and desiring him to do whatever you do : he then becomes an 
 imitative automaton, mimicking most servilely, and exactly, the 
 
HOW TO MAKE SOMNAMRULISTS. 75 
 
 actions and words of the mesmerist, or any one substituted for 
 him, and who attracts his attention. Even at this stage, I have 
 not estahHshcd any "rapport" between the parties, but have only 
 desired the person who took my place to call upon the somnam- 
 bulist repeatedly by name, till he answered, and then to give clear 
 and short orders, which were obeyed as readily as my own. 
 There is much misapprehension prevalent, I am convinced, about 
 the necessity of "rapport" in the physical and lower mental phe- 
 nomena of Mesmerism : most of my experiments have been made 
 on patients first entranced by my assistants, and my subsequent 
 control over their movements was often acquired without touch- 
 ing them; it being only necessary for me to attract their exclusive 
 attention. 
 
 July 29th. — I made a man senseless and cataleptic, at a great 
 distance, in the presence of a large number of gentlemen, who 
 had come from Calcutta and elsewhere* ; among them were six 
 doctors, in whose hands, and in those of the rest of the company, 
 he was left as long as they pleased, without my approaching 
 till I was requested to awake him, after they had all tried in vain. 
 This I did, but only to the extent of enabling him to walk and 
 follow me. I then said, that I would try to clear up his percep- 
 tive organs sufficiently to permit him to understand my wishes, 
 with which he would' implicitly comply: I did not wish to leave 
 him the power of speech even, at this stage. Having attracted 
 his ear, I ordered him to do what I did, and this he very faith- 
 fully performed by throwing himself, on the instant, into every 
 attitude I assumed ; but I required to be careful, for if I threw 
 him much out of balance, he was in danger of plunging head 
 foremost against the floor. Those who did not see him, may 
 
 *I take the liberty to give the names of such gentlemen as I knew, or 
 who were introduced to me; not, however, as being all vouchers for the 
 truth of Mesmerism, for I did not know many of them, and know not the 
 effect produced on their minds by what they saw. There were upwards of 
 60 persons present, and some will be found, I hope, to put me right, if I 
 misrepresent, or incorrectly report, what every one saw. Messrs. Barlow, 
 and Tucker, Judges of the Sudder Court; Mr. Elliot, Law Commissioner; 
 Mr. Hardinge, Capt. Hardinge, Mr. Melville, Mr. Larpent. Mr. Bayley, 
 Mr. Wanchope, Mr. Jackson, Mr. Graves, Mr. Clermont, Mr. Betts, the 
 Rev. H. Fisher, the Rev. F. Fisher, the Rev. Mr. Bradbury, Mr. Hunter, 
 Mr. Bennett, Major Wood, Major Anderson, Major Riddcll, Capt. Duncan, 
 Capt. Cantley, Dr. McPherson, Dr. Smith, Dr. Burt, Dr. Walker, Dr. 
 Elton, Dr. Ross. 
 
'j() CASE OF MESMERIC SOMNAMBULISM. 
 
 imagine how little the poor fellow knew what he was about, when 
 they were told, that he took the "longitude" of the judges of the 
 Supreme Court with the cool impudence and precision of a cab- 
 man, and the gravity of an astronomer. I then proceeded to free 
 his voice, but only to the extent of making him my echo : he was 
 told to repeat whatever I said, and he showed his intelligence by 
 repeating the order. He then gave us "Ye Mariners of England," 
 and if the pronunciation was not very perfect, he seemed to me 
 to reverberate exactly my tones, and my gesticulations were also 
 faithfully copied. We passed suddenly from "grave to gay," and 
 he did such justice to "Hey diddle diddle," that I lost my gravity 
 and burst into a laugh ; he joined me in full chorus, and I heard 
 it remarked "he can't help laughing himself;" and some were 
 now quite satisfied that he was found out ! upon this, I stopped 
 laughing, and, on the instant, his features relapsed into the most 
 awful repose, and I pointed out that it was no joke to him, but 
 purely imitative laughter, and this, I should think, became evi- 
 dent to all. He also sang "God save the Queen," as well, or 
 rather as badly as I, for he is capable of much better things, under 
 a more skilful music master. I now awoke him up a little more, 
 and made him capable of answering questions : he was asked if 
 he could fence ; he said that he could ; and I bid him show me. 
 He began to cut the preliminary capers of the native fencers, but, 
 in the act of stooping, a fit of rigidity shot through him, and he 
 would have fallen with dangerous violence against the floor, if 
 his fall had not been fortunately broken. I am always alarmed, 
 and on the look out, when this man is experimented on, from 
 this tendency to instantaneous rigidity of the body. A profound 
 trance, from which it is very difficult to awake him, succeeds such 
 exertions, and usually lasts for four or five hours. I showed 
 another step in the mental phenomena, on other subjects ; enabling 
 them to answer simple questions correctly, and extinguishing and 
 releasing the power at pleasure. All reflection being dormant, 
 they feel a natural impulse to give a direct answer to a direct 
 question, and in this way tell me frankly whatever I choose to ask. 
 We are assured that common sleepers can also be played upon in 
 the same way by patient and skilful persons, and that this is well 
 known to the secret police of France. 
 
 Catalepsy. — The following is a medical description of natural 
 catalepsy, from the Cyclopaedia of Practical Medicine. "The 
 attack is generally instantaneous, the sudden rigidity of the trunk 
 and limbs, the suspension of the senses, and temporary interrup- 
 
NATURAL CATALEPSY. TJ 
 
 tion of the exercise of the intellectual faculties, having been 
 preceded by no premonitory stage. The patient retains the pos- 
 ture of body and the expression of countenance which he chanced 
 to have at the moment of seizure ; and by this combination of fixed 
 attitude and unvarying expression, presents the air of a statue 
 rather than of an animated being. The eyes continue either 
 fixedly, or shut, as they happened to be at the commencement, 
 whilst the pupil, though usually dilated, contracts on the approach 
 of a strong light. The balance between the flexor and extensor 
 muscles is so perfect, that any new position given to the head, 
 trunk, or extremities, by an external force, is easily received, and 
 steadily maintained. This passive energy of the muscular system, 
 permitting the body to be moulded into almost as great a variety 
 of attitudes as if it were a figure of wax or lead, is the distinguish- 
 ing characteristic of the disease." 
 
 Mesmeric Catalepsy. — Sept. 24th. — Mr. Blyth, curator of 
 the Asiatic Society's Museum, paid me a visit yesterday, and saw 
 various mesmeric operations in my hospitals. He begged 
 so earnestly to be allowed to see a somnambulist that I 
 was over-persuaded to gratify him, as I wished to confine myself 
 to the purely medical relations of Mesmerism. I told him, that 
 when the mesmeric influence, or rather disease, had been deeply 
 felt by the constitution, any body could re-develop it very easily, 
 and that if he would follow my directions, he might mesmerise a 
 man for himself, and convert him into a somnambulist after- 
 wards. 
 
 He accordingly rendered a man senseless, standing erect, in 
 a few minutes, and failing to awake him, requested me to do so, 
 which was instantaneously done. But, as often happens, when 
 the system is deeply affected, he fell back into the trance, and 
 Mr. B, begged to see the imitative stage of somnambulism. I 
 said, he could do this also himself, by concentrating the patient's 
 attention. Mr. B. was sitting on a table a few yards in front of 
 the man, and made all kinds of noises, which he echoed back. 
 Wishing to examine him more closely, Mr. B. jumped off the 
 table, and came running forward with his body bent, and singing. 
 The man did exactly the same, but a sudden fit of rigidity passed 
 through him, and he plunged head foremost against the floor, to 
 Mr. B.'s great distress. I had him placed on a comfortable bed 
 to sleep off the effects, and we left him at i o'clock, p. m. 
 
 I was painfully startled to find the man stiff as a log to-day, 
 
78 CASE OF ^.lESMERIC CATALEPSY. 
 
 at II o'clock, and that he had shown no sign of Hfe since we left 
 him. 
 
 This would have not alarmed me without the accident, but I 
 feared the head might have been injured by his fall, and set about 
 restoring him to his senses by the usual mesmeric processes, but 
 all in vain. I then had recourse to volatile stimulants to the nose 
 (I could not induce any attempt to swallow,) and effusion of cold 
 water on the body, and to water poured from a height into his 
 open eyes ; but to no purpose. I returned in an hour, and renewed 
 my efforts ; no fluid could be got to pass down his throat, it ran 
 out of his mouth as from a dead man's ; while looking on atten- 
 tively, I saw an instinctive effort made to clear the wind-pipe of 
 mucus that obstructed it, and then an attempt to swallow ; I took 
 advantage of this, and poured some water down his throat ; some, 
 luckily for my purpose, passed into his wind-pipe, and brought on 
 a violent fit of spasmodic coughing. I continued to rouse the 
 system at the same time, by every possible means, and succeeded 
 in awaking him. But from the rigidity of the muscles of respira- 
 tion continuing, his efforts to get rid of the water, and the accu- 
 mulated mucus of twenty-four hours, nearly choked him. At 
 length, the respiratory muscles resumed their natural action, and 
 enabled him to eject the phlegm from his wind-pipe. 
 
 After the trunk had become pliable, his legs remained as 
 rigid as bars of iron, and could not be bent for half an hour after- 
 wards. 
 
 This will not only be a lesson to myself, but to others, I hope ; 
 and, in future, I must resist all application to do more than is 
 necessary for the removal of disease, even at the expense of 
 being thought uncourteous and disobliging. 
 
 Coma. — '"'Last stage of all in this strange, eventful history," 
 is only separated from the chamber of death by a very fine parti- 
 tion. In this, mind and body are equally torpid, and insensible 
 to all external impressions. It is seen in persons exhausted by 
 long watching and fatigue, exposure to cold, or intense suffering 
 of body and mind; and in this condition of the nervous system 
 surgical operations might often be performed without causing 
 pain. Irregularity in the vital organs, anguish and misery of the 
 countenance, characterise natural coma, and indicate that the icy 
 hand of death is arresting the currents of life, and, in general, 
 the last trump alone can rouse the sleeper from this torpor of 
 exhaustion. 
 
CASE OF MESMERIC COMA. 79 
 
 Mesmeric Coma. — In this, the great organic functions are 
 usually undisturbed ; the countenance is calm and full, and the 
 complexion that of health. The person is generally easily aroused, 
 and how different is his waking ! In an instant, often, he returns 
 to full life and consciousness, without knowing that he has been 
 asleep, and his feelings are often those of pleasure and relief; if 
 he has lain down in pain, he often awakes free from it, and reno- 
 vated in strength and spirits. In the subsequent part of this work, 
 abundant instances will be given of this, and I will only here intro- 
 duce one. 
 
 May 22d. — I went to-day to see my patient Mr. Clermont, 
 head master of Hooghly College ; but found that he had gone out 
 to his duty. Mrs. Clermont mentioned, that she was suffering 
 from one of her nervous headaches, which commence v/ith a 
 pain in the back of the neck, that spreads over the scalp, and 
 around the eye-brows ; she had been weakly and nervous of late. 
 She knew nothing about Mesmerism, and I had never mentioned 
 it to her, but now proposed to try the effect of it on her complaint. 
 No objection being made, I requested her to turn her back to me, 
 and sit erect in her chair, and describe anything uncommon she 
 might feel during the process. 
 
 After a few minutes, she said that she felt a warmth in the 
 neck, and on extending my manipulations, it advanced to the 
 scalp and eyes. In about eight minutes, she said that the pain 
 was much less, and that she felt very drowsy: upon which, I 
 asked, "shall I put you to sleep?" She only smiled in reply, 
 raised her right arm, put her hand to the side of her head, and 
 went to sleep. At this moment a lady (Mr. Clermont's sister,) 
 entered the room, and I begged her to remain by Mrs. Clermont 
 till I returned with her husband. Having found him, I asked 
 pardon for taking the liberty of mesmerising his wife without his 
 consent, and requested him to return to see her awake. We 
 found her as I had left her, with some members of the family 
 looking on. I extended her arm at a right angle to her body, in 
 which position, or any other, it remained fixed till moved again, 
 and her sister-in-law pricked her hand unheeded. As I saw the 
 party becoming uneasy, I awoke her, but with considerable 
 difficulty : she felt very much ashamed at having been found 
 asleep by me, as she supposed, and it was only after long ques- 
 tioning and reflection that she recalled the circumstances attend- 
 ing her sleep. The headache was quite gone, and she felt, and 
 looked, greatly refreshed. 
 
8o NATURAL Cf.AIRVOYANCE. 
 
 Letter from Mr. Clermont. 
 
 "My Dear Sir, 
 
 "I have read your report to the parties who were in the 
 next room at the time you mesmerised Mrs. Clermont. They 
 are perfectly satisfied as to its correctness, and have not the 
 slightest objection to your making use of their names, if necessar}'. 
 It would be superfluous to detail here the circumstances which 
 came under my observation on my return from Judge Russell's, 
 as they have already been described by you. But, in short, I fully 
 corroborate your account of the case, and even bear the most 
 positive testimony to all that transpired in my presence. You 
 will be glad to learn, that Mrs. Clermont has been doing well 
 ever since. I am. Yours faithfully, 
 
 "T. M. Clermont. 
 
 "Chiiisnrah, May 2^fh, 1845. 
 
 "P. S. I herein insert the names of the parties present : — 
 "Miss Clermont. , 
 
 "Mr. Manly. 
 
 ''Mr' Scot?'^ 1 S*"^^"*^ of th^ Medical College." 
 
 Nov. 23. — Mrs. Clermont has not suffered any return of the 
 headache, and no longer feels the distressing languor and oppres- 
 sion she complained of till she was mesmerised. 
 
 Natural Clairvoyance. — This is recorded to have been seen in 
 cases of natural catalepsy, and a French physician, M. Petetin, 
 has related several instances of it, which are as well attested 
 as most facts in the history of medicine. M. Petetin had opposed 
 Mesmerism, when alive, and the cases of catalepsy, in which he 
 had observed a transference of the senses, were found among his 
 posthumous papers, and published after his death. In his first 
 case, the discovery was purely accidental : a cataleptic patient 
 was seized with an uncontrollable impulse to sing, which nothing 
 could stop, as she was completely deaf and insensible to external 
 impressions on the organs of sense. 
 
 M. Petetin fell by accident across the bed, and when his mouth 
 was near the patient's stomach, exclaimed in despair, "Good God! 
 what a pity that this woman can't be stopped singing!" This 
 exclamation the woman heard, and answered, to his great amaze- 
 ment, and they continued to converse through the pit of her 
 stomach, and the functions of other senses were also performed 
 by remote parts of the body. All this is supported by uncxcep- 
 
CASE OF NATURAL CLAIRVOYANCE. 8l 
 
 tionable authority; such as one cannot reject, and hope to be 
 himself believecl. 
 
 It has also been seen and described by unprofessional persons 
 of intelligence and veracity; of which the following is a curious 
 example : it is a communication from a clergyman to Sir George 
 McKenzie, President of the Edinburgh Phrenological Society, 
 and was written without any reference to Mesmerism, and before 
 it had attracted any attention in England : — 
 
 "Dear Sir, 
 
 "It is perfectly true, that our poor friend, who has now been 
 some months with us, presents one of those singular and almost 
 incredible cases of hysterical or nervous affection, which are at 
 distant intervals witnessed under the dispensation of the 
 Almighty. The overthrow of the regular functions of the nervous 
 system was occasioned by the almost sudden death of her father 
 (to whom she was fondly attached,) who was seized with illness, 
 during her absence from him, and died in a few hours after she 
 returned to her home. I cannot enter into any longer details of 
 the case, which has been attended with all those varieties, which 
 have long characterised the complaint among medical men as the 
 Protean disorder. The extraordinary powers communicated to 
 the other senses by the temporary suspension of one or two of 
 them, are beyond credibility to all those who do not witness it: 
 and I really seldom enter into any of the details, because it would 
 be but reasonable, that those v/ho have not seen should doubt the 
 reality of them. 
 
 "All colours she can distinguish with the greatest correctness 
 by night or by day, whether presented to her on cloth, silk, muslin, 
 wax, or even glass ; and this I rhay safely say, as easily on any part 
 of the body as with the hands, although, of course, the ordinary 
 routine of such an exhibition of power takes place with the 
 hands, — the other being that of mere curiosity. Her delicacy of 
 mind, and high tone of religious feeling, are such, that she has 
 the greatest objection to make that which she regards in the 
 light of a heavy affliction from God, a matter of show or curiosity 
 to others, although to ourselves, of course, all these unusual 
 extravagances of nervous sensibility are manifest, for at least 
 twelve out of every twenty-four hours. She can not only read 
 with the greatest rapidity any writing that is legible to us, music, 
 &c., with the mere passing of her fingers over it, whether in a dark 
 or light room, (for her sight is for the most part suspended, 
 when under the influence of the attack, or paroxysm, although 
 
82 CASE OF NATURAL CLAIRVOYANCE. 
 
 she is perfectly sensible, — nay, more acute and clever than in her 
 natural state;) but within this month past she has been able to 
 collect the contents of any printing or MS., by merely laying her 
 hand on the page, without tracing the lines or letters ; and I saw 
 her, last night only, declare the contents of a note just brought 
 into the room, in this way, (when I could not decipher it myself, 
 without a candle) and with a rapidity with w^hich I could not have 
 read it by daylight. I have seen her develop hand-writing by 
 the application of a note to the back of her hand, neck, or foot ; 
 and she can do it at any time. There is nothing unnatural in 
 this, for, of course, the nervous susceptibility extends all over 
 the surface of the body, but use and habit cause us to limit its 
 power more to the fingers. Many, even medical men, take upon 
 themselves to declare, that we are all, her medical attendants as 
 well, under a mere delusion. We ask none to believe anything, 
 if they prefer not to do so, and only reply, — The case is equally 
 marvellous either way ; either that this poor patient should be 
 thus afflicted, or that eighteen or nineteen persons of my family 
 and friends, in the daily habit of seeing her, should fancy she is, 
 for every twelve hours out of the twenty-four, doing at intervals 
 that which she is not doing. There are many exhibitions of 
 extravagant powers which she possesses, that we talk of to no 
 one ; for finding it difficult to acquire credit for lesser things, we 
 do not venture on the greater. Her power ceases the moment the 
 attack passes ofif. A considerable swelling has at times been 
 visible at the back of the head, which has yielded to the treat- 
 ment. It is certainly a case which would be an instructive one, 
 in the consideration of the physiolog}' of the human frame: but 
 she, poor thing! is most averse to experiments being purposely 
 made on her; but in her every day life among us, we have no 
 lack of proof for all we believe and know. 
 
 "Between the attacks, she is as perfectly in a natural state 
 as ever she was in her life. There is but one paradox in her state ; 
 and that is, that she can, at such times, hear some sounds, and 
 not others, though very much louder, and see some things, and 
 not others, though placed before her. She could hear a tune 
 whistled, when she could not hear a gun fired close to her. It 
 is certainly the absorption or absence of mind that occasions this ; 
 absent to some things, though present to others, like any absent 
 man ; and thus Dr. Y. accounts for it. In making this communica- 
 tion to you, in part to vindicate the testimony of my friend. Mr. 
 M., I have really exceeded my usual custom and resolution ; for 
 
MESMERIC CLAIRVOYANCE. 83 
 
 I do not think it fair to the poor sufferer herself, to make her too 
 much the talk of others. Very few helieve what we tell them, 
 and therefore we are in no degree anxious to open our lips on 
 the subject. All I know is, that I should not have believed it 
 myself, had I been only told it. I must beg, that you will not 
 make any undue use of this communication, by handing my letter 
 about to any one. The friend for whom you ask the information 
 is perfectly welcome to read it, or I should not have written it. 
 If the case were my own, the world should be welcome to it; 
 but a young female of such sensibility might be much embarrassed 
 by finding the world at large in possession of all particulars on 
 her recovery, should God so please to permit. 
 
 "I am, &c. &c. 
 
 Mesmeric Clairvoyance. — If the above are facts (and it is no 
 sign of credulity to believe them till they are refuted, which has 
 never been done, I believe,) I think it extremely probable that 
 art, having copied nature so far, can also imitate her in this ; 
 and that clairvoyance has actually been produced in the derange- 
 ment of the nervous system caused by Mesmerism. It has not yet 
 occurred in my experience, but I should not be at all surprised to 
 encounter it. A gentleman who saw me amputate a tumor, 28 lbs. 
 weight, the other day, and cut and rudely handle the most delicate 
 parts of the human body for twenty minutes without the patient 
 showing a sign of life, said at the conclusion, "Well ! I have 
 learned one thing to-day, and that is — never to be again positive 
 about anything : I did not believe a word of it, and am now com- 
 pletely convinced of its truth ;'' and those who wash to know the 
 truth about Mesmerism will do well to follow his example. 
 
 It would be more prudent perhaps to continue my facts, and 
 plead ignorance of the modus operandi of this mysterious agent ; 
 but it is impossible not to think, though perhaps little to the pur- 
 pose. By turning it all round we may chance to make a happy 
 hit, perhaps ; but nothing can be gained by indulging only in 
 thoughtless wonder : I shall, therefore, venture to put down what 
 has occurred to me about it. 
 
 The exhaustion of any particular organ, the eye for instance, 
 and the consequent derangement of the nervous system ; the shock 
 given to the nervous centres by sudden mental emotions, or the 
 effect produced on the imagination by a powerful mind acting on a 
 weaker ; have all been said, and truly, to simulate the mesmeric 
 symptoms, and therefore "imagination" has very generally got 
 
84 author's theory. 
 
 the credit of being the "primum mobile" in these singular affec- 
 tions of the system ; and I do not intend to dispute its power, or 
 the reality of the effects produced by this agency. But my pro- 
 found impression is, that the first effects produced on my patients 
 by the mode of practising Mesmerism, are of a purely physical 
 nature ; an influence exerted by one animal over another, under 
 certain circumstances and conditions of their respective systems. 
 I should as soon adopt the "opium diabolical," or "all humbug 
 theory," as a satisfactory solution of the problem, as attempt by 
 the action of the imagination to account for what I have seen and 
 done. Would the most imaginative of my readers ever think the 
 following process as a likely means to make people insensible* to 
 fire and steel, by the effect produced on the imagination? A 
 Bengal coolie, or pariah, comes before mc for the first time, and 
 I see he has a disease requiring a surgical operation ; I never say 
 a word to him, but desire my assistants to take him to another 
 room and metmerise him. They desire him to lie down, shut his 
 eyes, and try to sleep, and they pass their hands slowly over the 
 most sensitive parts of the body ; exhaling their breath upon the 
 patient, and loading him with their sweat, if he does not readily 
 yield to the mesmeric influence. A few minutes of this will some- 
 times suffice, but more generally it takes hours, and relays of 
 mesmerisers ; and a less imaginative process I cannot imagine. 
 Calomel, rhubarb, and castor oil, have all the same effects, and 
 it seems to me, that it w^ould be as reasonable to say they were 
 therefore all the same thing, as to declare the effects of the above 
 process to be "all imagination." "Well ! there is one thing certain, 
 and that is, that imagination has nothing to do with this," is the 
 common remark of gentlemen who have witnessed the cause and 
 effect, and whose senses are not stuffed by prejudice. That it 
 mingles inexplicably, and inextricably, with the true mesmeric 
 influence, after the constitution has taken on the diseased action 
 deeply, is w-ell known, and will be abundantly shown afterwards ; 
 but I now speak of first effects, on which alone I desire to insist, 
 in leading proof of the reality and nature of Mesmerism. One 
 person induces m.csmeric symptoms by deranging the nervous 
 equilibrium, through a commotion of the mind, another by means 
 of squinting, a third by monotony of sensation, &c. ; the same 
 effects being produced by different processes, as we see on many 
 other occasions. It is too common for persons engaged in the 
 same pursuit to become exclusively addicted to their ozi'ii tc\7y 
 of gaining their object, and when a new path is open they 
 
author's theory. 85 
 
 attempt to obstruct it as an inrringement of their exclusive 
 right of way. "Your way is not my way, and therefore it is 
 wrong," argues self-love ; and the public seeing so many travellers 
 pretending to reach the same destination, each by his particular 
 route, and every one proclaiming his to be the only true road ; the 
 impatient public, with its usual slashing logic, sets them all down 
 as wrong, and declares them to be chasing a delusion. Whereas, 
 very often, they are all right, and only wrong by taking too limited 
 a view of the subject : the combined observations of all will prob- 
 ably bring us near the truth, and each plan will be found a useful 
 resource, in different circumstances. 
 
 It seems to me that irregularity in the distribution of the 
 nervous energy is at the bottom of all the mesmeric symptoms, 
 however produced, whether naturally or artificially ; and I suspect 
 that the same effects may follow a state of exhaustion or repletion 
 of the nervous system. If I might venture on so material an illus- 
 tration, I should say that the first effects produced in the system 
 by Mesmerism may be likened to a river rolled back upon its 
 source by a heavier body of water, stagnating in its channel, and 
 unable to resume its usual course, till the opposing tide subsides. 
 
 From all I have seen, I cannot but believe, that there is an in- 
 fluence of some kind that passes from one person into another, 
 when one of two persons is mesmerised in the way I have de- 
 scribed ; that, in fact, there is a virtual transfusion of some vital 
 agent from the one body into the other. The wonderful subtlety 
 as well as the effects of this power, lead us to suspect that it is a 
 nervous product ; and may it not be the nervous energy passing 
 off by the organs of serfse, and even for a short time going beyond 
 the surface of the body; the lungs, meanwhile, and periphery of 
 the body, retaining their vital properties, and remaining under the 
 direction of the will? Every time we move a finger, it is by 
 transmitting something under the control of the will to the ends 
 of the fingers, and why should it not go farther? Supposing this 
 to be possible, and that this nervous emanation can be directed by 
 one person upon another, then I would venture to conjecture, that, 
 being a nervous product, it is accepted by the nerves of sense, on 
 coming into contact with them in a continuous well-sustained 
 stream, and is transmitted by them to the brain, thereby adding 
 to, rather than subtracting from, the nervous secretions of the 
 brain, which it is their duty to carry off as soon as formed. If 
 the sensorial secretions are not conveyed away by the nerves of 
 sense and volition, and the exercise of the perceptive and intellec- 
 
86 author's theory. 
 
 tual organs, the brain becomes torpid and oppressed. In like 
 manner, the transmission of foreign nervous matter might over- 
 v/hehn the brain, or a mere stoppage of its own fluids might steep 
 it in a sleepy drench, and the functions of the sensorium would 
 not be restored until the usual outlet for its energies were re-estab- 
 lished. 
 
 The entireness of the organic functions would seem to counte- 
 nance the idea, that the external influence is propagated to the 
 brain by the nerves of sense : the general and capillary circulation, 
 the respiration, and temperature, often remain tranquil, and 
 natural, as in sleep ; which shows that organic life is little affected. 
 The accumulation of nervous fluid- that oppresses the brain, is also 
 seen in the singular condition of the muscular system, and may 
 perhaps explain the strange* helplessness, and at the same time 
 the wonderful passive power of resistance in the muscles, which 
 enables catalepiics to stand asleep in the most painful and exhaust- 
 ing attitudes, longer than would wear out the strongest and most 
 practised athletse, who enjoy all the resources of art and training. 
 The absorption of another's nervous emanations being thought 
 possible, and this abnormal susceptibility being once established, 
 it is possible to conceive the extreme degree to which this required 
 habit, of transmitting extraneous nervous fluids to the brain, may 
 be developed ; and we can comprehend the delicate impressions 
 that would be made by so subtle an agent on such flue conductors 
 as the nerves of sense ; nor, on such a supposition, should it sur- 
 prise us to be told, that the subject receives at the same time some 
 impressions of the individuality of the agent, and manifests a 
 certain degree of submission to his zvill even. The shades of such 
 an interchange of vitality would be infinite, and probably resemble 
 the efifects which we are told can actually he produced by the mere 
 will of the mesmeriser on his patient. I suspect, however, that 
 considerable error exists regarding the power of the zvill in pro- 
 ducing the physioal mesmeric phenomena. People are unlled to 
 sleep, I believe, by directing our nervous influence upon them, and 
 simply making them the objects of our attention, which is sufficient 
 to impel this influence against them, and, if they have become 
 extremely sensitive to the impression, the usual specific efifects 
 will ensue, and they appear to go to sleep in obedience to our will 
 that they should. I have tested this in a variety of ways, by 
 desiring Hindoos, Mussulmans, and Europeans of all professions, 
 merely to concentrate their attention upon certain highly sensitive 
 patients; and th» results were as striking and certain as if the 
 
author's theory. S7 
 
 most energetic will had been directed against them. On one 
 memorable and ludicrous occasion, I induced a learned brother 
 (who came purposely to expose the "humbug") to give me the 
 command of his person for a short time. The result was, I forced 
 him, against his zvill, and "in spite of his teeth," to produce all 
 the mesmeric symptoms, from the quivering of an eyelid, to the 
 most intense coma, in subjects of morbid sensitiveness, in whom 
 the tendency to mesmeric action had become a deep-rooted dis- 
 ease. The will is no doubt very influential in producing first 
 effects by giving continuity and intensity to our influence, but the 
 system having been once deeply affected, the simple act of atten- 
 tion, on the part of any one, seems to be quite sufficient to bring it 
 within his nervous atmosphere and influence. 
 
 But I wish it to be understood, that I speak only of the 
 physical and inferior mental phenomena, such as I have described; 
 of the higher mental manifestations I have no personal knowledge, 
 and to produce them, mental sympathy will no doubt be indispens- 
 able. That the nervous sensibility has retreated from the surface, 
 and the organs of sense, is evident to all observers, by the univer- 
 sal insensibility; and the condition of the brain, and muscular 
 system, would seem to indicate that they labour under the effects 
 of this revulsion. The means used to de-mesmerise particular 
 organs, and the brain itself, appear to act by determining the ner- 
 vous currents back to the surface, thereby relieving the deeper 
 organs from the load that oppressed them ; at least I cannot ac- 
 count for the following singular exhibition in any other way. 
 
 Nov. 16. — In the presence of Mr. S. Palmer, Major Smith, 
 Mr. Stopford, and Dr. Scott, I showed the spontaneous develop- 
 ment of the mesmeric disease (for such it becomes, if pushed far) 
 in a man who becomes entranced to the most intense degree, by 
 being merely brought into my presence : every one was left to 
 test his conditions, in his own way, and no one doubted the reality 
 of his condition. I at last awoke him for them, and carrying him 
 to the end of the room, placed him erect against the wall ; in a 
 few minutes he relapsed into the trance; and I catalepsed him 
 in the attitude of St. Andrew on the cross. I then mesmerised 
 another man, only, however, to the extent of sealing his eyes, 
 and inducing the cataleptic tendency in the muscles : having set 
 him walking, I extended his arms horizontally, and directed him 
 against the man crucified on the wall. On coming into contact 
 with him, he stopped, and I urged him on, asking "what stopped 
 him?" He tried in vain to separate his eyelids, in order that he 
 
88 MODES OF DE-MESMERISING. 
 
 might see the nature of the obstruction, and, having no use of his 
 hands, he thought of helping himself by rubbing his forehead 
 against the object before him: this I stopped by pulling back his 
 head, and it remained stiffened in the position I left it. He was 
 now reduced to utter helplessness, as his feet struck nothing but 
 the wall below : I then blew on his neck, thereby immediately re- 
 leasing it, and on being again urged to tell what was in his way, 
 he began rubbing his forehead against the man, as before. One 
 arm was next freed in the same way; this he brought into play; 
 then the other, and he used both in feeling and rubbing the man 
 all over, with the greatest earnestness, but without a vestige of 
 expression in his countenance. At length, he said there was a 
 man before him. I also showed, that my breath had no specific 
 effect by doing the same thing with a fan ; a current of air being 
 all that was required to dissolve the rigidity of the muscles. 
 
 Blowing in the eyes is also the most expeditious way of re- 
 lieving the brain, and restoring its functions ; rubbing the eyes, 
 and pouring water from a height are also efficacious, and some- 
 times are all needed to de-mesmerise the brain. Air, cold, and 
 friction, are natural stimuli to the skin, and the most likely means 
 to restore its sensibility, if diminished ; and I imagine that they 
 relax the mucles by determining again to the surface the nervous 
 currents, which had been thrown back upon the muscular system, 
 when I produced its cataleptic condition. I cannot otherwise ac- 
 count for the following singular effects of cold, which, from my 
 patients being naked, I can apply in any way I please. On several 
 occasions, I have entranced persons standing, stript them naked, 
 and catalepsed them in the most painful postures imaginable and 
 in these they would remain an incredible length of time, but let a 
 little cold water be squirted from a distance on any member, and 
 it became instantly relaxed. If both arms were fixed perpen- 
 dicularly in the air, one after the other was shot down instantly, 
 by a slight stream of water; and if it was directed to the calf of 
 the leg the person fell, as if he had been hamstrung: or if the 
 body was catalepsed, out of the perpendicular, squirting water on 
 the loins would send the patient head foremost against the ground. 
 Blowing on, or rubbing any part had the same effect, but the gen- 
 eral torpor is often too deep to exhibit these sensibilities, and 
 such persons are awoke with great difficulty, by the use of all the 
 de-mesmerising agents. 
 
 The respiratory nerves of the face are more particularly sensi- 
 tive to the impressions of air, cold, and friction ; indeed the shock 
 
'author's theory. 89 
 
 given to a somnambulist by blowing in his face simply, often re- 
 sembles the effects of an actual blow, and is sufficient to awake 
 him ; how, I cannot possibly imagine, unless it be by acting as a 
 relief to the brain, by restoring its secretions to their natural 
 channels. 
 
 Having followed, and imitated, nature so far, in produciiig 
 different symptoms according to the extent of the nervous de- 
 rangement we induce, I see nothing more wonderful in the mes- 
 meric phenomena than in the disturbances that occur in the at- 
 mosphere, when the electric relations of the earth and air are 
 changed, and the equilibrium for a time destroyed; but we need 
 not, I suspect, seek for this marvellous agent among the great 
 inorganic powers of nature; for if they are employed, they are 
 so altered and endowed with new vital qualities, by being sub- 
 jected to the principle of life, that they are no longer recognisable 
 after being converted from their control of brute matter, to be 
 the directing powers of animal life ; and I fear the secret lies too 
 near the sources of life and death for man to be permitted to 
 approach it very nearly. 
 
 That an agent capable of affecting the physical condition of 
 the brain to such a degree, should have no influence on it as the 
 organ of thought, appears, at first sight, extremely improbable, 
 and we might reasonably expect the production of singular and 
 abnormal mental phenomena, when the influence was directed 
 so as to act principally upon the intellectual organs. Like wine 
 and opiimi, the extreme degree of the mesmeric influence torpifies 
 the brain, but in smaller quantities, it is a bodily and mental 
 stimulus, and if it be possible to transfuse our cerebral fluid into 
 the brain of another, I see no absurdity in supposing that it may 
 be stamped with our individuality, and may, for a time, induce 
 a synchrony of action between the brains of the giver and the 
 recipient. 
 
 But, beyond the simpler manifestations of somnambulism, all 
 is so dark, that to stop short, and wait for farther evidence, is 
 better than to advance and step in the dark. The ignorance and 
 presumption of man ; his passion for the mysterious and marvel- 
 lous, his powers of self-delusion, with the pranks of knaves and 
 the simplicity of fools, have so mystified the subject, that the 
 artificial difiiculties cost us more trouble to remove than the nat- 
 ural ; and a mass of rubbish must be removed before we can 
 reach the foundation stone of truth. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 The Mesmeric Processes. — Publicity the best Security to the Pub- 
 lic. — Ignorance and Indifference the real Dangers. — Mesmeric 
 Treatment of Disease a Field for the Philanthropist. — Piiyse- 
 gur and Delenze, tinprofcssional Men. — Processes for produc- 
 ing Coma. — Tumour in Upper Jazi/ removed during 
 Coma. — Hypertrophy of Scrotum, ditto. — Trance renew- 
 able at Pleasure. — Three consecutive Operations on one 
 Person. — Mode of Mesmerising in Chronic Diseases. — Cure 
 of Rheumatism and Nervousness. — Local Mesmerising. — 
 Mesmerised Water. — Process for preparing it. — First experi- 
 ments zanth it. — The last. — Means of azvaking Persons Mes- 
 merised. 
 
 At the commencement of my mesmeric experiments, I had re- 
 solved to communicate only to professional men the modes which 
 I had found most effectual in educing the influences of Mesmer- 
 ism. ■ I was, at first, alarmed at the possible dangers to the public, 
 were the most effectual means of producing the extreme degrees 
 of Mesmerism generally known ; but I am now of opinion that 
 the greatest danger to a community is a contemptuous disregard 
 of an unseen and unknown enemy, and, therefore, all I know on 
 this important subject shall be revealed. The best means of 
 avoiding danger is to know its full extent, and, sometimes, the 
 best policy is to meet it half way, fully prepared to repel it. Wliile 
 the public remain in a listless indifferent humour about Mesmer- 
 ism, the dangers from an abuse of it are very likely, — I may say 
 are very certain — to occur. But when, by attending to the fol- 
 lowing directions, proofs of its truth shall pour in from every 
 quarter, then Mesmerism will come home to men's minds as a 
 reality, and become an object of personal interest to all ; and 
 the instinct of self-preservation wall rouse people to take the 
 necessary steps for deriving all the benefit, and avoiding all the 
 danger attending its practice. If evil arises, let the blame rest on 
 the culpable negligence of the public, and the punishment fall on 
 those who pervert good to evil. 
 
 The utmost publicity is most consonant to my taste, and, upon 
 the whole, the best security to the public. 
 
 Many benevolent and honourable unprofessional persons may 
 
 90 
 
PUBLICITY THE BEST SECURITY. 9I 
 
 also be induced to exercise their natural gifts, in the alleviation 
 of human suffering, under the superintendence of the physician, 
 who cannot spare the time, and waste of body, which are re- 
 quired before his patients can be benefitted by the processes of 
 Mesmerism. The persons to whom Europe owes its knowledge 
 of Mesmerism, uncontaminated by self-interest and the devices 
 of quackery, were unprofessional men, the Baron Puysegur and 
 M. Deleuze ; the one a wealthy French nobleman, who conse- 
 crated his life to relieving the sufferings of the poor, and who 
 said it was his mission to lodge Mesmerism in the hands of the 
 doctors (a trust they have been very neglectful of, unfortu- 
 nately;) and the other, a truthful and benevolent man of letters, 
 long keeper of the "Jardin dcs Plantes," at Paris, who practised 
 the art for thirty-five years, and whose works are most honest 
 and true guides; errors of judgTnent, to which all are subject, 
 being their only defects; as I have tested by experience, before 
 
 reading them. 
 
 ^oma^-l usually .procure in the following manner, and am 
 inclined to think that its comparative rarity in Europe is owing 
 to the mesmeric influence not being at once sufficiently concen- 
 trated on the patient, by transmitting it to his brain from all the 
 organs of the operator, and through every channel by which it 
 can be communicated. With the necessary degree of patience, 
 and sustained attention, the following process is so effectual in 
 producing coma, that in a large enough field, and with properly 
 instructed assistants, it may here be obtained daily, for the pur- 
 pose of procuring insensibility to surgical operations. No trial 
 under an hour should be reckoned a fair one ; two hours are bet- 
 ter ; and the most perfect success will often follow frequent fail- 
 ures, but insensibility is sometimes induced in a few minutes. 
 
 Desire the patient to lie down, and compose himself to sleep, 
 taking care, if you wish to operate, that he does not know your 
 intention : this object may be gained by saying it is only a trial ; 
 for fear and expectation are destructive to the physical impres- 
 sion required. IBring the crown of the patient's head to the end 
 of the bed, and seat yourself so as to be able to bring your face 
 into contact with his, and extend your hands to the pit of the 
 stomach, when it is wished; make the room dark, enjoin quiet, 
 and then shutting your patient's eyes, begin to pass both your 
 tiands, in the shape of claws, slowly, within an inch of the sur- 
 face, from the back of the head to the pit of the stomach ; dwell- 
 ing for several minutes over the eyes, nose, and mouth, and then 
 
92 MODE OF OPERATION. 
 
 passing down each side of the neck, go downwards to the pit of 
 the stomach, keeping your hands suspended there for someTimeV 
 Tvepeat this process steadily for a quarter of an hour, breathing 
 gently on the head and eyes all the time._ The longitudinal passes 
 may then be advantageously terminated, by placing both hands" 
 gently, but firmly, on the pit of the stomach and sides ; — the" 
 perspiration and saliva seem also to aid the effect on the system. 
 
 It is better not to test the patient's condition by speaking to 
 him, but by gently trying if the cataleptic tendency exists in the 
 arms. If the arms remain fixed in any position they are left 
 in, and require some force to move them out of every new posi- 
 tion, the process has been successful ; the patient may soon after 
 be called upon by name, and pricked, and if he does not awake, 
 the operation may be proceeded with. It is impossible to say to 
 what precise extent the insensibility will befriend us : the trance 
 is sometimes completely broken by the knife, but it can occasion- 
 ally be reproduced by continuing the process, and then the sleeper 
 remembers nothing; he has only been disturbed by a night-mare, 
 of which on waking he retains no recollection. Here is an in- 
 stance of this. 
 
 July 29th. — In the presence of some sixty gentlemen, who 
 came from Calcutta and the vicinity, I to-day cut off an enlarged 
 and ulcerated prepuce; the man moved, and cried out, before 1 
 had finished, but was immediately thrown back into the trance, 
 from which all the efforts of the spectators, six doctors included, 
 could not arouse him, or excite a sign of vitality. He was oper- 
 ated on, at twelve o'clock, and awoke at three : on being ques- 
 tioned, he said, that he had felt no pain, and had not seen an 
 European that day. Next day, he complained of the pricks of 
 pins, inflicted upon him by my visitors, who had actually made 
 a pincushion of him. In future, I must request that pins be left 
 at the door. 
 
 The person can be raised into any position required for the 
 operation ; but some peculiarity in the case may demand the sit- 
 ting posture from the commencement, as in the following in- 
 stance. 
 
 June 3d. — Teencowrie Paulit, a peasant, aged 40. Two years 
 ago, he began to suffer from a tumour in the antrum maxillare ; 
 the tumour has pushed upon the orbit of the eye, filled up the 
 nose, passed into the throat, and caused an enlargement of the 
 glands of the neck. 
 
 I was very desirous to reduce him to a state of insensibility 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE CASE. 93 
 
 before operating on him, and for the last fortnight my assistants 
 have all pcrscvcringly tried it, but without inducing sleep even. 
 Indeed, from the tumour obstructing his throat, he has hardly 
 slept for five months. Having ascertained that he was easier 
 when sitting, I took him in hand myself, to-day, and entranced 
 him in a chair by the following process. The room being dark- " 
 ened, I suspended my spread hands over his head for some time, 
 and then carried them slowly down, one in front, the other behind ; 
 the former dwelling over the eyes, nose, mouth, and sides of the 
 neck, and the latter being applied over the base of the brain: 
 both were then carried down the centre of the body, claw-like, 
 to the pit of the stomach, where they were spread and gently 
 pressed, one opposite the other ; and I kept breathing on the head 
 and eyes all the time. In half an hour, the man was catalcpsed, 
 and in a quarter more, I performed one of the most severe and 
 protracted operations in surgery; the man was totally uncon- 
 scious. 
 
 I put a long knife in at the corner of his mouth, and brought 
 the point out over the cheek-bone, dividing the parts between ; 
 from this, I pushed it through the skin at the inner corner of 
 the eye, and dissected the cheek back to the nose. The pressure 
 of the tumour had caused the absorption of the anterior wall of 
 the antrum, and on pressing my fingers between it and the bones, 
 it burst, and a shocking gush of blood, and brain-like matter, 
 followed. The tumour extended as far as my finger could reach 
 under the orbit and cheek-bone, and passed into the gullet — • 
 having destroyed the bones and partition of the nose. No one 
 touched the man, and I turned his head into any position I de- 
 sired, without resistance, and there it remained till I wished to 
 move it again : when the blood accumulated, I bent his head for- 
 ward, and it ran from his mouth as if from a leaden spout. The 
 man never moved, nor showed any signs of life, except an occa- 
 sional indistinct moan; but v/hen I threw back his head, and 
 passed my fingers into his throat to detach the mass in that direc- 
 tion, the stream of blood was directed into his wind-pipe, and 
 some instinctive effort became necessary for existence ; he there- 
 fore coughed, and leaned forward, to get rid of the blood ; and I 
 supposed that he then awoke. The operation was by this time 
 finished, and he was laid on the floor to have his face sewed up, 
 and while this was doing, he for the first time opened his eyes. 
 
 June 4th. — This is even a more wonderful affair than I sup- 
 posed yesterday. The man declares by the most emphatic panto- 
 
94 
 
 MESMERIC COMA. 
 
 mime, that he felt no pain while in the chair, and that when he 
 awoke, I was engaged in sewing up his face, on the floor ; — so 
 that the coughing and forward movement to get rid of the blood, 
 were involuntary, instinctive efforts, to prevent suffocation. 
 
 June 6th. — The dressings were undone to-day, and the whole 
 extent of the wounds in the face has united completely by the 
 first intention. He is out of all danger, and can speak plainly: 
 he declares most positively, that he knew nothing that had been 
 done to him until he awoke on the floor, and found me sewing 
 up his cheek ; — and I presume he knows best. Here is a trans- 
 lation of his own statement in Bengalee: — 
 
 "For two years I laboured under this disease, and scarcely 
 slept for five months. On the 19th May, I came to the Imam- 
 barah Hospital, and three or four persons tried to make me sleep, 
 but all in vain. On the 3d June Dr. Esdaile having kindly un- 
 dertaken my cure, with a great deal of labour, made me sleep, 
 and took something out of my left cheek, which at that time I 
 did not perceive. After the operation, I did not sleep for two 
 nights, but after the third day, I have slept as usual. 
 
 "Teencowrie Paulit, 
 of Madra." 
 
 If patients are fortunate enough to sleep some time after the 
 operation, they not only feel no pain on waking, but none subse- 
 quently even. The following is an extraordinary instance of 
 the absence of pain, from first to last. 
 
 Sept. ist. — Teg Ali Khan, a tall strong-looking man; has a 
 hypertrophied scrotum, caused by repeated operations for hydro- 
 cele by native doctors ; who only withdraw the water as often as 
 it accumulates, without attempting the radical cure. The tumour 
 is perfectly round, and as big as a man's head. He was mesmer- 
 ised in two hours, on the first trial, and, in the presence of Drs. 
 Ross and Sissmore, I dissected out all the parts ; which v.^1s very 
 tedious, from the testes having contracted adhesions all round 
 them ; and it was about half an hour before the organs were cov- 
 ered up again by stitching flaps over them. Not a quiver of the 
 flesh was visible all this time, and at the end, his body was as 
 stiflF as a log, from head to foot, and his separated legs could 
 be with difficulty put together again. He awoke in half an hour 
 after the operation, and felt no pain. 
 
 Sept. 4th. — The stitches were taken out to-day ; the wound 
 has healed throughout, and he has had no pain whatever since 
 
IIJJ'STRATIVR CASE. 95 
 
 the operation ; — so much for the absence of the usual irritative 
 shock to the system. 
 
 We can renew the trance at pleasure, in order to render people 
 insensible to repeated operations. 
 
 Sept. i8th. — Morally Dass, a peasant, aged fifty, has an 
 unhealthy cartilaginous sore, half an inch high above the skin, 
 and extending for six inches along the outer ham-string of the 
 left leg, which it has contracted to nearly a right angle with the 
 thigh, for a year past. 
 
 He was entranced to-day, for the first time, and I deeply 
 cauterised the whole sore with a red-hot plaister iron, without 
 awaking him. 
 
 Sept. 19th. — The excrescence is so hard, and thick, that it 
 must be dissected oflf the ham-string: he was again entranced, 
 and the diseased part was pared down to a level with the sur- 
 rounding skin, without his feeling it. 
 
 Sept. 20th. — When he was in the trance to-day I straightened 
 the leg completely, and bound it up in splints: he awoke not, 
 and when he did, had no pain ; although it took all my strength 
 and weight to break down the adhesions, which I felt and heard 
 cracking under my hands. The Rev. Mr. Bradbury saw the first 
 operation. The Rev. Mr. Fisher, and Mr. Graves, the second, 
 and Mr. Blyth the third. In the treatment of chronic diseases 
 suited for Mesmerism, coma is not required : if it occurs, it is 
 probably because nature needs it ; but we ought to be satisfied 
 with the improvement of the patient, though it is unaccompanied 
 with any striking phenomena. The system is not less effectually 
 recruited, because it is done silently, — just as the best digestion 
 is least felt. For refreshing the nervous system, and inducing 
 natural sleep, mesmerising "a longs courants," as the French 
 call it, it will be found sufficient. These are steady continuous 
 tractions, with the point of the spread fingers, from head to 
 foot ; the head may be occasionally breathed upon, and the hands 
 allowed to rest for a few minutes on the pit of the stomach. An 
 hour of this, on going to bed, will often soothe restlessness, bring 
 back natural sleep, and invigorate the nervous system. 
 
 Sept. 25th. — Mr. Calder (I mention his name at his own- re- 
 quest,) who has been twenty years in India, came to me to-day, 
 complaining of general rheumatism, nervousness, and debility. 
 He walks with great difficulty, with the help of a stick, and 
 cannot ascend a stair. His nerves are shattered, his eye-sight is 
 weak, and his hands tremble when writing; when he walks on 
 
 OC T"F 
 
96 MESMERIC COMA. 
 
 smooth ground, he fancies that it sHps from below him, and the 
 effort made to save himself nearly throws him down : of late he 
 has not been able to drive his buggy, from a feeling that it is 
 impossible for him to prevent his liorse from running into any 
 carriage he meets. He has been in this state for two years and 
 a half; during which he has gone a tour of doctors, and swal- 
 lowed a dispensary of physic, to no good purpose. I said that 
 I could not in conscience physic him more, but recommended him 
 to try what nature would do for him, as, upon the whole, I 
 thought his case adapted for mesmeric treatment, but that it 
 would require time and patience to do him any good. He was 
 very glad of any untried chance of relief, and I desired one of 
 my people to mesmerise him for an hour in bed, every night. 
 
 Never having been present when Mr. Calder was mesmerised, 
 I am indebted to him for the following note of his case. 
 
 "On the 25th of September last, your native assistant, as 
 directed by you, made the first attempt to induce the mesmeric 
 sleep, but without success : the trial lasted for an hour and a half. 
 
 "26th and 27th September, ditto. 
 
 "28th. — After a persevering trial for the same length of 
 time, I was thrown into a trance, from which I awoke after up- 
 wards of five hours, — I found great difficulty in raising my eye- 
 lids, or keeping my eyes open. I left the couch and retired to 
 bed, and had my natural sleep afterwards, till six o'clock next 
 morning. For a week afterwards, the efforts to mesmerise me 
 were repeated for an hour daily, but without farther effect than 
 causing a sleep of a few minutes. I however continued to enjoy 
 my natural rest at night, found my pains abating daily, and my 
 nerves considerably braced up ; so much so, that I could walk 
 up and down stairs without assistance, and with every confidence 
 drive out in a buggy alone, w\hich I could not have attempted 
 for two years and a half previously. 
 
 "Up to the 17th of Oct. I was thrown into sleep, every third 
 or fourth night, for about two hours ; the effect of which you 
 may judge of, from my being able to walk yesterday morning 
 more than four, and this morning, more than six miles. 
 
 "(Signed) J. Calder. 
 "Oct. 28th, 1845." 
 
 This is the gentleman who, I said, recognised the identity of 
 the mesmeric processes with the Indian modes of charming away 
 pain. 
 
MESMERISED WATER. 97 
 
 Topical mesmerising, — by suspending the ends of the fingers 
 over the pained part, breathing on it at the same time, and then 
 drawing the fingers downwards, continued for a long enough 
 time, say an hour or two, — is often very efifectual in soothing 
 local pain; and I have seen it relieve the pain in gout, bruises, 
 and rheumatism. 
 
 The much ridiculed "mesmerised water" is another means 
 of producing the mesmeric symptoms, and as it is practically 
 useful, the process for preparing it shall be described; and let 
 those who do not choose to avail themselves of it, let it alone. 
 But before doing this, and illustrating its effects by facts, it will 
 perhaps be advisable to clear the way for the reception of them, 
 by showing that there is no prima facie absurdity or impossibility 
 about the matter. In accordance with Lord Bacon's advice, I 
 will "foment the part to make the unguent enter the better." To 
 those who will condescend to think seriously on the subject, and 
 apply their previous knov.dcdge to the examination of it, I would 
 suggest, that if there is a vital emanation from the body, called 
 "Mesmerism," there is nothing improbable in the assertion that 
 it can be communicated to water and other inorganic substances, 
 like other invisible and imponderable agents. Water absorbs air 
 and different gases, and the odours of neighbouring objects with 
 great facility; a glass of water can be charged with electricity, 
 or an empty glass filled with it. Mesmerism has been called 
 "animal electricity," and if correctly named, we should expect 
 it to resemble inorganic electricity in many particulars: but 
 whether it is a modification of electricity or not, I can see no 
 reason why water should not absorb an invisible animal fluid, as 
 easily as a fluid which is imperceptible and organic. There is 
 nothing in the known lav;s of physics to make it improbable that 
 water can be mesmerised, as well as electrified. On the contrary, 
 it seemed to me so probable from analogy, that I fully believed 
 the statements of others regarding it, and made my first experi- 
 ments with considerable confidence. 
 
 Deleuze, a most honest and trustworthy man, and who had 
 practised Mesmerism, for thirty-five years in France, with great 
 success, gives the following directions for mesmerising water. 
 "It is to be poured over the tips of the fingers, and the glass is 
 then to be mesmerised by passing the hands down its sides, and 
 the water may also be breathed upon." The following process, 
 though less delicate, is a shorter, and, I believe, a more efifectual 
 mode of charging water with the mesmeric fluid. 
 
98 MESMERISED WATER. 
 
 As there is good reason to believe that the breath is impreg- 
 nated with the vital fluid, I breathe through a tube into the bot- 
 tom of a cupful of water, keeping the points of the fingers in 
 contact with the surface ; in five minutes the water is charged, 
 .^ and here are my first experiments with it. 
 
 j~^ June 2Sth. — From her extreme sensibility to the influence, it 
 
 H seemed to be probable that the woman Alunga would exhibit in 
 
 ^ perfection the virtues of mesmerised water, if it had any. In 
 
 the presence of my hospital attendants, I to-day took an ounce of 
 
 water from the common reservoir, and mesmerised it, putting 
 
 the like quantity of plain water into another glass. We then 
 
 ,', went into the women's ward, and I gave the plain water first 
 
 C very slowly, asking her if it had any taste? It was only plain 
 
 I. water, she said; I then gave her the other; after waiting some 
 
 ^^ time, she said it was different from the first, — that it was sharp 
 
 to the tongue, and created a warmth in the stomach. Almost 
 
 immediately, her countenance began to change; she insisted 
 
 ~ upon getting up to walk ; and I immediately saw that she was a 
 
 somnambulist : after taking a few staggering steps, she would 
 
 have fallen, but was prevented, and taken back to bed, where 
 
 she instantly sank into the mesmeric coma, and remained so for 
 
 hours. 
 
 June 29th. — I to-day had the pleasure of meeting the Rev. 
 Mr. Long, from Calcutta, a stranger to me and mesmerism, who 
 asked me if I could show him any mesmeric cases in the hospital 
 at present. I replied that I should be happy to verify, in his 
 presence, an important experiment regarding the efficacy of mes- 
 merised water, which I had made for the first time, yesterday. I 
 was glad to learn that he had never heard of such a thing; and 
 he willingly agreed to accompany me to the hospital. 
 
 I took the same quantity of water as yesterday, out of the 
 common cistern, and charged it before him, and again put the 
 same measure of plain water in another glass, the woman being 
 unconscious of our presence. We then went to her, administered 
 the common water first, and waited for the effects ; none appear- 
 ing, the mesmerised water was given, and in a few minutes her 
 expression altered ; she rose, and walked in a wavering uncertain 
 manner, and then set about washing the floor, which was dirty, 
 she said. Soon after she complained of the room being full of 
 kites, crows, and paddy birds, and desired them to be scared away. 
 On being asked who I was, she said I was a Baboo, and that the 
 sweeper was her brother Essan, who had come to take her home ; 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE CASE. 99 
 
 she was put to bed, and immediately fell into the mesmeric trance. 
 We then retired to talk over the matter, and I asked Mr. Long if 
 he had any doubts that could be resolved on the spot. He said, 
 nothmg could be more certain than the connection of cause and 
 effect, and that he would gladly certify to it. After some time 
 we returned to her, and 1 awoke her, all but her eyes ; these she 
 could not open ; but this being done with my assistance, she was 
 seen to be in complete possession of all her senses and faculties, 
 as was evinced by her ready and consistent replies, and the total 
 revolution in her countenance. 
 
 June 30th. — I thought of varying the experiment on the 
 woman Alunga, whom I had not seen to-day : I therefore w^nt 
 to the house of my assistant, and asked him to give me a phial 
 and a little water, telling him. my intentions, which were to call 
 for Mr. Betts, the deputy-collector (who had never seen Mes- 
 merism and to whom I had never spoken on the sub- 
 ject.) and request him to go to the hospital, give the water 
 to the wjoman, and then send to inform me that it was done. 
 Having mesmerised the water, I carried the phial to Mr. Betts, 
 and begged him to be good enough to perform an experiment 
 for me, and at the same time satisfy his curiosity, perhaps. I 
 assured him, on my honour, that this was pure w'ater, only mes- 
 merised, and requested him to go and give it to the woman named 
 Alunga, and then to let me know. He kindly consented, and in 
 a short time a messenger came for me ; when I arrived, the woman 
 was getting up to walk, in the sam.e delirious state as on former 
 occasions, her phantasms only being varied ; and again she could 
 not open her eyes, even by pulling: when partially opened they 
 instantly closed again, till I relieved her by blowing and rubbing. 
 On awaking there was no vestige of derangement in her mind 
 or perceptions. Mr. Betts was sure of the facts he had witnessed, 
 but, I suspect, had some difficulty in believing that lie had only 
 given water. 
 
 June 28th. — Sidissur Ghose, a prisoner, in a different hos- 
 pital ; I saw him for the first time to-day, at 1 1 o'clock ; he has 
 been suffering for three days from inflammation of the testes, ■ 
 which were extrem.ely tender to the touch, and he was bent 
 double in walking. I determined to subject him to the trance if 
 possible, for the follov.-ing reasons. As a fire expires for want 
 of fuel, it seemed to me very probable that inflammation would 
 
100 MESMERISED WATER, 
 
 die out during many hours of absolute repose to the system, pain 
 and irritation being the sustaining causes of inflammation. Re- 
 move all pain and sensibility for hours, and it is only natural to 
 suppose that the circulation will return to its usual channels, and 
 the disease be removed by a natural curative effort. If the 
 repose be too short to recruit the vital powers, the trance can be 
 repeated at will when the system has been once aflFected. I suc- 
 ceeded in entrancing him in half an hour, and left him sleeping. 
 I then went to the Charity Plospital, and made my first experi- 
 ment, as above related, on the woman Alunga, with mesmerised 
 water. Having completely succeeded, I returned to the Jail 
 Hospital, and found that the man Sidissur had just awoke. He 
 bore pressure much better, and there was no heat in the part. I 
 gave him three ounces of mesmerised water, and in five minutes 
 he was again in the trance. 
 
 June 29th. — Sidissur awoke at nine o'clock last night, but 
 went to sleep again immediately, and slept all night ; the swell- 
 ing has decreased, and I can squeeze the part all over without 
 causing pain, and he walks erect, with ease. The disease is sub- 
 dued, but for the sake of experiment I gave him another dose of 
 mesmerised water, and in three minutes he was in the trance. 
 
 June 30th. — Sidissur again slept till nine o'clock last night, 
 and had a good night afterwards. Dismissed cured, at his own 
 request. 
 
 July 2d. — Nobee, an elderly, worn-out woman, has had 
 rheumatism in her back for some months: she was put into the 
 trance to-day, and on waking was free of pain. 
 
 July 3rd. — No pain. Gave her a dose of mesmerised water ; 
 she soon said that she felt warm all over ; a general tremor fol- 
 lowed ; and on being desired to walk she complained of her head 
 turning, and walked a little, with great difficulty. On returning 
 to bed she fell asleep immediately, and slept for two hours. 
 
 July 29th. — At the public Seance, already mentioned, eight 
 men drank mesmerised water prepared by my assistants, and 
 superintended by two doctors, and two clergymen ; and in spite 
 of the incessant tormenting of their visitors, four of them, to my 
 great surprise, became entranced and cataleptic, and were con- 
 verted into somnambulists. 
 
 December 14th. — Jadoo, a prisoner, convalescent from cholera, 
 is plagued with continual hiccough — eight convulsions in a min- 
 ute. To be mesmerised : he was subdued in fifteen minutes, but 
 
^-i^ 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE CASE. lOI 
 
 there was little change in the hiccough for half an hour after- 
 wards. He was raised upon his feet, and a bandage soaked in 
 cold water wound around his chest, without awaking him, and 
 he was allowed to sleep half an hour longer : still no change for 
 the belter. I now prepared some mesmerised water, and awoke 
 him ; he no sooner drank it than he fell asleep again, and the hic- 
 cough immediately stopped, and never returned. He slept for 
 three hours after drinking the water. 
 
 To illustrate the subject farther, as I could do by scores of 
 examples, would be intolerably tedious ; and I hope it will not be 
 for a moment supposed that I mean to say that such will in gen- 
 eral be the effects of mesmerised water, but only that in persons 
 ~atready under the mesmeric influence such results can be pro- 
 cured : it has been known to affect the uncontaminated system, 
 hut it is a rare occurrence. 
 ^ The means used for dissipating the mesmeric influence, are 
 
 precisely those employed for disengaging the brain in fainting, 
 01" natural insensibility, caused by a revulsion or stoppage of the / ^ 
 nervous fluid by natural causes. They act, I presume, exactly j 3 
 in the same way, by re-determining the nervous rousing to ^ 
 
 the skin and the organs of sense; thereby rousing the brain from 
 its torpor of exhaustion in the case of fainting, or relieving it of 
 the nervous plethora which I have suggested might be the cause 
 of mesmeric coma. 
 
 Blowing sharply in the eyes, rubbing the eye-lids, and eye- -r5 
 
 brows, and sprinkling cold water in the face, are the methods 
 for de-mesmerismg the brain, and when locally applied, are ■'- '' 
 "equally eflBcacious in de-catalepsing rigid limbs. Let an arm be -; 
 
 catalepsed, short of the most intense degree of coma, and although -■• 
 it may require considerable force to bend it, yet blowing on it, 
 rubbing it gently, or lettmg a few drops of cold water fall on it, 
 will generally relax the rigidity of the muscles, and cause the 
 arm to fall down at the side, with its flexibility restored ; and it 
 looks to me as if the muscles recovered their functions (just as — 
 the activity of the brain is renewed) by being relieved of the 
 nervous secretions that have deserted the surface, and become 
 concentrated on the sensorium and muscular system. 
 
 The smallness of the cause, and the greatness of the result, 
 when we restore a person to the complete possession of his 
 senses, and intellect, by sprinkling water in his eyes when in the 
 mesmeric coma, are quite as remarkable in natural fainting, in 
 
102 MODE OF DE-MESMERTSING. 
 
 wiiich the effects are often equally striking and instantaneous l 
 and I leave it to the reader to determine whether the exhaustion 
 of the nervous system in natural coma, and its presumed reple- 
 tion in the mesmeric state, does not assist us in understanding 
 the similarities and differences observed in natural, and mes- 
 meric sleep. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Mesmerism as a Remedy.— Coma as a Medical Agent.— Journal 
 of Practical Mesmerism.— Chronic Inflamination of Eye 
 cured.— Nervous Headache ditto.— Acute Iniiammaiioyi of 
 Eye 'ditto.— Return of Nervous Headache prevented.— Rev. 
 Mr. Fisher's Report.— How to make a Convert. — Tooth 
 drawn in the Trance.— Convulsions cured by ditto.— Arms 
 straightened in ditto. — Sense of Formication removed.— Lum- 
 bago, Sciatica, Pain in Crural Nerve, cured.— Palsy of an 
 Arm ditto.— Hemiplegia greatly benefitted.— Tic cured.- 
 Rheumatism ditto.— Mesmerism as a Disease.— Resembles 
 Hysteria.— Ignorant Charges of Imposture.— The Public 
 abused.— The Public disabused.— Folly and Unfairness of its 
 would-be Guides.— Spontaneous Development of the Mes- 
 meric Disease.— Mesmerising by doing nothing taught by the 
 Mesmerists themsehcs.—A natural Consequence of frequent 
 Mesmerising.— Examples of Mesmerising by doing nothing. 
 —Hysteric Theory.— Hope to hear of Hysteria as a Remedy 
 soon.— Rational Mode of studying Mesmerism. 
 
 For practical purposes, the physical effects of Mesmerism 
 may be divided into simple somnolence, semi-insensibility, and 
 total insensibility, or coma: of the first, nothing more need be 
 said, and abundant examples of the others will be given m my 
 "Journal of Practical Mesmerism." 
 
 Althoui^h accepting thankfully whatever nature deigned^ to 
 offer in an^swer to my inquiries, in the various cases in which I 
 consulted her ; yet they were not presented to the vis medicatrix 
 naturcB, at haphazard, and without selection. Uy first case was 
 indeed a "pomegranate full of many kernels," and offered so 
 many facts from which great practical deductions could be drawn, 
 that' I only followed out the indications of nature in all my sub- 
 sequent proceedings ; so that my operations have not been "A 
 mighty maze, and all without a plan." 
 
 I. I was certain (if life is not a phantasmagoria) that in 
 the mesmeric trance, the muscles of the whole body had been as 
 plastic, and obedient to my command, as clay in the hands of the 
 potter ; and I felt satisfied that if the same state of things could 
 
 103 
 
104 MESMERISM AS A REMEDY. 
 
 be brought about, muscular spasms and contractions would dis- 
 appear before this great solvent. The straightening of limbs, 
 long contracted, very soon verified this inference. 
 
 II. Having, in this case, witnessed the total extinction of 
 nervous irritability, I was led to conclude, that in a like state of 
 things, nervous pains would vanish before this supreme anodyne. 
 The cure of nervous headaches immediately demonstrated the 
 truth of this idea. 
 
 III. The insensibility to pain convinced me that the most 
 painful surgical operations might be performed without the 
 knowledge of the patient, and this has been done to an extraor- 
 dinary extent, so much so, as to be a daily matter of course. 
 
 IV. I had seen high local inflammation, and sympathetic 
 fever suspended during the trance in my first patient, and that 
 the artificial inflammation (which it was my object to excite, for 
 the cure of hydrocele,) did not develop itself, while the mesmeric 
 influence was in activity, and that the pulse and temperature had 
 become natural : thence I inferred, that inflammation was prob- 
 ably incompatible with such a state of the constitution, and I 
 soon succeeded in curing acute inflammation of the eye and 
 testis, by no other means than the mesmeric trance. 
 
 As regards the certainty of my conclusions, it required no 
 great sagacity to believe the evidence of my senses, and to go 
 and do as nature bid me. A fact in nature being once ascer- 
 tained, and all its accessories carefully observed, we may be con- 
 fident of re-producing it, at will, by fulfilling the necessary condi- 
 tions, if the phenomenon is under human control. I therefore 
 tried to bring about the same condition of body, by the means 
 re;juired to be used by nature, before she will condescend to in- 
 terfere in our favour, feeling convinced that if she did interfere, 
 it would be with unerring wisdom, and unapproachable skill ; and 
 that what had been feebly begun by her weak, but obedient 
 creature, would be triumphantly completed by her laws, when 
 brought into action ; the way for them being merely prepared, 
 in the manner pointed out by experience. 
 
 "Nature is but a name for an effect, whose cause is God ;" and 
 the Author of nature has ordained, that such effects should often 
 follow such predisposing causes. 
 
 Mesmeric coma will in the following pages chiefly figure in 
 surgical operations, and is not so often required in the treatment 
 of medical cases ; but when it can be induced, it is extremely 
 important in instantly extinguishing nervous pains, arresting 
 
COMA A REMEDIAL AGENT. 10$ 
 
 convulsions, and aiding the natural resolution of inflammation, 
 by its anodyne and restorative powers ; and if it could be in- 
 duced in the commencement of some of the most fatal diseases, 
 it would probably arrest their progress, for it revolutionises the 
 whole system, and every other constitutional afiection is for the 
 time suspended. 
 
 In chronic inflammation it is a useful discutient, gently stimu- 
 lating the nerves, and capillary vessels of the part, to more 
 healthy action ; and for this purpose, local Mesmerism is only 
 required. 
 
 The chronic exhibition of Mesmerism as a general tonic, in 
 diseases of debility promises to be of great service, especially in 
 functional derangement of the nervous system and I am hopeful 
 that we have at last got a direct nervous remedy, hitherto, a 
 "desideratum" in medicine. 
 
 In palsy from weakness of the nerves, it promises to assist us 
 greatly, and Dr. Elliotson has recorded many cures of cases he 
 could not have managed before. All who venture to confess the 
 truth to themselves, know how miserably impotent for the cure of 
 palsy, and nervous diseases generally, are the medical means 
 hitherto employed. If we succeed, we often cannot tell why, 
 and the connection of cause and effect is very uncertain. But in 
 the chronic treatment of palsy, by Mesmerism alone, the patient 
 often feels and shows early and continued improvement under 
 the action of this natural remedy ; and we cannot refuse to be- 
 lieve that it is the exciting cause : we must believe that it is, or 
 own that it is a spontaneous cure of a commonly incurable dis- 
 ease ! But both the practitioner and the patient must remember; 
 that Mesmerism is no exception to the general rule, that a 
 chronic disease must have a chronic cure : much patience and 
 labour will be required in the mesmeric treatment of paralytic 
 affections, and the result will greatly depend upon whether the 
 disease is one of debility or over-excitement of the nervous sys- 
 tem. In the latter case, I should think, that unless the sedative 
 effects on the system could be induced, we should be disap- 
 pointed ; in the former, every degree of the influence would 
 probably be of service. 
 
 We find in practice, that nervous persons, from over-excite- 
 ment of the nerves, are with great difficulty subdued, and appear 
 to be still farther irritated by subjecting them to the mesmeric 
 process ; whereas those who suffer from irritability of the nerves 
 from weakness, are easily affected, and soon benefitted by it. 
 
I06 EXTRACTS FROM JOURNAL 
 
 The medical cases adapted for the use of Mesmerism, do not 
 occur in my practice among the poor so often as surgical cases, 
 as the labouring poor do not usually resort to medical advice for 
 nervous diseases, till they are past cure: I can however present 
 the reader with some interesting cases, which I will extract, as 
 they occurred from my 
 
 JOURNAL OF PRACTICAL MESMERISM. 
 
 "May 7th. — Nazir, a Mussulman ; aged 20 : is suffering from 
 the sequela: of ophthalmia of two months' standing ; the sight of 
 the left eye is destroyed. The cornea of the right eye is muddy 
 with superficial ulcerations, and a pterygium is forming; there 
 is constant lacrymation, and he cannot distinguish a white man 
 from a black. I placed him in a chair before me, and directed 
 the operation to the eyes and head generally, desiring 
 him to mention wdiat he felt as we proceeded. He soon said, 
 that he felt an agreeable warmth where my fingers passed with- 
 out touching him ; shortly after, he said his eyes were easier, and 
 on extending the process to the body, he felt a general warmth 
 pervade it, and sweat stood in drops on his face. He next said, 
 that he felt a fear come over him that he could not account for, 
 and desired greatly to sleep: having no desire to go farther, I 
 here stopped : — the eyes to be mesmerised daily for ten minutes, 
 and then be put to sleep." 
 
 "May 22d. — Has been mesmerised daily, and put to sleep 
 twice : he always feels better after the process ; says that his 
 body feels pleasant and light, and the expression of his counte- 
 nance is much improved. The lacrymation has ceased, and he 
 read two words in Bengalee and Persian to-day; the pterygium 
 will be the only impediment to his sight. 
 
 ''May 22d. — Keenoo, a prisoner; saw him for the first time 
 to-day, at II o'clock. He has had a severe pain extending from 
 the left eye-brow to one half of his head for four days ; and 
 there is pain on pressing at the supra-orbitor notch. I made him 
 lie down, in a small room oflf the hospital, and in twenty minutes 
 left him asleep with one arm raised perpendicularly in the air, 
 and locking the door, I left him alone. 
 
 "I returned at l o'clock, and on opening the door, found him 
 lying exactly as I had left him with his arm still in the air: he 
 awoke whilst I was looking at him, and said that he had not been 
 asleep. On being asked why his arm was in the air, he could 
 give no reason for it. So sensible is the approach of sleep under 
 
OF PRACTICAL MESMERISM. IO7 
 
 thi? grand narcotic, or so sudden its invasion, that in the minds 
 of the sleepers often no trace remains of the circum.stances at- 
 tending their sleep ! This was seen in the case of Mrs. Clermont. 
 He awoke perfectly free from headache. 
 
 "May 24th.— No return of pain— discharged cured. 
 "May 24th. — Nazir Mahomed, a prisoner; saw him for the 
 first time to-day, at ii o'clock. For the last four days, he has 
 laboured under' acute inflammation of the conjunctiva: the con- 
 junctival vessels form a raised zone around the cornea ; there is 
 a constant lacrymation, pain over half the head, and he cannot 
 distinguish objects. 
 
 "I made him lie down on the floor, and rendered him catalep- 
 tic in twenty minutes ; then putting his hands, clasped, above his 
 head, I locked the door, and took the key with me to Chinsurah, 
 two miles off, where I found the Rev. Mr. Fisher, and Mr. 
 Money, the collector, who are much interested in my proceed- 
 ings, and daily ask, 'What progress?' I answered, that a man 
 entranced was waiting my return ; and they ofifered to go back 
 with me. On opening the door we found the man had just 
 awoke; and being asked in what attitude he found himself on 
 waking, he said that his hands were clasped over his head : he 
 reports the pain to have quite left the side of his head ; only a 
 little remains about the eye ; the eyelids move much more freely, 
 and the watering is less ; his general feelings are much improved : 
 before the sleep he felt his body hot and heavy, and it is now 
 cool and light. Cold water to the head and eyes ; a dose of 
 physic. When we were leaving the hospital the native doctor 
 reported that a man had just come in with a pain in one side of 
 his head, like the man cured on the 23rd. I desired him to be 
 brought before us, and he stated that for the last six days he had 
 suffered from an acute intermittent headache, confined to one 
 side of his head ; that it commences at 4 o'clock in the morning 
 and continues till 12 p. m. Turning to my friends, I observea 
 that if they would wait I should like to entrance this man, as a 
 preventive.' They consented to do so, and Mr. Fisher has been 
 good enough to send me his notes of what followed :— 
 
 "Mr. Fisher's Report. 
 
 "On Saturday last, the 24th inst., I visited the Jail Hospital, 
 in companv with Dr. Esdaile. for the purpose of seeing a pris- 
 oner awakened out of the mesmeric trance, who had been suffer- 
 ing for some time with an inflamed eye. Upon our arrival the 
 
loS EXTRACTS FROM JOURNAL 
 
 man was awake, and no further experiment could therefore be 
 tried with this patient. Another, however, immediately pre- 
 sented himself, who had never been subjected to the mesmeric 
 influence before, and whom, I believe, the doctor had never seen. 
 He had been suffering much for some days from severe pains 
 in the head and face; though not at that moment in pain, it was 
 thought advisable to try the effects of Mesmerism as a preventive. 
 The manipulations were immediately commenced, and in seven 
 minutes the man was in a cataleptic state. We tried various 
 means to test the intensity of the trance : his limbs rigidly main- 
 tained themselves in any posture in which Dr. Esdaile chose tQ 
 place them; and at last he was raised upon his feet; his back 
 being slightly bent, his arms stretched over head, which was 
 drooping upon his shoulder, and he remained fixed in this con- 
 strained position for some time, without exhibiting any symp- 
 toms of consciousness, or uneasiness. After a few minutes he 
 was left to his deep repose, reclined upon the ground ; and I 
 understand that, since this first trial, he has never had the slight- 
 est return of the pains of which he previously complained : we 
 were much astonished at the phenomena exhibited on this occa- 
 sion ; the limbs being so extraordinarily supple, and at the same 
 time capable of being so rigidly fixed in any position, at the will 
 of the operator. (Signed) F. Fisher.'' 
 
 "Chinsurah, May 2gtJi, 1845." 
 
 May 25th. — Nazir Mahom.ed, entranced yesterday for con- 
 junctivitis, has slept well all night. There is no pain in the 
 head; very slight uneasiness about the eye: no watering. The 
 zone of blood-vessels around the cornea is gone, and the inflam- 
 mation is reduced from the vivid redness of the acute stage to 
 the dull, brick-red colour of the chronic state. He can now see 
 very well with the inflamed eye. 
 
 I put him on a high stool before me, and desired him to tell 
 me when he became sleepy, but he had not time to do so, as I 
 left him sitting entranced in five minutes : this was done with the 
 idea of lessening the determination of blood to the head. I then 
 proceeded to my usual business in Chinsurah, and was there in- 
 troduced to Mr. M'Questen, the dentist, who was on a profes- 
 sional visit at the house of one of my patients. As he expressed 
 a great desire to see some of my Mesmeric cases, I saitl that he 
 had better take the present opportunity, as I had left a man 
 entranced, and hoped to find him so on my return, and that others 
 
OF PRACTICAL MESMERISM. IO9 
 
 were undergoing the process at the Charity Hospital, but I knew 
 not with what results. 
 
 The lady and gentleman of the house, hereupon, suddenly 
 resolved to go, too; and the expedition gave rise to a little epi- 
 sode, which I have the pleasure of introducing here, by permis- 
 sion. 
 
 We returned to the Jail Hospital, after I had been absent an 
 hour, and found the man sitting precisely as I had left him, and 
 his body colder than natural. The influence was now nearly 
 worn out (partly, no doubt, by the exhausting position,) and he 
 awoke soon after our arrival. He said that the eye was still 
 farther improved, and it looked so. I consider the case terminated. 
 It was evident, to the most unpractised eye, that inflammation 
 Vv'as incompatible v.'ith such a state of the system. 
 
 But a man sitting on a high stool for an hour without know- 
 ing it, was not enough to satisfy the curiosity and unbelief of 
 my lady visitor. Her theory was, that I must be "Angelus ant 
 Diabohis," to be permitted to do such things ; and as both 
 hypothesis had their difficulties, she took refuge in an unap- 
 proachable unbelief. This to me was a singular mental phenom- 
 enon, and I determined to experiment upon her mind through 
 her own senses (as she would not believe her husband even,) 
 and to observe the effects. The man entranced for hemicrania 
 yesterday was sent for, and put upon the stool. The gentlemen 
 pulled out their watches, and in three minutes he was as insensi- 
 ble to life as the stool on which he sat. He was now put through 
 all the amazing postures already described, and his friends were 
 called in to awake him, but all to no purpose, till I came to their 
 aid, when he awoke with a violent start, and look of alarm ; and, 
 on being questioned, said that he had gone to sleep of his own 
 accord. 
 
 My honoured visitor had now evidently some difficulty in 
 collecting her senses, and kept exclaiming, — "It's impossible! 
 it can't be! I won't believe it; it's all a trick!" I replied, "If you 
 will be good enough to go to the other hospital, I shall, perhaps, 
 be able to show you more tricks of the same kind." 
 
 Having entered the "Blue Chamber," she was resolved to 
 see its mysteries, and the party proceeded. I had ordered a man 
 to be mesmerised in the morning, to have a tooth taken out ; 
 and, on reaching the Charity Hospital, had the satisfaction to 
 find him entranced, and begged Mr. Mc'Qucsten to give him the 
 benefit of his skill. This he declined; and I extracted the tooth 
 
no EXTRACTS FROM JOURNAL 
 
 before him, without awaking L!:e man, and presented it to the 
 lady as a mesmeric "souvenir." Seeing a collection of matter 
 near the ear, I also made an incision into the swelling before he 
 awoke. On coming to his senses he said that he felt as if an ant 
 had bit him while he was asleep. 
 
 I had now the gratification, rarely granted to first believers, — 
 of living to see the triumph of the truth. My fair infidel frankly 
 gave up the "diabolic theory;" and although she could not yet 
 adopt the angelic one in my favour, yet she was convinced that, 
 instead of being in league with the evil power, I was a highly 
 favoured individual, and congratulated me on my new powers 
 of doing good. At parting I took the liberty to hint, in the most 
 respectful manner, that there was something still more wonder- 
 ful to me than Mesmerism ; and that was, the extent of human 
 incredulity on the subject. 
 
 June 6th. — I was called at 8 o'clock last night, to see the wife 
 of Baboo Essanchunder Ghosaul, deputy-magistrate of Hooghly. 
 I found her in dreadful convulsions ; she was speechless, and 
 suffering from a constriction in the throat, that threatened to 
 suffocate her every minute ; and she constantly beat, or pointed 
 at the part. At one moment her body was perfectly rigid, and 
 in another it was bent back like a bow, till she rested on the back 
 of her head and heels only. I never saw such convulsions except 
 in Tetanus and Hydrophobia, and all I knew of the resources of 
 medicine was useless ; for how could she take physic when she 
 could not take breath ! I therefore had recourse to my new solvent 
 power, and, after nearly an hour's hard work, I left her asleep, 
 and catalepsed.' 
 
 July 1st. — She has had no return of the fit. This is the lady 
 for whose relief the conjurer was sent, but came too late. 
 
 June 26th. — Alunga, aged 24; she has slight contractions of 
 both elbow-joints, from rheumatism, with acute pain on press- 
 ing the ulnar nerve at the elbow. At first, she did not bear much 
 handling without awaking; but, on being left alone, the trance 
 deepened, and she permitted me to work her joints like door 
 hinges, and extend them to the natural degree, w^ithout awaking. 
 One arm was much freer after the first trance and extension, and 
 there was no pain. 
 
 June 27th. — Complains of considerable pain in her left arm 
 to-day, and the nerve at the elbow is very tender. I passed my 
 fingers along the course of the nerve for a few minutes, which 
 removed the pain, and allowed her to extend the arm : I then 
 
OF PRACTICAL MESMERISM. Ill 
 
 hold my fingers before her eyes for a few seconds, and she fell 
 into my arms insensible. 
 
 July 3rd.— This woman's pains fly about, but I can chase 
 them away from any part by holding my fingers over it for a 
 short time. She came limping up to me to-day, to have the pain 
 taken out of her "tendo Achillis ;" and this I did by passing my 
 fingers over the pained part. I then grasped it firmly : she felt no 
 pain, and by words and looks expressed the utmost astonishment 
 and delight. This woman's sensibility is such, that I, or any one, 
 can now make her delirious by merely looking at her for five 
 minutes ; but more of this hereafter. 
 
 Aug. i8th.— I requested Dr. Bedford to satisfy himself if 
 the woman Alunga had pain in any part of her body. On being 
 asked, she said there was acute pain in one heel ; and Dr. B. spent 
 a long time in testing the reality of its existence. He at last said 
 that he was convinced there was considerable pain in that spot. 
 I then passed my fingers over the part for a minute, and grasped 
 the heel as firmly as I could, and she declared the pain had van- 
 ished ; and Dr. B. allowed that it had. He then looked at her 
 steadily, and in a few minutes developed the mesmeric delirium, 
 and desire to sleep-walk, always produced in this woman, if the 
 influence is not quickly concentrated upon her : the other symp- 
 toms, tremor of the eyelids, inability to open them when closed, 
 and the mesmeric trance, all followed in due course. 
 
 July 4th.— Dookee, a shop-keeper. For several months has 
 had a constant feeling of insects crawling about his face and 
 scalp, and it often extends to the whole body ; his eyes wink and 
 water constantlv. He was mesmerised for an hour, and then 
 got a dose of mesmerised water. He soon after complained of 
 general agitation, and feeling of alarm at the heart, and then 
 slept a little. On leaving the hospital the sense of formication 
 had entirely disappeared, and he did not wink more than was 
 natural : he has not returned. ^ 
 
 July 13th.— Four men and one woman were entranced to-aay. 
 
 No. I. for Lumbago. 
 
 No. 2, for Sciatica. 
 
 No. 3. for pain in the course of the crural nerve. 
 
 No. 4. for Syphilitic rheumatism. 
 
 No. 5. ditto. 
 
 They were all subdued by the usual manipulations, assisted b>' 
 
 the breath. 
 
 After the first day the trance was induced m them all, by 
 
112 EXTRACTS FROM JOURNAL 
 
 giving mesmerised water daily, till the 17th : on which day the 
 three with neuralgic pains were dismissed cured ; the syphilitic 
 cases were not benefitted, as might be expected, the constitu- 
 tional specific disease being still in operation: the local pains 
 were eased, however, and sleep procured: no small matter in 
 such cases. 
 
 July 29th. — Sustee Ram, a bearer ; aged 30. He became par- 
 alytic in his left arm, twelve days ago, during the night : he 
 cannot raise it higher than his navel ; there is pain under the 
 capula ; and he has slept very little since the attack : — to be mes- 
 merised daily, for half-an-hour. 
 
 July 30th. — Slept all night, can raise his arm to his breast, 
 head, spine, shoulder, and arm : — to be mesmerised daily. 
 
 July 31st. — Slept yesterday, immediately after being mes- 
 merised, and all night: can touch the opposite shoulder and his 
 forehead to-day. 
 
 Aug. 15th. — Has improved daily: usually sleeps after the 
 process, and well at night. 
 
 Aug. 25th. — Can hold his arm perpendicular, and has con- 
 siderable command over it. 
 
 Sept. 8th. — Can clap his hands above his head, strikes out 
 well with the left arm, and squeezes my hand with considerable 
 force. Discharged at his own request, being fit for work. 
 
 The next case I should never have taken in hand, if new 
 hopes had not been infused into me by the evident effects of 
 Mesmerism on the nervous system. 
 
 Aug. 9th. — Geeois, a husbandman ; aged 22. A man of large 
 frame, and in good condition. There is complete palsy of the 
 whole of the left side ; the arm can only be separated from the 
 side for a few inches. He has taken mercury six times, in four 
 years, for rheumatism: the paralysis began four months ago, 
 and he has been three months in his present state : — to be mes- 
 merised for half an hour daily. 
 
 Aug. 1 8th. — He sometimes goes to sleep during the process, 
 and generally sleeps for two hours after it : he can raise his arm 
 more, and there is a little resistance on the left side, on walking 
 between two persons. 
 
 Aug. 20th. — He began to walk a little with a stick to-day. 
 
 Aug. 25th. — Improves daily ; there is more command over 
 the diseased side; the leg is stronger, and he raises the arm 
 higher: he walked to the end of the room to-day, with the help 
 of a stick only. 
 
OF PRACTICAL MCSMICKISM. 'II3 
 
 Sept. 8th. — Mucli better ; walks across the compound, with 
 the aid of a stick ; arm also improving. 
 
 Sept. 20th. — He has discarded his stick, and crosses the com- 
 pound unaided. 
 
 Sept. 25th. — Daily improving ; he can hold his arm nearly 
 perpendicular : there is every prospect of his recovering, and he 
 was allowed to go home, with orders to his friends to mesmerise 
 him daily, in the way they had witnessed. 
 
 Dec. loth. — Horo, a Hindoo woman ; aged 28. She has 
 suffered for three years from tic-dolourcux in the right eyebrow 
 and temple, especially in the cold weather : it is very intense now, 
 and comes on at 6 a. m., remaining till 2 p. m. — to be mesmerised, 
 I returned after an hour, and found her asleep : she awoke soon 
 after, and said there was no pain whatever in the part now, and 
 that "it was cold as water." 
 
 Jan. 8th. — She has Jiad no return of pain. 
 
 Dec. 14th. — Podo, a Hindoo woman, a beggar ; aged 40. She 
 has been a cripple for a year and a half, from rheumatism in her 
 shoulders and knees: there is much tenderness about the joints, 
 and her knees are so weak that she cannot sit with her hams 
 bent, and is obliged to ease herself standing, and she cannot rise 
 from the ground without pushing herself up with her hands : — 
 to be mesmerised an hour daily. 
 
 Dec. i6th. — Slept half an hour after the process to-day. 
 
 Dec. 17th. — Feels much better. 
 
 Dec. i8th. — Slept an hour to-day; the pain about the joints 
 is much less ; she can rise from the ground without aid, and 
 walks much more freely. 
 
 Dec. 19th. — Says she has no pain, and is quite well : dismissed 
 cured, at her own request. 
 
 Mesmerism, like other powerful natural agents, is not only a 
 remedy, but becomies a formidable disease when pushed far, and 
 deeply rooted in the constitution ; and a knowledge of this is the 
 key to a variety of anomalous phenomena, — mesmeric in their 
 origin, but not directly produced by it at the time, and which 
 give rise to absurd charges of imposture, delusion, &c., from 
 persons totally ignorant of the subject. These are, in fact, the 
 secondary or constitutional symptoms of the primary disease — 
 Mesmerism, — which has contaminated the nervous system, and 
 predisposed it to take on the Mesmeric action whenever it is 
 
114 REMARKS ON MESMERISM. . 
 
 deranged, especially by any thing having reference to the pro- 
 cesses by which it was first developed in the system. 
 
 In this respect, Mesmerism very closely resembles Hysteria, 
 which, however primarily induced, is apt to recur on any agita- 
 tion of the body or mind, more particularly if it is in any way 
 associated with the first disturbing cause; and they both corre- 
 spond, in each being sometimes voluntarily producible. Every 
 one knows how a genuine fit of hysterics can be willed on, and 
 that often there can be no doubt of the reality of the exhibition ; 
 and, in like manner, some persons can will on somnambulism and 
 the other Mesmeric symptoms, the reality of which are indis- 
 putable. To an experienced person, the springing up of true 
 Mesm<eric phenomena, without the usual exciting cause, is a 
 moral demonstration that the system has been previously revo- 
 lutionized by Mesmerism. The nervous centres having become 
 morbidly sensitive by the action of this great nervous excitant, 
 every shock of the nerves, especially if connected with Mesmer- 
 ism, is exhibited in the shape of abnormal mesmeric symptoms. 
 
 The eye of the hunter can tell by the foot-prints the kind of 
 animal that has gone before : from the shadow we can guess the 
 semlDlance of the substance; and, in like manner, the qualified 
 observer, when he sees pseudo-mesmeric appearances, at once 
 says, the Mesmerist has been here before me — ex pede Herculem. 
 
 It is high time that the public should be disabused of many 
 erroneous impressions regarding the finer phenomena of Mes- 
 merism, which have been sedulously propagated by medical men 
 even, affectedly impartial, but, in reality, labouring under intense 
 prejudice, and profound ignorance of the subject. 
 
 It is of no consequence to the community whether it is misled 
 by the ignorance or dishonesty of those who set themselves up 
 as leaders of public opinion ; the ofifence against truth, the injury 
 done to the public, and the injustice to those who have practically 
 studied the question, and declared what they know to be true, 
 careless whom it may displease, are equally great. It is a com- 
 mon thing for Doctors, who have never seen or thought of Mes- 
 merism, to step forward to enlighten the public, and expose the 
 "humbug." They have heard of "Mesmeric coma," and that, 
 under its influence, the most severe surgical operations can be 
 performed without pain ; and they thereupon exact total insejisi- 
 bility into their experimentuni cruets of the truth of Mesmerism ; 
 and if any unfortunate Mesmeric wight, having a vulnerable 
 point in his "tendo Achillis" even, should fall under their ob- 
 
REMARKS 0^3■ MESMERISM. II5 
 
 servation, he is denounced as a hardened and determined irri- 
 postor, and his physician exposed as a quack, or charitably al- 
 lowed to be, perhaps, only a fool. 
 
 Nothing short of the extinction of life will satisfy these dis- 
 criminating observers : physiological revolutions in the system — 
 altered bearing — changed expression in features and voice — 
 the approach and advance of sleep — the extinction of some 
 senses — and the preservation or exaltation of others, are all not 
 only lost upon such philosophers, but are, one and all, "con- 
 firmations, strong as Holy Writ," of the existence of imposture I 
 Such is the procrustean bed to which the anti-mesmerists bind 
 down Nature in this most varied and wonderful display of her 
 powers. If the body of their venerable mother be longer than 
 her unnatural children, the Doctors, wish it, they mercilessly 
 amputate the offending members: if shorter, she is pulled and 
 stretched by pulleys, sccundem artem, to the length prescribed. 
 A dispassionate and candid judge of this description (the wolf 
 judging the lamb) is perhaps invited by a medical Mesmerist to 
 satisfy himself by ocular demonstration in his hospitals, since 
 nothing short of this can affect his understanding; and the Mes- 
 meric guest commences his course of practical experiment by 
 tossing and goring the patients (fortunately generally insensi- 
 ble) like a mad bull; his only thought being how to kill two at 
 a blow ; and because he has been compelled to develop all the 
 Mesmeric phenomena hi nisei f, he revenges himself by declar- 
 ing it to be all a miserable imposture and delusion : passion is 
 the same all over the world, and it is easier to instruct ignorance 
 than pride. 
 
 But I am anxious that the public should know what ]\.Iesmer- 
 ism really is, in order that they may know it when it comes be- 
 fore them, and be no longer deluded by prejudiced, ignorant, or 
 interested quasi descriptions of it. Abundant examples of its 
 acute, and extreme effects on the system will be found in these 
 pages, as well as many of the intermediate phases, and each, 
 to the discriminating observer, is distinctive and characteristic 
 of an unusual condition of the body. The involuntary quivering 
 of the eyelids, and the spasmodic closing of the eye, in per- 
 sons a minute before wide awake, and resisting, perhaps ; — the 
 extinction of one or more of the organs of sense, which we saw 
 in full activity but a moment ago; — the eye turned up so that 
 the white can only be seen, or staring wide open, fixed and 
 insensible to light; — sleep walking, — delirium, — convulsions, — 
 
Il6 MESMERISM BY DOING NOTHING. 
 
 catalepsy, in persons not subject to these affections till they were 
 subjected to the mesmeric processes; — is not any one of these 
 induced symptoms as clearly the effect of some constraining in- 
 fluence as the production of insensibility? They are all links 
 of the same chain, and in some patients can all be beautifully ex- 
 hibited in sequence and connection, from the quivering of an 
 eyelash to the most intense coma. 
 
 Another anti-mesmerist, who to save appearances has conde- 
 scended to look at certain of the mesmeric phenomena, says, on 
 seeing their reality : — "There is no use in denying the extraor- 
 dinary condition these people are reduced to; but the whole 
 secret of the matter is that they are a set of poor hysterical 
 wretches, and I will show you that I can mesmerise them as well 
 as you, by doing nothing." The enterprising experimentalist 
 proceeds to redeem his pledge, and actually succeeds, to his great 
 delight and the mystification of the public, in disproving the 
 truth of the axiom, "ex nihilo nihil fit," — for he produces a 
 serious disease, hysteria, by the compelling power of nothing! 
 Upon this, the obstructives congratulate each other, and call upon 
 the public to put down the naked hum;bug. Would not the pub- 
 lic suppose that this mesmerising hy nothing was an ingenious 
 and original experiment of the anti-mesmeric school of philoso- 
 phy ? And yet the truth is, that they were taught their favourite 
 trick by the Mesmerists; who have not only declared, that this 
 can be done, but that it is a natural consequence of their pro- 
 ceedings, if carried to a certain extent. It is often very difficult, 
 and laborious, to excite the mesmeric action in the constitution ; 
 but being once excited, a very slight recurrence to the original 
 processes will bring on the paroxysm in all its first intensity, and 
 if the excitement of the nervous system is kept up by frequent 
 mesmerising, it takes on an independent diseased action, obeying 
 constitutional laws which we do not understand : we. in fact, 
 have inoculated the system with a nervous disease which often 
 acts spontaneously, especially on any reference to the primary 
 exciting cause ; and at this stage the candid medical observer 
 steps in, and demands the applause of an admiring and con- 
 founded world, for having done with "nothing," what had cost 
 his stupid mesmeric brother so much trouble to effect. 
 
 It is hardly credible that Dr. Elliotson had expressly said, 
 and that our candid philosophers knew it :— "At length there 
 is sometimes such sensibility, that almost any thing will induce 
 sleep ; indeed, no process at last may be requisite to produce the 
 
MESMERISING BY NOTHING. 117 
 
 effect. I have three patients, whom I was originally some weeks 
 in sending to sleep, though I gave each half an hour daily of 
 manipulations, and gazing; but who now go to sleep on my 
 merely raising my hand, or looking at them when they are pre- 
 pared to expect sleep. I told each of them that, if she sat still, 
 I would mesmerise her in the next room through the door. I 
 retired, shut the door behind me, did nothing, but walked into 
 a further room, turned back, and found her asleep: so with the 
 other two in succession. While I did this, I thought as little 
 of them as possible, and busied myself with any thing to dis- 
 tract my attention." — Mesmerists in all parts of the world have 
 stated the same fact, and I can bear the most ample testimony 
 to its truth. 
 
 What candid mind, after considering this explanation, will 
 regard "mesmerising by nothing," as a demonstration of the 
 imposture of Mesmerism ? 
 
 I was explaining the mesmeric disease (for such it has be- 
 come, at this stage) to a party of gentlemen, the other day, and 
 while speaking, a man anticipated my intention to mesmerise 
 him "by nothing," by becoming intensely entranced on the spot, 
 when I was not regarding him:. The gentlemen, and Dr. Scott 
 among them, used every means to ascertain his condition, and 
 were as well convinced that he had lost his senses, as that they 
 were in possession of theirs : — in fact, although the paroxysm 
 was spontaneous, he would have borne a severe surgical operation 
 without feeling it. I went to the hospital to-day (8th Dec. 
 1845) after writing the last line, and had there the pleasure of 
 meeting Dr. Behn, Professor of Anatomy and Physiology in 
 the University of Kiel, Mr. Kiellerup, Naturalist, and Mr. Blyth, 
 Curator of the Asiatic Society's museum : the two former gen- 
 tlemen are attached to the Danish frigate, now here on a po- 
 litical and scientific mission. As all three were observers of 
 nature by profession, I thought it a good opportunity to correct 
 my own impressions by theirs, if different from mine, and there- 
 fore submitted to their notice cases of direct and indirect Mes- 
 rnerism. A man was brought before us with an enlarged and 
 tender testis, and of the latter point Dr. Behn satisfied himself 
 and friends, by pressing the part — there could be no mistake 
 about it. I then, by the hands and breath, mesmerised him, 
 standing before me, till he could not open his eyes, and the sensi- 
 bility of the skin had disappeared. Dr. Behn then used any de- 
 gree of pressure he chose to apply to the tender part, and the 
 
Il8 HYSTERIC THEORY. 
 
 man's face was as placid as a statue of Somnus; every means 
 was used to ascertain the state of the skin and the organs of 
 sense, and it was clear that the ear was the only organ that trans- 
 mitted any sensation to the brain, and this only of sound; when 
 water was squirted suddenly into his ear, he said that he felt 
 nothing, and on waking, he was surprised to find his face w-et. 
 I also converted him into a somnambulist, that the gentlemen 
 might at once have before them as many as possible of the genu- 
 ine mesmeric phenomena. Another man was then brought ; and 
 on asking him about his health, he said that he was feverish and 
 had a severe pain in the side. This was evidently the case; for 
 Dr. Behn pressed between the ribs, and found the intercostal 
 spaces exceedingly tender. I then put him in a corner of the 
 room, and bid him sleep : in less than five minutes he was asleep, 
 could not turn round, or open his eyes, catalepsy was estab- 
 lished, and all sensibility had disappeared ; as Dr. Behn ascer- 
 tained by now pressing between the ribs to any degree he 
 pleased ; — and not only so, the whole chest was seen to be cata- 
 lepsed and immovable. His eyelids were forced open, and the 
 white of the eye could only be seen. The moment he awoke, Dr. 
 Behn again made pressure on the intercostal spaces, and he 
 showed immediate and acute suffering. — In a word, the spon- 
 taneous mesmeric condition differed in no particular from that 
 induced by the direct application of the mesmeric influence, and 
 my visitors seemed to be perfectly satisfied of the reality of the 
 symptoms in both states. 
 
 It would be tedious to dwell on this point farther, and I hope 
 enough has been said to convince the public that, in general, 
 when people are said to have been mesmerised "by nothing," it 
 is a certain proof that something has pre-disposed to this, and 
 we know nothing that can do this but Mesmerism, It is hardly 
 worth while to dispute about names ; and if it is allowed that I can 
 cure nervous headaches, and perform painless surgical opera- 
 tions by hysteria, call the process hysteric or mesmeric — I care 
 not. 
 
 But after all, there is a satisfaction in calling things by their 
 right names, and I cannot possibly see how hysteria has got into 
 my hospitals, where I never saw it before — coolies and felons 
 not being at all nervous subjects. I have, therefore, generated 
 a new disease among my patients by nothing, or by using the 
 mesmeric processes. Which is the more likely, I leave my 
 readers to decide. As natural hysteria may be supposed to be 
 
MODE OF STUDYIXG MKSMERISM. IIQ 
 
 more powerful than the imitation., I shall look with impatience 
 for the announcement, in "The Morning Post," that Mrs, Freak 
 has been cured of her nervous headaches by the skilful applica- 
 tion of hysteria, and Lady Tantrum has had her arm cut off when 
 in a fit of hysterics, without knowing it. These should be easy 
 feats for our fashionable physicians and surgeons, as they have 
 the disease and antidote ready made to their hands ; whereas, 
 it cost me and my assistants great trouble to make the coohes 
 and prisoners of Bengal hysterical, to the degree necessary to 
 render them insensible to the loss of their members. 
 
 But seriously, if medical men wish to see and understand 
 the effects of Mesmerism on the body, the natural .and rational 
 mode of proceeding is to attempt to develop them in the persons 
 of their own patients ; and if they will take a tithe of the trouble 
 I have been at, I can promise them very general success. The 
 finest, as well as the most striking phenomena will then be equally 
 diagnostic to their practised eyes, and their understandings will 
 be left clear, and free to study and imitate the curative processes 
 of Nature, undisturbed by doubts and suspicions regarding the 
 powers of observation and the honesty of others. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Mesmerism in Surgery- -Journal of Practical Mesmerism. — 
 Mesmeric Trance: A Leg straightened in; Colic cured by; 
 Penis am.putated in; Arm straightened in; Arm amputated 
 in; Breast cut off in; Abscess opened in; Heel flayed in; 
 Tooth extracted in; End of Thumb cut off in; Arm laid open 
 in; Three Abscesses opened in; Si)ius laid open in; Gum cut 
 away in; Invasion of the waking by the sleeping State. — 
 Mesmeric Trance: Hypertrophied Prepuce cut off in; Sup- 
 purating Pile in; Both great Toe Nails cut out in; Knee 
 straightened in; Ulcer on Temple burned zvith Muriatic Acid 
 in; Seton introduced, &c. in; Tumour in Groin removed in; 
 Fungoid Sorts pared off in; Scirrhus Testes extirpated in; 
 Cataract operated on in; Malignant Disease of Testes ex- 
 tirpated in; Unhealthy Sore pared in; Hypertrophied Pre- 
 puce cut off in; Pain extinguished by; Return on awaking; 
 Amputation of Penis in; Unhealthy Sores pared in; Two 
 Operations for Hydrocele in. — Mesmerism alike favourable 
 to the Operator and the Patient. 
 
 In Surgery, the benefits of Mesmerism are not confined to 
 the extinction of pain during an operation, but are of the great- 
 est general and particular advantage in the after-treatment of 
 surgical diseases. The nerves and brain have not been shattered 
 by bodily and mental anguish, which generally excites an irri- 
 tative fever in the system, wasting the powers of life, and rous- 
 ing local inflammation in the injured part ; thereby often destroy- 
 ing all the hopes and precautions of the surgeon. In the mes- 
 meric sleep, only the necessary local injury has been inflicted ; 
 and on awaking, the patient sometimes feels no'pain whatever, 
 and generally only a slight smarting in the wound; and the 
 constitution sets about repairing the breach of substance quietly, 
 and under the best possible circumstances ; if local pains follow, 
 they can be easily removed by topical manipulations; all which 
 will be seen in the following 
 
 Journal of Practical Mesmerism. 
 
 April 20th. — ^Jeolal, my washerman, aged 35, has been 
 eighteen months ill ; first with dysentery, afterwards with rheu- 
 
PRACTICAL MESMERISM. 121 
 
 matic fever, in consequence of which his left knee is bent upon 
 the thigli at a right angle. 
 
 I considered him to be a hopeless cripple, I mesmerised 
 him to-day in a quarter of an hour. At first he supported his 
 knee with both hands ; but soon allowed me to remove them, 
 and suspend them in the air. The leg was then gradually ex- 
 tended, and straightened to a considerable extent, without awak- 
 ing him. 
 
 April 2 1 St. — The process was repeated to-day, and more force 
 used, which awoke him; the leg was still farther improved. 
 
 April 22(1. — The pulley was used to-day, and very consider- 
 able power applied before he awoke. The muscular contraction 
 is now nearly overcome, and the remaining stiffness of the knee 
 seems 'to be from the tendons and ligaments about the joint, and 
 will probably yield to mechanical extension, by exercise. 
 
 May nth. — He can now walk without a stick, but the fibrous 
 contractions give way slowly. I am convinced that direct force 
 might have torn the muscles of the thigh, but could not have 
 relaxed them. 
 
 June 22d. — His leg is now quite straight, and the knee flexible ; 
 he has got a violent colic, and when speaking to me fell down 
 in a fainting state. — Ordered to be mesmerised. 
 
 June 23d. — He slept for an hour, and awoke much relieved 
 yesterday; but a paroxysm returned last night, and still con- 
 tinues. — Repeat the Mesmerism. 
 
 June 24th. — He remained three hours in the mesmeric sleep 
 yesterday, and awoke quite well, and continues so. His leg 
 is now quite strong, and he has returned to his work. 
 
 May I2th. — Buxoo, a Khitmatgan. There is a fistulous open- 
 ing in the urethra under the glans penis, which is sloughing, and 
 requires to be amputated. I desired him to be mesmerised, and 
 returned in an hour. I found him asleep, and when looking at 
 him, he suddenly opened his eyes, but immediately went to sleep 
 again, and in five minutes after I cut off the glans, without 
 awaking him. He awoke soon after, and said it was from fear, 
 not pain. 
 
 April 20th, II o'clock, a. m.— Kangalee, a peasant; aged 20, 
 weak, and ill nourished. He had a fever four years ago, after 
 
122 EXTRACTS FROM JOURNAL 
 
 which sores broke out in different parts of his body, and have 
 left large cicatrices like burns. There is one about the left elbow 
 joint, which has been permanently contracted to nearly a right 
 angle, for seven months. He was catalepscd in twenty min- 
 utes ; a bottle was then put under his elbow for a fulcrum, and 
 the arm was gradually extended by depressing the hand. He 
 moved a little, and the muscles contracted occasionally, but soon 
 melted as it were, under my hand, and I left him, with his arm 
 perfectly straight, extended in the air and still asleep. — Two 
 o'clock, p. M. He awoke half an hour ago. Sees his arm is 
 straight, knows not'how it was done, has no pain, and can move 
 it freely. 
 
 May 2d. — He pulls the punkah daily with his left arm, for 
 exercise. 
 
 June 14th. — Dismissed cured. 
 
 May 5th. — Rantoonee Buttachangie, a Brahmin ; aged 40. 
 There is a prodigious Fungus hsematodes protruding from the 
 left elbow-joint. A swelling took place at the joint when he 
 was five years old, and has gone on increasing gradually, but the 
 skin remained entire till an incision was made by a native doctor, 
 twelve days ago, when the bloody mass started through the in- 
 teguments. It exactly resembles the contents of an old aneur- 
 ism ; the structure of the fungus having been broken up by the 
 actual cautery applied to it all over, in order to stop the bleeding : 
 it was a frightful mass. I desired him to be carefully mesmer- 
 ised, and went to Chinsurah, to consult with Dr. Elton, in charge 
 of the troops there. We returned to the hospital together, and 
 found him in a profound sleep, and decided to take the arm off 
 instantly. It was removed, without his moving or complaining, 
 and Dr. Elton assured me that his countenance had never 
 changed. He awoke immediately after the limb was off, and 
 declared, again and again, that he was aware of nothing having 
 been done to him till he awoke and saw his arm was gone ; and 
 he then saw Dr. Elton for the first time. 
 
 May 13th. — Is doing well. 
 
 May 1 6th. — He complains of pain in the stump to-day. — 
 To be mesmerised. 
 
 May 17th. — He was easily put to sleep yesterday, and slept 
 
OF PRACTICAL MESMERISM. I23 
 
 for three hours ; was free from pain when he awoke, and con- 
 tinues so. 
 
 May nth. — Meeroolla, a policeman; aged 28, strong and 
 healthy looking. He has got a fatty tumour of the right mam- 
 ma, which he begged me to remove to-day. I desired him to 
 lie down, and let me carefully examine it, and commenced mes- 
 merising him. In ten minutes he was fast asleep; in five min- 
 utes more I transfixed the tumour with a hook, drew it up off 
 the muscles, and cut it out, without disturbing him in the least, 
 and he did not awake till half an hour afterwards. He declares 
 that he felt no pain till he awoke, and remembers nothing after 
 my hands were placed on his stomach, which was in about five 
 minutes from the commencement. 
 
 May nth. — Podoo, a young Hindoo woman, has a swelling 
 over the false ribs of the right side, requiring an incision to be 
 made in it. I desired the compounder to mesmerise her, while 
 I was engaged with the last patient, and she was ready before 
 I was : a deep incision, an inch long, was made into the swell- 
 ing, without awaking her, and I left her sleeping. 
 
 May 14th. — Maduh, a healthy-looking coolie; aged 30. I 
 saw him for the first time to-day, at ii o'clock. He has got a 
 sore on the heel, of two years' standing; the skin is half an inch 
 thick, separated from the subjacent parts all round, and requires 
 to be removed. — To be mesmerised. I went on to Chinsurah, 
 where I had the pleasure to be introduced to the Reverend Mr. 
 Banergie, who is there on a visit, and who begged me to show 
 him a person under the mesmeric influence. I replied that I 
 disapproved of experimenting with so formidable a power, to 
 gratify mere curiosity; but I had left a man under the process, 
 and that if he would go to the hospital, on chance, he might possi- 
 bly be gratified. I returned to the hospital after an hour, and 
 there found the Reverend Mr. Fisher, Mr. Banergie, and Mr. 
 Money, the collector. The patient was asleep, and I immedi- 
 ately commenced dissecting the thickened skin from the plantar 
 fascia, which was very difficult, owing to its thickness and hard- 
 ness. It almost resembled a horse's hoof, and removal must 
 have been very painful under ordinary circumstances. He was 
 completely insensible to the pain, however, and remained asleep 
 a quarter of an hour after I had finished. 
 
 Mr. Banergie then questioned him, in Bengalee, regarding 
 
124 EXTRACTS FROM JOURNAL 
 
 his feelings, and he protested that he feU nothing till he awoke. 
 Many of the patients, already mentionea, being still in hospital, 
 Mr. Banergie examined them in Bengalee, and in no instance did 
 their accounts vary from what I had related. 
 
 May 26th. — Ram Dass, a large robust man, has a super- 
 numerary tooth between the eye-tooth, and the first grinder, 
 growing horizontally into his mouth, and causing him great an- 
 noyance. I entranced him in a quarter of an hour, lying on a 
 mattress on the table, and proceeded to open his jaws. It cost 
 me some trouble to relax the temporal muscles, and I had to pro- 
 ceed cautiously, as he did not appear to be under the extreme 
 influence of the mesmeric power. From its position, it was diffi- 
 cult to lay hold of the tooth, but it was at last grasped, and ex- 
 tracted. He moved, and moaned a little, but I soon tranquillised 
 him again, and he did not awake till almost suffocated by the 
 blood. He declared he awoke from this cause, and not from 
 pain. 
 
 May 29th. — Sibehurn Sing, a young robust man, had his 
 thumb nearly cut through by a sword, fourteen days ago. An 
 attempt was made to unite it, but failed ; and the point of the 
 finger would be a nuisance if kept. In ten minutes I made him 
 insensible, and cut off the end of the thumb without awaking 
 him. He soon after quietly opened his eyes, and I asked him: — 
 "Have you been asleep?" "Yes." "Have you any pain?" 
 "No." "Has any thing hurt you to-day?" "No." "Do you 
 wish your nail cut off?" "Yes." "Look at it." He did so, 
 looked confounded, and exclaimed, "It's gone!" "Who did it?" 
 "God knows." "How did it happen, has it fallen off itself?" 
 "I can't tell — I know nothing about it." 
 
 May 30th. — Modoomohun Ray, a fine boy, 12 years old, was 
 brought to the hospital, fourteen days ago, with a compound 
 fracture of both bones of the forearm, and my assistants had 
 several times tried to mesmerise him, in the hope of assuaging the 
 pain, but without success. Matter has formed, and the wound 
 must be enlarged, upwards and downwards. As he was appre- 
 hensive, I put a piece of wet cloth over his eyes, and went on 
 with my affairs, telling him that it v/ould cool his brain. The 
 people were all dismissed, and approaching him unobserved, I 
 succeeded in entrancing him in ten minutes, and laid open the 
 arm without disturbing him. I returned after three hours, and 
 
OF PRACTICAL MESMERISM. I25 
 
 found him still sleeping. On awaking, he said the pain was 
 much less, and that no one had hurt him that day. 
 
 June 2d. — Gungaram Dass, a prisoner, was injured, ten days 
 ago, by some rubbish falling on him, and in consequence three 
 large abscesses have formed at the elbow, wrist, and ankle, which 
 require to be opened. I subdued him in a few minutes, opened 
 the abscesses, and left him sleeping. On my return, after two 
 hours, he had just awoke, and I found him sitting up looking 
 at his wounds. I asked him how the pus had escaped, since I 
 saw him in the morning? He could not tell. Of its own ac- 
 cord? He supposed so. Had any one cut or hurt him to-day? 
 No one. 
 
 June l6th. — Toorab, a peasant, aged 30, of a rickety con- 
 stitution, has a sinus, six inches in length, under the pectoral 
 muscle, of seven months' standing. We have not been able to 
 close it by any means, and it is necessary to lay it open. He was 
 entranced by one of my assistants, and I laid the whole of the 
 diseased tract open Vv^ithout his knowing it, and left him sleeping. 
 
 June 15th. — He awoke soon after I left him, and on awaking, 
 asked where the blood had come from ? He has hardly had any 
 pain in the wound, and has no recollection of being disturbed 
 in his sleep yesterday. 
 
 July 9th. — Mrs. Clermont is suffering from one of her wisdom 
 teeth; half of it has come through, but the rest is covered v/ith 
 the indurated and ulcerated gum. I explained that the source 
 of the irritation must be removed, by cutting away the offend- 
 ing gum. 
 
 July loth. — I entranced her to-day, sitting on a couch, in 
 the presence of her husband and his sister; laid her back and 
 cut away the gum without awaking her, and left her sleeping. 
 
 July nth. — This is a very interesting case, as it shows the 
 invasion of the waking by the sleeping state. Mrs. C, on awak- 
 ing yesterday, arose as if from common sleep, and went to adjust 
 her hair in the glass, when she saw blood about her mouth, and 
 this first attracted her attention to the tooth; she thought the 
 gum had burst, and was still expecting me to call. For, strange 
 to say, she had no recollection of having seen me that day, nor 
 of what happened for half an hour before I put her to sleep. 
 The incidents, her husband informed me, that occurred during 
 
126 EXTRACTS FROM JOURNAL 
 
 this time were these: — She received letters from the postman, 
 and paid for them ; a lady came to visit her ; and then I arrived, 
 and sat conversing with them a short time. After seeing the 
 lady to her carriage, I returned and mesmerised her: — all these 
 occurrences w^ere blotted from her mind. She feels quite well, 
 and awoke much refreshed. If such inroads are made into the 
 regions of sense, at one sitting, the effect of frequent unneces- 
 sary experiments may be guessed at in such sensitive subjects as 
 this lady ; and this is the power trifled with, and made a show of 
 for money !* 
 
 July 17th. — To-day, in the presence of Mr. Davidson, com- 
 missioner of the district, and Mr. Alexander, Registrar to the 
 Board of Revenue (who have requested me to name them as 
 witnesses,) I operated on a man for hypertrophy of the prepuce, 
 without awaking him. After letting him sleep some time, I 
 asked the gentlemen if I should awake him, and at their desire, 
 did so in a moment, by blowing in his eyes. He was restored at 
 once to full consciousness, and Mr. Davidson remarked, "I v/ish 
 
 Doctor was here, who says you do this by opium." My 
 
 visitors, understanding Bengalee, asked him if any one had hurt 
 him to-day. He said, "No." If he would like his disease to be 
 
 *While in London, arranging for the publication of this work, I had 
 the pleasure of being introduced to Dr. Elliotson. under whose guidance 
 I mesmerised two females, although I had never before seen Mesmerism, 
 or attempted to practise it. These women being accustomed to be mes- 
 merised, I was not surprised at my success ; but an event which happened 
 a few days afterwards, astonished both myself and the friends who wit- 
 nessed the occurrence. At an evening party I met a young gentleman from 
 Oxford, who requested me to mesmerise him. He had never seen Mes- 
 merism; and yet, in one minute, his eyes closed under my manipulations, 
 and in less than three minutes he was fast asleep. Being diffident in my 
 own powers, I de-mesmerised him as speedily as possible. He thus de- 
 scribed his sensations : "The moment you pointed your fingers at me, I 
 felt uncomfortable. I dared not meet your gaze; a sensation of heat, 
 resembling a stream of electricity, commenced at my forehead and followed 
 the course of your hands, down to the pit of my stomach. I could not 
 open my eyes. I knew I was sitting on a chair before you, and the last 
 idea in my mind, before falling fast asleep, was this — Shall I ever be 
 allowed to rise again?" 
 
 This fact seems to prove that the power of mesmerising, and of being 
 mesmerised, is more general in this country than is commonly sup- 
 posed. — Editor. 
 
OF PRACTICAL MESMFCRISM. 127 
 
 removed? He answered, that he would thank God if any one 
 would do so. He was then desired to sit up, and his cloth re- 
 moved; when, seeing his nuisance was gone, he fell back with 
 an exclamation of wonder and gratitude. 
 
 July 25th. — Buggabuttee, a Hindoo woman, aged 40, has 
 been troubled with a suppurating pile, as big as the end of my 
 thumb. She was mesmerised at eleven o'clock, and at twelve 
 I cut off the tumour, and though she moved and moaned, on 
 av/aking half an hour after, did not know that any thing had 
 been done to her. 
 
 Aug. 4th. — Sona, a Hindoo woman ; 25 years old. Both 
 nails of the great toes are destroyed to the roots, by the com- 
 bined effects of syphilis and mercury, and their place is filled 
 with a fungoid ulcer. She was mesmerised at twelve o'clock, 
 and at half past one p. m., I dissected out the entire root of one 
 nail, without awaking her: her left hand and arm trembled only, 
 and this was subdued in a few minutes, by her hand being held 
 in mine. — Left her sleeping. 
 
 Aug. 5th. — Again entranced, and I cut out the other nail 
 without annoying her. On neither occasion has she had any 
 pain on awaking. 
 
 Aug. 6th. — Golam Hassein. His knee has been contracted 
 to a considerable extent for two months, from rheumatism. He 
 was mesmerised for the first time at eleven o'clock, and I made 
 his leg straight at one o'clock, the new ligamentous adhesions 
 were felt, and heard, cracking under my hands. — He felt no pain 
 on awaking. 
 
 Aug. 8th. — Gendo, a Hindoo woman ; aged 50. There is 
 a large sloughing ulcer, covering all her right temple. She was 
 mesmerised at ten o'clock a. m. ; and at half past eleven, I freely 
 applied muriatic acid to the whole sore, without her showing 
 any sensibility. She awoke twenty minutes after, and knew 
 nothing about it. 
 
 Aug. 9th. — Parbuttie, an elderly Hindoo woman, has a sinus 
 extending from the inner ankle, under the calf, to the outer side 
 of the leg near the knee, which is contracted by a dense cicatrix 
 running two thirds round the joint, and involving the ham- 
 strings : the knee has been in this state for ten years. Being 
 put to sleep, a counter opening was made in the leg, and a 
 
128 EXTRACTS FROM JOURNAL 
 
 seton run through the leg, without her feeHng it. I then leant 
 all my weight on the knee, and succeeded in extending it a little, 
 but the diseased structures would yield no farther. A heavier 
 and stronger gentleman then applied all his power, and effected 
 a little more, but it was evident that no force short of break- 
 ing the limb could straighten it. But it was equally certain, that 
 any common muscular or ligamentous contraction must have 
 yielded on the spot. — The woman continued to sleep for hours 
 after. 
 
 Aug. 23d. — Napaul Bagdy, a husbandman, has a singular 
 fungoid mass in the right groin ; it is the size of a small cauli- 
 flower, and like it in appearance, the surface being whitish from 
 sloughing. It spreads from a peduncle in the abdominal ring, 
 and bleeds much when handled. His father says that, at his 
 birth, there was only one testis in the scrotum, and no trace 
 of the other was seen till he was six months old, when a swell- 
 ing appeared in the groin. This gradually increased till his 
 twelfth year, but was not painful or inconvenient. About this 
 time he was attacked with fever, attended with increased sensi- 
 bility and increase of size in the tumour, and the paroxysms came 
 on twice a month, up to June last, when he applied to a barber- 
 surgeon, who used means to ripen the swelling. In the course 
 of a few days it was punctured, and blood only followed. The 
 opening was plugged as well as possible with a candle covered 
 with cloth smeared with some ointment, but in a few days this 
 came out, and the following day, a fungus shot out of the wound, 
 and daily increased to its present size. It is now a very foul 
 mass, its surface mortified and the crevices filled with maggots. 
 
 Aug. 26th. — He was mesmerised after two hours' trial, and 
 the mass removed without his feeling it, 
 
 Aug. 31st. — Discharged at his own request — wound looking 
 well. 
 
 Sept. I St. — Raimgopal, a young Hindoo, has got a high 
 syphilitic sore, about the size of half a lemon, on each side of 
 his nates. He was entranced on the first trial ; and in the pres- 
 ence of Dr. Ross and Dr. Sissmore, I turned him round like a 
 log, and cut off both the excrescences level with the skin, then 
 turned him back again, and left him sleeping. It is needless 
 to sav he did not feel it. 
 
OF PRACTICAL MESMERISM. 12g 
 
 Oct. 8th. — Nazir, a peasant, aged 60, has suffered from en- 
 larged and scirrhous testis for four years ; the parts are as large 
 as a child's head, and extirpation is necessary. — He was en- 
 tranced after two hours to-day. 
 
 Oct. loth. — He was mesmerised the second time, to-day, in 
 the presence of Mr. Sutherland, Dr. Owen, the Reverend Mr. 
 Bradbury, IMajor Riddle, Mr. Higgen, Mr. Muller, Mr. Graves, 
 Messrs. Savigny, Mr. Calder, and Mr. Bartlett. 
 
 I removed the parts wdthout his showing any sign of sensi- 
 bility till the last artery was being tied : he then woke up, but 
 went immediately to sleep again for half an hour, and on awak- 
 ing, said that he was only conscious of a little pain when he 
 awoke for a moment, and found me to be tying something. He 
 was cheerful and talkative, and showed no signs of suffering or 
 exhaustion in his countenance or manner, and said the pain in 
 the wound was very trifling. 
 
 Nov. 20th. — Mohun Dass, a peasant ; aged 55 : has got a 
 cataract in one eye. He was entranced on the first trial, and I 
 broke down the lens in the presence of Major Smith of H. M.'s 
 9th Regt., without awaking him. 
 
 Nov. 2 1 St. — There is much pain in the eye. — To be mesmer- 
 ised, and leeches applied. He slept for two hours with the 
 leeches on, and on awaking, the pain was nearly gone. 
 
 Nov. 26th.-^Mahes Banergie, a Brahmin, aged 40, has got 
 an enlarged testis, the size of a child's head; it is red, glisten- 
 ing, and very painful, and there is a scrotal hernia above it. He 
 was entranced on the first trial, and I returned the gut into the 
 abdomen, handling the inflamed part very rudely, without his 
 showing the least sensibility. I then, in the presence of Captain 
 D. L. Richardson, dissected out the diseased organ. The opera- 
 tion was tedious, as I had to carefully separate the mass from 
 the hernial sack. He moved, as in an uneasy dream, but did 
 not awake till we were tying the arteries, which were very 
 numerous ; he then said, that he had felt nothing till that mo- 
 ment. The muscular movements, sometimes seen, looked more 
 like the contractions induced by cutting a recently dead animal, 
 than the common contortions from pain ; and I believe may be 
 avoided by patience, as every trance seems to deepen the insen- 
 sibility. I need not point out to the surgeon the advantage 
 
130 EXTRACTS FROM JOURNAL 
 
 he would derive from the mesmeric trance, in reducing strangu- 
 lated hernia, and spasmodic strictures of the urethra. 
 
 Nov. 30th. — Mahes, a peasant, aged 32, has got a deep ulcer 
 of a year's standing, at the root of the penis, that penetrates 
 under the pubes ; the edges are callous, and prevent it healing. 
 He was subdued in two hours on the first day, and in the pres- 
 ence of Dr. Tritton and a party of officers of the 71st Regiment 
 N. I., I pared off the margins of the sore without his awaking. 
 He awoke a few minutes after, said he had been asleep, and 
 dreamt that some one had pulled him off the roof of a house, 
 and declared that he felt 710 pain whatever at the moment of 
 speaking. I thereupon proposed that he should allow me to cut 
 him a very little, as it would facilitate the healing of the sore, 
 but he would not hear of it. Dr. Tritton and the rest also joined 
 their persuasions ; but he implored us for the love of God to let 
 him alone — he would rather die than be cut, that the proposal 
 had already killed him, &c. He was desired to sit up, and his 
 cloth removed ; on seeing the altered state of tilings, he was 
 greatly alarmed and puzzled, and on being shown the pieces of 
 flesh, said they had certainly belonged to him before he went to 
 sleep, and how I got hold of them he had no idea. As I found 
 myself in the company of candid and dispassionate observers, I 
 showed them Mesmerism in all its physical symptoms, whether 
 directly or indirectly produced, and Dr. Tritton very kindly said 
 at parting, that he was quite convinced of the reality of the 
 symptoms from first to last, whether produced by something, or 
 nothing, and that he now quite understood the "mesmeric dis- 
 ease," and said I was at liberty to say so, if I pleased. 
 
 Dec. I St. — I had the pleasure of receiving a visit from the 
 gentlemen engaged in the railway survey, consisting of Mr. 
 Simms, Captain Western, Captain Boileau, Mr. Fraser, and Dr. 
 Macauley. They found a man entranced, from whom I was 
 about to remove a hypertrophied prepuce. As he appeared to 
 be ready, I commenced at once ; but seeing that he shrunk from 
 the knife, without awaking, however, I desisted, and proposed 
 to adjourn to the other hospital, saying that this man would 
 probably be ready on our return. We accordingly went, and I 
 requested Dr. ISIacauley to ascertain if a man brought before 
 us had pain in his scrotum. He said there was no doubt ; and 
 the rest were satisfied that there was no mistake about it. I 
 ordered him to be entranced 1)cforc them, which was easily done, 
 
OF PRACTICAL MESMERISM. I3I 
 
 as he liad been twice operated on for hydrocele, in the trance. 
 I pulled him up, and set him on his feet sleeping, before the 
 gentlemen, and begged them to deal with him as they pleased. 
 He was catalepsed by them in the most painful attitudes, to which 
 he was as indifferent as a man of clay; and Dr. Macauley now 
 squeezed the painful part with as much effect as if the man had 
 been a mummy. I stripped him naked ; and when he awoke and 
 found himself standing in the presence of gentlemen in this 
 condition, his look of wonder and shame, if not natural, was 
 most beautiful acting, and he certainly escaped being found out. 
 As soon as he awoke. Dr. Alacauley pressed the diseased part, 
 and there could be no doubt about his feelings on the suljjcct; — 
 the pain was evidently instantaneous and acute. On returning 
 to the Charity Hospital, I removed the enlarged cellular substance 
 from the whole penis; the man did not shrink in the least from 
 the knife, and slept a good while after the operation. On ques- 
 tioning him, he said that he had been put to sleep to be operated 
 on ; but as he was now awake, he would wish it to be put off till 
 to-morrov.\ We then showed him the liberties that had been 
 taken with him, and he recognised his property; but how it had 
 changed owners he had no conception, 
 
 Dec. 2 1 St. — Samoo, a weaver, has got a bad sloughing sore 
 of the prepuce and glans, of a year's standing. — To be mes- 
 merised. 
 
 Dec. 22d. — He was mesmerised for two hours yesterday, and 
 slept an hour afterwards, apparently naturally. To-day I saw 
 him after half an hour's mesmerising, when the trance was fully 
 established, his whole body being rigid. As I had not time then, 
 I left him, and returned in an hour, and found his body still 
 stiff. I cut open and took oft" the prepuce ; and finding the glans 
 half eroded, I cut it off too. The man showed no sign oflife; 
 the body continued stiff*, and the pulse natural. He awoke in 
 half an hour afterwards, and did not discover that any thing 
 had been done to him till he went to make water. 
 
 Dec. 29th. — Mahes, operated on last month. The sore is 
 callous, and it will greatly advance his cure to have it pared. — 
 To be mesmerised in my absence. I went on to Chinsurah, and 
 there met the Rev. Mr. Cahusac, and the Rev. Mr. Mullins, who 
 requested to see any mesmeric cases in hand. They returned 
 with me to the hospital, and we found Mahes entranced. I 
 pared the sore, and he did not awake till a quarter of an hour 
 
132 EXTRACTS FROM JOURNAL 
 
 afterwards. Mr. Miilliiis, who speaks Bengalee, asked him if 
 he had been disturbed in his sleep. He said "No;" and that 
 the pain was not greater than before he went to sleep. 
 
 We found another man entranced, whose elbow had been 
 dislocated for twenty days. I tried to reduce it, using all my 
 force, but did not succeed ; he moved uneasily, but did not awake 
 till ten minutes after I had desisted, and then said that nothing 
 had disturbed him. 
 
 Dec. 26th. — Goluck Seit, a prisoner, has got a hydrocele on 
 each side. A young Hindoo subdued him to-day in ten min- 
 utes, on the first trial. When about to operate, I saw that he 
 possessed a consecrated nail, on one of his little fingers ; and 
 knowing the value attached to this, I resolved to get possession 
 of it, if possible, as a moral test of his being insensible, for he 
 would as soon have cut a cow's throat and eaten a beefsteak as 
 allowed me to cut off his nail, while in possession of his senses. 
 It is a common practice with the Hindoos to vow their hair, 
 beards, or nails to Shiva, the Destroyer, in the hope of averting 
 his anger; and this man had consecrated his little finger-nail to 
 Shiva Forakissore, — Forakissore, in this district, being a famous 
 shrine of the god. I transferred the sacred excrescence to my 
 pocket, without any remonstrance being made, and then per- 
 formed the less formidable operation of withdrawing the water, 
 and throwing in the injection, of which he knew nothing, on 
 awaking two hours after. His only distress was the loss of his 
 nail, and he spent hours in hunting for it, supposing that it had 
 been broken off by accident. 
 
 Dec. 29th. — I entranced Goluck Seit to-day in five minutes ; 
 and in the presence of Mr. Cahusac and Mr. Mullins, operated on 
 the other hydrocele, to which he was as indifferent as on the 
 first occasion. But before putting him to sleep, I showed the 
 gentlemen how painful was the side operated on three days ago ; 
 and yet, in five minutes after, he allowed me to squeeze his 
 testicle to any extent, without exhibiting a vestige of uneasiness. 
 I awoke him in half an hour, that Mr. Mullins might question 
 him ; and he said that he saw the water was gone, but how it had 
 escaped he had no idea. 
 
 Dec. 30th. — Bungsee, operated on last month for a scrotal 
 tunijour. The wound, from his debilitated condition, is glazed 
 and callous, and is wasting him with a useless discharge. It 
 would greatly shorten his cure to pare the sore, and bring it 
 
OF PRACTICAL MESMERISM, I33 
 
 together with deep sutures ; but I could hardly bring myself 
 to propose it to a person in his senses, as it would be as painful 
 as the capital operation. Mesmerism, however, makes surgery 
 pleasant to both parties ; and having easily entranced him, I 
 pared and shaped the sore very leisurely, (it was six inches long, 
 by two deep,) inserted the deep sutures, and left him sleeping. 
 He awoke after four hours. 
 
 Jan. 2d. — The sutures were taken out to-day, and the sore is 
 adherent throughout. 
 
 This power of remedying any defect in the operation after- 
 wards, without inflicting pain, is not one of the least advantages 
 of Mesmerism. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Hypertrophy of the Scrotum; different Causes of. — ElepJiantiasis 
 endemic in Bengal and Loiuer Egypt; probable Causes of. — 
 E.vample of Malarious Fever. — True Elephantiasis of the 
 Scrotum. — Hypertrophy froni Hydrocele; from Syphilis; Con- 
 dition of the Organs involved; Mode of operating; Misman- 
 agement by the Native Doctors ; Number of Operations for 
 Six Years previous to April, 1845; in the Mesmeric Trance, 
 for Eight Months. — First Case. — Some Cause for the late 
 Increase of Cases. — Operations in the Mesmeric Trance. 
 
 This disease is so common in Bengal, and attains such a 
 magnitude, that it deserves a chapter to itself, in which it will 
 be seen that if Mesmerism cannot prevent, it is very effectual in 
 assisting its removal. These singular, and often prodigious 
 tumours are generally called "elephantiasis of the scrotum ;" but, 
 correctly speaking, this is a misnomer, many of them not having 
 their origin in the constitutional affection called elephantiasis, 
 but arising from local irritation and debility of the parts, caused 
 by syphilitic sores, or simple hydrocele; and the appearance of 
 the tumours and aspect of the patients are often characteristic 
 of their respective exciting causes. 
 
 In true constitutional elephantiasis the disease is accompanied 
 with periodic fever, and general cachexy to such a degree as to 
 make it unsafe to remove the local excrescence. The disease, in 
 this shape, is endemic in Bengal almost exclusively, it being rarely 
 seen in upper India, and appears to have its origin in a hot, moist, 
 malarious, relaxing climate, in which the poor are ill-fed and ill- 
 clothed. In Egypt it is also principally confined to the delta of the 
 Nile, which considerably resembles Bengal in climate and the con- 
 dition of its people. Endemic sources of disease abound here to a 
 dreadful extent, but chiefly originate in the ignorance, indiffer- 
 ence, and poverty of the people ; and an enlightened and benevo- 
 lent government should interfere to prevent its subjects perishing 
 in their ignorance, by enforcing stringent police regulations for 
 the improvement of the public health, especially by attention to 
 drainage and filling up all unnecessary pools of water. Ragged 
 old tanks, and offensive pools and holes of water, form a chain 
 
 134 
 
CAUSES OF ENDEMIC ELEPHANTIASIS. 135 
 
 along the roadside, in and near all towns and villages, and spread 
 like a network over the country ; their insulation rendering them 
 only the more pestiferous, by making each an independent hotbed 
 of malarious exhalations. The thing is so general, that every 
 cottage may be said to be built over a green putrefying pool, out 
 of which the mud to build a house had been taken, and which is 
 reckoned a domestic convenience. Into this all the animal and 
 vegetable debris of the houses is thrown : the pigs wallow in it, 
 the people wash their fish and rice, and bathe in it ; and it is then 
 used for cooking and drinking, as it is conveniently near, and 
 saves the troul)lc of going to the nearest large tank, or the river. 
 This accumulation of animal and vegetable matter, festering un- 
 der a tropical sun, renders every hole a pest pit, and the whole 
 population eat, drink, and breathe perpetual infection. The ef- 
 fects are as dreadful as might be anticipated in a debilitating 
 clim,ate, and among an ill-fed people, and are deeply written in 
 the personal appearance of the natives of the country. 
 
 Ague, remittent fever, spleen, rheumatism, diarrhoea, dysen- 
 tery, and cholera are inherited by the poor people along with 
 their homes ; and the general constitutional debility is evidenced 
 by the incredible frequency of elephantiasis, diseases of the skin, 
 and parasitic growths on the body. Ague and spleen were en- 
 demic diseases in Scotland, fifty years ago, when every cottage 
 had its "midden" before the door; and if northern nations suflfer 
 so much from miasmatic influences, we can readily imagine their 
 terrible energy in Bengal, where every aid and appliance is af- 
 forded them. 
 
 I shall give an illustration of the extreme gravity of these 
 causes of disease, from a case which lately occurred in my private 
 practice, and which I am disposed to regard as an acute form of 
 the disease which, in its chronic shape, gives rise to constitutional 
 elephantiasis. On the i6Lh May, 1845, I was requested to visit 
 one of the richest Hindoo families here ; and on going, found 
 eight persons, men, women, and children, labouring under differ- 
 ent degrees of the same disease, and of which two men of the 
 same party had died, shortly before. In the worst cases the 
 feet were swollen, and hard as in elephantiasis, and a brick-red 
 inflammation extended half way up the leg, and was still advanc- 
 ing. The others were worn out with fever, and their bodies 
 were generally or partially dropsical. The party consisted of 
 one family and its attendants : no other persons living in the same 
 house were affected. This led me to suspect some local cause 
 
136 CAUSES OF ENDEMIC ELEPHANTIASIS. 
 
 of contamination, and I requested to be allowed to view the suite 
 of apartments occupied by this part of the family. The house 
 is a large two-storied pile, in which, as usual, all the family con- 
 nections live. I could see nothing objectionable about the rooms 
 inhabited by my patients; but, on looking out of the back win- 
 dows, I saw that the house rose right over a large, ragged, neg- 
 lected tank, covered with green filth, and smelling vilely, and 
 that this was the only part of the house so situated. I then 
 examined below, and perceived that the v.-ater was led upon a 
 brick platform to a passage in the lower story, to save the people 
 from going out ; numerous narrow lanes, the sides as high as the 
 house, led from the tank to the different parts of the house, and 
 all opened into the court around which this family exclusively 
 lived in small ill-ventilated rooms. In short, it was a most in- 
 genious labyrinth, contrived for receiving and retaining all the 
 mephitic vapours from the tank, into which were thrown all the 
 "exuviae" of this large family, or rather clan. This year, it so 
 happened, was peculiarly adapted to the development of malaria ; 
 all the tanks in the district being dried up to the dregs ; so that, 
 for months, this large putrid area had been exhaling death among 
 this unfortunate family. The disease, I therefore concluded, 
 was only an aggravated form of the malarious fever that usually 
 ends in elephantiasis and dropsy ; the stage of elephantiasis being 
 only more acute than usual, from constitutional peculiarity, or the 
 severity of the disease. Being questioned as to their probability 
 of recovery, I said, that there was little hope, except for one of 
 them, and at this moment (ist Dec.,) one only is alive, but not 
 recovered. 
 
 The true "elephantiasis" scrotal tumours are excessively dense 
 in the rind, the cells of the cellular membrane being filled with 
 dense fibrinous deposit, that makes it look and cut like half-tanned 
 hide ; the skin is black, and the mass is usually studded with 
 tubercles. 
 
 The disease sometimes only attacks the skin of the penis ; and 
 this organ, in one instance, was as long and thick as a man's 
 arm, and ended in a wart bigger than a fist. An incision was 
 made down upon the penis from the symphysis pubis ; and 
 having freed it, the diseased tube was struck off where it joined 
 the scrotum. I believe that the body of the penis will always 
 be found unchanged and in situ, in this disease; the testes fre- 
 quently unaltered, but very variously situated, and with common 
 expedition, the bleeding allows time enough to save all the 
 
MODE OF OPERATING ON SCROTAL ELEPHANTIASIS. 1 3/ 
 
 organs, if it is thought expedient to do so, in tumours of moder- 
 ate dimensions. Even when the testes are enlarged, and castra- 
 tion is performed, the spermatic vessels have not their calibre or 
 activity increased (in proof of this, I did not secure them at all 
 in one case) ; and in general the arterial bleeding is moderate, as 
 might be expected in a disease of a low organisation. 
 
 The mode of operating I adopt is as follows : — The penis be- 
 ing always in situ, as has been said, it is immediately found by 
 running a bistoury from the opening in the prepuce, wherever it 
 may be, up to the symphysis pubis, and a long bistouri cache is a 
 very convenient instrument for this purpose ; it is pushed up till 
 it reaches the pubes, and the penis is exposed at once by one out- 
 ward cut. The penis is then easily freed, and a semi-lunar in- 
 cision carried from its root across each of the spermatic cords ; 
 these are easily found ; and if the testes prove to be worth pre- 
 serving, they are reflected back, the incision is extended down 
 to the perineum on both sides, and the mass rapidly removed ; if 
 the testes are diseased, the whole is removed together. This plan 
 is simple and expeditious : one continued wound suffices for find- 
 ing the testes, and removing the tumour ; and the w'ound has 
 the advantage of being a gaping one, discharging the blood and 
 water freely, and permitting one to see clearly. By this mode 
 I always secure flaps, which often adhere in four days by the 
 first intention ; and even if they partially slough, enough is left 
 to support and defend the testes, as they adhere to some part of 
 the covering. The testes often adhere to the fundus of the 
 tumour, which vexatious complication is generally caused by 
 the natives making deep escars with the actual cautery, in the 
 hope of discussing the swelling by suppuration ; but the irritation 
 only accelerates the disease. In these cases the spermatic cords 
 are greatly elongated, perhaps a foot long; and they, as well as 
 the testes, must run great risk of sloughing without any cover- 
 ing and natural support. In my experience, even when the 
 flaps partially fail (I have never seen them do so entirely.) they 
 are a great comfort to the patient by the adhesions which the 
 cords and testes form in two or three days. 
 
 During the six years previous to April, 1845, I had operated 
 on eleven cases; and in the last eight months, since I began to 
 operate in the mesmeric trance, I have removed seventeen 
 tumours, making in all twenty-eight, varying from a few pounds 
 to eighty pounds; and there has not been a fatal case among 
 them. 
 
138 MESMERIC OPERATIONS ON 
 
 The results are — 
 
 All the parts saved in - - - - 13 
 
 One testis sacrificed ----- 6 
 
 Both 8 
 
 All removed ------ i 
 
 28 
 
 Of the seventeen operations in the mesmeric trance three 
 only were imperfect, the persons awaking before the operation 
 was finished; this imperfect sensibility was a great comfort to 
 the patient, and gave great facilities to the operator. Here is my 
 first case, and an example of this : — 
 
 April 23d. — Bachoo. Saw him for the first time to-day, at 11 
 o'clock A. M. : he has got hypertrophy of the scrotum ; the tumour 
 is twice the size of a man's head. I put him to sleep, and made 
 his arms cataleptic in three quarters of an hour. 
 
 Pricking and inhaling ammonia disturbed, but did not awake 
 him ; I therefore proceeded to operate, but he awoke after I had 
 slit up the prepuce. Upon this I desisted, and will try to edu- 
 cate him into insensibility. To be mesmerised daily. 
 
 April 27th. — He has been easily mesmerised daily, since the 
 23d ; is not insensible to pricking, but it does not awake him, and 
 I could afford no more time to him. I pulled him by the legs 
 to the end of the table ; allowed the tumour to hang down unsup- 
 ported, and bent his knees, putting his feet on the edge of the 
 table; and in this painful attitude he remained for half an hour, 
 without moving. His legs and arms were then properly disposed 
 of, in case he should awake, and the tumour quickly removed ; the 
 first incisions did not awake him, but before I was done he was 
 completely roused. 
 
 Since then I have had every month more operations of this 
 kind than take place in the native hospital in Calcutta in a year, 
 and more than I had for the six years previous. There must be 
 sorme reason for this, and I only see two v>^ays of accounting 
 for it : my patients, on returning home, either say to their friends 
 similarly afflicted, "Wah ! brother, what a soft man the doctor 
 Sahib is ! He cut me to pieces for twenty minutes, and I made 
 him believe that I did not feel it. Isn't it a capital joke? Do go 
 and play him the same trick ; you have only to laugh in your elbow, 
 and you will not feel the pain." Or they say to their brother suf- 
 ferers, — "Look at me ; I have got rid of my burthen, (of 20, 30, 
 
SCROTAL ELEPHANTIASIS. 139 
 
 40, 50, 60, or 80 lbs., as it may be,) am restored to the use of my 
 body, and can again work for my bread : tiiis, I assure you, the 
 doctor Sahib did wlien I was asleep, and 1 knew nothing about 
 it ; — you will be equally lucky, I dare say ; and I advise you to go 
 and try; you need not be cut if you feel it." Which of these 
 hypotheses best explains the fact my readers will decide for them- 
 selves. It ought to be added, that most of these persons were 
 not paupers, but people in comfortable circumstances, whom no 
 inducement short of painless operations could tempt to enter a 
 charity, or any other hospital ; and all who know the natives are 
 aware of this. 
 
 I have said that only three out of the seventeen awoke be- 
 fore the operation was finished ; I will not inflict the whole four- 
 teen completely successful cases on the reader, but only present 
 some of the last. 
 
 Sept. 2d. — I was stopped on the road to-day, and requested 
 to go into a temple to see a sick Fuqueer ; on entering I found 
 a healthy-looking man of sixty, but he was nearly blind from 
 cataracts, and had a scrotal tumour of about thirty pounds' 
 weight, which he begged me to remove. I examined it, but gave 
 no opinion, and said I would consider of it ; I then went on to' 
 Chinsurah, to see Dr. Ross, (in charge of the troops there,) to 
 whom I said, that if he chose to return with me, I would try to 
 show him a mesmeric operation. He consented, and in passing 
 the Fuqueer's house we carried him with us to the hospital. The 
 cook of the hospital, one of my best mesmerisers, was set upon 
 him, and in half an hour made him insensible. Considering the 
 man's age and the size of the tumour, we did not think it worth 
 vv'hile to attempt to save the testes, and the operation was therefore 
 speedily done. The man never moved, and did not awake till 
 after the last artery was tied. Seeing him about to awake, he was 
 covered up, and asked if he had been any way disturbed; he 
 said, "No." He was then desired to sit up, and show me the 
 tumour, as I wished to examine it; he did so, and actually put 
 his hands under it, to raise the mass as usual ; his look of amaze- 
 ment, on missing it, w-as something not to be easily forgotten. 
 Dr. Ross published an account of this and other operations in 
 which he assisted me. 
 
 Oct 22d. — Muffer Dass, a peasant, aged 40. He was made 
 insensible on the third day of mesmerising; and in the presence 
 of Mr. Reid, the collector, Mr. Wauchope, the magistrate, and 
 
140 OPERATIONS DURING 
 
 Mr. Bennett, superintendent of Excise, I removed a tumour 
 weighing eight pounds, without the man being disturbed ; al- 
 though the operation was tedious, from the testes having con- 
 tracted adhesions. I succeeded in saving all the organs ; he 
 awoke soon after it was all over, said he felt no pain, and was 
 quite ready to be operated on now. 
 
 Oct. 25th. — Gooroochuan Shah, a shop-keeper, aged 40. He 
 has got a "monster tumour," which prevents him' from moving; 
 its great weight, and his having used it for a writing-desk for 
 many years, has pressed it into its present shape. His pulse is 
 weak, and his feet oedematous, which will make it very hazardous 
 to attempt its removal ; but with such an appendage life is literally 
 a burthen. He became insensible on the fourth day of mesmer- 
 ising, and was drawn with the mattress to the end of the bed 
 (my usual mode of proceedings:) two men then held up the 
 tumour in a sheet, pulling it forward at the same time, and, in 
 the presence of Mr. Bennett, I removed it by a circular incision, 
 expedition being his only safety. The rush of venous blood 
 was great, but fortunately soon arrested ; and, after tying the 
 last vessel, the mattress was again pulled back upon the bed with 
 him upon it, and at this moment he awoke. The loss of blood 
 had been so great that he immediately fell into a fainting state, 
 and it took a good while to remove him. On recovering he 
 said that he awoke while the mattress was being pulled back, and 
 that nothing had disturbed him. The tumour weighed eighty 
 pounds, and is probably the largest ever removed from the human 
 body. I think it extremely likely that if the circulation had been 
 hurried by pain and struggling, or if the shock to the system 
 had been increased by bodily and mental anguish, the man would 
 have bled to death, or never have rallied from the effects of the 
 operation. But the sudden loss of blood was all he had to con- 
 tend against ; and, though in so weak a condition, he has sur- 
 mounted this, and gone on very well. 
 
 Dec. I St. — Has been allowed to go home at his own request: 
 the wound is filling up slowly, for want of integument. 
 
 Oct. 27Lh. — Rammiahun Sunokur, a jeweller, aged 44, has got 
 a large tumour. He became insensible on the fifth day, and I re- 
 moved the tumour in the presence of Mr. Wauchope and Mr. 
 Bennett. The bleeding was violent, and the testes adherent to 
 cicatrices from burnings : I was therefore obliged to sacrifice 
 them. About the middle of the operation he gave a cry, but did 
 not awake till twenty minutes after it was over, and then said. 
 
SCROTAL ELEPHANTIASIS, I4I 
 
 that he wanted something to eat, as he felt empty. He said that 
 he had slept well, and was not disturbed in any way ; that he 
 was now ready to be cut, but begged to be allowed to get his din- 
 ner first. The mass of flesh was now shown to him, which he 
 recognised with amazement ; thanked the gods, and said it would 
 weigh twenty-four pounds, probably, — it weighed thirty pounds. 
 
 Nov. 2d. — Gobinchunder Lane, aged 32, a shop-keeper, and 
 a very fine handsome man, is afflicted with the same disease. 
 
 At three o'clock yesterday, when passing the hospital, I was 
 told that another man had come with a tumour, since my morning 
 visit, and had been entranced. I went to see him, and found 
 him still in a fit state to be operated on, although he had been 
 asleep for four hours — to be mesmerised again tomorrow at ten 
 o'clock. 
 
 Nov. 3d. The operation was performed to-day, at twelve 
 o'clock, in the presence of the Rev. Mr. Bradbury, and Mr. Ben- 
 nett. As the bleeding was moderate, and the man perfectly 
 passive, I tried to save all the parts, although the testes adhered 
 to the sides of the tumour, which were very thick. It was twenty 
 minutes before all was over: not a sign of life appeared, and the 
 organs were all saved. 
 
 Before commencing, I put his arm erect in the air as an 
 "oudanometcr:" it never even trembled, was quite stiflf at the 
 end of the operation, and had to be taken down. He awoke just 
 as the mattress was readjusted, and said, "It is done!" Being 
 asked how he knew, he said, by seeing me bloody, and the peo- 
 ple all standing round, but that he had felt nothing, and had 
 little pain now. The excrescence weighed twenty-five pounds, 
 
 Nov. 1 6th. — Ameer ISIullick, a coolie, aged 50, has a large 
 tumour of twenty years' growth. He was mesmerised for the 
 second time to-day, and, in the presence of Mr. S. Palmer, and 
 Dr. Scott, I dissected out, and saved all the organs. The opera- 
 tion was tedious, on account of old adhesions ; but he did not 
 awake till some time after it was finished, and then said, that 
 nothing had disturbed him. The mass weighed thirty pounds, 
 
 Nov. i8th. — Bungsee, a peasant, aged 55, has a tumour which 
 weighed twenty-eight pounds, when cut off, and has existed for 
 nine years. He was entranced on the second day, and I remioved 
 it in the presence of Mr. Russell, Judge of Ilooghly, Major Smith, 
 H. M.'s 9th Regiment, Dr. Scott, and Captain Smythe, of the En- 
 
142 THE MESMERIC TRANCE. 
 
 giiieers. I found all the organs, and showed that the testes were 
 atrophied and useless; they were therefore sacrificed, and the 
 man never moved, or showed a sign of life, till ten minutes after 
 the operation, and he then said, that he was quite ready to be 
 operated upon. 
 
 In concluding this practical part of the subject, I beg to state, 
 that I have seen no bad consequences whatever ensue from per- 
 sons being operated on in the Mesmeric trance. Cases have oc- 
 curred in which no pain was felt, even subsequent to the opera- 
 tion, and the wounds healed by the first intention ; and in the rest 
 I have seen no indication of any injurious consequences to the 
 constitution. On the contrary, it appears to me to have been 
 saved, and that less constitutional disturbance has followed than 
 under ordinary circumstances. 
 
 In my early operations, I availed myself of the first fit of 
 insensibility, not knowing whether I could command it back at 
 pleasure ; and when the coma is deep enough on the first occasion, 
 it is probably best for the patient that it should be taken advantage 
 of, as the fewer liberties we take with Nature the better, the rule 
 being never to do more than enough. But if the trance is not 
 profound the first time, the surgeon may safely calculate on its 
 being so the next, and, when operating in public, it is prudent to 
 take the precaution of a preliminary trance or two. I have al- 
 ready said, that flexibility of the limbs, till moved, and their re- 
 maining rigid in any position we leave them in, is characteristic 
 of the trance: but there are exceptions, and these are equally 
 diagnostic and to be depended upon. It sometimes happens that 
 the limbs become rigid as they lie, and, on bending them, they 
 are not passive and plastic, as in the first kind of catalepsy, but 
 the muscles always tend towards a spasmodic extension of the 
 limbs : at other times, there is a complete relaxation of the whole 
 muscular system, and the arms and legs can be tossed about with- 
 out resistance, like those of a person just dead. The eyes are 
 usually closed, but the eyelids are sometimes seen a little sepa- 
 rated, or half open and tremulous ; and the eye is even wide open, 
 fixed, and the pupil dilated. On one occasion, having ordered 
 a man to be entranced, I returned in two hours, and was told 
 by my assistant that he was not affected : I went to see, and found 
 him with half open eyes, quivering eye-lids, and trembling hands. 
 I immediately said the man was ready, and, without testing his 
 condition farther, performied on him a tedious, but painless, opera- 
 tion. 
 
OPERATIONS DURING THE MESMERIC TRANCE. 143 
 
 I also wish to remark, that I have seen no indication of con- 
 gestion of blood on the brain ; the circulation, while my patients 
 were in the trance, being natural, like that of a sleeping person. 
 Those I operate upon appear to escape the stimulating stage 
 of the mesmeric influence altogether, and to pass at once from 
 life to temporary death; and this I am disposed to attribute to 
 the concentrated uninterrupted manner in which the power is 
 applied ; as soon as it is felt, there is no time given to the system 
 to rally round the first impression, and it succumbs, without a 
 struggle, to the constraining influence. Some patients, when 
 suddenly awoke, say that their vision is hazy, and their heads 
 light, but I take this to arise from the in^perfectly recovered sensi- 
 bility of the brain and organs of sense, which are not at once 
 roused up to the full possession of their waking powers; just as 
 is seen in persons suddenly aroused from profound natural sleep. 
 That the mesmeric torpor of the nerves and brain does not arise 
 from sanguine congestion, is often strikingly and beautifully 
 illustrated by the first actions of persons suddenly awoke from 
 the trance. They open their eyes wide, and at the same moment 
 their faculties are restored, but it is seen that the pupil is dilated, 
 and insensible to light : this they also immediately become aware 
 of; they know that their eyes are open, and that they ought to see, 
 but do not. The thought fills them with horror, and, with a fear- 
 ful cry, they bury their faces in their hands, like persons struck 
 blind by lightning ; but this soon passes oflf, and the retina recov- 
 ers its sensibility, by a little rubbing of the eyes. 
 
 For any person to sec this, or even hear of it from a credible 
 quarter, and still talk of imposture, is to convict himself of an 
 incurable moral blindness, which it would be folly to atternpt to 
 dissipate by experiment and reasoning :— "none are so blind as 
 those who cC'o«7 see." 
 
 The dreadful shock given to the mind untlcr such circum- 
 stances, or when a somnambulist awakens and finds himself per- 
 haps standing naked among strangers (an experiment I have 
 often made,) is a trial of the nerves, to which it would be very 
 imprudent, and unsafe, to subject any but such singularly im- 
 passive beings as my patients :— sometimes, however, it is too 
 much for the nerves of a cooly even. In highly nervous and 
 irritable constitutions the eflfects might be most disastrous both 
 to mind and body ; and I would not dare to take such liberties with 
 European temperaments. This, and the dangers and incon- 
 veniences of inducing the "Mesmeric Disease," by practising on 
 
144 OPERATIONS DURING THE MESMERIC TRANCE. 
 
 the system more than is necessary for the cure of disease, appear 
 to me to be the real dangers to be avoided in the use of Mesmerism 
 as a remedy. 
 
 I am now able to say from experience, that debiUty of the 
 nervous system predisposes to the easy reception of the mesmeric 
 influence ; and I argue favourably of the patient's powers of sub- 
 mission, when I recognise in him the languid, listless air that 
 characterises functional debility of the nerves. 
 
 As I never have attempted, and never will attempt, to mes- 
 merise people in health, I cannot speak from my own experi- 
 ence as to their mesmeric sensibility ; but we are assured by the 
 best authorities that m.any persons in health can be subdued, and 
 
 my experiments go to support this. My patient Mrs. had 
 
 not a toothache even when she was mesmerised, in order to pre- 
 pare her for the dentist ; and many others suffered only from some 
 local complaint, that did not apparently impair the powers of life. 
 The fact is sufficiently established ; and experimenting on the 
 healthy ought to be discouraged, as it is only undermining healthy 
 constitutions for no possible advantage. The artificial disease 
 is not so transitory' or light a matter as it seems to be reckoned 
 by many Mesmerisers, who go about upsetting the nerves of 
 every one they can lay hands on. In proof of this I may men- 
 tion, that after prisoners have been working on the roads for 
 two or three months, I have found them still as much under my 
 command as ever. 
 
 It is proper that ladies and gentlemen who beg to be mes- 
 merised for fun should know this ; and then they will probably 
 choose some other kind of amusement. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Curiosities of Mesmerism. — Unsatisfactory^ Nature of Public Ex- 
 hibitions. — Apology for giving one. — Account of it by a Vis- 
 itor. — The Modes in which the Mesmeric Fluid can be trans- 
 mitted. — // acts at great Distances. — Is absorbed by Water. — 
 Can pass through a IVall. — Final Experiments. 
 
 My original intention was to confine myself strictly to an 
 examination of the medical pretentions of Mesmerism, and to 
 eschew all but the practical part at present, and thus open the 
 minds of men to a reception of new truths, by the key of self- 
 interest. Not that I was, by any means, indifferent to the 
 philosophic and extra-professional bearings of the subject, but 
 because I saw that the gross and palpable bodily phenomena, 
 even, were more than the public stomach could bear, and I did 
 not intend to serve up all my mesmeric stores, till the public had 
 digested my first course of facts that cannot be denied. 
 
 But accident, if it does not determine, generally shapes our 
 actions; and (as in my accidental rccontre with somnambulism) 
 I have been driven, by the force of circumstances, out of the 
 prudent mesmeric course, Vv'hich I had resolved to follow. 
 
 But as the "utile" has not been sacrificed to the "duke/' I hope 
 to be pardoned by the stern utilitarian reader for devoting a chap- 
 ter to the "Curiosities of Mesmerism." 
 
 Knowing the worthlesness of public exhibitions for effecting 
 a general conversion to the truth of Mesmerism, I was very 
 averse to subject it to this unsatisfactory ordeal, and determined 
 not to be made a showman of. All performers in public are not 
 unnaturally suspected to take insurances from Art, in the event 
 of Nature failing them; success on such occasions being thought 
 to be more indispensable than truth. Besides this natural distrust 
 of public displays, the really careful and intelligent observer has 
 not the necessary means of close inspection, required to convince 
 him beyond a doubt, and the mere sight-seer is only bewildered, 
 and declares it to be "all humbug," because all beyond his com- 
 prehension. But in our present state of ignorance it is as absurd 
 to pretend to set limits to the possible in any unexplored regions 
 of Nature, as it woald be for the inhabitants of an 
 
 145 
 
146 CURIOSITIES OF MESMERISM. 
 
 ant-hill in the plains of Bengal to decide authorita- 
 tively against the possible existence of the Himalayahs. 
 I had acted with considerable consistency for some months, in 
 confining my public mesmeric experiments to purely professional 
 subjects ; but a very general curiosity was excited, and I was at 
 length requested, from a high quarter, to gratify some of the 
 inhabitants of Government-House with an especial mesmeric 
 "Seance." This I could hardly have refused without appearing 
 churlish ; and it would have been said that I shunned the light, 
 because my proceedings would not bare inspection. I therefore 
 thought it best to submit to a necessary evil, and make the most 
 of it, by converting an exclusive party into as general and pro- 
 miscuous a meeting as possible. It was therefore pretty generally 
 made known, that all the curious might be gratified for the first 
 and last time on the 29th of July. Accordingly on that day I 
 had the honour of meeting a large assemblage of Europeans and 
 natives at my hospitals ! and as a letter appeared in the news- 
 papers the day after, giving an account of all that was done and 
 seen, I here insert it, as it was generally allowed to give a correct 
 account of all that happened, and mentions the points I wish to 
 make some observations on. Six medical men were of the party, 
 and one of them publicly acknowledged the faithfulness of the 
 report sent to the newspapers. 
 
 PUBLIC DISPLAY OF MESMERISM AT HOOGHLY. 
 
 To the Editor of the Englishman. 
 
 "Sir, — I esteem myself fortunate in having been present at 
 an exhibition of the powers of Mesmerism, given by Dr. Esdaile, 
 yesterday, to satisfy public curiosity, as it is the last opportunity 
 of the kind likely to occur, Dr. E. having for this once only, con- 
 sented to mesmerise for non-professional purposes. 
 
 "The party was very numerous, two steamers having brought 
 the curious from Barrackpore and Calcutta ; and there was a 
 large assemblage of the European and Native residents of 
 Hooghly and Chinsurah. 
 
 "The hospital we first went to was unfortunately small, and 
 the room too much crowded for one to see all that was done ; but 
 what escaped me will be supplied by others, I hope, as it is de- 
 sirable that all the proceedings of the day should be clearly laid 
 before the public. 
 
 "On entering the hospital, we saw two men extended on beds. 
 with their native mesmerisers hanging over them ; but I had no 
 
CURIOSITIES OF MESMERISM. 147 
 
 time to examine their process, as Dr. Esdaile proccedd to busi- 
 ness. He said that these two men were now under the mesmeric 
 influence, to what extent he did not know ; that they required to 
 be operated on, and that he would do so, if they were found to 
 be insensible. 
 
 "The first man awoke on being pulled, and called upon by 
 name ; so he would not do. The other, an elderly man, the Doc- 
 tor thought was in a favourable state, and he immediately did 
 what was needful ; it is needless to say what, but every one was 
 sure that it was very painful. The first cuts did not seem to 
 annoy the man, but he awoke, and cried out before the operation 
 w-as finished, which was a couple of minutes I suppose. The mes- 
 meriser \va.s desired to continue his efforts, and I saw him breathe 
 on the head, and place both hands at the same time on the pit of 
 the stomach ; Dr. E. explaining that he often succeeded in restor- 
 ing the trance, although broken to this degree. And sure enough 
 in a few minutes, the man became perfectly senseless, to all ap- 
 pearance, and every body w^as allowed to examine and experiment 
 upon him for the whole time we remained here ; and as I believe 
 there were several medical men present, making active observa- 
 tions, I hope that they will favour us with the results of their 
 investigation. We were now agreebly surprised by the apparition 
 of two lady philosophers, and the Doctor had to give them his 
 attention, and certainly made them an offer they will not receive 
 every day, for he begged them to choose whether they would 
 prefer to see a woman made senseless by mjcsmcric water, or 
 through the wall. The wall was declared for, and the woman's 
 face turned to it sitting upon her bed. 
 
 "The Doctor disappeared, and what he did, I know not, but 
 some went to see: whatever it was, the woman soon began to 
 nod, and then fell down on her bed. her eyelids twinkling in a 
 strange way, and she paid no attention to what was said to her. 
 Dr. E. now'returned from his ambuscade, having been absent for 
 about five minutes, and pointing to the quivering eyelids, said, 
 that this was very characteristic of the mesmeric state, and that 
 it v^^ould be seen that this woman could not open her eyes without 
 his assistance. After blowing in her eyes to restore her senses, 
 she was desired, and then ordered, to open her eyes, and strained 
 violently to do so ; but the eyelids looked as if gummed together, 
 and she could not separate them. She then, on being urged still 
 farther, pulled the lids asunder, but they instantly closed again. 
 Dr. E. now rubbed her eyes, and blew into them, and she imme- 
 
148 CURIOSITIES OF MESMERISM. 
 
 diately awoke, but in a delirious state, and arose to walk, mut- 
 tering and staggering about in a singular manner ; and on being 
 taken back to bed, she fell into a deep sleep, which usually lasted 
 four or five hours, we were told. 
 
 "We were next addressed by Dr. E., who said that he would 
 now show us that the mesmeric power was not so rare and singu- 
 lar a gift as was imagined, but a general law of Nature, which 
 might be evolved by most people who took the necessary degree 
 of trouble ; and to prove this, he would desire one of his hos- 
 pital assistants to mesmerise a woman across the room, a distance 
 of thirty feet, I should think. The woman was placed with her 
 back to the wall, and a young man placed himself before her, at 
 the other end of the room. In a very short time she acted exactly 
 like the first woman ; her eyes began to twinkle ; she swayed from 
 side to side, and then fell down in a trance, from which no one 
 could awake her — not even the doctors, wdio again examined the 
 man who had been operated upon before leaving, and no one suc- 
 ceeded, I believe, in extracting a sign of sensibility. 
 
 "We were now requested to go to another hospital, where there 
 was more space for the company. We found it to be the Jail 
 Hospital, where there was ample accommodation for all, — the 
 party having tailed off considerably. 
 
 "Dr. E. said that he would attempt to show, in a more strik- 
 ing manner, the great distance at which the mesmeric influence 
 could be felt. A man was brought in, and made to sit on the floor 
 with his back to the wall, and the Doctor sat down opposite him 
 at the other end of the room, which I afterwards measured, and 
 found to be eighty feet long, 
 
 "We all congregated at the other end to watch the effects of 
 this 'Long Range,' and I heard some good jokes cut, about keep- 
 ing out of the line of fire, and the danger of the gun bursting, &c. 
 
 "The Doctor had proved his gun, however, I suppose, as he 
 coolly and steadily took aim at his man, keeping his hands ex- 
 tended, and moving them across his face, and from head to foot. 
 I could distinguish no sensible effects for ten minutes, and I 
 imagine he became impatient, as he took a look at his opponent 
 through an opera glass, and then desired him to rise, to judge of 
 the effects, I presume. The man obeyed with great difficulty, 
 and his tormentor, taking another look through his glass, appeared 
 to be satisfied with his work, as he cried out to us to prevent him 
 from falling, and not unnecessarily ; for the patient trembled 
 violently, and had to be supported. The operator now bid us 
 
CURIOSITIES OF MESMERISM. 149 
 
 move his arms, and seeing thcni remain in any position they were 
 left in, declared him entranced, and being asked if we might 
 now touch him^ he called out — 'Oh, yes ! do what you please.' He 
 now fell into the Doctors' hands principally, and I hope they 
 will report the results of their criticism. I saw, however, that 
 the man was quite insensible, and his limbs cataleptic; and that 
 no one could excite his attention. Dr. Esdaile sat all this time 
 alone, at the other end of the room, apparently enjoying, through 
 his glass, the mischief and perplexity he had created. After we 
 had extracted all we could out of this mesmeric condition of the 
 body, Dr. E. joined us, and set about restoring him to some de- 
 gree of sensibility by rubbing and blowing in his eyes. He now 
 half opened his eyes, and followed the Doctor when led, into the 
 middle of the room ; but like a drunken man, and care had to 
 be taken, lest he should fall. Dr. E. said that he would now con- 
 vert him into an imitating machine, with only sense enough left 
 to hear and obey his orders, without the power of answering ques- 
 tions; reflection being quite dormant. Having cleared up his 
 brain a little more, and attracted his attention by repeating the 
 key note several times, the performance proceeded. He was or- 
 dered to do what the Doctor did, and certainly obeyed his orders 
 most exactly, throwing himself, on the instant, into every atti- 
 tude of the mesmerist, and the very scientific manner in which 
 he took a landsman's 'sight' did great credit to his astronomical 
 powers ; no omnibus cad could take the longitude of an obnoxious 
 passenger in a more artist-like manner. His mode of cocking 
 his eye and of applying his first digit to the side of his nose, was 
 also much admired, and proved that he was 'wide awake,' as some 
 thought, all the time. 
 
 "His instructor next ordered him to repeat whatever he said, 
 which the pupil obeyed by repeating the order. 
 
 "He now shovv^ed himself to be a patriotic and loyal British 
 subject, by the animated and hearty manner in which he repeated, 
 'Ye Mariners of England,' and sang, 'God save the King.' This 
 was followed by "Hey diddle diddle,' in capital style. And here 
 a curious incident occurred ; the spectators could not restrain 
 their laughter, in which the singer joined in full chorus, and 
 some said, 'He can't help laughing himself.' Upon which Dr. 
 Esdaile stopped his performance, and pointed out that they were 
 labouring under a mistake who supposed that he was laughing; 
 the fact being that he was only imitating them, or rather Dr. E., 
 who was laughing 'Gorge dcployef and this, I think, must have 
 
150 CURIOSITIES OF MESMERISM. 
 
 been evident to all. But the farce was nearly converted into a 
 tragedy ; for on being ordered to show how the natives fight with 
 sticks, be began very skilfully ; but on bending forward to make a 
 blow, he pitched head foremost into Dr. E.'s breast, and both 
 rolled upon the floor. This actor's powers were clearly exhausted, 
 and he was left in an intense trance on the floor. 
 
 "It was intimated that the next scene would be 'A Mesmeric 
 interview; or the dangerous efifect of getting on the wrong side 
 of the wall;' and two men were brought in, and placed one in 
 each corner of the room. Two lads were then despatched to 
 work the will of the magician, who remained with us. This time, 
 I was resolved to see both sides of the wall, and going into the 
 adjacent room, I saw the two youths standing with their fore- 
 heads against the wall, opposite the men, and holding their hands 
 extended under their mouths. In five minutes, the lads were 
 desired to desist, and on returning to the large room, I saw the 
 men had been turned round, and were standing perfectly rigid 
 in their corners with their arm^s crucified against the wall, and 
 in this transaction Dr. E. was no more concerned than I was. The 
 Doctors again took possession of the victims, and I had after- 
 wards an opportunity of taking a pull, and giving a pinch, but 
 took nothing by my motion any more than the rest, 
 
 "Our entertainer then proclaimed that the concluding piece 
 would be the sleeping water, or the 'veritable eau merveillense.' 
 He said that when we saw its effects, he hoped that he would 
 be justified for not showing in public how it was made, as it was 
 not fit for the public to know, but that he would be happy to 
 explain the process for the purposes of medicine and philosophy. 
 To guard against all imposition, two Clergymen, and two Doc- 
 tors, were deputed to see the water charmed, and in a few min- 
 utes half-a-dozen lads entered, each carrying a gallipot in his 
 hands, the contents of which (certainly, to all appearance, water) 
 he administered to eight men who were brought from the hospital. 
 
 "This was a bold undertaking, for the people were scarcely 
 permitted to lie down before they were cuffed and kicked unmer- 
 cifully, many of the company making a vigorous use of their 
 understanding in this way. 
 
 "A few minutes comparative quiet having been procured to 
 some of the sleeping candidates, the result was, that four out of 
 eight were found to be cataleptic, and several were converted into 
 somnambulists. 
 
 "I have thus endeavoured to give an account of what was 
 
cuKiosrni£s of micsmeuism. 151 
 
 done and seen by all ; but in so large a field of observation, much 
 must have escaped me, and each person will have something 
 distinctive and characteristic to narrate. The medical men seemed 
 to be wide awake, and availed themselves of the opportunity; 
 and if they have not made up their minds, it is for no want of 
 subjects. Trusting that they will give the professional details, 
 which I cannot supply, 
 - "I am your obedient servant, 
 
 "A Mesmeric Visitor. 
 "Calcutta, 30/ /z July, 1845." 
 
 It is not merely a matter of curiosity to ascertain whether the 
 mesmeric fluid can traverse air, and denser substances, to what dis- 
 tance it can be transmitted, and what circumstances assist or 
 retard its operation. — These are all questions of great interest to 
 the Natural Philosopher, as, by ascertaining them, he will prob- 
 ably detect analogies and affinities between the mesmeric fluid 
 and other better known natural powers, and perhaps prove that 
 it is only a modification of an inorganic agent, or a combination 
 of several, to meet the wants of animal life; and the philosopher 
 will naturally look to the physician for his facts, in a matter with 
 /fl^hich the latter is most conversant. 
 
 / If there is a transmission of some vital product from one per- 
 / son to another, it must pass undeteriorated through the air, for 
 ! the bodies are not in contact, and the effect, in the first instance, 
 ^v^ can be produced at a distance of an inch or several feet, and the 
 intervals can be increased to a wonderful degree in proportion to 
 the sensibility developed by frequent trials. An intervening inch 
 of air between the two bodies being proved to be no obstacle, it is 
 in vain to dogmatise about the possible extent of the mesmeric 
 sphere of action ; if we wish to ascertain this, it must be by actual 
 experiment. In acting upon persons, through the air, without 
 any gesticulations, and by the agency of water, we can make an 
 experiment without exciting the smallest suspicion, and when 
 these are frequently successful in tirst trials, I should think that it 
 must be considered conclusive proof of the transmissibility of the 
 mesmeric fluid by these media. The possibility of affecting per- 
 sons in this way had never been dreamt of by my assistants ; and 
 it is needless to insist on the impossibility of my patients knowing 
 any thing about it ; — in a word, no human being could divine my 
 intentions when I made my first attempt to mesmerise at a dis- 
 tance: I had not determined when or how to try it, and this was 
 
152 CURIOSITIES OF MESMERISM. 
 
 decided by an accidental favourable opportunity. In the women's 
 ward, there is a row of pillars in the centre of the room, and it 
 happened one day that, while leaning against the centre pillar 
 giving some orders, I saw that the beds of the women Nobee and 
 Alunga were on either side of me, in front, at the distance of four 
 or five yards. The women were both sitting up in bed with their 
 faces towards, but not looking at, me ; and I seized the lucky mo- 
 ment to open my masked battery upon them. I first turned my 
 looks on Alunga, and simply made her the object of my exclusive 
 attention ; her eyelids soon began to quiver, and in a few minutes 
 she acted precisely in the manner described by my "Mesmeric 
 Visitor." I then turned to Nobee, and she succeeded equally soon 
 in her zvay, which never partakes of excitement ; she only becomes 
 lethargic, and passes, at once, into mesmeric sleep ; and this has 
 been done subsequently to these and other patients, by all kinds 
 of persons, often in my absence, and as readily as by myself. The 
 experiments have been so numerous and unexceptionable, that 
 I must consider the transmission of the mesmeric fluid through 
 a large body of air to be incontestably proved. This being the 
 case, the permeability of denser materials by it might be pretty 
 confidently expected; and he must be a person of cold imagina- 
 tion, who, admitting the passage of the vital fluid through the 
 impassive air, yet stops short at a -dxill as the "ultima Thule" of 
 his mesmeric belief, and declares all transmural agency to be 
 impossible ! Mineral magnetism finds no obstacle to its progress 
 in the grossest textures, and traverses the earth from pole to 
 pole; electricity finds its way as easily through the walls of a 
 house as through the ambient air ; and why subtile animal fluids 
 should not be endowed, in a modified degree, with such qualities, 
 I do not understand : it seems they must be conderrmed to lose 
 their very essence probably, to gratify our notions of the fitness 
 of things ! But it is in vain that we presume to prescribe a course 
 to Nature, and hedge her round with dogmas, in order to main- 
 tain our infallibility : the "Sacred College" was rapidly revolving 
 through space, while its learned members were constraining the 
 earth to remain a fixture by a "Senatus consultum," as had been 
 determined by the wisdom of the schools ; and the mesmeric fluid 
 will, "like a chartered libertine," not only permeate the air, but 
 also probably pass through walls, let its opponents oppose its 
 progress by what arguments they please. In coming to this con- 
 clusion, I only rely on first trials also, and their results have been 
 as positive and striking as any I have recorded. I have shown 
 
CURIOSITIES OF MESMERISM. 153 
 
 that a person whose system has been deeply imbued with the 
 mesmeric action, will sometimes become entranced by merely 
 turning his face to the wall, and leaving him quiet for a few min- 
 utes : all the account that such a mesmeric victim can give of him- 
 self is, that he feels a coldness and numbness in the limbs, a sense 
 of weight in the back of the head, and an unconquerable heavi- 
 ness of the eyelids before he goes to sleep. But I can hardly 
 imagine that this spontaneous mesmeric paroxysm took place in 
 all the numerous first trials we have made with new subjects, who 
 had never been placed against a wall before, and to whom this 
 position could not therefore be a source of excitement. I ac- 
 knowledge the possibility of some of these being cases of inde- 
 pendent Mesmerism, as the constitution, to be affected in this 
 manner, must be deeply tainted ; and something unusual was cer- 
 tainly done to them. To solve this doubt effectually, I have of 
 late been looking out for a blind man, and one has luckily present- 
 ed himself within the last few days. I have experimented on him 
 solely for the purpose of determining the points in question, more 
 particularly by the wall problem ; and if this supplemental evidence 
 should be still in any part open to objection, I shall be happy to 
 repeat the examination on other blind men, till the evidence shall 
 be considered perfect. In the mean time, I must declare myself 
 almost satisfied, but hope that I shall be the first to change this 
 or any other opinion here advanced, whenever contradicted by new 
 facts. 
 
 Dec. 14th. — ^Janoo, a blind prisoner ; he has got cataracts in 
 both eyes, and can only distinguish light from darkness. I placed 
 him on a stool before me to-day, and entranced him in ten min- 
 utes ; I then roused him up a little, and made him a somnambu- 
 list ; he walked with great difficulty, and while doing so said he 
 was fast asleep in his bed. He very soon became unable to sup- 
 port himself, and fell into the trance, in which he remained for 
 two hours. 
 
 Dec. 15th. — When sitting in the middle of the room to-day, I 
 went and looked steadily at him from outside the window ; in 
 less than ten minutes I knocked him on the head and toes with 
 a long bamboo, and he was quite insensible. On trying to make 
 him walk to-day, I found there was a total dissolution of the mus- 
 cular system ; when placed on his feet he immediately sunk down 
 all in a heap, and on trying to awake him it brought on an 
 alarming fit of convulsive sobbing; on being put to bed it ceased, 
 
154 CURIOSITIES OF MESMPIRISM. 
 
 but again returned on my renewing attempts to awake him; he 
 slept for more than two hours. 
 
 Dec. i6th. — I sent the Sub-Assistant Surgeon to the Jail Hos- 
 pital, desiring him to get the man placed with his face towards 
 the wall, but not touching it ; to take care not to excite his atten- 
 tion, and to keep him engaged in conversation. I followed, and 
 placed myself opposite him on the other side of the wall, leaning 
 my forehead against it, and extending my hands under my mouth. 
 In ten minutes I went to see what was done, and found him con- 
 versing in a lively manner with my Assistant : returned, and gave 
 him five minutes more ; went to see again : found them still talk- 
 ing, but in about two minutes he ceased to answer, and burst 
 into a fit of convulsive crying : I now pulled him by the hair, and 
 he fell back like a person just dead : slept for three hours. 
 
 Dec. 19th. — Mr. Samuells, the collector of Burdwan, being 
 with me to-day, I took advantage of his presence to give this 
 man his first dose of mesmerised water. This was prepared in a 
 different room, and sent to him by a prisoner who usually ad- 
 ministers the medicine, and he was ordered to give it as such ; in 
 two or three minutes he was completely insensible. 
 
 Dec. 20th. — To-day I saw him sitting in front of the cook- 
 room, eating his dinner, and thought it a good opportunity to 
 observe, unperceived, the extent of his blindness. The cook- 
 rooms are about a hundred yards long, and there is a low wall in 
 front, over which one can look kneeling : he was near one end, and 
 I entered at the other, proceeding till I came opposite him, when 
 I carefully observed him over the wall. He had nearly finished 
 his dinner ; and all his looks and actions convinced me that he only 
 knew the difference of night and day. After he had washed his 
 hands and mouth he sat chirping in the sun, as it was very cold, 
 and seemed to feel quite comfortable; he occasionally called on 
 some one by name, and, if answered, cracked a joke with him. I 
 now left my ambush, and seated myself opposite to him in the 
 open air at the distance of twenty yards ; in about a quarter of 
 an hour he raised one arm, rested his elbow on his knee, and 
 leant his head on the hand ; immediately after he supported his 
 head on both hands on his knees, and swayed a little to one side; 
 the inclination gradually increased (he never making an effort to 
 rectify it) till he lost his balance, and fell head foremost into 
 the puddle of water he had made in washing himself; his atti- 
 tude was not in the smallest degree changed, and he looked like a 
 
CURIOSITIES OF MESMERISM. 155 
 
 sitting statue reversed. He was carried to bed ; awoke after three 
 hours, and asked how he had got there. 
 
 Dec. 26th. — I saw him sunning himself in front of the hos- 
 pital to-day, and seated myself on the ground oiJposite him at 
 the distance of thirty yards ; in less than five minutes he leaned to 
 one side, and then fell as if shot : slept for two hours. 
 
 From the foregoing facts it is allowable to conclude, I hope, 
 that Mesmerism is a natural power of the human body. 
 
 That it atlccts directly the nervous and muscular systems. 
 
 That in the mesmeric trance the most severe and protracted 
 surgical operations can be performed, without the patients being 
 sensible of pain. 
 
 That spasms and nervous pains often disappear before the 
 mesmeric trance. 
 
 That it gives us a complete command of the muscular system, 
 and is therefore of great service in restoring contracted limbs. 
 
 That the chronic administration of Mesmerism often acts as 
 a useful stimulant in functional debility of the nerves. 
 
 That as sleep, in the absence of all pain, is the best condition of 
 the system for subduing inflammation, the mesmeric trance will 
 probably be found to be a powerful remedy in local inflamma- 
 tions. 
 
 That the imagination has nothing to do with the iirst physical 
 impression made on the system by Mesmerism, as practised by me. 
 
 That it is not necessary for the eyes to be open : I always shut 
 them as a source of distraction ; and blind men are as readily mes- 
 merised as others. 
 
 That water can be charged with the mesmeric fluid, and has a 
 powerful effect on the system when it has been previously affected. 
 
 That the mesmeric influence can be transmitted through the 
 air to considerable distances, and even pass through dense ma- 
 terials. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 When speaking of Somnambulism, I ventured to express my 
 belief that "Clairvoyance," or the transference of sense, had been 
 witnessed in diseased states of the body, and that, as we can 
 imitate Nature step by step, by artificially producing Somnam- 
 bulism, Catalepsy, and a state of the system resembling Hysteria, 
 in which "Clairvoyance" has been witnessed as a symptom in dis- 
 ease ; so we might expect to see this phenomenon in the analogous 
 derangements of the nervous system brought about by Mesmerism. 
 It ought to be remembered that this is one of the wonders of 
 Nature, and also, a great rarity in art, and must not be looked for, 
 as a matter of course, in persons under the influence of Mesmer- 
 ism. It has not yet fallen under my observation, and from want 
 of books, I could not present the reader with as many well-attested 
 proofs of its existence in Nature as was desirable. 
 
 After the foregoing work was finished, I fortunately met 
 Professor Wienholt's "Lectures on Somnambulism," and, as I 
 there found all the facts required to establish the existence of 
 natural Clairvoyance, and, in the notes of the learned translator, 
 Mr. Colquhoun, a parallel array of these "stubborn things" in 
 proof of the truth of IMesmeric Clairvoyance, I hope the reader 
 will be glad to have this additional aid to his judgment in coming 
 to a decision. Professor Wienholt, in describing natural Som- 
 nambulism, says : 
 
 "The sleep-walker, when otherwise healthy, falls, at a partic- 
 ular period, into a common sleep, which cannot be distinguished 
 from the natural state of repose. After a longer or shorter time 
 he rises from his couch, and walks about the room — sometimes 
 about the house. He frequently goes out into the open air, walks 
 upon known or unknown paths as quickly, and with as much 
 activity and confidence, as in his waking state, avoids all ob- 
 stacles which may stand, or have been designedly placed in his 
 route, and makes his way along rugged paths, and climbs danger- 
 ous heights, which he would never have thought of attempting 
 when awake. He reads printed and written papers, writes as 
 well and correctly as in his waking state, and performs many 
 
 156 
 
APPENDIX. 157 
 
 Other operations requiring light and the natural use of the eyes. 
 All these actions, however, are performed by the Somnambulist in 
 complete darkness as well as when awake, and, generally, with 
 his eyes firmly closed. I shall afterwards speak of the exceptions, 
 in which these persons have their eyes open. When the period of 
 his somnambulism has elapsed, he returns to his bed, falls back 
 again into his natural sleep, awakes at his usual hour, and, in 
 most instances, knows nothing of what he had done in his sleep- 
 walking state. At the same time, there are very few persons who 
 exhibit all of these phenomena, or even the greater number of 
 them. For the most part, they only wander about without any 
 other peculiar manifestation ; and the instances in which several 
 of the phenomena in question are exhibited are rare. This state, 
 which is found in persons otherwise healthy, frequently occurs 
 in diseases, especially in diseases of the nervous system. In the 
 latter case, the afifection usually commences with a paroxysm of 
 convulsive motions, catalepsy, apparent syncope, and then passes 
 over into a state precisely similar, so far as regards the principal 
 symptoms, to Somnambulism ; only that in this latter case, the 
 patients not only act, but speak, which rarely happens in the for- 
 mer. Before these patients are completely restored to their ordi- 
 nary waking state, their sleep is changed into a similar convulsive 
 state, combined with want of consciousness. 
 
 "Of this species of Somnambulism occurring in nervous dis- 
 eases, we are in possession of many curious instances, of which 
 the Aulic Councillor Meiners, a celebrated professor at Goettingen, 
 has inserted several very remarkable examples in his instructive 
 collection. In respect to its chief characteristics, this species of 
 Somnambulism, occurring in nervous diseases, completely resem- 
 bles the natural crisis ; it is recognized by all competent judges as 
 of the same kind, and is comprehended under the same 
 class of diseases ; and in this view I also consider it. 
 I begin with the case in Moritz's Magazine, which was first trans- 
 lated by Mr. Spalding, and afterwards inserted by Meiners in his 
 collection. This is a case of what has been called 'louping ague,' 
 which, unquestionably, is just one instance of that species of 
 Somnambulism which I have referred to as occasionally accom- 
 panying nervous diseases. The patient was a female of sixteen 
 years of age. The paroxysm attacked her in the morning, and 
 consisted of a profound sleep. In this state, she would jump with 
 astonishing activity upon tables and chairs, run, when permitted, 
 and with great rapidity, out of the house, — generally to a par- 
 
158 APPENDIX. 
 
 ticular place in the neighbourhood ; and when she did not awake, 
 she would return immediately, but sometimes by a different road, 
 and in a different direction. She not unfrequently left the high 
 road, and ran straight through the fields. She never fell nor 
 injured herself, however rough her path might be, or however 
 fast she might run ; and her speed was sometimes so great, that 
 her much stronger and more active brother could not keep pace 
 with her. She frequently mounted upon the garden wall, upon 
 the uneven top of which she continued to run ; nay, she even 
 went upon the edge of the house roof without once stumbling, 
 much less falling. During all these hazardous operations, her 
 eyes were fast closed, and she appeared to be deprived of all her 
 other senses." 
 
 The second volume of Moritz's Magazine contains the history 
 of a boy of nine years of age, who frequently fell into a species 
 of Somnolency, during which he was capable of carrying on a 
 conversation. His eyes were fast closed, but, notidthstanding 
 this circumstance, lie sazv and named all objects that zuere pre- 
 sented to him. 
 
 A very remarkable case was related to me by a most trust- 
 worthy observer, the late Hamburgh Physician, Dr. Schulz, from 
 whom the Aulic Counsellor Meiners, of Goettingen, also received 
 it, and inserted it in his well-known collection. It was that of a 
 girl between twelve and thirteen years of age, belonging to a 
 family of some distinction, who was afflicted with a violent nerv- 
 ous complaint, in which strong convulsive motions alternated with 
 catalepsy and syncope. Besides, she frequently had paroxysms, 
 during which she conversed with much liveliness and ingenuity. 
 In this state, she distinguished unthout difficulty all colours that 
 li'cre presented to her, recognised the numbers of the cards, and 
 the stripes upon those which were variegated. She described the 
 binding of books when shozvn to her. She zcrote in the same 
 manner as usual, and cut figures on paper, as she zmis accustomed 
 to do for pastime in her zvaking state. Her eyes, at this time, zvere 
 firmly closed; but in order to be assured that she made no use of 
 them, a bandage was placed over thon on the approach of the par- 
 oxysm. 
 
 Another very remarkable case will be found in the "Breslau 
 Medical Collections." It relates to a rope-maker, who was fre- 
 quently overtaken by sleep, even in the daytime, and in the midst 
 of his usual occupations. While in this state, he sometimes recom- 
 menced doing all that he had been engaged in during the previous 
 
APPENDIX. 159 
 
 part of the day; at other times he would continue the work in 
 which he happened to be engaged at the commencement of the 
 paroxysm, and finished his business with as great ease and success 
 as when awake. When the fit overtook him in travelHng, he 
 proceeded on his journey with the same faciUty, and almost 
 faster than when awake, without missing the road or stumbling 
 over any thing. In this manner he repeatedly went from Nurem- 
 burg to Weimar. Upon one of these occasions he came into a 
 narrow lane where there lay some timber. He passed over it 
 regularly without injury; and with equal dexterity he avoided 
 the horses and carriages that came in his way. At another time, 
 he was overtaken by sleep just as he was about to set out for 
 Weimar on horseback. He rode through the river lime, allowed 
 his horse to drink, and drew up his legs to prevent them getting 
 wet; then passed through several streets, crossed the market- 
 place, which was, at that time, full of people, carts and booths, and 
 arrived in safety at the house of an acquaintance, where he awoke. 
 These and many similar acts, requiring the use of the eyes, he 
 performed in darkness, as well as by daylight. His eyes, hoiuever, 
 were firmly closed, and he could not see zvhen they zuere forced 
 open and stimulated by light brought near them. His other senses 
 appeared to be equally dormant as were his eyes. He could not 
 smell the most volatile spirit. He felt nothing when pinched, 
 pricked, or struck. He heard nothing when called by his name, 
 or even when a pistol was discharged close beside him. 
 
 There is another case, somewhat older, observed and circum- 
 stantially reported by a trustworthy physician. Dr. Knoll, which 
 equally deserves our attention. The subject of his observation 
 was a young man, a gardener, who became somnambulous, and 
 while in that state performed many extraordinary operations. 
 He generally fell asleep about eight o'clock in the evening, and 
 then began to utter devotional sentences and prayers. After- 
 wards he went out of the house, clambered over a high wooden 
 partition, and a still higher wall, uninjured, passed through 
 several streets, and returned. At another time he climbed up 
 to the roof of the house, and rode astride upon the gutter, as if 
 upon horseback, clambered about for some time upon the roof, 
 and, at length, descended in safety. With a view to prevent 
 accidents, he was locked up in a room, and watched. Wlien 
 he became somnambulous, at the usual time, he began to per- 
 form all sorts of operations on his clothes and the furniture of 
 the room. He climbed up to the window sill, and from thence 
 
l6o APPENDIX. 
 
 to a stone which was much higher, and at some distance, and 
 rode upon the latter, as if upon a horse. The height of the 
 stone, its distance from the window, and its small breadth, were 
 such, that a person awake would scarcely have ventured to 
 attempt these operations. After descending from the stone, he 
 knocked a large table about hither and thither, and finding ii: 
 was likely to fall on him, he very dexterously contrived to evade 
 it. He gathered together all the clothes he could find in the 
 room, mixed them together, then separated them carefully, and 
 hung them up, each article in its proper place. The old stock- 
 ings and shoes he endeavoured to arrange in pairs, according 
 to their shape and colour, as if he actually saw them. He then 
 laid hold of a needle, which he had stuck into the wall some 
 weeks before, and sewed his small-clothes. Besides these, he 
 performed a variety of other operations, all requiring light and 
 the use of the eyes, zmth zvhich, it zcoiild appear, he zms enabled 
 to dispense. 
 
 In addition to the foregoing instances, I must here notice two 
 remarkable cases, which were both observed with great ac- 
 curacy by individuals who are elevated far above all suspicion 
 of credulity, deceit, and imposture. The one is reported by 
 the Professor, and Aulic Counsellor, Feder. The subject of his 
 observations was a student, who, during a severe nervous com- 
 plaint, experienced several attacks of Somnambulism. Upon 
 these occasions he would go from his bed-room to his parlour 
 and back, open and shut the doors, as well as his closet, and take 
 out of the latter v/hatever he wanted — pieces of music, pen, ink, 
 and paper, and all this zmth his eyes shut! From among his 
 music he selected a march from the opera of Medea, laid the 
 sheet in a proper situation before him, and having found the ap- 
 propriate key, he played the whole piece with his usual skill upon 
 the harpsichord. In the same manner he also played one of 
 Bach's sonatas, and gave the most expressive passages with sur- 
 prising effect. One of the persons present turned the notes up- 
 side down : this he immediately perceived, and when he com- 
 menced playing, he replaced the sheet in its proper position. 
 When playing, he remarked a string out of tune, upon which 
 he stopped, put it in order, and again proceeded. He wrote a 
 letter to his brother, and what he wrote was not only perfectly 
 rational, but straight and legible. While Professor Feder was 
 on a visit to him one afternoon, he (the somnambulist) observed 
 that it was snowing, which was actually the case. On the same 
 
APPENDIX. l6l 
 
 occasion, notunthstanding his eyes zcerc still completely closed, 
 he remarked that the landlord of the opposite house was stand- 
 ing at the window, which was true, and that hats were hanging 
 at the window of another room, which was also the fact. He 
 opened Professor Feder's Compendium of logic and metaphysics, 
 and pointed out to him several passages which he thought inter- 
 esting, as also some of his own written notes of the Professor's 
 lectures in a volume which had been recently bound. We must 
 observe, however, the remarkable circumstance — common to him, 
 indeed, with several other somnambulists — that there were many 
 things he did not perceive. Thus, while writing to his brother, 
 he did not observe that there was no more ink in the pen, and 
 continued to write on. At one time he struck fire, and held the 
 tinder to his ear, as if to hear the crackling, and then ascertain 
 if it was burning. He lighted a match, came to the candle, and 
 held it in the middle of the flame. 
 
 In conclusion, I may refer to the case observed by the Arch- 
 bishop of Bourdeaux, and reported in the great French Encyclo- 
 pedia. It is the case of a young ecclesiastic, in the same seminary 
 with the Archbishop, who was in the habit of getting up during 
 the night in a state of Somnambulism, of going to his room, 
 taking pen, ink, and paper, and composing and writing sermons. 
 When he had finished one page of the paper on which he was 
 writing, he would read over what he had written and correct it. 
 Upon one occasion, he had made use of the expression ce diz'iii 
 enfant. In reading over the passage, he changed the adjective 
 dizfin into adorable. Perceiving, however, that the pronoun ce 
 could not stand before the word adorable, he added to the former 
 the letter t. In order to ascertain whether .the somnambulist 
 made really any use of his eyes, the Archbishop held a piece of 
 pasteboard under his chin, to prevent him from seeing the paper 
 on which he was writing; but he continued to write on without 
 appearing to be incommoded in the slightest degree. 
 
 The paper on which he was writing was taken away ; but 
 the somnambulist immediately perceived the change. He wrote 
 pieces of music while in this state, and in the same manner zcitli 
 his eyes closed. The words were placed under the musical notes. 
 It happened, upon one occasion, that the words were written in 
 too large a character, and did not stand precisely under the corre- 
 sponding notes. He soon perceived the error, blotted out the 
 part, and wrote it over again with great exactness. 
 
 I hope that these examples, to which I might add a great many 
 
l62 APPENDIX. 
 
 others, will be sufficient to show that the somnambulist, during 
 this extraordinary state, is enabled, apparently without the use 
 of his eyes, to receive impressions equally well, or, at least, with 
 the same consequences to his perceptive faculty, as when awake. 
 ]\Ir. Colquhoun, the translator of Wienholt, supplies us from 
 his extensive reading, with a number of the best authenticated 
 cases descriptive of the same condition of things in Somnambul- 
 ism, and derangement of the nervous system induced by Mes- 
 merism ; and as this is the only physical symptom of any conse- 
 quence, described by European Mesmerists, which I have not 
 yet seen in India, I hope that Mr. Colquhoun will excuse my 
 making such free use of his facts, in order to complete this sub- 
 ject. 
 
 The reporters of the facts in question are, for the most part, 
 men whose intellectual attainments, in general, are known to 
 have been of a superior order, and whose moral character is ele- 
 vated far above suspicion ; men, in short, far more honourable 
 and trustworthy than their wretched, chiefly anonymous, calumni- 
 ators. They will be found to be, principally, eminent physicians, 
 such as Hufeland, physician to the king of Prussia; Steiglitz, 
 physician to the king of Hanover ; Brandis, physician to the king 
 of Denmark ; Klein, physician to the king of Wirtemberg ; Wien- 
 holt ; Olbers, the astronomer ; Gmelin ; Heinecken ; Bockman ; 
 Baehrens ; Ennemmoser ; Sprengel, author of a history of medi- 
 cine, and other learned works; Haindorf; Nolte ; Spindler ; 
 Nasse ; Nees von Esenbeck ; Passavant ; Ziermann ; Heinroth ; 
 Leupoldt, &c. — Physiologists, such as Reil ; Treviranus ; Auten- 
 rieth ; Humboldt; Burdach ; Eschenmayer; Kieser, &c. — Natural- 
 ists, such as La Place, Cuvier, Oken, &c. — Philosophers, such as 
 Fichte, Schelling, Steffens, Baader, Hegel, &c. — Theologians, 
 such as Schleicrmacher. Mayer, &c. To these might be added 
 a vast number of men of general science, and celebrated literary 
 characters. The French magnetists — Puysegur, Dcleuze, 
 Bertrand, Georget, Cuvier, Despine, Rostan, Husson, Filassicr, 
 Foissac, Gauthier, Teste, &c. — constitute a perfect host. 
 
 But it has been alleged that the evidence of these enlightened 
 individuals is liable to discredit, because, forsooth, they were 
 engaged in investigating the phenomena of animal magnetism. 
 Assuredly, this is a strange, and we must take the liberty of 
 saying, a most preposterous objection. Pray, how are the facts 
 of nature to be discovered and appreciated, unless by those who 
 take an interest in investigating: them? Arc the facts of chem- 
 
APPKNOTX. 163 
 
 istry to be discredited, because they have been discovered by 
 chemists? And is the same ultra sceptical test to be appHed to 
 electricity, galvanism, astronomy, and general physics? Are 
 no facts to be relied upon as genuine, but such as may happen 
 to be adduced by ignorant and unskilful persons, who have neither 
 the requisite talent, nor the disposition for investigation, and 
 v/ho are, moreover, careless and indifferent to the results ? 
 
 The Author, then, feels no hesitation in appealing to the ex- 
 perience of the most eminent magnetists, in confirmation of the 
 fact which, as we have seen, has been manifested in many in- 
 stances, of the natural Somnambulism ; but in order to deprive 
 the most obdurate sceptics of every pretence for denying the 
 reality of the fact in question, we shall proceed to the brief enum- 
 eration of cases, in which the controverted phenomenon was dis- 
 tinctly and unequivocally manifested. 
 
 Dr. Tritschler's somnambulist — a boy of thirteen years of 
 age — saw and recognised the numbers and pictures on cards, 
 when introduced under the bedcover, and placed upon his stom- 
 ach, in complete darkness, and covered, moreover, by the hand 
 of the magnetiser. The same recognition took place in the case 
 of written notes. 
 
 Madame Millet, magnetised by Van Ghert, saw her phy- 
 sician's hand and finger by means of the epigastrium. At a later 
 period she recognised, in a similar manner, some portraits. At 
 last she became so clairvoyante as to be able to read, by means 
 of the epigastrium, at the distance of a foot and a half. 
 
 Miss St., under the care of Dr. Lehmann, accurately distin- 
 guished the colours of cards by means of the epigastrium. 
 Kieser's epileptic boy read fluently by means of the pit of the 
 stomach. Maria Rubel, in Langenberg, read sealed letters by 
 means of the epigastrium ; nay, even written characters envel- 
 oped in a covering of double linen. De Valenti's patient de- 
 scribed the ornamental devices on his watch ; she also recognised 
 the picture of a soldier placed on her stomach. In many other 
 patients the functions of other organs were also manifested at 
 the epigastrium. Dr. Joseph Frank's patient, Louisa Baerk- 
 mann, recognised and felt the taste of sugared water at the epigas- 
 tric region, and heard at the same place. A servant girl, mag- 
 netised by De Valenti, also heard at the epigastrium. Dr. Klein's 
 patient said, "This is very comical — I hear by means of my 
 stomach;" and she laughed aloud at the singularity of the phe- 
 
164 APPF.XDIX. 
 
 nomenon. Her ears having been stopt, she said, "That is of 
 no use ; I hear with this," pointing to her stomach. 
 
 In the case of other somnambulists, the common sense seemed 
 to be transferred to the points of the fingers, as in the case of 
 Miss M'Evoy, of Liverpool, Professor Kieser's patient, Anthony 
 Arst, read with his forefinger, and distinguished cards in the 
 same manner. Nay, when he held his elbow out of the window, 
 he saw every thing in the street to the distance of 150 paces. 
 Van Chert's somnambulist saw by the means of the fingers; as 
 also Madame Millet and Maria Rubel, formerly noticed, and 
 Dr. Durr's patient. An idio-somnambulic boy at Halmstadt, in 
 Holland, read fluently by means of his breast and fingers. Dr. 
 Meyer's patient, at Dulken in Rhenish Prussia, heard with the 
 points of his fingers. One of Dr. Kerner's somnambulists heard 
 sometimes with her fingers, sometimes with every part of her 
 body. Articles of food she tasted with her fingers, as with her 
 mouth. The second somnambulist, mentioned in the work re- 
 ferred to, saw only when she placed her finger on the pit of the 
 stomach, or on the crown of the head. She sometimes heard, 
 smelt, and saw with the point of the middle finger. 
 
 Other cases are recorded in which the patients saw and heard 
 with the nose, the chin, the elbows, the knees, the toes, and all 
 the prominent parts of the body. Augusta Miller of Carlsruhe 
 saw with her forehead, her eyelids, and her eye-brows. Dr. 
 Werner mentions, as a singular peculiarity, that his somnambul- 
 ist possessed the power of changing the focus of vision at pleas- 
 ure. In some cases, it would appear, the whole body becomes as 
 it were clairvoyant. This was the case with Dr. Heinecken's 
 patient at Bremen, who saw without the assistance of the eyes, 
 or of any other special organ ; and she expressly declared that 
 such somnambulists were much more clairvoyant than those whose 
 perceptive faculties were localised. Hence the somnambulists are 
 frequently unable to give any adequate description of these 
 metastases of the perceptive faculties and the species of percep- 
 tion, in these cases, might, perhaps, be more properly denominated 
 feeling, than actual sight, hearing, &c. It is worthy of remark, 
 too, that the perceptions of these somnambulists, in general, are 
 much more vivid, acute, and delicate, than in the waking state. 
 
 The foregoing observations, it is presumed, must be sufficient 
 to convince every candid and unprejudiced mind of the existence 
 in certain states of the organism, of the phenomenon of sensible 
 perception, without the use of the appropriate organs. 
 
APPF-xnix. 165 
 
 Here, then we have a body of evidence in support of the ex- 
 istence of natural and artificial "clairvoyance," given by the same 
 description of persons; physicians of eminence and unimpeached 
 honour, a body of men who, perhaps more than the members of 
 any other profession, are dependent on their characters as the 
 means of winning- daily bread. It appears to me, that there is no 
 ground for preferring the evidence of one set of witnesses to 
 the other, and that both are by their character and knowledge 
 eminently entitled to our belief, unless we reject all human 
 testimony, declare clairvoyance to be a subject on which it is use- 
 less to accumulate facts and evidence, and "taboo" its considera- 
 tion by the human mind. 
 
 THE END, 
 
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