The Sun.
London, England, 1852-04-08 00:00:00

T 1114.1

LITERATURE.
TEE ZOIS7'. No. XXXVIL
An elaborate and very remarkable pa eer is con-
tributed to the April numbsr of the Zoist by Dr.
William Gregory on the "Theory of It as
the Cause of Mesmeric Phenumens:' In the course
of this article the writer thus enumerates those facts
which, says be, are at last recognised as occurring in
the waking state, after having boon so long and
fiercely denied as eccompanyiug the mesmeric sleep:,
/1, The impressible state is'. produced in the patient
by his gazing fixedly at an object in his hand or Plebs
where, and possibly, or even probably, in consequence
of the concentration of his thoughts, and the accom-
panying stillness. Or it may be produced by the operators
fixed gaze, while the pati, nt'a eye is also fixed on the
operator. Or, further, it may be found as a characteristic,
of the mesmeric sleep, however that may have been pro-'
duced. Or, finally, it may be found, to exist spon-
taneously in certain individuals. In the two first
methods it is, in all probability, induced by an internal
change in the
patient's nervous systole, caused by what
may be called au appeal to the imgination, or, in other
words, by the physical effects of fixed gazire4 on the
nervous system of him who grzea. When the mesmeric
sleep occurs in consequence of passes, gszing, or contact,
the same explanation applies; but when that sleep is
caused without any appeal to the imaginatioe, as we
shall see it may, we are not entitled to, ascribe ,to that.
cause the impressibility of the patient. Neither can we
do so in those cases in which the patient is naturally
impressible. But it is certain that in the greater num-
ber of cases the impressible state is produced by means
of an appeal to the imagination of the patient; and,
when he is in that state, the very character of the phe-
nomena eow to be described consists in their connexion
with, and dependence on, the imagination; that is, on
mental impressions made on the patient.- For this rea-
son, we call them the phenomena of suggeetion, or sug-
gestive phenomena.'
" 11. Tae impressible state being present, wo find, in
a large proportion of cases, that the muscular powers
of the patient are entirely under control. The operator
has only to command, or to suggest, in a tone of firm,
conviction of his power, that any muscle or series of
muscles shall act or shall be incapable of action, and the
result follows. The patient clenches his hand and can-
not open it; or opens it, and cannot shut it: he is com-
pelled to sit down and rendered unable to rise, or he
must rise and cannot sit down. He is desired to strike
out at the operator's face, but cannot touch it if the
operator tells him that he cannot; his blow falls short, or
passes to one side or other; he is unable to perform that
easy act, but that only. -Ile is rendered unable to pick
up a bank-note, which is his if he can only seize it; or
when it is placed in his hand, he cannot drop it if not
permitted to do so. Ho cannot jump on, but comes
down before or behind, or to one side of a handkerchief
on the floor. His hand is laid fiat on that of another,
back to back, or palm to palm, or the tips of his fingers
touch those of. another, and in neither case' can he, if
forbidden by the operator, take his hand away. If com-
manded to move to a certain point, he will overcome
any resistance offered to him', or, if overpowered by
many men with main force, he will struggle till utterly
exhausted. Or again, if told. that he cannot move no
inducement can prevail on him to do so. His will is
exerted, but its power is gone, and he looks and, feels,
no doubt, very foolish. In short, the command of the
operator urges to instant and powerfUl action, or utterly'
psralyz s one or any number of the voluntary muscles,
in spire of all the efforts of the patient.
" 111. His sensations are equally obedient to the
operator. In an instant his whole frame becomes
insensible to pain, nay, to touch ; the sense of
touch is annihilated, and as quickly restored. Or,
while the rest of his body is in its usual state
of sensitiveness, one finger, one hand, ono arm,
one leg, or both, or the bead, or any other part,
is struck with instant insensibility. When that
member is pricked, pinched, cut, or burned, he knows
nothing of it, unless he happens to look towards it, and
at such a time a limb might be cut eff without his sue-
petting it, provided his eyes were directed elsewhere.
Any common object in his hand, a knife or pencil for
instance, becomes at the word of command, but slowly
and leisurely, burning hot or intensely cold, heavy as
lead, or light as sir. The water he drinks becomes
milk, beer, wine, brandy, lemonade, punch, soda-water,
syrup, or wormwood, boiling hot or icy cold, according
as he is told. In a hot and crowded room be is made
to shiver with cold, and that so effectually, that iu a few
minutes his hand feels, even to others, like that of one
who has been kneading snowballs; or on a frosty day he
feels oppressed with beat, throws off his coat, is drenched
in perspiration, flushed and hot to the hand; according
to the orders of his tormentor.
"IV. In like:manner, his eyes deceive him. He takes
a pianoforte for a horse, a watch for a snuff-box, a man
for a child, a lady for a gentleman, a friend for a
stranger, but only in obedience to the suggesting voice.
He wall insist that the clock before him marks half past
four, when the,hands point to noon, or vice versa, if told
so. He will see all manner of things and, people before
him, where none of them are. lie will see and bag,
too, game, invisible to all eyes but his. He will 'see a
balloon rising from the floor, and follow it with his eyes
through the roof or window till it is lost in the heavens;
and he will likewise follow the aerial voyage of Mother
Bunch on her broomstick, or of Mephistopheles hurry-
ing through the air to the Brockign on the back of a
goat. His ears are equally under control. At the
word of the operator, he hears the sweetest music, the
loudest thunder, or the most eloquent speech. And the
same word can render him both blind and deaf. He
also smells the snuff in a snuff-box, which is really a
watch, and not only smells it. but is thrown by it, if the
operator calls it high-dried Scotch or Lundy foot, into a
severe paroxysm of sneezing and coughing, which we
have seen last for fifteen or twenty minutes. All the
senses, in short, are subject to the sway of the operator.
It is useless to resist. The patient knows and can tell
you that he sees only delusive objects, or hears delusive
sounds, but still he cannot but hear, see, feel, taste, and
smell, as he is commanded. In the case of experiments'
on muscular motions, the patient often makes super-
human efforts to resist, but finds it all in vain.

" V. The memory Of the patient is completely under
the control of the operator, at whose command the viz:
zled victim in vain tries to recall his 'own name, or that
of the operator, or those of his relations and friends.
In like manner he finds himself unable to recall a single
letter of the alphabet, and his countenance, while trying
to do so, is ludicrously expressive.
VI. 'clie operator can call up any emotion, by the
same simple command. Fear, anger, grief, pride, pug-
nacity, laughter, &c., are in item vividly fat and .ex-
hibited, in spite of the utmost resistance on the pin of
the patient, who may in the course of a few Minutes be
drowned in tears and sore with laughter. He way be
made to believe any assertion, and to act in consequence,
to quarrel with a bystander for a supposed aff, oat; to
fancy himself to be any individual named, and to act
and speak in character; to engage in any occupation
suggested,'such as fishing, shooting, tailoring, painting,
singing, spouting, swimming; to take shelter fiona a
storm, and swim for his lite in the flood; to fly, for
safety from a bear, a lion; or a snake; and to become,
after drinking: water as whisky, so helplessly drunk as to
exhibit even the unpleasant physical consequvces of
inebriety, to stagger and fall on attempting to walk, and
in some cases to be with difficulty sobered after a con-

biderable time, his intoxication apparently interfering
with his impressibility.
VII. Lastly, the operator can cause his patient to
fall into a quiet (not somnambulistic or mesmeric)
sleep, in one, two, or more minutes, according to the
command, and in spite of all his efforts to keep awake.
In this sleep the patient neither bears nor answers any
one except the operater, when the latter says, • Awake!'
Nay, the loudest noises at his ear, us well ail pulling,
shaking, pinching, fail to awake him, till the magic
word is spoken, or the allotted time has expired."

7;:. 14 0 N.11)..0-_lq)

THE REV. MR: WHISTON AND THE
DEAN AND CHAPTEH, OF BOCILESTER.
Yesterday morning, the Bisleee of Rochester, as-
slated by his learned aCsessors, Mr. Baron Parke and
Dr. Lushington, sat at halt-past ten o'clock in the
Arches Court, Doctors-commons, for the further
hearing of the appeal of the Rev. Mr. Whiston.
The Reverend Gentleman, who, as before, con-
ducted his own case, resuieed his argument in refer-
ence to the illegality of the course pursued by the
Dean and Chapter of ROtheite, n dismiseieg
from the head-mastership -of the Cathedral . Grammar
School. He reiterated his denial of the charges upon
which his dismissal was founded, and his statements
as to the non-observance of the statutes •by
-the Dean and .Chapter themselves, Whether
they applied the funds • acquired by .this - ne-
glect of the wishes of the royal founder to them.
selves, or took it for DOUMR, it was an improper pro-
ceediug. He maintained that until they produced their
accounts there was ground for suspicion. The reve-
rend gentleman here held up a large bundle of letters
and communications, to show the pains he had taken
to get definite information -as to the accounts. He
continued to observe that it was now nearly four
years since that correspondence began. and during
that time he had used every effort to obtain redress,
and it was not until all these failed that he had ap-
pealed to the visitor, the Bishop of Rochester, from
whom he obtained-a distinct promise that the appeal
should be heard, and had his request been eomplied
with as had beeu done in a similar case by the Bishop
of Chester and sby the Archbishop of Canterbury in
the Dulwich case, matters would have been at once
terminated, but unhappily he declined.
The Bishop of R,oceiesTea said that that which be
failed to do he had not done, because he found he
could not do it as he was legally advised.
Mr. Whiston said—Well, he would withdraw that
accusation and put it in this way, that his Lordship
bad promised to hear him, and not having done so,
and not having answered several of his letters, it was
natural that the impression on his mind should nct
have been of a very tranquil kind. After a four
months' silence his Lordship referred him to a place
were no one like to go—to the Court of Chancery.—
(A laugh.) That Court had referred him again to
the visitor under the statutes acid disclaiming juris-
diction. He was then advised to a Chancery suit, but
he- had no inclination to remain in. Chancery for
twenty years, and he therefore preferred to appeal to
the public in his' pamphlet. That was not written to
gratify malice or satisfy vindictiveness-, if belied used
expressions, or one word that could be fairly called
intemperate, he regretted it ; but if he did not de-
serve degradation and ruin for having done so. He
had been supported throughout by a conscious-
ness of doing right. Already the poor bedesmen of
Rochester filled a place -which had been empty for
nearly a century, and received a salary which po-
mus- had received for nearly 86 years. In -the ca-
thedrals of Durham, Chester, and Carlisle, as well as
at Rochester, great good had arisen from the agita-
tion of this question. If he was to be dismissed for
writing a book which 'the Dean and Chapter of Ro-
chester did-net like, he did not see why the 'same
measure should not be meted'out to the masters of
Eaton, Winchester, and Westminster schools, who
had committed the same fault. The Reverend Gen-
tleman concluded with an earnest address to the
visitor for an impartial decision in this important in-
quiry.
• The Bishop of ROCHESTER shortly explained his
reasons for delafin answering some of tee Reverend
Gentleman's communications.
Mr. W. piston expressed his .conviction, that if his
Lordship had co-operated with him kindly, the whole
thing might have been comfortably arranged.
Dr. Lusuieesrox thought it incumbent on him to
explain, that when the Bishop advised with him, as
Chancellor of the diocese, as to the course to be
adopted in reference to Mr. Whiston's claims, it had
occurred to him that it was impossible for the Bishop,
as visitor, legally to decide many matters that might
come before him if this inquiry were granted. He
then advised privately with the late Lord Langdale,
and it was their united opinion that Mr. Whiston
should resort, in the" first place, to the Court of
Chancery.
Mr. Whiston said, that as reference had been made
to Lord Langdale, he was 'informed that his words
were, " I believe that Mr. Whiston is right."
Mr. Appals's inquired whether the Court would sit
againtojiarmOorrn p
oWAx-morrow
_badiay)t.
Mr. ~s
i
-be able to sit again until after n
The Court then adjourned. Flt as
terra:sible, shall not