The Sun.
London, England, 1852-07-27 00:00:00

;EPRESENTATIONS REGARDING MES-
MERISM CORRECTED.

_. _ 'TO .THE EDITOR OF THE_ SUN.
Si
.. . ae-,.As medieal mesmerists are
not elluwed to be
heard in the medical journals, and are .Struck on the
eitienth-with the editorial shoe whenever they attectV to
ing
m
vindicate their honour and underetandings by making-
knewe to the medical profession sad the' public the a? 1,
that have Convinced them, and their reasons for the Taut!
thetis in them, it is only through the free unprofessional
press thatmedical men, who have practically studied !" subject of reesinerism, can hope to obtain that hearing
which is not refused to - the worst of criminals before
conviction. -
Having obtained for myself, from the
daily press of
India, the " fair field and no favour," which wes all i
asked; when the attempt was made to put etc down also
by professional journalism, I cannot for a moment sup-
andose that English lay editors are less lovers of justice
fair play than their Indiart brethren, and will IP
gladly giic publicity to Vie following vindication o a,
greatleetraductd and dee, 1 ' • e d gen'lemae, Pr'
_ ,
~) y-truu.e . -
Elliotsere ' '
I beg to be permitted to explain for the information
laweeeral readers, diet the Oheys referred to in the fele ng correspondence were two young girls, sisters,
formerly mesmeric patients of Dr, Ellecesee, and wilt?,
fourteen years ago, were said to have been found out and
,
expose as imposters by Mr. Wakley, editor of the
Lan cet.d It would -hardly be worth any
one'ie.while to.
disturb
,Mr. Waklefe self.complacency,. or attempt to
lessen 'his reputation for- smartness among the doctors,
were it not for the extraordinary logical edifice they
have reared upon this very narrow foundetion, tv hich
will, in fact, he shown to be no fopndation et_ all. The
conclusion come to- by the doctors generally from this.
e great -Case," ;S.—that the Oheys having been proved to
be impostors, and Dr.- Elliotson deluded. if not a "particeps
''criminis ';" ergo, all- so-called mesmerised persons and
, .
mesmerzers, for
ti'et'st Sixty years, are in the same pre-
dieainenteither rogUes all! rogues all! or a-cross between
knaves and fools. hi the judgment passed upon mss"
nieriase by the mediael profession, the human understand-
ing appears to have been actually inverted by pride,
„passion;. and prejudice_; and charity, probability, and
the laws of evidence, have been all equally lost sight of.
I should think that most reasonable men, both in and
out of the Profession, 'would feel disposed to
their judgments at least, after reading the following
suspend
letter from Dr. Elliotson, if they do not go the length
of preferring the to.liniony of a man of his intellect and
.
experience to that of a hasty, presumptuous person, dis-
qualified by nature for the delicate philceophic investi-
gation he has recklessly thrust himself into, and which
he affects to deeidelike a dictator.
la it too much to expect after this, that the moat de-
voted followers of Mr. Wakley, as a mesmeric authority,
will be content to accept a compromise, and permit the
e great
Okey Ca 80" to be reckoned a drawn battle; and
that we may, for the future, be allowed to pleesecate
oar search after-truth without being interrupted by the
everlasting Gkeys ? I would only hint, in conclusion,
rh9e.if e ei wish to study optics, it is not usual to select a
blind instructor, and that when we desire to become ec-
quainted with foreign countries, their manners, and pro-
ductions, we do net apply for information to persons
who have never been out of the sound of Bow Bells in
their lives.
And *yet, in._ the -ease of mesmerism, men who . know
nothing of the subject either limn reading or experi-
ment, and who refuse to see the thing even, are consi-
dered mesmeric authorities, in preference to those who
have read, thouglit, observed, and acted for themselves
with a sincere desire to know the truth, whatever it may
be.--.-I um, Sir, your obedient servant,
Perth.' _ JAMES ESDAILE, M.D.

My dear Dr. Elliotson,—l beg to direct your attention
to a circumstance that has lately occurred here, in the
hope then you will enable me to contradict authorita-
tively what I believe to be calumnies regarding your
former patients, the °keys.
In conversation the other day with one of the medical
aficars of the Perth Infirmary, he confidently asserted
that Mr. Wakley had not only detected the imposture of
the Obeys, but that 'they had confessed it themselves.
I said, in reply, that I knew many of the stories told
about them were lies; such as, that you even had con
fessed having been imposed upon, and that one of the
Oheys had made a dying confession of her imposture In
proof of iay correctueze, I sent the Doctor the Zoist of
a very reeent-clate,--in which you cited the case of the
(Aug as beautiful and genuine examples of mesmeric
sensibility,-and spoke of both the sisters as being alive
and, melt.

. _
Iu :return, I begged to be favoured with a sight of the
confession of imposture, which the gentleman said he had
seep, and
_would _show me. He has looked over the
Lancet (hisoitly authority) without being able to find it;
and, in consc quence, I h:ive offered to obtain the truth
from you direct, fir his satisfaction. As thin story is
very current, and popular among the grossly misled doc-
tors, I hope you wilt condescend to give it its quietus, Lis
I have no doubt you can do.—Yours, very truly,
Perth, Ist July, 1852. JABIEB ESDAILE.

My dear Dr. Esdaile,—lt is altogether untrue that
th© Okeys confessed to anybody that they had prac-
tised imposition—it is altogether untrue that I ever con-
fessed that they had imposed upon me—it is altogether
untrue that any of the phenomena which they presented
were impostures. They did not exhibit a single pheno-
menon that has not occurred again and again in other
patients without number.
Endless experiments of the most beautiful and satis-
factory kind were shown to Wakley ; and at the time I
defied him, and, repeatedly since, I have defied him, to
disprove their conclusiveness. He pretended to have re-
peated a few—very few of them—without ray results;
but he gave me no proof, for they were pretended to
have been done in my absence. I had made all my ex-
periments repeatedly, and with the greatest care; and
after his tales had been published, I repeated the expe-
riments for many months with all possible care and pre-
caution, and invariably found all my
observations veri-
fied. The whole affair with him was one of pecuniary
calculation. He told me that he was inundated with
letters from doctors who took in the Lancet; and that
nineteen out of twenty were against mesmerism. Niue-
teen purchasers of Lancets. pa
more money than 098;
and nineteen, therefore, this yoohappy man tried to
please. The two Okeys are
and mothers. --
LOW married respectauly,
The falsehoods-told of the sisters are now so
thatl weirder any person should make himself ridiculous
by repeating them. > Fslseheods are fabricated'
any reserve of mesmerism and mosmones. Many have
asserted in public speeches and in writing, that:a:lcl!
without
compelled to resign my professorship at Univer6l 4•79ia
&gas. a
legaa whereas I vacated it in contempt arid
the middle of the session, • and threw itAr ens-
council, senate, profeasore, and students, into e;erod
the
may and confusion. It was asserted that I was aci°' and
Whole body,
with coafusion, and had gone off to the continent; -
this falsehood I traced to Mr. Liston. ;as one of
Mesnseritm is all true, my
observer the grandest truths in nature that man has Y°l
dear Doctor; 3,.- d _
—grand in physiology and psychology,
highest importance in both the medical and surgme-1..
and of the vieo:
treatment of disease. The gross iguoracc6, °f sis
dical profession in regard to it ia eligracelel
men of science,as men- of art,- and as n 1313 PrWei
Christritthity. They all muss
yield, 84
~,. and
and the next generation will hear with "r°" -
s
the unworthiness of the present. to themgaiog
'
I remain, my dear Ductal', yoursEl itieePruoTsN.
July 3, 1852. • JofIN - •

,
. ---------i,LISION.
SERIOUS RAILWAN CO *ui and
Yesterday' morning the inhabitants of Li"orrPtc)that a
the vicinity were greatly alarmed by & renp
_.. exeur_ •
fatal railway_ collision had occurred betwiecoa:iii
sion train from litill' to Liverool, and 'a .11rdempany.
o train
belonging to the-Lancashire and -Yorkshirwith 00
eL.
The arrival of the superintendeht of'PliFt' custody, for
gipeeri and fireman of the luggage train 'nand the most
a time served to add: to the excitement, and
immediately
exaggerated reporti of the disister_"^ibiluwing par-
spread throughout - the town; 'bit w° the officials be-
tienlais, gathered by oar reporter- front
the
longing to the line, may be relied upon';the passenger
,1--14 half-past nine yesterday mooing isviously, was
Wain whiff" left-Manchester two hours ftho Lancashire
stopping at the - Boetle-lane station .°, s from Liverpool,
and Yorkshire Railway,- about two el"eted an alarm was.
and while the tickets were being eolleac°"biog, at A rapid
raised that another train - was aPPr? ed
rate, on the same rails. A panie
Afiellro the passengers;
..,,, raShil4 out Of
who jumped .from their seats, an__.- "t-ritio, which proved
the carriages; when the approaching 0 jawthe passenger
to be a luggage train from Colne, %rowing out several
train with tremendous violence,
and cousin in-
persons from the carriages altogether'
among all g Who
nuinerable bruises- and contes,looo , _
remained. tngines to the luggege...
It appears that there were tlinthe other behind; the
train--oue at the and the driver of the front
_. head,
_.,d
'' danger signals" were all UP, "Tto stop the train in time,
- engine says_ that Le endesiouretlit
not been for the engine; ;
and would have succeeded, had
at-Lthe" tail. 'i
:a'medistelj'ee
information wilt forwarded to the office
whence every avail-
iififie—d-Oin-p-atiy- in Tittlebarr"dispatohed, and- the pa's:.
Ale kaitittince was procePtli . were
*nffera Who bad austrined the severest injuries
Conveyed to the Northern il
,°7 . _qui!, and the others taken
. • ,
to their own homes. , nd Inspector Penny; of the
Superintendent Cletigo a. she ot'to make, equiries,
Liverpool police, repaired to 0
h fiversd of both engines,
and the result was that
.t Jackson, were taken into
Robert Whitehead and n
A # jothz: sessions-house, where they
custbaJ, a
an- conveyee .0 - before Mr. Mansfield, the
underwent an examii!ationthe
. charge of gross neglect of
' stipefidia-ry ningitiraf.°"ndieg train while the danger
duty in running info-a Stliong investigation, Mr. Mans-
signals were up. it ftcr %idea appeared to bare nrisen
field decided thht the a!,',,tiods of the compa,u, and
from the 'defective egno"boii an understanding"that
discharged the prisonemrift,
if
wanted. • ,"' - '
they were to cotewuP d;oudy injured were some female'
Athimig tii& most ser2r_unhaster in the morning to take
who had started from air istives .who left esterdaY.
. ~ f their re
' vr
a fareivdl -! leave o
rant shit); '
in an Australian ereig____......____,......
,:

---'-' --------7 it's•--
will . not, pay
ZiE_ltkp-svAirpiviDav • London and North- .:
Western—lt, is now said that . this company
more than sik per cent. in the place of 6, as stippOsed,- and
must take then';oool. out of'the reserve. Great Northern' ,
—The Skilful in dividends sL%Y that this. company Ivill not pay,
Inure
3s. 9d. per
share, which.yilli be at the rate of INI
per cant. per annum. I3lackwali The dividend• of this
the Stock Exchan -
cottaPany iaderalt ..}IIt4IR., .11 •ge at 2s. 6d. to
2s.i 9d.— Caledomp.7Two sin Lugs has been bid for the
fortheoraing dividend: ~ Dovei-
7s. ": t° 8'• is aboutwhat,
this company is, eiPected to paY.. Great Wester,
—V
r±lmeurs-are current as, to the dividend this company will,
4th is talked of by some.—Herapath. , _
~
MADAME CIIAB,OI4*
—ThIS charming artiste makes
k her iirst appearance this evening at herMajosty's Theatre.
e.
;;•,... . -

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