The Sun.
London, England, 1839-03-11 00:00:00

LONDON, MONDAY, MARCH 11, 1839.

EAST INDIA HOUSE, AI ARCIIII, 1839.
THE COURT of DIRECTORS of the
EAST INDIA COMPANY do hereby give Notice,
in conformity with the By Law of the said Company, Chap. 7,
Sec. 6,
That the following Proprietors of East India Stock, qua-
lified agr, sable to Law have signified in writing to the Secre-
tary their desire of becoming Candidates at the ensuing Elec-
tion of Six Directors, en WEDNESDAY, the 10th April Next,
viz. :

JOSIAH DU PRE AT.EX ANDER, Esc:.
SIR ROBERT CAMPBELL,' Bart.
NE! L BENJAMIN EDMONSTJNE, Esq.
Honourable HUGH LINDSAY
JOHN GOLDSBOROUGH RAVENSII A NV, Fs q.
SIR HENRY NVI LLOCK, KJ. S.
JAMES C. MELVILL, Secretary.

OOKS

GREAT SUPPLIES OF NEW B
in consequence of the recent issue of so many inte-
resting and valuable NEW WORKS, Mr. BULL the Libra-
rian has just republished his GRATIS LIST, which includes all
these important additions. His New Library System is also
annexed, for supplying Book Societies, Literary Circles of
Neighbouring Families, or Families singly, throughout Eng-
land, Scotland, and Ireland, with all Works, Magazines, and
Reviews regularly for perusal, in any quantity, upon the most
advantagoous terms.
To be had gratis, and sent by port as a single letter, on ap-
plication to Mr. Bull, Librarian, 19, Holles-street, four doors
from Cavendish-square. _

TO BUILDERS AND OTHERS.
SEA-SIDE.

rpo BE LET ON lAIIDING LEASES,
or SOLD as FREEHOLD under certain restrictions
as to the erections upon them, SEVERAL ACRES of
BUILDING-LAND well adapted for the ERECTION of
VILLAS, COTTAGES, &c.
The land contains fine brick-earth, and every facility will be
given to parties of respectability. The spot in question is most
desirable as a Watering-place, which is already in a state of
great progress.
Apply to F. Hering, Esq., Architect, Duke-street„ Po tland-
place ; or to Mr. A. Miller, Library, Ha}ling, near Havant,
Hants.

TO THE GENTLEMEN WHO COM-
POSED DR. ELLIOTSON'S LATE CLASS
OF THE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE, IN UNI-
VERSITY COLLEGE.

GENTLEMEN—When the conduct of the Council
compelled me abruptly to resign my appointments in
the College and Hospital, I deeply regretted that pru-
dence forbad me to address you. Satisfied of your un-
willingness to lose me, and of your condemnation of the
proceedings of my adversaries, I resolved that any de-
monstration which you might give of your opinions
should not ,arise, either in whole or in part, from
any instigation of mine ; and I therefore determined,
however cold-hearted it might appear, to wait till
my successors in the College and Hospital had
ample time to settle comfortably, if this were
possible,. in their new situations and I may here
state that it is perfectly 'untrue thet I have had a party
of students at my house any time this session. The
matter of the fees I found would sooner or later require
a communication from me, since the Council took no
notice of the wish expressed in my letter of resignation
that my share of the fees of this season should be re-
turned to those who desired it, and as those students
who applied for the fulfilment of my Wish were. refused,
I waited, therefore, on this account also. I haVe, at
length, received a letter from the Secretary of the Col-
lege, stating that the Council can he no party to the re-
turn of fees to the students, and offering me half the
Professor's portiotk of the fees paid up to Christmas.
...Since there was ntieprospect of my fees being returned
to you, unless I first received them, I have received the
portion offered, in order to transmit it to you.
From the moment of becoming a teacher in the school
I acted on the principle that it' was instituted for the
dissemination and discovery of truth. I considered my-
self bound to learn what was the truth on every point
of the subjects which I L.uglit, and to promulgate it ;
and my office at the hospital I considered myself bnun:i
to make a constant field of careful inquiry. I had no
idea of any other success for the school than the success
of imparting knowledge : and for this I laboured indefa-
tigably and disinterestedly. I lowered my perpetual fee
from 91. to 71., and my sessional, from 61. to 51.; and
it was not till after thus losing a considerable sum
during a few years, and finding that the other Profes-
Cots, though they had cheerfully assented to the reduc-
tion of my fees, would never fellow my example, that 1
gradually brought them up to their original amount, so
that my successor might receive the office unimpaired.
I gave clinical lectures regnlarly once week, and,
during one summer, three times a week ; I gave them,
consequently, in fir greater numbers than my col-
!e,lgueg.. I lectured upon all my cases, detailing every
ng faithfuly ; never .fabricating histories, treatment,
or results ; never giving occasion for an editor to dis-
continue the publication of them on account of letters
incessantly arriving to say they were made up and at
variance with the facts ; never declaring that an organic
disease was cured, when it was in the same state as at the
patient's admission, nor assuring the world that it was
put down in the book as relieved only when it was ac-
tually put down as cured. I endeavoured to act in the
kindest manner by every student, and was r.:ways ready
to communicate what information I pOssessed, and to
perform the. part of a friend. My hSppiness in the
Institution weis unalloyed till an unhappy spirit.
gained - admittance ; and • from that time there has,
been no more peace than there had been in tin
p lace where he formerly sojourned. Totally ants
provoked, nay, receiving invariable civility from toes
and actuated, as far as I can judge, by envy only, he
eery soon spoke behind my back so inaccurately •
and injuriously, according to the firm assertion of
note-takers, that he was compelled partly to deny
his words and partly to apologise in public. A few
ill-
conditioned young men will always exist among your
numbers, but such *ere unable to become conspicuous
before his arrival. Him they found a rallying point ;
and the conduct of nearly every one connected with him
I have seen reason deeply to deplore and have found
hostile to myself; even of those to whom I had shown
nothing 'but the greatest attentions. However, I quietly
Continued my course of industry and duty,
At length, in 1837, my attention became directed to a
subject which, though utterly neglected in this country,
was receiving great attention on the Continent. Certain
wonderful phenomena, and certain modes of producing
these phenomena, and of curing diseases ill-understood
and difficult to cure, were vouched for by men of the
highest information and the soundest judgment ; and I
felt it my duty to investigate the matter. I soon found
that there was a fund of truth in what I bad heard and
read,—that an agent or agency existed which lead been
overlooked ; and my inquiries w.,.r.e.„&von• attended with
such results that a large number of medical men,most
dis-
t noblemen, nay, royalty itself, members of the
Howe of Commons, some of the. fir4nn, of science in
the country, Professors of Oxford,. Cambridge, -KiiigTh
College, and Edinburgli,the Presidents of the Royal and
Linnman Societies, and Teachers of the various Hospi-
tals, flocked to witness my facts. Some of these gentle-
men made handsome donations to the hospital in conse-
qaence, and others 'expressed their intention to do the
same,but have declined in consequence or resignation.
This soon excited envy, and this excited a commotion ;
and the late Dean advised [lid to desist. He urged that,
whet her the wonderful facts were true or not, and whether
great benefit in the treatment of diseases would result
or not, we ought to consider the interests of the school
—not of science and humanity, observe— but of the
school : that, if the public did not regard the matter as
tree and the benefits as real, we ought not not to perse-
vere and risk the loss of public favour to the school ;
that I was rich, and could afford to lose my practice for •
what I believed that the truth, but others werelnot :—in
short, his argument was " rem-rem ;"and " virlus post
nummos." I replied that the Institution was established
tor the dissemination and discovery of truth ; that all
other considerations *ere secondary to this ; that, if
the public were ignorant, we should enlighten them;
that we should lead the public, and not the public us ;
and that the sole question was, whether the matter were
a truth or not. I laughed at the idea of injury to the
pecuniary interests of the school.
The commotion increased.' My demonstrations were
debated upon at meetings of the Faculty, and discus-
sions went on between members of the Council, and
Professors, an exquisite Secretary, and other more

humble holders of office. At one meeting of the medi-
cal faculty, a Professor boasted that he had seen none of
my experiments and should have considered himself
disgraced if he had ; that animal magnetism had been
proved above forty years ago to he a perfect humbug
and imposture ; and that it was now in as bad repute
with the public as Christianity bad been at its first protnul-
gation. Another Professor boasted that he had seen none
of the facts, and, though invited by my clinical clerk to
observe them while visiting his own patients in the ward,
that lie had declined the invitation. One Professor
declared that he never could procure a vacant bed
because I detained my patients so long in order to
Mesmerise them : and another reported that patients
would not apply for admission, lest they should be
Mesmerised, and that others left the Hospital to avoid
Mesmeric treatment. But when I inquired of the offi-
cer whom I understood to have furnished these absurdi-
ties, he assured me that he was blameless and made the
general scope-goat of the place ; and he entreated me
to accept Ins denial without an inquiry which would
embroil him with the Professors. Not conceiving that
anything, but reputation could accrue to the Hospital
from the demonstration of physiological and pathologi-
cal facts to crowds of the first men in the country,
among whom were characters totally opposed in politics
to the place, and who otherwise never would have entered
it, I persevered. The President of the College—Lord
Brougham, and five oilier members of the Council did
o
tattend
Facultyt ed
of emonstrations
; nor did the
Professors ;nor
Dr. Grant, Dr.
Lindley, nor Mr. Graham. But, with the exception of
these three last gentlemen, whose conduct throughout
has commanded my respect, I never saw any of the me-
nt refuse
ofto
dical faculty : if any ever were present, it could have
been only to reconnoitre unobserved by me.
The
Irish, the Welsh, and four of the six Scotch medical
Professors, held meeting after meeting of the faculty
Hospital Committee, which my
or of the disgust
prevented me from attending._ A t these meetings I
know that the most bitter feelings against me were
Manifested and matters discussed which were per-
fectly irrelevant, but the introduction of which showed
the hostility of certain parties. I have always acted in
the most honourable and correct manner ; and dare any
examination of my conduct. I had, however, given
great offence, by urging with the Senate of the London
University, the hardship and inutility of compelling at-
tendance upon particular courses of lectures, and espe-
cial:y upon lectures on morbid anatomy because the
morbid anatomy of a disease is as much a part of
the disease, and as much to be explained at length in
lectures on the practice of medicine, surgery, and mid-
wifery, as the symptoms and history ; and, indeed, can-
not be taught with advantage separately from the symp-
toms. Distinct lectures on morbid anatomy must be
vuperfluous, if professors of the practice of medicine,
surgery, and midwifery perform their duty : and the
London University has at last yielded to the opinion
1 defended. I found that I also Lad given great offence
by declaring in public that tie College was founded,
not for the Professors, but for the diffusion of know-
ledge, and that the fees of the Professors were but a
secondary consideration, and established solely to induce
them to diffuse knowledge.
Among the pueritities talked by the Professors, both
at these meetings and out of them, it was predicted that
the number of medical students would be seriously re-
duced the ensuing winter, that not one would come from
Bristol, and that I should have scarcely any class at all.
At length Dr. Lindley and Mr. Cooper waited upon

me in the name of the Medical Committee of the Hos-
?ital. They brought %he fol:owing acknowledgment of
my right to practise Mesmerism in the Hospital :
" Resolved—That the (Medical) Committee fully
recognize Dr. Elhotson's undoubted right to employ.
Animal Magnetism as a remedial agent in the wards of
the Hospital, when he considers it necessary to do so.
But thnt the Committee are anxious to know whether
Dr. Ellintson has been 'correctly understood as not in-
tending to continue in the Hospital the exhibition of the
experimrnts on thet subject."'
Dr. Lindley and Mr. Cooper confessed to tee that
they could not imagine that my demonstrations would
hurt the hospital ; and Dr. Lindley, in his own noble and
honest manner, declared that be thought the facts which
he had witnessed were very curious and deserved inves-
tigation. The feeling, however, fer what reason they
could not tell, was so strong, that they conceived my
best court' was to give up the demonstrations. Mr. Coo-
per suggested, us indeed Dr. Davis had done,that Ishould
show the patients in my own house, or some house. in
the neighbourhood. One Professor recommended a pub-
lic-house. But I declined to exhibit hospital patients to
a number of persons any where but in the-hospital. For
the sake of peace, therefore, I consented never to show
the phenomena again in the theatre of the Hospital, un-
less my colleagues approse&A of the list of those to whom
I wished to demonstrate them : and both gentlemen
agreed that this 6-tight to content the party. It, how-
ever did not content them. They still refused to conic
and examine into the phenomena ; and when I sent to
the Medical Committee a list of many of the highest
names in and out of the profession, who had applied for
permission to witness my facts, they absolutely refused
to read it. The following are the words of the official
answer of the Secretary :

" July 5. 1838.
" Your letter, addressed to the Medieal Conunitte:"
yesterday, was forthwith laid before the meeting spec•i-
ally summoned for its consideration. The Committee
determined not to read the list of names app.7nl7d
thereto." .

I had proposed that a Committee should be formed to
investigate my observations. It was to consist of gentle-
men from different schools, and I requested Drs. Grant,
Lindley; and Sharper, and Mr. Graham, to be upon it.
Mr. Graham declined on the score of his great miage-
ments, but Drs. Grant and Lindley cons‘mted. Frem
Dr. Sharpe), I received the following letter :
" 68, Torrington-square,
" Monday Morning, 14th May.
"MY DEAR SIR,—I was all yesterday in the country,
and arrived in town at a very late hour, otherwise I
would. have sooner replied to your note.

" From what I have read and seen of the so-called
Mesmeric Phenomena, I am convinced that some of these
phenomena really are what they seem to be, and possess
a very high degree of physiological interest ; moreover, I
know that there are other effects supposed to be produced
by Mesmeric operation, of aumeh more extraordinary ch t-
racter, the reality of which, though I frankly own I do
not believe in it, is admitted by physicians of intelligence
and experience, and which, on that. account, are enti-
tled to a fair examination. These being my sentiments,
which I have never hesitated to express, you can-
not suppose me indifferent to the subject, or disposed to
treat with neglect or disregard your experiments in the
Hospital, but I have refrained from participatiog in Or
witnessing these experiments for two reasons. First,
from what I have heard of these exhibitions (I use the
word respectfully), I am inclined to think that, however
different may be your intention, they are c deulated
rather to minister to the popular love of the marvellous
than to afford an advantageous opportunity of testing
the reality cif the effects produced as the alleged efficacy
of Mesmerism as a remedial agent ; and secondly, in
the present state of opinion among the public and the
profesican, respecting animal magnetism, the frequent
repetition of such exhibitions in the Hospital has ap-
peared to me not altogether judicious.
" OfeourseJ am far from finding fault with you for en-
tertaining different opinions, but as these exhibitions stil
continue, and my own sentiments regarding theta rem :in
unaltered, I trust you will pardon me for declining your
invitation, however flattering it may be, as I vvish to
avoid connecting myself, even indirectly, with proceed-
ings which seem to me objectionable.
" I am,'my dear Sir.
Very truly your's,

Dr. Elliotsnn, &c. &c." "W. SHARPEY."
Ttie public exhibitions, however, as they were termed,
were discontinued ; but Dr. Sharper still never thought
proper to witneso the facts, which it surely was his
as a teacirr of phyFiology, to go. and witness, that
he might treat the subject properly in his lectures. En-
treated on-all sides to exhibit the phenomena, I requested
eho Council permission to demonstrate them in one of
the theatres of the College, when this was not in use. But
-f-trzerrritt' ed. , One thy. Council, whose goodness and
liberality render him an ornament to the Jewish nation
and to England, moved the reconsideration of the refusal
or made a motion for permission,but in vain. I hear that
he entreated the Council to witness the phenomena and
judge for themselves as he had done, but in vain. Yes,
the majority of the Council, perfectly ignorant of the
subject, refused to go to learn anything of it before they
passed judgment upon it ; and among these were legis-
lators, barristers, and one physician. Yet this same
Council gave permission for the exhibition of a boy
with a strong memory, to the public, at so much a-
head, and tickets were purchased by any one as for a
concert.*

I persevered in the daily study of the subject, clerking
the most exquisite intellectual pleasure that I had -ever
experienced. In an evil hour, I consented to show
some experiments to the Editor of the " Lancet," after
repeated entreaties conveyed by his assistant., Mr. Mi:ls,
who had witnessed the phenomena at the hospital, re-
ported many in the " Lancet," been enraptured with
them, and declared them over and over again to be so
satisfactory that to doubt or to suspect the two Okeys
of imposition kyoull be the height of absurdity. I ex-
hibited to the Editor the production of the singular deli.
tium, and a variety of the most beautiful and satisfactory
experiments, which he has entirely suppressed. But 1
presently feared what would be the result. He said he
was pestered with letters upon the subject ; but that
nineteen out of twenty were unfavourable. Nineteen
persons, of course, purchase more " Lancets" than
one ; and I fancied I already saw his rejection of
the evidence. The mental phenomena were such as
no person capable of sound and refined observation,
and fitted for philosophical investigation, could for an
instant have imagined to be feigned. The physical
phenomena with the hand, the eye, metals, and
water, were as striking and conclusive, with the
exception of -some with lead and nickel ; and those
I have since proved to large numbers of able
judges to be equally conclusive. Mesmerised nickel
produces upon the elder sister the most violent effects,
which none but a very ignorant person could con-
sider pretended. Now, when this, or gold or silver,
has been rubbed upon a part and the friction has been
desisted from before the effects come, or the effects
have come and have ceased, they may be at once excited
in the former case, or re-excited in the latter, by fric-
tion of the part with anyth:ng—a piece of woo I or a
piece of lead ; and this excitement may be produce'
again and again. Friction was performed with lead upon
parts to which nickel had been applied either with or
without effect, as it might be, and the effects took place
violently. This explanation I gave to the Editor, but he
was either too dull to understand, or had his reasons for
not understanding. In another set of experiments lead
produced effects, though nickel had not been applied to
the parts ; and yet I never had been able to Mesmerise
lead by holding it in my hand and to produce effects by
then applying it. Those effects I candidly said I could
not explain, since I had not commenced experiments
.with lead or nickel for more than two or three days :
but, as there was no more deception in the cases, nor
less certainty of the various facts which I had observed,
than in chemistry or any other natural science, I added
that these results showed only that they required farther
investigation, and that I had no doubt I should, by per-
severance, discover their cause. The Editor knew that
I was about to leave London that same day for an ab-
ience of six weeks on the Continent, and yet be could
not wait for my return and give me an opportunity of
farther research, but, with that gentlemanly delicacy for
which he and his friends are so remarkable, published,
almost immediately, what professed to be an account of
what he had seen,—a most imperfect and worthless
account, however ; in his plenitude of scientific im-
portance, he declared that not one more experiment on
magnetism would ever 1)0 required ; and answers which
were sent he never published. He omitted to state
a circumstance in his experiments with lead, whiLli
had never been allowed to happen in mine, hut which
when reflecting upon them on my tour, I thought
might have influenced the results. In employing,
the lead, I had noticed that he applied it against a
piece of nickel held in his other hand, before lie ap-
plied it to the patient. On my return, 1 applied lead to
her as before, and, indeed, copper also ; yet never ob-
tained an effect. I dun applied the lead or the copper,
ss it might he, against a piece of Mesmerized nickel or
gold, before applying it to her ; and its application to her

• Ticket of Admission

to the
Exhibition
of the
Calculating Powers
of the
Sicilian Boy,
Mangiamele!

in the
Theatre of the University College,
On Monday, August 13th, 1838.

Admission lOs '

was then always productive of effects. I discovered that
the surface of the lead or copper had become nickelized
or aurified by the contact ; and thus the difficulty was
solved. These experiments I have repeated again and
again before numbers of gentlemen, taking the greatest
care that the patient should not know when I applied -
leaf; or copper which had not been in contact with
nickel or gold, and when I applied lead or copper which,
had been in contact, with either of them ; and the results
have been uniform. I was obliged to leave the poor
little girl in an intense coma, with occasional violent
tetanic spasms, at the Editor's house, little imagining that
any farther experiments would be attempted, especially
i:t my absense, by a person ignorant of the subject and
altogether incapable of making experiments. I had seen
sufficient of the extrema carelessness, and want of in-
formation and philosophic pow, r, of the Editor, during
the experiments conducted by myself, and which he fre-
quently altogether deranged, not to be convinced that
i❑ my ab3ence no experiment could be made in a manner
to justify conclusions. In his ignorance, he acted as
though Mesmeric susceptibility is always present and
always the same ; whereas the reverse is the fact ; and
experiments with water and metals , frequently repeated
so der tnge the susceptibility that we are often obliged to
desist.

Darin.. the five months which have elapsed since my
rather), I'have repeated all my experiments and Con-
tinued my observations, not only on the Okeys, but
an other patients ; and all the results of my former in-
quiries have, been confirmed and ail difficulties solved.
For nearly two months I cowinued my inquiry into
Elizabeth Okey's'ease in the Hospital. She and her
sister had been both entirely cured of their epilepsy by
Mesmerism, actor all other remedies had failed ; but
she was suffering in October from an egonizing pain in
her leins and frequent ischuria ; and I therefore re-
admitted her, afier an absence of neatiaetwo months.
I did not ateempt to remove These symptoms by Meta
merisen, kit frequently threw her into a mesmeric
state, partly for the purpose of ascertaining facts, and
partly because in it her sufferings were less. I admitted
three lads with epilepsy, and a man with paroxysms of
;mbeeility, whom all four I treated with Mesmerism
and it only : my clinical clerks sat before each,
wacong their hands,- for half an hour daily : the
immediate result was drowsiness, or sleep, and
tha ultimate great alleviation of the diseases and
every proTect of cure. my great astonishment
I received a summons to attend the House Committee
of the Hospital, on coconut -of a Mr. Cope, a clerk, I
believe, in some public office and one of the Committee,
basing directed attention to the fact, that Elizabeth
Okey, after basing been sixteen months in the Hospital,
..and d,seharged in August, had beeme.admitted in Oc-
tober. Dr. Thomson had a patient at the very time
who had been fourteen months in the Hospital, and has
now been theta nearly seventeen ; and yet no ne
tiff! was taken of this. I- explained that the little
gill was now in the house for another complaint,
and presumed that, if a . patient, who bad been
an inmate of the hospital far several months on
accel:nt of a broken leg, were to break his arm the
very day after his discharge, he would be re-admissible :
and to this the Chairman assented. 1 was then ques-
tioned inspecting Elizabeth Okes's power of predicting
• death. Now, you are aware, gerolemen, that some per-
sons have an idiosyncrasy to be-affected by emanations
which have n perc,Fibla efiett on mankind. at large.
Some bare catarrh and asthma when near certain
grasses in flower :•some, when near a hare, dead or alive :
some have an indesetibable sensation of a most distress-
ing kind when near a cat. ElizabAli Okey has a sense
of great oppression, sickness, and misery, when within
a certain distance of persons whose frame is sinking.
The emanations _which are constantly proceeding- from
us all are so altered in their composition, I presume, in
extreme -debility, that a high susceptibility may suffer
'fr.,ni them. Whenever the effect nein her has been of
a certain intensitx, I under Stand that the patient who
produced it has died. The phenomenon had been known
to the nurse, add invariably verified by her for a ioeg
period bete re I hear;! of it ; and Eliza bet h Okey only
by chance communicated-it to we in No:ember during
her delirium. When not ia a Mes:neric state, that is,
when not delirious nor somnambulist, she lies not this
i iissenuracy, and is p rfectly ignorant that she ever has
In her somnambulism: she has it sitni4 ; but, in her
delirium, it is attended by an illusion that she sees- a
figure, something like the representations of death,
wrapped in a. white robe. The more intense the op-
, psessian from the emanations, the taller the figure ;
the stronger, ththeihre, are the emanations, and the
nearer the person to his end. Ttiia is perfectly in ac-
cordance with the phenomena of dreams, which are
sort of- delirium. If s have an inflammation of
the toot,. tat: Lent of this is very likely, in our
dreams, to make us fancy the part is roast/oil: on
the bars of,a graxc_; •irive litre the rheumatism, we
atay dream tfa;tt. sonic c.::e is ;:vin,-; us 'tic bastinacie ;
ia oaression of the breath, we may dream that we
sec a demon sitting upon us—in short, have the night-
mare, nod it is very conceivable that, the more dis
tressing the oppression, the larger might the figure
be imagined. Thus, the sensation, which she knows
to arise from the influence of a person hurrying to
the grave, gives her a fancy that she sees the figure,
when in her delirium ; but, if she is near a sinking person
when in a state of somnambulism, in which her reason
.s sound, she not only has the sensation eiserel)—sees
no figure, but tells you that the idea of tire figure in her
delirium, is a delusion—the product of deliriuin. On
learning this wonderful fact, I examined carefully into
it and ascertained its reality. But having had, among a
few of the students who have signalized themselves,
some by scribbling and some by talking, experience of
the falsehoods and absurd objections to which all the
Mesmeric phenomena of my patients were exposed, I
resolved to conduct her into my other ward, in which
he was unacquainted with the diseases of the patients
and with the patients themselves, and to conduct her

there at the close of the day when she could not see
the p &ems. Ace rdicgly, about five o'clock, in De-
cember, I y
begged the nurse of the ward to accompany
us. I enjoined the little girl not to utter a word, and -I
led her, not to the bedside of' patients, but up one side
of the ward and down the other. without stopping ; arid
no one knew the object I had in view. I felt her shud-
der as she passed the foot of two beds ; and, after leaving
the ward, she told me that she had felt the sensation,
and seen the figure, which she in her delirium, but in
her delirium only, calls Jack, at two of the beds. The
nurse informs me that, in passing one bed, she heard
her whisper, " there's Jack," while she shuddered : but
I did not, although I had hold of her hand the whole
time. This
_patient, who was then in a state of
perfect insensibility, soon died ; the other, I hear, is
still alive, but his disease will be, from its nature, ne-
cessarily fatal. I considered it my duty to inquire into
this interesting fact. There was nothing in it contrary
to established physiological and pathological truths ; but
it was an unusual modification ; and bad I not en-
.quired into it, I should have been devoid of all spirit
of professional inquiry, and, moreover, should have ex-
posed the innocent and excellent little girl to another
false and base accusation of imposture. But how did
the House Committee act? They detained me the
last part of an hour, waiting about the building,
while they examined different nurses, as to whe-
ther I had ever led Elizabeth Okey into the
wards to predict the death of patients ; and
then they sent for me : instead of treating me as a
professor; as senior physician, as a gentleman, as a
honourable person, and making their inquiries of me in
the first inftance. I did not notice this ;but the expla-
nations, which I have now given, I gave then, and the
Committee seemed satisfied. The subject, which is one
of the highest philosophical interest, has been disgrace•
fully misrepresented. I have been said to employ Eliza-
beth Okey to prophecy : and one student, whose con-
dust towards me, in return for invariable kindness, has
covered him with lasting shame before all good men, and
causes him to be the laughing-stock in private of those
to whom he I:as been weak enough to become a tool,
shamelessly declared in public that I had led Elizabeth
Okey to the bedside of patients to prophecy their death,
and that afterwards, of course, they died. I ought to add
that I mentioned the idiosyncracy of Elizabeth Okey to
no one in the Hospital but Mr. Wood : not to my clinical
clerks, nor to the apothecary ; who, however, I find, bad
surmised it from something I had said to him in private,
and had gossiped about it as he went about giving his
characteristic opinion, that the professors were justified
in preferring their p.:euniary interests to the considera-
tion of the truth and remedial powers of Mesmerism.
The Committ e appeared satisfied, and I was assured
that my explaeations had made a great impression. AU
went on. comfortably, as far as I knew. My four male
patents who were Mesmerised, improved rapidly. The
man's fits of imbecility had ceased, and he thought of
leaving, full of gratitude for his cure. Two of the boys
bad experieno.d no fit for above two months ; and the
frequency of the fits of the other boy bad diminished,
when, on December :27, I received a resolution of coun-
cil, from the Hospital Committee—
.' That they be instructed to take steps, forthwith, for
the diseharge of El.zabeth Oksyafp'reormttohet
Zoitthael.c"ary,
I immediately showed the p
who said that be had known of the resolution seve-
ral days before, es well as of another, which I had
not yet received from the House Committee, viz.,
tha' the practice of Mesmerism should be immediately
discontinued. I proceeded to the house of the Trea-
surer of the College and Hospital, and he informed me
that the second resolution bad also been passed. I,
therefore, at once wrote the following letter to the
Secretary of the Council
" Snt—l have just received information, that the
Conn( il, without any interview or communication with me,
has ordered my patient, Elizabeth Okey, to be instantly

EVENING EDITIOI'.7

discharged, and forbidden me to cure my patients wi
Mesmerism. I only am the proper person to judges
when my patients are in a fit state to be discharged,
and what treatment is proper for their cases.

. -
" As a gentleman, in the. first place,and as a physic: ~n
in the next, I feel myself cOmpelled at once to resigil
my office of Professor of the principles and prac:icc of
medicine, and of clinical medicine in the college, and
Physician to the Hospital ; and hereby resign then

and shall never enter either building again.
" When I was made Professor, I received a class of 90
—the class is now 197-13 more than at Christmas
last year; and, as there were 24 entries after Christmas
then, the whole number of the present ses•tion would, no
doubt, have been above 220. _

"I' have not received my fees this session. It
is my wish that they be all refunded to _th,t
young gentlemen, who are perfectly welcome to th,
lectures which I have already delivered.
" I have the honour, &c.
"JOHN ELLIOTSON.

" Conduit-street, 27th December, 1838."
You will agree with me; gentlemen, that to hold
office one moment on such terms, and under men car.-
ble of acting in a manner at once insultit.g and irra-
tional, would have been impossible. If I was unfit to
determine when my patients were in a state to be dis-
charged, and how they were to be treated, I ought t.,)
have been dismissed. But, while I held office, I was
to be considered fit to judge of these points. Had mv
colleagues in the Hospital possessed a becoming spir t,
and felt what was due to themselves and the prof,-ssion,
they would have resisted this infringement of their gene-
ral rights, whatever their opinion of Mesmerism, even

if they had attended to it sufficiently to justify an. opi-
nion. Indeed they were bound to act thus, since they had
resolved months before in committee, that they acknow-
ledged " my,undoubted right " to practice Mesmerism
in she Hospital. But this I could hardly expect, since
they were su forgetful of academic propriety, that, in
their lectures one designated my patient ()key "as

impostor," and another, the bosom- friend of the-editor
of "The Lancet," called Mesmerism " the most impul:nt
of modern humbugs," and indeed pronounced me to
the students, in a public room of the Hospital, to be
a tom-fool." The insult was the greater, as I was
senior physician, was thought to have greatly raised
the reputat,on and numbers of the school, and had
been the mai❑ cause of the establishment of the
pita!, although I gave great offence at the time to some
of the Professors for honestly pointing out that the.
Medical School was inefficient without an Hospital

The conduct of the Council was irrational, since the
majority refused to witness the experiments upon a
subject of which they were utterly ignorant, and to have
an interview with me for the purpose of inquiring into
the business. They suspended a practice which was
perfectly innocent, simple, and devoid of expense, and
had worked, and was working many most remarkable
cures, even in eases which had resisted all other trat-
merit and had been sent out of other hospitals as in a-
rable, nhict, they well knew. The College was thriving
this winter as much as last ; my class was larger than
ever it had been at this period of the season ; and tha
fluTital was eroweel with patients aad pupds. The
Council, co.riptetely unknown in . science or literature.
as they alt are, with two or three exceptions, pr
tininselves totally unlit to conduct a place of eciunatar,

and more espcc;ally one which I),)asied to be foui2E-0.
an the most rib, rai princip!es and to he free fuirii the
prejudices o► old Universities. They put a blot ti,cic
imAitution which will never be erased.

I am hi; py to say that, though two of the nit,=t
and ohLtinate were men, I hear, from wham
being a great legislatorial medical refai mei-, and ta,-,
other a physician, better things io have been ex-
pected. the noble President, Lord Brougham, does not

: . . .. .
lictitate m soeivty strongly to condemn their preeecd-
ings.. And well he may. Meirnerism is riot only true
and of the itighes.; interest in a psychelog cu, phys o-
logieal, and curittive point of slew, but. is now proco.cd!:.g
at a very rapid ride. Most intere.sting• Engti li works upca
it, especially one by a clergyman named Townsend, v', 11l
Moan be published. Hundreds of able men have 1,.;,....,

converted to a conviction of its truth within theite
tveeks, and a large number of medical men now Dot Jri
Inlieve, but practise it. I have lately met witi,
shown to the profession-wonderful cases and cures.; . !,.c
other gentic►;►en are equally.sueccssful..
The sum sent to me by the Cuuucil, after
one-third for the Institution and half of Lie

maindcr I.:r k.uccessor, amounts to 253/.
s(2,,i)caleu w 4.0 have not intended to coritiattn ;;up
of my succes.sor and have cmtificates cf him,
of this som, rem-ive back, on sundiog thcir nam,s„
the tv4:01,; amount of their admis-ion fee—not
my third. but an equivol,Nit to the third riitairicif
by thc CJuocil and to the thiri appropriated to my
successor. Any surplus th:4 may remain I

keep, but be to deposit with a G;rniniate of 3-ou
atTointeti by )ou. to dispose of in any rnanntr
you...may tinak proper, um:ow-tented will), the C(

linapital, to which 1. had intended all any
altlmately to go, though.' caunot 11GW allow a t,isp

of mine io-pass to an institution tilos d, gnilkd. I

take the ,lii.t.vtv of suggesting that Mr. tint's',
in(liizetvion 'fel biro to return all his ticl:,:ts, be firs ;
tirely reinibursei out of it.

1`;'.i..1.1 great regret, C'xent!etner, at hciu•J: com?er4eat,,
part from you ; with every ;v;s', ;
t:oir,.o that you win rs ro:l,lJer : •
ioct._ ;44;.....t +.a.,14_ tb e
hess of the greatest number, the bcs. ocenpavoi'i cf.
your extstvnee,

I remain,
Your late faithful and affectionate iencl“,-,
JOHN ELLIOT6O:'
Conduit-street, March 4, 1839.