The Sun.
London, England, 1839-01-05 00:00:00

session, and their rights as students of that school—as they
ympathised with the wounded honour and insulted feelings of
their lecturer, and as they valued his merits and his services to
them ; to use every endeavour to restore him to the office
which bad most worthily filled, and from which he had been
most unworthily expelled.—(Great cheering.)
Mr. JEFFERSON said he had an amendment to propose, to
the effect, that the meeting had not the slightest intention
to cast blame upon the Council.—( Laughter and applause.) 1
Gentlemen might laugh, but no argument had been adduced
eto prove that the fault had been with the Council. It was
very well known to every one around him, that the proceed-
ings now complained of, had arisen out of certain exhibitions
made by Dr. Elliotson, in what was called the Science of
Animal Magnetism. It was also well known that those exhi-
bitions were disapproved of by the Professor's colleagues—
( Oh, oh, and laughter)—and there could be no doubt that
those exhibitions had bean injurious to the hospital.—(No, no,
and Yes, yes.) He:wished to go into the subject of those ex-
hibitions, and he was not surprised at being interrupted by the
hisses of some gentlemen.
The CHAIRMAN said that the question of Animal Magnetism
ought not to be discussed on the present occasion ; but he
thought that no gentleman should be prevented from discussing
the practice of it, so far as that practice was connected with the
question before the meeting.--( Great applause.)
Mr. JEFFERSON would confine himself to the rule laid down
by the Chairman. It was a well-known fact, that mesmerised
patients had been taken to the bed-sides of other patients, to
prophecy when they would recover.—( Hisses.) He would
merely ask whether this was not calculated to injure the hospi-
tal ?—( Hisses and cries of " prove it.") It could not be de-
nied that Dr. E. bad been remonstrated with upon this sub-
ject by his colleagues, and that at length the House Committee
went into an investigation respecting it, and Dr. E. never de-
nied the statement.—( Hisses and much confusion.) The re.
port of the House Committee was laid before the Council,
who came to the resolution that the Institution was seriously
damaged by the practice, and they were perfectly jus-
tified in requesting Dr. E. to discontinue it. He ( Mr. J.)
had no doubt that it was injurious, for he himself knew of
pupils being prevented from coming to the hospital on ac-
count of the practice.—( Hisses, and a cry of " Look to the
numbers this year.") Ili the present state of the public mind
respecting the so-called science of Animal Magnetism, the
practice could not be otherwise than injurious, whether the
science were true or not, and he was not then going to say
that it was not true.—( A laugh.) When the resolutions of
the Council were communicated to the House Committee, the
latter resolved that " Dr. Elliotson be requested to discharge
Elizabeth Okey forthwith ;" and surely under the circum-
stances no more courteous mode could have been adopted.
The Council having resolved, first, " that E. Okey should be
discharged forthwith," further resolved, " that the practice of
Mesmerism should be discontinued in the hospital ;" and he
would appeal to any unprejudiced man, whether the Council
could have taken any other course—( Hisses and laughter.)
He hoped that the noise of the small minority who came to
vote in favour of Dr. E., whether right or wrong, would have
little effect—such minorities were always noisy.—(Great
laughter and hisses.) With respect to what had been said of
the character and talents of Dr. E., he was ready to admit
that there was not in Europe a man more devoted to science,
or more sincere and zealous in the discharge of his duty to his
pupils.—( Cheers.) But at the same time that he did justice
to the Professor, he would not consent to do an injustice to the
Council.
Mr. GEORGE, in seconding the amendment, requested to
call the attention of the meeting to a few facts. which he begs
ged to remind them were not to be successfully answered by
hisses. In an anonymous letter, of which he had received a
printed copy, he (being an officer of the Institution) was ac-
cused of having proposed the postponement of the present
meeting to Tuesday next, in order to give the Council an op-
portunity of appointing in the meanwhile (on Saturday) a
successor to Dr. E., so as to prevent the interference of the
students by any expression of their opinion. He denied that
he had acted from any such motive, and he denounced the
anonymous author of the letter as a slanderous libeller.—
( Applause.) He cordially joined in the praises bestowed
upon Dr. Elliotson._( Laughter, hisses, and applause.)
No pupil had been more indebted than himself to that Profes-
sor for kindness and instruction. But it was his duty to up-
hold the Institution rather than the Professor, when he was
convinced that the one was more in the wrong than the other.
They were then assembled in consequence of a letter which
had been circulated amongst the pupils in the handwriting of
Dr. Elliotson, to the effect that " the Council having ordered
the instant dismissal of a patient from the hospital without any
communication with him (the senior physician), and having
ordered that he should discontinue to use Mesmerism in the
cure of disease, he felt that he had no alternative but to re-
sign," &c. Now the fact was, that it was one of the laws of
the hospital, that a patient should be discharged at the expi-
ration of two months, unless the physician should especially
report it to be expedient for such patient to be longer retained.
But Elizabeth Okey had not yet been discharged, nor had the
practice of Mesmerism been discontinued with her since Dr.
Elliotson's resignation, which he ( Mr. G.) considered highly,
improper.—( Applause and hisses.) Had the practice of Mes-
merism been confined to attempts to cure diseases, the Council
would not have interfered. But the manner in which it had
been practised could not have had any but a demoralizing
effect.—( Hisses.) It was a fact that Okey bad been taken to
the houses of Mr. Wakley, Dr. Roget, and others, to be
exhibited.--( Great confusion.) What--was the hospital to be
made a board and lodging-house for persons to be carried about as
spectacles, to induce the public to fall down and worship the
" new science ?"—( Applause.) He asked that meeting, com-
posed of students of a grave and important science, what did
they think of their senior physician's making Mesmeric pro-
phecy a part of his medical diagnosis ?—( Hisses and renewed
confusion.) A magnetised girl in a state of delirium had been
Drought into the room where a dying man lay, to prophecy as
to his recovery I She said that she saw Jacky—( A laugh)—
for so the phantom was called—by the man's bed. side Was
it any wonder that the patient died ?—( Hisses, &c.) This fact
had been stated before the House Committee, by the nurse and
other witnesses, in Dr. Elliotson's presence.
Mr. TAYLOR begged leave to set Mr. George right—
( Hear, hear.) He himself had already declared his intention
to take no part in the present discussion, but he was bound to
state facts. Dr. Elliotson was not present when the witnesses
were examined.—(Loud cheers.)
Mr. GEORGE-But the facts remained the same—(Hisses).—
and such proceedings were scandalously improper—( Hisses
and cheers)—they were disgraceful to the character of a pub-
lic institution.—( Renewed confusion.) They were so unlike
everything that became the character of a man holding such
rank and station, that, if the Council were at all to blame, it
was because they bad not sooner put a stop to them.—( Ap-
plause and hisses.) He asked the meeting, were they prepared
again to listen to the Mesmeric prophecies, and to witness
the same immoral and disgusting proceedings over and over
again ?—( Hisses.) If the Council had treated Dr. Elliotson
injuriously, why did he punish the pupils ? Why did he de-
sert his class, before the course was half finished? Why did
he foist upon them (as had been said) an inferior professor for
the best teacher in the world ?—( Confusion. ) But was there
no other " balm in Gilead?"—( Hisses.) Gentlemen might
hiss as long as they pleased, but they should not put him
down. There were other professors in the schools of Lon-
don ; and it would be better to have one even a little inferior,
if at the same time he was a little more respectable.—( Ve-
hement expressions of disapprobation.) He did not speak of
his private character, but of his proceedings as a professor.—
(Oh, oh.) Although he was willing to second the amend
ment of Mr. Jefferson, yet he preferred to suggest, instead
of it, another, to the effect that an address be presented to
Dr. Elliotson, thanking him for his past services, and ex-
pressing the regret of the students tha', they were deprived of
them for the future. (Mr. Jefferson having consented to the
substitution of this amendment for the one proposed by him-
self), Mr. George entreated the students to consider that the
Council had no interests in the matter other than those of
the Institution and the pupils. By adopting his amendment
they would avoid all interference with the Council, who would,
no doubt, be informed of the proceedings of that day, and
of the feelings manifested by the meeting. The Council
would also know that Dr. Elliotson was willing to come back,
if he were allowed to go on with his practice in his own way,
and the governing body of the Institution, and that Professor
would be able to adjust the matter between them.—( Hear. )
Mr. WOOD rose on the present occasion with great reluct-
ance ; for it bad been his intention to take no part in the pro-
ceedings, because he was aware that some might be disposed
to attribute improper motives to him. ( Mr. W., as the readers
of The Sun may be aware, has been Dr. Elliotson's principal
assistant in the Mesmeric experiments.) But he felt called
upon to present himself to the meeting, because the proceed-
ings of the House-Committee of the hospital, had been com-
municated by other gentlemen, and he was justified in com-
municating also certain facts, of which he was aware.—( Hear,
hear.) He held in his hand the letters of two Professors of
the Institution, (and one of them a medical Professor), who
declared their firm belief in the reality of Mesmerism, and ex-
pressed their opinion that Dr. Elliotson had a perfect right to
proceed with his investigations.—( Cheers.)
The CHAIRMAN reminded Mr. Wood that the question of
Mesmerism was not to be gone into further than the proceedings
of the Council required.
Mr. WOOD did not wish to touch upon the subject more than
was actually essential to the full and fair consideration of the
question before the meeting. It bad been said that Dr. E.'s
letter had been circulated amongst the pupils, as if that had
been done for an improper purpose. But the fact was, that
Dr. Elliotson's only object in writing it was that his
share of the fees should be returned to the clinical class, and
that would be seen, if the letter had been read to the end.—
( Hear.) It was true that repeated applications had been made
to Dr. E. to discontinue the practice of Mesmerism ; but on
the contrary, he had an express resolution of the hospital-corn.
snittee recognising his perfect right to apply it as a remedial
agent. 4t the same time, much objection was made to the
public exhibitions of the effects of Mesmerism, and Dr. E.,
seeing
the ill feeling that existed, discontinued those exhi-
bitions, but continued to act upon the resolution of the Com-
mittee.—(Hear, hear.) As to the rule, that a patient should
be discharged at the end of two months—there was now in
the hospital a patient of Dr. Thompson's, who had been there
twelve months, without any objection being offered.—( Hear,
and a laugh.) But yet in the case of Elizabeth Okey, the
Committee called on Dr. E. to say why she was retained
before she had been quite two months in the house.—( Hear,
hear.) She had been in the hospital a year ago, as an epileptic
patient, and was discharged as cured ; but was subsequently,
again admitted as suffering from ischuria. After the House-
Committee bad made the inquiry of Dr. E., the Committee of
Management, which was a section of the Council, arranged
with him that Okey was to remain in the house until February
—( Hear, hear, bear)—and yet immediately afterwards the
Council, without consulting him, came to the resolution that
abs ehould be discharged forthwith—(Hear)—thus distinctly
telling lairn that be was incompetent to the duties of his office.