The Sun.
London, England, 1841-11-27 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 27. 1841.

D'Aguilar—Deputy Adjutant-General, Ireland.
Pasley—Engineers, Chatham.
Turner—Assistant-Adjutant-General, Ireland.
Burrell—from Lieutenant-Colonelcy 18th Foot.
Riddell—Assistant-Quartermaster-General, Ireland.
Elrington—from Lieutenant Colonelcy 47th Foot.
Sir Edward Williams—from Lieutenant Colonelcy 9th
Foot.
Sir Guy Campbell—Deputy-Quartermaster-General,
Ireland.
Sir Charles F. Smith—Royal Engineers, Gibraltar.
Ellicombe—Royal Engineers, London.
Webber Smith—Royal Artillery, Dublin.
Brotherten—Cavalry Depot, Maidstone.
Arnold—Royal Engineers, Portsea.
Pym—Royal Artillery (Horse).
Faunce—lnspecting Field Officer, Bristol.
Brown—Rifle Brigade.
Crawford—Royal Artillery, Plymouth.
Aitchison—Scots Fusilier Guards.
And six paid Aides-de-Camp to her Majesty.

ADMIRAL SIR JOHN WELLS,G.C.B.
This Gallant Naval Officer died on Friday last,
at Behiore, his residence, near Cuckfield, Sus-
sex, at the advanced age of seventy-eight years,
having been in the navy upwards of sixty-five
years, and being, with not more than four ex-
ceptions,the senior Admiral in the British service.
Towards the conclusion of the American war,
Sir John commanded the Raven, of fourteen
guns, at the Leeward Islands, on which station
he had the misfortune to be captured by two
French frigates. He was afterwards appointed
to the Wasp sloop, and cruised with so much
activity against the smugglers as to call forth the
thanks of the Commissioners of Customs, who
sent a sum of money to be distributed among
his officers and crew as a reward for their exer-
tions. His post commission bears date March 1,
1783, from which period we find no mention of
him until the month of October, 1794, when
commanded the Defence of 74 guns.
Early in 1797, Captain Wells was appointed to
the Lancaster, 64, stationed in the North Sea,
under the orders of the late gallant Lord
Duncan; and on the memorable 11th October,
in the same year, he most powerfully con-
tributed to the defeat of the Dutch fleet under
Admiral de Winter. The Lancaster on that
occasion had three men killed, and eighteen
wounded; and Captain Wells, for his meritorious
conduct, was honoured with a gold medal. He
afterwards walked in the procession to St. Paul's,
when their late Majesties went to the metropo-
litan
church to deposit the various colours taken
from the enemy during the war.
The solemn ceremonies of this, day were de-
voted to thanksgiving for the splendid triumphs
that the Almighty had vouchsafed to the fleets
of Britain. It took place on the 19th of De-
cember, 1797, when their Majesties, as stated
above, with all the Royal Family, attended by
the Great Officers of State, and the Members of
both Houses of Parliament, went in procession,
and returned thanks for the glorious naval vic-
tories obtained by Lord Howe, June 1, 1794 ;
by Admiral Hotham, March 13, 1795; by Lord
Bridport, June 23, 1795; by Sir John Jervis,
Feb. 14, 1797 ; and lastly by Admiral Duncan,
Oct. 11, in the same year. The flags of these
actions, as well as the colours of the Dutch fleet
captured by Sir G. H. Elphinstone, Aug. 18,
1796, were carried on this occasion. Fifteen
Flag Officers and twenty-six Captains attended
the procession, and at the end of the first lesson,
entered in two divisions, right and left of the
King's chair, and advancing to the altar there
deposited the trophies of their valour.
Sir John continued to command the Lancaster
till the month of May, 1799, since which, we
believe, he had not been employed.
His promotion as a flag-officer took place in
the following order :—Rear-Admiral of the Blue.
Nov. 9, 1805; Vice-Admiral, July 31, 1810; and
Admiral, July 19, 1821. He was nominated an
extra K.C.B. May 20, 1820.
Sir John Wells married, April 29, 1815, Miss
Jane Dealty, of Rottingdean, Sussex.

ORIGIN OF THE RICHMOND
CEMETERY, DUBLIN.

A County meeting was held at Dublin on Saturday
last, for the purpose of furthering the undertakings of
the " Land Investment Company." The' High Sheriff,
Thomas Boyse, Esq., in the course of an eloquent
speech, gave the following account of the foundation of
the Richmond Cemetery, and the great object secured to
Catholics by the movement :—I recollect (said the
Learned High Sheriff) that about fourteen years ago
the people of the city of Dublin were in a state of per-
petual confusion and irritation in consequence of the
Protestant clergymen of the city refusing permission to
the Catholic clergymen to read the office of the dead
over the remains of their deceased parishioners. In
the assertion of this ungracious right the police force
were called in, and on more than one occasion blood
was shed in the grave-yard.—(Hear, hear.) To remedy
this state of things, the present ,Lord ,Plunket, then
Attorney-General, introduced a Bill into the House of
Commons, which passed. This Bill is known as " The
Easement of Burial Bill." It was so insulting in its
spirit, that although professing to remedy the evil, it
made matters worse than they were in their original
state. Amongst other provisions it contained one, that
the nearest of of a deceased Catholic should serve
twelve hours' notice on the parson of the parish of his
intention to inter the remains of his deceased relative in
the parish churchyard, and to have the office of the dead
said over them. The parson had the power to assent
or dissent, and in the event of refusing permission, he
was liable to a civil action in the due course of law, the
body of the deceased being outside the gate in the in-
terim, and, of course, approaching rapidly to a state I
of decomposition.—(Hear, hear, and laughter.) Find-
ing this state of the law absolutely intolerable, the
subject was, by myself and others, frequently
brought under the notice of the Catholic Associa-
tion ; and, assisted by Mr. O'Connell, we succeeded
in getting from the funds of the Association a sum of
800/., with which a Committee then appointed—of which
I was one—purchased the fee simple of four acres of
land at Richmond, near Dublin, which we enclosed
with a twelve-foot wall, and, after being consecrated,
was converted into a cemetery, where persons of all re-
ligious persuasions could be interred without the con-
sent of the parson. The first rule made by the Direc-
tors was, that in the descent of frail human nature to
the grave there should be no religious distinction.—
(Hear, and cheers.) The parson of parish, finding
his revenues diminished to the extent of 1,5001., raved
and complained that his vested rights were evaded ;
but, on inquiry, he found that the law afforded no remedy;
and his churchyard, which at all seasons of the year, exhi-
bited the appearance of a ploughed field, from the number
of interments, threw up such a crop of noxious weeds and
loathsome grass that it afforded employment to the MONS er
three times during that and every succeeding season
since.—(Hear.) An additional result has followed the
labours of the Directors—namely, that the fees arising
from interments were so large, that they have been en-
abled to take a tract of forty acres of land adjoining the
Botanical Gardens, on the north side of Dublin, which is
also enclosed and devoted to the interment of the dead
without religious distinction ; a large space is devoted
to the interment of the poor without any charge ; and
the Directors have continued to govern this society !ince
the year 1828 gratuitously. The parson's freehold right
has been destroyed without being directly invaded—
Lord Plunket's insulting " Easement of Burial Bill" re-
mains a dead letter on the statute-book, and that which
was considered perfectly impracticable--namely, the in-
terment of the Catholic or Protestant Dissenter, without
the leave of the parson, has been fully accomplished.

TRIALS OF ANIMAL MAGNE-
TISM ON THE BRUTE CREATION.

A most curious little book, bearing this title, has
been put into our hands. It is written by Dr. John
Wilson, Physician to the Middlesex Hospital, and its
blunt style, and the air of indifference which it breathes
throughout as to the reception its statements may meet
with, are such as to prepossess one in favour of its au-
thor's sincerity, if his character in this respect were
not already well known. His Preface is a plain and phi-
losophical account of the considerations which induced
him to give animal magnetism these " trials." In giving
the Doctor's statements, however, we offer no opinion
on the facts, much less do we attempt to draw any in-
ference from them. Having referred to the various
phases of alternate attention and contempt which Mes-
merism has presented since its existence was first
pointed out to philosophical observers, he says, " As,
however, the science professes to be founded upon ob-
served and ascertained facts, it seems to :be entitled
to a full examination before its claims be altogether
rejected. The extraordinary character of the
facts which constitute its basis, affords a good
reason for making the examination proportionally
rigorous and severe, but no reason for dismissing the
subject without any examination at all." He then ex-
plains that until renewed experiments were recently
brought under public observation, he was so far from
yielding an easy assent to the doctrines of the science
that he did not think it worth while to direct any time
or attention to it. But, in consequence of those recent
experiments, he conceived a desire to institute such re-
searches as were consistent with strict propriety and due
caution, into the reality of the magnetic influence, "in
order to satisfy himself whether the existence of such an
influence had been established as a physical fact; and,
if so, whether this new power might be safely and bene-
ficially applicable as a remedial
,agent in the treatment
of diseases of the human frame.'
iewsofaPaidsvicrecoefisetlhyat eminent and
in accordance
with the
i stronglson's
opinionview,
and
cautious philosopher, Dugald Stewart, in the "Elements
iDthri
of the Philosophy of the Human Mind," vol. iii. p. 221.
The passage is curious, and may be consulted with ad-
vantage in the present stage of the mesmeric controversy.
Accordingly, the Doctor, in some peculiar cases,
" in which the ordinary remedies had been em-
ployed in vain, thought it allowable to try whe-
ther any effects such as have been ascribed to ani-
mal magnetism, would be produced upon his patients
with beneficial consequences; and advancing t, lay slow
and cautious steps, the results were surprising to him-
self." He says he " produced remarkable an various
effects upon all the patients upon whom he operated, and
the infirmities under which some of them laboured, were
materially relieved or removed." Restraining himself
within the strictest bounds of caution," he was in-
duced to institute experiments with a view to ascertain
what effects would be produced on the brute creation by this
agency. This mode of investigation, he thought, could
not be liable to the objection, either that there was col-
lusion between the operator and the subject, or,
when the character of the operator was above suspicion,
that the subject was an impostor.
Having thus briefly given a sketch of his views and
motives, we shall leave his experiments to speak for
themselves, in the following extracts:—
" My first experiments on animals were made on cats,
but as they were snore or less connected with the
cases of my patients, which I have not en-
tered upon here, I may briefly notice that
many experiments were made on four cats and kit-
tens, at intervals from the 16th of May to the 3d of Oc-
tober, 1838, and each of them was put to sleep at the
first trial ; and ultimately I was able to put first one
and then another to sleep ; and at the end to leave three
sleeping together, being as many as could ordinarily be
brought together at once. One of these, a Torn, the first
of them that was magnetised, and on which that opera-
tion had been most frequently repeated, became easily
and strongly influenced by it ; so that he has been pulled
about—lifted up by the nape of the neck, and his ears

tickled with a pen, during which he would remain mo- •
tionless, and was then said to be in a state of catalepsy.
Sometimes when lifted up by the head or tail, the eyes
might partially open, without the limbs moving, and
when dropped down, the eyes again closed, and so con-
tinued to sleep, without making any effort to move
from the place, where he had been dropped."
Then follow detailed accounts of a series of experi-
ments (of which notes seem to have been taken) from
the 26th of September to the 17th of March fol-
lowing. The first were made upon three cats,
with rather odd names, and a terrier. These
are described as having been all sent to sleep, in times
varying from five to ten minutes or a quarter of an hour;
and his accounts of the symptoms of excitement and
quasi-delirium, which they occasionally exhibited, are
very amusing. In other instances, goats, pigs, and dogs
of several kinds, were subjected to the manipulations—were
frequently put to sleep, and manifested, in various ways,
their susceptibility of the influence. The most extraor-
dinary of these was the case of a " stout St. Bernard's
puppy, six months old," which had been blind from birth !
It is thus related :

" I began the passes, while it was at large in a room,
and, as it moved about, I continued acting on it as I was
able,, by following it and continuing the passes. After
some time it became irritable, made a whining sort of
noise, so that for safety I removed farther from it while
I continued the passes. It yawned eight times as it was
sitting on its haunches, it trembled a little, its eyes began
to close, and head to droop, when it suddenly recovered
itself. These alternations of drooping the head and
rousing itself were repeated several times, till it
lay down at full length, and was then soon
put to sleep. It remained in this state for twenty
minutes, when it got up, and I moved off to a different
part of the room. The dog kept moving from place to
place, examining, with its nose, every thing that it came
near, but particularly the floor and chairs. This con-
tinued more than five minutes. When it came near to
me, and had touched and smelt me, it began whining,
shaking its tail, and showed other symptoms of satisfao-
tion,.—then lay down at my feet, though I had not seen
it since the day of its birth, and its master was, at the
same time standing beside me, and it took no notice of
him. The servant who had brought the dog into the
room was sent for to take it away, but the dog would
not go with him. Then, the great dogs, its father and
mother, were brought in, and when they went out, it
followed them out of the -door, but immediately left
them and returned to me. And; on my walking out, it
followed me, although, from its blindness, unable to see me."

He details experiments, if possible, still more extra-
ordinary in their effects, upon macaws, poultry, ducks,
geese, and turkeys, and, most wonderful ofall, upon FISHES!
But-to extract them at such length as would enable the
reader to form any judgment upon the subject would
occupy too much space; and we must refer the curious
to the book itself.

The adventurous and yet most cautious author pro-
ceeded to try his hand upon the wild beasts in the me-
nagrerie of the Surrey Gardens with various success,
but with most decided success upon the Elephants !
The latter, he says, he repeatedly put to sleep in the
presence of their keeper, and elicited from them still
more surprising manifestations of the mesmeric influence.
He thus explains his reason for discontinuing his opera-
tions in this novel field ;—" No further trials were made
on the elephants and other wild beasts, from my un-
willingness to carry the experiments beyond a certain
point; for I had no means of judging what the conse-
quences might be, should such animals, after repetitions
of.magnetism, get into the irritable stage, or should
they, after being put to sleep, pass into the state of som-
nambulism or delirium."