The Sun.
London, England, 1841-07-30 00:00:00

• IVIES 51ER71._/11'

LECTURE AT THE lIA.NOVER-LNUARE
ROOMS.
The perplexing and incomprehensible Mystery, whic2,,
since the year 1775, has from time to time attracted the
attention, incited the controversies, and divided the
opinion of the most eminent physiologists of Germany,
France, and England, is once more made the subject of
public investigation in this country, by a distinguished
French physician, M. Lafontaine. The professor seems
to hare made an ill-advised choice of the theatre for his
exhibitions. The Hanover-square rooms have an aris-
tocratic character, and the judgment of the aris-
tocracy in all matters of science or common sense
has no weight with any enlightened portion of the
English public. Since the delusions of quackery as prac-
tised by St. John Long and Morison, received so much
support from rank and title, under circumstances in which
only insanity or icliotcy could be imposed upon, it is ab-
surd to submit to the examination of the " fashionable
world," a subject upon which the whole '° scientific world''
is divided, and which involves so many considerations of
doubt and uncertainty, and suspicion, as this rexata
questio of Mesmerism.
When the open, candid, and philosophic experiments of
Dr. Elliotson were conducted at the University College,
we gave in The Sun, not only detailed-accounts of the
experiments themselves, as we witnessed them, butalso a
succinct and adequate narrative of the principal facts
which have marked the progress of this " Mystery,'
which must either be regarded as an awful discovery
in physiological science, or a frightful result of con-
spiracy and fraud on the part of men holding the highest
reputation for knowledge, skill, and honour of the pre-
sent age.

We yesterday attended the lecture of M. Lafontaine
and witnessed with pain, if we may not say with horror,
what appeared to be conclusive and unquestionable proofs
of the power which one human being may possess of en-
tirely subjecting to his will the physical an moral
faculties of another.

The room was crowded to excess at the hour appointed
for the commencement of the lecture and the illustrations
with which it was to be accompanied. Several gentle-
men complained that the room was too small
to accommodate the large number of persons
who had been admitted, and an adjournment to some
more capacious apartment in the same building was pro-
posed. But M. Lafontaine, after some delay and inquiry,
explained that he had taken the small chamber because
he did not expect to be honoured by the presence of so
large a company, and it would be impossible to prepare,
within the space of two or three hours, any apartment
of greater dimensions. Yet he requested those ladies
and gentlemen who felt it inconvenient to remain in the
crowded lecture-room, to postpone to a future day the
observation of the facts which they had come to witness
and to receive from his doorkeepers their tickets, or the
money which they had paid for them. This suggestion
was received with great applause, and so many availed
themselves of it, that all who remained were able to ob-
serve the phenomena exposed to their investigation, with
little inconvenience or interruption.
As soon as order was established a French gentleman
came forward on the platform, and said that M. Lafon-
raine could not speak one word of English, and as he had
resided some time in the country, and could express him-
self with some degree of ease, he offered himself in the
'capacity of an interpreter, throwing himself upon the
indulgence of this auditory.— (Groat applause.) It
might be that English gentlemen who were sufficiently
conversant with the French language to express them-
selves intelligibly to the lecturer, might be deterred from
the effort by the characteristic modesty of the nation.—
(Laughter, and very great applause.) All he could say
to those gentleman was, that he would, to the best of
his power, faithfully interpret to M. Lafontaine what
they said ; and he considered it due to himself to state at
the same time—whether to his credit or not—that he

had formed no opinion upon the subject which was to
be submitted to their investigation, and he had had no
acquaintance with M. Lafontaine previous to that gentle-
man's lecture in that room a few days ago.—(Applause.)
He was aware that many people in this country had paid
some attention to the subject of Mesmerism ; but tliere
was a still greater number who knew nothing whatever
about it, and he would, therefore, bespeak the indul-
gence of those who had a previous knowledge, whilst he
gave a brief account of the extraordinary subject which
they were assembled to investigate.—(Hear, hear.)
Frederic Mesmer, a young German physician, studvitg
at Vienna. had his attention first drawn to this still in-
comprehensible subject by Professor Maximilian Dell, an
astronomer well known over all Germany and civilised
Europe for his labours in the branch of science which
was placed under his direction, and for an extensive ac-
quaintance with physical science in every other depart-
ment. Professor Dell directed the attention of the young
and aspiring student only to the fact, that one human
being had the power of subduing and controlling the
faculties, and regulating the sensations of another, with-
out the consent or will of that other. Mesmer, filled with
enthusiam, and astonished at the success of his own ex-
periment, proceeded so far as to incur the hostility of the
medical profession, which, like every other that depends
mainly upon tradition, regards naturally the introduction
of every novelty with enmity and distrust.—(Hear,
hear.) Mesmer at length, scouted at Vienna, and sub-
sequently at Munich and Berlin, quitted Germany, and
went to Paris, where the public attention was so much
attracted by his exhibitions, that a Committee was ap-
pointed by the Government to investigate the truth of
his pretensions. That Committee comprised the
most illustrious men of science at that time
existing in Isrance ; and amongst them two,
whom all observers of nature, and all students
of science, of every language and every nation, will hold
in the highest honour—Lavoisier, the chemist, and Jus-
sieu, the naturalist.—(Great applause.) The members
of that Commission recorded the facts which they had
witnessed, and satisfied themselves, the Government,
and the whole scientific world, by the statement that the
results were produced by " touching and imagination."—
(Laughter and applause.) The Learned Gentleman then
went into a detail of the juggling and imposture by
which Mesmer contrived to make money for himself, and
to embarrass and obscure the most important and diffi-
cult question that ever was raised amongst those who,
under the name of philsophers, have made man, in his
physical and moral capabilities, their study. He
had himself no decided opinion upon the subject which
had called that meeting together. But he must say, that
whilst he condemned a ready credulity, he also thought
that a stubborn scepticism was adverse to truth. Bi-
gotry was repudiated by all those who made scientific
investigation their pursuit, and he could not say which bi-
gotry was the most to be condemned—that which believed
too much, or that which believed nothing.
The gentleman, whose name we were unable to learn,
and who spoke fluently and clearly, although with an
accent which rroaked him as a native of France, con-
cluded amidst enthusiastic cheering.
In the chair, which had been at all former meetings
in this room appropriated to the President, a young gen-
tleman of remarkably healthy appearance, exhibiting none
of the characteristics of a scrofulous or epileptic patient,
Lad been
nsgeinsgpefoeeh fora considerable
contshie interpreter,derabletimebaenfod he had
retheeorne-
el-
peatedly made signs of concurrence with the
fuas the
the
observations.
of that gentleman. We had no notiontlautt
hbee
person who was to be operated upon ;but
last sentence of the speech was concluded, we observed
that his eyes were clesed, and his head fell back under
the apparent influence of manipulations performed by
M. Lafontaine, who stood . behind him The
youth sunk into a state of Absolute insensibility, in
which he underwent a series of experiments which it
was painful to witness, and difficult, if nit impossible to
record. Pins were stuck into- his head, cheeks, and
thighs, without producing any
t.exhibition of feelingor
sensation. The- electro-ma
em-
ployed with its greatest forgcne,
c icnot"chiineb was
La-
fontained:tothanbeed
acceptedpe a
resnelvleiipst aticssistants i s tonfn t
thes; b e
ttenyr :11, visitorsae(
madev%iio
the experiments themselves. Several gentlemen, who ap-
the battery, but flung the wires from their hands with
'bricks of agony, whilst the subject of the inquiry was
determined to try the force of
uaerly unconscious that the electric stream pervaded
his every nerve and distended every muscle. The
repetition • of the experiment was painful.sfietdo
every one in the room. Every one was
that the helpless creature was entirely at the power o
oerator, but everyone was shocked at such an exhibi-
tion.__
satisfied
the
of the.prostration of one human being to the will
t had been conducted,
manner in which the expeelreen
to make themselves
of another. When, after repeated discussions as to the
and all those gentlemen who choseu
had I:3iatisfied themselves and
good faith of the Lecturer,ou
subjects of exhibition for the r.pose of testing the
performed a series of
pose any fraud, 71.
the company that they could either discover nor ex-
:t is impossible to describe, but
gesticulations
which ve the effect of restoring the
which appeared to
uda
sense. The distressed and
"con tljniel
youth to life a
med to feel themselves almost
wearied assembly see
as much relieved from a degrading bondage as the
interesting object of their sympathies. They had seen
com lled to hold his legs and
him for two entire honr? ,
Pe
I • h h
position in w iic t ey were placed
arms in one rigidby no volition of
his, but by the will of a master, of
whose presence
be was unconscious. When this puth
his appalling state of subjection, a
was released from
lady volunteered
to subject herself to the Professor's
er. (There were then loud
d cries of" Name, name.")
A Gentleman Pewsaid he was the lady's husband.
He bad come to the room a sceptic, but he
had seen enough to convince him that there
must be something inscrutable in the inquiry, and his
wife having expressed to him a wish to submit herself
to the experiment he would not oppose her.—(Cheers.)
He came there prepared to believe that it was altogether
a matter of humbug, but he should like to see it to the
end.—(Cheers.)