The Sun.
London, England, 1850-10-10 00:00:00

THE ZOIST. No. XXXI.

The present number of the Zoist contains much in-
teresting matter. The Mesmeric News from India,
communicated by Dr. Elliotson, is most satisfactory.
Dr. Esdaile has, comparatively speaking, few pre-
judices to contend against in India. The members
of the medical profession in that country are too
widely scattered to form a clique, or, more properly
speaking, to organize a conspiracy for the habitual
suppression of truth. Dr. Esdaile has an opportunity
of appealing to an unprejudiced public, and we ac-
cordingly find that in India, to quote the words of the
Indian Times, " Mesmerism as a science has taken
root so fixedly as to be beyond the power of opposi-
tion." In a powerfully-written article Dr. Elliotson
replies to certain incorrect statements made by Dr.
Todd, respecting a cure of a case of deafness and
dumbness, recorded seven years ago in the Zoist. Dr.
Elliotson seems surprised at the conduct of Dr.
Todd ; we, on the contrary, consider it characteristic
and in perfect keeping with the line of conduct ge-
nerally observed by Dr. Todd towards his professional
brethren. Dr. Elliotson also administers a smart
castigation to Dr. J. W. Wilson for his recent liar-
veian oration. Several of the opposers of mesmerism
have demanded of the professors of that science some
well authenticated instances of a mesmeric effect pro-
duced on animals. The present number of the
Zoist contains three cases in point, each vouched
for by unexceptionable evidence; the first case being
communicated by the Duke of Marlborough, the se-
cond by the Rev. T. Bartlett, and the third (mes-
meric cure of a cow) by Miss Harriet Martineau.
We give these three cases as reported by the operators
themselves to Dr. Elliotson.

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" ' Mote Park, Athlone, January 1, 1843.
" ' My dear Elliotson,—At Lord Ely's farm is a yard
dog, so savage and ferocious no one dare approach him.
I was determined to beat him, and in three minutes had
him fast asleep, his last sigh being a deep growl. In
presence of several persons I then kissed the dog on his
forehead, and there left him to awake at his leisure.
' " Yours most truly,
• " MARLBOROUGH.'
" I requested the Duke to learn the subsequent state
of the dog, and the following was the reply:-
6" Blenheim, February, 1843.
" ' Mytear Elliotson,—l have a letter from Ely Lodge
this morning, written by Lord Adam Loftus. I extract
as follows:—" The dog has been quite stupid ever since."
"'I must now tell you what I have been doing here.
I have also a very savage ) and dog. I tried him to-day ;
in about fifteen minutes he ran into his kennel and hid
his eyes from the manipulating process,—growling,
snarling, and barking most furiously, notwithstanding.
I then made the man who feeds him, and who is the
only person who dares go near him, drag him out of his
kennel and nail up a hurdle before the entrance, so as to
keep him effectually outside. I then went to work
again, the dog, as you may suppose, being ten times
more furious. In about 45 mitaites I had him so quiet,
oppressed, and stupid, that he dropped his nose several
times in the mud around his kennel, and kept shutting
and opening his eyes. Carts and horses, and men and
boys were passing and repassing, which served continu-
ally to arouse him, so that I could not satisfactorily com-
plete the task, and leave him dead asleep; besides which
a heavy snow storm was falling all the while, and I could
not feel my finger's ends. But I completely subdued the
boast, and patted him on the head before 1 left.
" ' Yours most sincerely,
" ' MARLBOROUGH.'
" My friend, the Rev. Mr. Bartlett, produced mesme-
ric effects upon a bull, as be thus wrote me worth—
"' My dear Sir,—lt may perhaps not be uninterest-
ing to you to hear of a lit, le incident, which occurred to
me in the autumn of 1847, when I was in Westmore-
land and Cumberland. Upon descending a mountain,
over which I had been wandering alone, and enjoying
the magnificent prospect which opened before me, I
' found myself in a narrow road between two stone fences,
which perhaps separated the lands of different proprie-
tors. On one side of the fences were cattle and a bull.
The bull approached the fence in an angry mood, and
walked along the other side of it, parallel with me, for
more than a quarter of a mile; he then grew more ex-
cited, tore the ground with his horns, and bellowed
fiercely. As I could not but apprehend that, should
there be a breach in the wall, he might leap over and
attack me, I was considering what course it.'was best to
take, when we came to a very high and strong gate.
Upon reaching the gate, the bull rushed close up to it,
could neither leap over, nor force this gate, I also ap-
proached' and looked him steadily in the face. In
it,
and bellowed loudly through it. As I knew that he
about a minute I caught his eye, which then fixed upon
me. In about another minute a twinkling of the eye-
lids arose, very similar to that of a human subject at
an early stage of mesmeric influence. After probably
dilluimoootkssiotigs,traitkihnigs.
fixed
xed
three or four minutes, the eyes gradually closed, and the
bull remained quiet, and appeared to be as immoveable
as if he had been chiselled by the hand of the sculptor!
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haellmdma.nger from
The transition from his previously excited state to his
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form for a few minutes more, I descended the remainder
tAhfuugll.y2yours,
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" ' T. BARTLETT.
" Having heard that Miss Martineau had lately cured
a cow, I wrote to Ambleside, requesting her to inform
me whether the report was correct. The following is
her obliging, and, I will add, noble answer:—

66 6
Bolton, near Skipton, Aug. 19, 1850.
" Dear Dr. Elliotson,—Your note has just reached
me, having been forwarded from home. The story of
the cow is this:—One very hot evening in July, I took
some young cousins to see my stock ; and I saw a small
pail half full of blood at the door of the cow-house.
During my absence that day, my cow, Ailsie, had been
taken violently ill, so that the servants had sent to Rydal
for the cow-doctor, who had bled her and given her
strong medicines. This had been done some hours be-
fore I saw her; and the doctor had said that if she was
not much relieved before bis evening visit, he was sure
she would die. There were no signs of relief in any way
when I saw her at seven o'clock, nor hen the doctor
came, soon after eight. Ile said she could not recover,
and it was a chance if she lived till morning. At ten,
she was worse; and, to be sure, no creature could ap-
pear in a more desperate state. She was struggling for
breath, quivering, choking, and all in a flame of fever.
Her eyes were starting; her mouth and nostrils dry;
and the functions su,pended, as they had been all day.
" It occurred to me then to have her mesmerised;
but, lam afraid, I was rather ashamed. The man knew
nothing whatever about mesmerism, except the fact, that
I had once done it, with success, to his sister. I believe
he had not the remotest idea what was done, or what it

meant.
" I desired him to come up to the house at twelve
o'clock, and let me know Ailsie's state. As I sat during
those two hours, I remembered bow I bad known cats
affected by mesmerism, and how Sullivan, the whisperer,
tamed vicious horses, and Catlin learned from the In.
dians how to secure buffalo calves by what seemed
clearly to be mesmerism; and I determined to try it upon
the cow, if by midnight she proved to be past the power
of medicine.
" At midnight I went down and found that tke';e was
no improvement or promise of any. I ther"oirected the
man to mesmerise her, and showed how. Ile was
to persevere, till he saw some (I red change, in making
passes along the spine, from the head to the tail, and also
aoross the chest, as the laboured more dreadfully than
ever in her breathing. Within a few minutes her
breathing bec'.nie, tamer, her eye less wild, her mouth
moist. and he re morning she was relieved in all ways.
The first news I heard was of the astonishment of
tbeliydal doctor, who came early, without an idea that
she could be alive. He exclaimed that he had "never
thought to see her alive again ;" that "it was a good
101. in Miss M.'s pocket;" and so forth. One thing
struck me much, My man called to me as I was in the
garden, and asked me to come and sec how " Ailsie fare
to go to sleep like," when he mesmerised her; and it
really was curious to see how her eyes grew languid and
gradually closed under the treatment.
" This is not all. Towards noon, I was told that
Ailsie had relapsed, and was almost as bad as ever. I
went down, and saw that it was to, and ordered an hour's
me.merising again. The relief was as striking as before,
and in two hours more she was out of danger, 'and has
beets vary well since,
"a I foresee how such a story may be ridiculed ; but
I perceive hole important it is that we should gather some
facts abut the poker of mesmerism over brutes, not only
fa( truth's turd humanity's sake, but became the satsb-