The Sun.
London, England, 1844-09-20 00:00:00

PARLIAMENTARY PAPER.

MESMERIC ABSURDITIES.
" THE RATIONALE OF MAGNETISM." BY
SAMUEL SPURRELL.
Whilst there is an obvious and increasing ten
dency, on the part of the public, to inquire into the
reality, the nature, and the uses of the mesmeric
mystery, and to listen with impartiality, if not with
favour, to the averments of its believers, the insane,
or perhaps the fraudulent pretensions of many who,
instead of pursuing the subject as a matter of cautious
investigation, profess it as an art ascertained, estab-
lished, and complete, have the effect of startling
Credulity in her eager advance, and inducing doubt
upon the best authenticated facts, and distrust upon
the most sincere and the most eminent advocates. In
raising the indignation of the honest observer, and the
disgust of the candle sceptic, the ingenious tissue of
absurdities, entitled by its author the " Rationale (!)
of Magnetism," is calculated to be immensely effective,
as the work itself is immensely ridiculous. The in-
troduction gives a learned exposition of the two classi-
fications of the " science," viz., mental and animal
magnetism. It then proceeds to explain some (no
doubt interesting, if intelligible) views of the
author on the powers of ultra-vision and intro-vision,
and the advantages that would be derived from an
operator becoming his own patient, and thus pos-
sessing himself of those two wonderful powers. The
case of the " Philadelphian Solitary," who could
travel from Philadelphia to Africa, thence over
Europe, and lastly to London, in search of an un-
known man, whom at last he meets bodily at
a convivial table in London, and puts questions to
him from his wife—with the answers to which he
returns to Philadelphia—all his mission having
occupied but a few minutes, and the said solitary
having been all the while entranced in his own
chamber ! This is gravely stated ; not merely as an
illustration, but as an authority ! And the book, too,
is boldly put forth as a text-book—a philosophical
text-book—supported by facts solemnly vouched for
on the author s testimony, and that of several others
named, described, and referred to. But from the
specimen just referred to, Mr. Spurrell goes not for
by-gone authorities, to the Arabian Nights or our
own fairy tales—in truth, these faithful nar-
ratives have too much the semblance of
rationality to bear out his " Rationale." As to
his own facts, ridiculous and unblushing as they are,
they would deserve no notice, but that they are told
with such an air of simplicity, that they might im-
pose upon some innocent lovers of the marvellous, or,
what is perhaps worse, bring into disbelief the impor-
tant and ascertained phenomena upon which this
monstrous superstructure of hardy invention is erected.
Nay, it does appear that the book has a great sale ;
and certainly its contents are very extensively dis-
cussed, finding, strange to say, many sturdy de-
fenders.
Now, the utmost length that a reasonable person
could at present go with the philo-mesmerists would
be to admit that Dr. Elliotson and the other eminent
men, of unquestionable honour and distinguished
talents, who investigate mesmerism, have pretty well
established that it is possible to produce in a human
being a peculiar condition, in a state of existence rot
only dijprent, but separate, from the ordinary one is
passed, and powers and faculties are developed
That.
are not possessed in the ordinary condition.h There is a
sleep unlike the natural ; rigidity of ts.eceln_wa, n
utter insensibillity to pain—sometimescelnsePs.
ti i on a facility
athnedreandoiresexapelciocambpleaneyxatlitlaistiolantteorf tcloiend._
be affirmed by a large body of evidence very .ar of seeing objects not presented to the eyes, seferns to
re-
moved from suspicion. But this claircgiance is so
far from being a constant, or even a frequent atten-
dant of the mesmeric sleep, that Dr. Elliotson never
(as he declares) met with one instance of it amongst
the great number of kis own patients, although there
have been amongst them many most extraordinary
cases. Yet the pseudo-mesmerists deal with clair-
voyance as an every-day occurrence—an almost inse-
perable condition of mesmerism—so that we have
seen upon a platform at Mr. Vernon's lectures
as many as six clairvoyants at a time, who were, how-
ever, exhibited with no better success than the experi-
ment deserved, although it was calculated to throw
very unmerited discredit on genuine mesmerism.
Mr. Spurrell beats these practitioners hollow. lle
finds not only clairvoyance, but extra-vision. llis pa-
tient sees not only the money in other people's
pockets—but from Maidstone he sees all that is pass-
ing on the way to London, and all the goings on, the
doings, aye, and the sayings, of the Queen, the Prince,

E SIERRAMIGRATION LEONE.
" Return of the number of patients received into
Kissy Hospital, Sierra Leone (the Hospital attached
to the Liberated African Department), with the
nature of the diseases as far as reported, &c., for the
years 1835 to 1842 inclusive."
This return was ordered to be printed on the 17th
July last. We submit a summary of its contents
oily to illustrate, incidentally, some new horrors
attaching to this modern Golgotha, of which many of
our readers may have hitherto been ignorant. Such
a catalogue of hideous diseases none but such a plague-
spot on our globe could rarely supply in the course of
one short year.
Number of Individuals admitted into the Liberated
African Hospital, at Kissy, from January 1 to De-
cember 31, 1839:-
3len
Women 157
Boys
Girls

Total
NoTE.—The number of persons discharged cured, and
the number of deaths, in 1839, have not been reprted.
List of Diseases admitted during the Year 1839.
Intermittent Fever ... B', Dropsy
Remittent Fever
Continued Fever
Abscess 27 Elephantiasis
Ophthalmia
Ear-ache
Rheumatism 25 Venereal
Tooth-ache

Small-pox
Chicken-pox lO
Measles
Consumption 5
Catarrh l9
Dysentery 366
Lethargy
_ _

Prolapsus Ani
Sprains
Wounds 2.5
Burns 7
Ulcers
Fractures
Amputation

Paralysis ..
Epilepsy
Inflammation, affec-
tion of the Chest
Ilooping-cough 9
Colic
Diarrhoea
Insanity lB
Affections of Knee-
joint
W. N. AITKIN, Col. Surgeon.
ROBERT CLARK, Assist. Col. Surgeon.

Polypus
Blindness
Yaws l 64
Craw Craw
Amenorrluva.... ......
Guinea Worm
Worms
Necrosis

How long are the lives of European and African
sojourners in this pestiferous settlement to be con-
tinuously sacrificed to the fond dream of speculative
philanthropy at home ?

The superiority of the English waterman has been
again proved in the regatta at Havre. Two six-oared
cutter crews, composed of London watermen, made their
appearance to contend for prizes " open to all the world,"
but their reception was anything but consistent with fair
play. The boats they had taken over were objected to
by the Frenchmen, and although they had new ones
themselves, the English watermen were compelled to row
in two old ones of their selection, or decline the contest,
so they set to work scraping, dressing, repairing, and
altering the boats, to render them as fast as they could.
The trial heat was rowed on a Sunday, and eleven boats
were afloat in it. The London crews coesisted of R.
Coombes, J. Phelps, R. Newell, T. Coombes, R. Double-
dee, 11. Green, and D. Coombes, coxswain, in one boat ;
and W. Pocock, James Dodd, W. Shelton, F. Lett, W.
Robins, C. Campbell, and J. Parish, coxswain, in the
other. It was a runaway race, and won by Coombes'
party being first, and Pocock's second. On Monday the
French crews did not row, because it rained ; and Lett's
place was taken by Parish, T. Dewes steering. The
grand heat was rowed with six boats on Tuesday, when
the foreigners hemmed in the English boats directly after
the start, and the French pilot-boat carried off the 1,500
francs, Pocock's party being second, and Coombes's
third ; thus receiving 300 francs as second, and 200
francs as third. In the whale-boat race for 1,000 francs,
the Londoners having borrowed an old boat and " ope-
rated" upon her as before, mixed their crews, and the
following stepped into her to give their opponents some
work :—Charles Campbell, Phelps, Newell, Dodd, and
Pocock, D. Coombes steering. Five boats started, but
the Londoners went away from them, and won in gallant
style. Our men complain very severely of the treat-
ment they received.—B, ighton Gazette.
AGE OF OUR LINE-OF-BATTLE SIIIFS.-It has
been asserted that the ships of the line of the English
navy are, for the most part, unfit for rough service,
inasmuch as they are composed of old vessels which
aro kept water-tight, and venerated on account of
their services during the late war. We beg to in-
form our Contemporaries, foreign or otherwise, that
of the thirty sail of the line "advanced ships" now
ready for immediate service at the ports, one.
half of them are not fifteen years old. The
Neptune, 120, launched in 1832 ; the Waterloo,
120, launched in 1833 ; the Trafalgar, 120,
launched in 1811 ; the Nile, 92, launched in 1839 ;
the London, 92, launched in 1840 ; the Superb, 80,
and the Cumberland, 70, launched in 1843 ; and the
Boscawen, 70, launched in 1844, have never yet hoisted
the pendant ; nor has the Clarence, 84, another of
the advanced ships. The Royal Adelaide, 104, has
never been at sea ; and of the remainder, the Rodney,
92, was launched ia 18:33 ; the Monarch, 84, was
launched in 1832 ; the Vanguard, 80, was launched in
1835 ; the Superb, 80, was launched in 1842 ; and the
Indus, 78, was launched in 1839. The other new ships
not of the above list, out of commission, are the Royal
William, 120 ; the Goliath, 80, launched in 1842 ; the
Hindostan, 78, launched in 1841 ; and the Centurion,
80, launched in 1844. Of the ships of the line in com-
mission the Queen, 110, was launched in 1839 ;
the Albion, 90, launched in 1842 ; and the Col-
lingwood, 80, launched in 1841. In fact, thirty sail
of our noblest men-of-war, equal to any force that can
be mustered by any naval power, hive been launched
since 1830.
CAUTION TO SPORTSMEN IN TUB NORTIL—A.
Liverpool gentleman, who had been on a shooting ex-
cursion in the Highlands, fell so much in love with the
whisky of that part of her Majesty's dominions, that lie
determined to take home with him a goodly supply of
that exhilirating beverage, and accordingly purchased
three gallons, with which he reached Carlisle on Satur-
day, but the Excise officers being on the alert, not only
made a prize of the whisky, but brought him before the
magistrates, who fined him in the mitigated penalty ci
twenty-five pounds.—Cumberland Pacquct.
INTENTIONS OF FRANCE.—Resolutely determined
there should be no war between France and England,
still we may as well let our countrymen know what they
might have expected in the event of hostilities ; for we
have succeeded in finding out the plans of the French
from a commercial traveller, in an Algerine beard, who
was bringing some ribands from Paris—a pattern of
which, as he belonged to the Legion of Honour, lie was
privileged to wear in his button-hole. The French in-
tended to have landed 200,000 men at Folkestone, so that
Vantelini, of the Pavilion Hotel, would have been pret-
tily puzzled how to accommodate his gallant country-
men. They would have taken a special train up to the
Bricklayers' Arms, sacking the receipts of the company
at all the stations on the road up; and they would then
have bivouacked on Kennington-common. The next
morning they would have marched into London, pillaged
'tsh-
epna rhka to
the Mint, turned the coffers of the Bank inside out, and
have proceeded thence by omnibus to the West-end,
where they would have declared England a republic in
the middle of Regent's-circus. They would then have
marched on to Paddington, bombarded the Yorkshire
wouldame s
IS)aloug I, and dictated the terms of'
spike the gun belonging to the Gun Tavern, immediately
atsotle. Before showing the heads of
Stingo, and sent a detaclnleancet.rouTnhdeySt.J
1
ptakene
a c e opposite
aat
special
Buckinghamicniadls
a treaty, they w to insist on having the heads of all
the Ministers, particularly that of the Duke of Welliroe.
ere train
C
the Queen, and
ton; after which they purposed deposing
installin Tom Duncornbe as First Consul, assisted by
Feargus'O'Connor and Joseph Hume, as tribunes of the
people. It will be seen that the whole of this account is
very complete and substantial, as far as the French are
concerned ; but the statement omits altogether one very
essential point—namely, how the English meant to em-
ploy themselves while the scenes above described were
being enacted.—Punch.
The numerous passengers yesterday morning that
were embarking and disembarking from the different
steamers at Blackwell Pier, were much amused at seeing
two very splendid giraffes,valued 2,000 guineas, shipped
on board the Soho steam-ship, that left shortly after
with several families of distinction, and the proprietor
of these valuable animals, for Antwerp.
The approaching marriage of the Duke d'Aumale,
says the Revue de Paris, is now certain. His Royal
Highness is to be married in November next to a niece
of the King of Naples, the Princess of Salerno ; she was
born in 1599, and is said to be very handsome, and
gifted with remarkable esprit.
FLINT AND CUT GLASS.—Doubts having been en-
tertained whether bottles of flint and cut glass are
chargable with duty by the Act 7 Victoria, chap. 16,
under the head of " Bottles of glass not otherwise enu-
merated or described, 1/. per cwt., and further, on ac-
count of the Excise duty, 7s. per cwt. ;" or as " Flint
and cut glass, for every tool. value 301., and further, on
account of the Excise duty, 7s. per cwt. ;" and the Cus-
toms authorities being of opinion that all bottles of flint
and cut glass should be charged with the latter rate of
duty, orders have been issued for the officers in London
and at the ontports to govern themselves accordingly.
BUSY" BEES.—Last week Mr. Mossop, of the Low
\Door Inn, at the head of Keswick Lake, took a hive of
bees, frost; which he obtained not less than five ;tons
weight of excellent honey.—Cumberland Paquet.