The Sun.
London, England, 1844-03-11 00:00:00

On Tuesday evening, Mr. Spencer T. Hall, editor of
the Phreno-Magnet, commenced asseries of lectures on
this interesting and mysterious science, in the New As-
sembly Rooms, Harrison-road. We had almost eon-
eluded that mesmerism had become a threadbare topic,
and little regarded by the public; but the well-merited
reputation of Mr. Hall as a lecturer, and the startling
nature of the phenomena he educes, brought together a
large and respectable audience, who manifested, if pos-
sible, a greater interest in the wonderful experiments
submitted to them than we have witnessed upon any pre-
vious occasion. The lecturer commenced by a few intro-
ductory observations, and quoted somewhat largely from
old authors of acknowledged merit it proof that mesme-
rism is no new science. Upon the conclusion of his
most interesting lecture, he announced his intention of
submitting a series of experiments, but requested that
the audience would elect a chairman to watch and re-
port the proceedings. The assembly with one voice
elected, Major Pollard, who in obedience to the general
request took the chair.
The experiments then proceeded, and were of an en-
tirely different class to those submitted to Halifax
audiences upon previous occasions. The patients when
operated upon were in a vigilant state. -A young man of
the name of Holbrook was operated upon in this manner;
his arms were extended, rendered rigid, and then by one
waive of Mr. Hall's hands both arms were contracted.
Two powerful gentlemen were then requested to hold
the arms, and prevent their contraction. The signal
being given that they were ready, the experiment was
made, and despite their endeavours, both arms were in-
stantly contracted. A young man of the name of Lees,
a compositor in the Guardian office, was introduced,
and several most curious experiments performed upon
him. His hand was fastened upon a chair by two or
three motions of the hand of the operator ; Lees was of-
fered any sum of money if he would remove it ! He tried,
but in vain ; a few moments after the hand was drawn
Off from the chair, as if by some serious impulse, and he
was offered 201. if he would place his hand upon the
chair ;, he tried, but found himself absolutely rivetted to
the spot and unable to move even as much as a hair's
breadth. A little boy from Bradford was then intro-
duced, and several similar experiments were performed
upon him. Mr. J. H. Mitchell offered the little fellow a
sovereign if he would only take his hand from the chair,
and held the coveted coin before him ; the boy looked
wistfully at the'tempting gift, and exerted his utmost to
win the prize, but in vain. The audience expressed their
astonishment at the almost incredible experiment which
they themselves witnessed. The three patients were then
thrown into the most grotesque shapes ; with deformed
limbs, the St, Vitus's dance, palsied arms, andin one in-
stance one of them was struck dumb at the will of the
operator! All thii may sound strange, but we pledge our-
selves we are only recording facts which were, witnessed
by. hundreds. One of the patients was unalterably fixed
with his finger pointing towards a given object, and de-
clared his utter inability to stir. Money, bribes, and
every inducement were offered him, but to no purpose.
Holbrook and Lees were then placed back to' back, and
by .a few passes of the hand inseparably fastmied—glued
together. Their endeavours to get from each other were
laughable, and was only effected by Mr. Hall demesme-
rising them. The influence of music (by Taylor's Quad-
rille band) was then tried, and several most beautiful
and astonishing effects were produced. At the conclusion
of the lecture, a vote of thanks was given byatclamation
to -the Chairman, who in reply passed a glowing eulogium
upon Mr. Hall ; the Gallant Major said that much as
he had been surprised at the experiments which he had
witnessed as performed by Mr, Craig, he was still more
astounded at what he had witnessed that evening. The
audience then separated, wondering "how these things
could be ?'

On Wednesday evening the room was crowded, and at
the request of many parties, present, several of the pre-
vious evening's experiments were repeated, during which
a singular and somewhat painful. circumstance occurred.
Mr. Hall is not, apparently, afraid. of having three or
four patients under, the mesmeric influence at one and
the same time, and moves among them with the utmost
ease ; but there is evident danger in allowing ',gentlemen
promiscuously to meddle with the parties operated upon
while in a state of coma. During the course of some singular
experiment upon what phrenologists term the organ of
tune, aeveral phrenologists were invited, upon the plat-
form, and, while. Mr. Hall was attending •tb another
patient, Mr. M'Taggart incautiously placed his hand
upon different parts of the head of Holbrook, who' was
soon after thrown into; convulsions, with locked jaw.
The audience were detained three quarters of an hour,
with the joint endeavours of Mr. Hall and. Mr. M`Tag-
gart to demesinerise the patient. The lecturer attri-
buted the cause to what he termed cross-mesmerism ;
certainly the young. man appeared to suffer greatly, and
was not able to, have any other experiment ;performed
upon him the `'hole of the remaining part of the evening.
Mr. Crossley, of Dean Clough Mills, wished to intro-
duce to Mr. Hall a young man, whom he was Certain the
lecturer had never seen before, and upon whom he (Mr.
Crossley) was anxiousto.see if any effects would' be pro-
duced. Mr. Hall allowed the young man (Baxendale) to
come lupon the platform, and in a moment or two
the young man found his arms extended,. and as stiff
as twc pokers The terror depicted in his countenance
as he eyed each limb, and felt his awkward posi-
tion, produced shouts of laughter from the audience. A
decent werking-man came forward, who was said to be a
confirmed stammerer ' • his friends and several medical
gentlemen attested the tact; in a short time he spoke
correctly, fluently, and pronounced the word Canter-
bury with great rapidity of utterance I Mr. H. pro-
mised to give one of his, friends some instruetions how
to act, and expressed his, belief that the man would be
effectually cured ! Several most wonderful experiments
were performed by.uniting the patients with each other;
fastening them to the platform ; removing them at plea-
sure ; and then by a few twirls of the hand making
them spin round, contrary to their own will, until the
audience were dizzy with -beholding them. Several
startling musical experiments were also educed. But
the most astounding phenomenon was the suggestive
dreaming, or something else, of one of the young men
at the ,close of the lecture, and which seemed to petrify
the audience. The young man was about to be awoke,
when he suddenly laid himself down: and commenced
making a series (apparently) of astrological signs upon
'the carpet ; a sheet of,paper was given him and a pen-
cil ; the latter he refused, and taking out a pencil and
knife from his pocket, be pointed and cut the pencil
(without injury to his fingers) and then wrote a predic-
tion that but it would be unwise in us to proceed !
The lecture:shortly after terminated, and the audience
separated tenfold more amazed than ever.
On ,Thursday evening, the splendid room was again
crowded. Pre v ious to the commencement of the experi-
.ments.Captain Stansfield, of Field House was called to
the chair, and read a paper which hid been put in his
hand, ,and which stated that in consequence of Mr.
Hall's interesting experiments, a Medical Commission
had been determined upon in Halifax, to investigate the
truth, or :otherwise, of mesmerism. Dr. Inglis stated
that this resolution had 'been come to by the medical
gentlemen irrespective of their belief in mesmer-
ism.' 'Mr. Hall then proceeded with the experiments,
and., succeeded in, .bringing out several very subtle
phrenological manifestations in the patient Holbrook.
He then educed several wonderful experiments in the
vigilant state. In- one of them he placed Holbrook,
Lees, and a little boy back to back in a cluster, giiing at
the same time a slight motion with his own back. A good
sum of money was -offered if the trio would separate,
but in spite of all exertion they clove together ! The
operator attracted :them to himself or repelled them at
pleasure, fastened them to the ground, and then whirled
them round. In another experiment 'the points of the
fore fingers of two young men were placed in. contact ;
a sudden jerk was given by the operator, and by some
means' or other the two young men wer/ fastened to
each other by their'finier-ends."tfiducement was
offered them to separate, but all to nepurpose ; for a
moment one of them,disengaged Minsk, but he was in-.
stantly attracted back again, as if by some irresistible
impulse, and until the operator simply 'lifted his finger
'they were inseperahle-r- Our preient,otti:enu--
inerating many other equally startling and mysterious
lexperiments. We perceive that Mr. Hall has been in-