The Sun.
London, England, 1844-07-05 00:00:00

CLAIRVOYANCE.-MR. ALEXIS.

TO THE EDITOR OE THE TIMES.
Sir,—Since the account of the phenomena of clair-
voyance, exhibited by Mr. Alexis, appeared in your co-
lumns of last week, another private party have witnessed
a similar exhibition at the house .of Dr. Elliotson, at
which I had the honour of being present, and the fol-
lowing plain statement of what I then saw will, I
think, be interesting to your readers. I must pre
mise that I had never before seen any experiments what
ever in animal magnetism, &c., that I was totally unac-
quainted with Dr. Elliotson, Mr. Marcillet, and Mr.
Alexis, and that I went, note-book in hand, prepared to
watch and observe, as accurately as possible, and that
this account is drawn up from the notes I then made.
Alexis having seated himself in a large easy chair, Mr.
Marcillet stood in front of him, and after fixing his eyes
upon him for about four minutes, the magnetic sleep
was produced. During this operation there were convul-
sive motions of the limbs and muscles of the face, and
every now and then Alexis turned his eyes towards' the
operator, as it seemed to me, with an expression
of pain, and almost entreaty to desist. The con-
vulsive motions subsided after a few passes by the
operator, and then the phenomena of catalepsy were
shown. His hands were extended, and became quite
rigid, and were again relaxed by Mr. Marcillet passing
his hand once or twice over them. His legs were then
stretched out, and, to test their rigidity, a gentleman,
weighing at least 14 stone, stood upright upon them,
Alexis' body being kept balanced by two gentlemen
pressing on his shoulders. Alexis is by no means
strong in appearance ; but I apprehend the strongest
man would find the above feat difficult. It was then
proposed to bandage his eyes. A quantity of cotton
wool was placed over them, and kept down by three
handkerchiefs, one encircling the head, the other two
placed diagonally. The gentleman—a visitor, like
myself—who undertook the tying, did not seem to do it
to Alexis' satisfaction, for he said " Serrez fort, serres
fort" (tie it tight), and, still being dissatisfied, he seized
the ends of the handkerchief, and tied them himself.
The visitors were then asked t 3 examine the handker•
chiefs, and each person who did so was satisfied that
vision was impossible. A pack of cards was then
brought, which, it should he remarked, had glazed and
ornamented backs, so that it would have been more than
ordinarily difficult to see through them, even with s
strong light behind. A visitor came forward to play, and
Alexis seated himself at the table which was in the middle
of the room, so that there was a cross light. He seized
the cards, a full pack, in a quick, hurried manner, and
sorted them for =rte. He did this with great rapidity,
and made but one mistake. Several games were played.
during which he frequently told his adversary what
cards he had in his hand, as on one occasion that he had
di:ft tens, on another that he had four trumps ,• and
again he called for the cards seriatim which his adver-
sary was to play. Once or twice he made mistakes, as
saying the nine of hearts instead of the seven, but in the
great majority of instances was right. Another person
then took the cards, and the same wonders were repeated•
lie then moved away from the table, and played at A
distance of about four yards from his adversary, hut 110
still toll the cards as before, and played his own fre'
qi:ently without looking at their faces. During the whole
of this time Mr. Marcillet stood at some little distance,
and from time to time repeated the passes. 1)r. El'
liotson took no part in the proceedings. Alexis Ws°
then asked to read, and a volume of " Le Moyen, Aye,
Pittoresque" was placed before him. The wool an
bandages were still unmoved, but he read off from the
page wherever he was told by any of the visitors, and bY
myself amongst the rest. On one occasion he eon'
tinned to do so, although two hands were placed he'
five his face and the type. He seemed, however,
to find this somewhat more difficult. He was veil
animated, and talked rapidly as he turned over
the pages, as if pleased with his own exploit
Whilst doing this, and just as he had said, in answer to
a question, that the picture was a cathedral, I inter,
rupted him hastily with, " Mais queue cathedrale
He replied, " C'est une bonne question," and, placing hi°
hand upon the letter-press, instantly said, " Notre Dame
de Chalon," which was quite correct. He also
curately described some figures in armour. He
then, of his own accord, offered to read a line five
pages off, but in this he failed. A volume of Bossuet
was then brought from Dr. Elliotson's library, no visit
having brought one. He took my hand and asked ree
to show him what to read, and read several times cor
rectly. In one instance he read the two following lines:-""
"C'est encore pour eux un grand embarras de voir
ce (le) prophete false eller le temps du Christ (Jesus).]
He however insisted that it was " le " and not " ce," s 1
,1,
read " Jesus Christ " instead of " Christ " only.
this part of the experiments no great stress can be 10
as after the Bossuet was brought he complained of the
!.,
great heat and threw off the handkerchiefs, so that 11"
eyes were only closed as in sleep. He then said, Wt.
rating about 150 pages of the volume, and holding thee:
firmly together, that he would read some words on which
t
ever side and whatever part of the page I pleased, bO/
would not undertake to say how far off the words were.;
then pointed out the side and part of the page that I wishe'l
and he gave the words " Tite-Live " and " Romultis;t
saying that each commenced a paragraph. This was n°
done immediately, but the leaves were not opened
,
at all. I examined the book, and found about 80 pag"
on the words " Tite-Live," and about 150 the word " 110.
mules," each in the place and position required by 01:
and each commencing a paragraph. He they
seated himself in the large chair once 111°I.
and a stranger (I believe Dr. Castle,
„,°
Milan) sat down by him, and put himself "en Mt
port" with him. I did not hear the conversation, Os
Dr. Castle afterwards stated to those present, trj,
Alexis had described to him accurately how he (if
Castle) had passed the preceding night, and the nst.,„°„s
and seat of the pain that he had suffered from. P"
further and more satisfactory proofs of clairvoyance
given. Alexis read a word (content) that was enclosed is
a card-board box, and presented to him for that P.
pose by a visitor. He made out the I,e"
ters "on" first, and the others after some difficulty
in a case of this kind, every one naturally distills
every experiment not made by himself. I thereto
re..s
took out my pocket-book and wrote three words, but
`being asked to put one only, I wrote in another p'a't
ann." I showed this to no one, but turning a leaf °ye
it, said, I had written a word which I wished him to
read. It was one of Penny's metallic pocket-books,
that any of your readers may test the practicability (;1
seeing a light pencil-mark through. I kept the i,e e
pressed firmly over the word, and upon
body of the book, and held it in his hen he
Directly he placed his hand in my other hand, :.
said, merrily, " Que vous "etes bon ! II n'y a que
lettres." (How kind you are—there are but three lettere';
I assented. He then wrote nearly, but not exactly, OLvet
it— the letter a, then turned to me, and said, "
is right." I assented. He then wrote ni, and ireli
quired in the same way. I said nothing. He repent $
the question. I remained silent. Ile then said in
jocose half-bantering tone—(to this effect)—" You
Just as well say so, because you know it is." I then ssi_A
" Oui." He repeated it after me in high glee, and adde:h
instantly the 1, scratching a fine flourish undernes'
to show that he had succeeded. I showed the pocket'
book to those present, and all were satisfied that till
could not have read it. It is now in my possession, and
I would show it to any one who might wish to see it. 0
I make no comments on the above facts, I attempt 114
explanation, but it is right to add that all present.,
and among them were several medical men,
perfectly satisfied of the fairness of the experimen'o,
No one would suggest any possible plan of collusi° I
can be surprised at no one being increduleus
until he has seen the experiments with his own eYfg,
series
For even now, without again scrutinising another serl
of experiments, I could not honestly say that I was sita,
gether convinced. I only say, that if there be deal;
tion, the deception would be almost more wonderful thli
the reality. I send you my name and address, and re,
main, Sir, your obedient servant,
AN INQUIRER AFTER TRUTH'
P.S. After having drawn up the above, I read lb,:
article in the Chronicle of this day (July 2). I certninii(,
regret that the reporter did not remain when asked to
do so by Dr. Elliotson, although I cannot but say tn,
the impression of all who heard what passed was nviii
thing but favourable to the gentlemanly feeling °,..0
conduct of the reporter ; and also that Dr. ElllotSvhe
could hardly have acted otherwise. I regret to
absence of the reporter, because the one Weco
written by me, and in almost exact accordse,
with the requisitions made in the article above met
tioned, was read fairly and honestly by Mr. Alel„-ie
without having been seen by any one else. I may 'lv
ther add, that the following gentlemen, having
nessed—some, indeed, having tested—the above exl/e,
er
ments, voluntarily subscribed their names to a paper
pressive of their conviction of the integrity of this e
traordinary exhibition :
The Viscount Adare, 76, Eaton-square.
John Elliotson, M.D., Conduit-street.
John Ashburner, M.D., 55, Wimpole-street.
H. Storer, M.D., Granville-street, Brunswick-square.
James George Davey, M.D., Hanwell Asylum.
W. C. Engledue, M.D., Portsmouth.
M. Castle, M.D., Milan.
Dr. Ritterbandt.
Edmond Sheppard Symes, 38, Hill-street,Berkeley-sfluiire.
T. G. Margary.
Nathaniel Ogle.
Daniel Thomas Evans, Temple.
John James, Captain, Dover.
Henry U. Janson, President of the Exeter Literary 9/14
Philosophical Society.
W. Topham, Temple.
Henry G. Atkinson, G.S., 18, Upper Gloucester-plat+
Edward Wise, Temple.
H. Bailliere, 219, Regent-street.
John Hulme, Exeter.
'Thompson, H.S., Fairfield.

COURAGE OF THE JACKDAW.—About five o'-01-
0 esse on Monday morning last, a singular combat was with,
in the burial-ground of St. John's Chapel, in this r''
est
A pair ofjackdaws have for several seasons built their 0
at
and reared their young in a cavity beneath a projecting lon
at one corner of the chapel ; and on the present °an the
were encouraging their newly-fledged offspring to tesfvest
strength of their pinions by taking short flights from the jo
to an adjoining tree, when one of the sooty youngster:oo
making the attempt, proved unequal to the feat, and ,c on
fluttering to the ground. A hungry cat, most probably of
the prowl for a breakfast, instantly pounced upon the ro,
bird, and was bearing it off in her mouth, when she nlciir
sailed by the parent jackdaws, who, uttering loud cries 0 os
tress, used their beaks and claws with such effect, that passo
glad to drop her prey, and beat a temporary Eetrcat. Kain
few minutes she again returned to the charge, and wan more
repulsed. Nothing daunted, she made a third essay to on of
so tempting a morsel, and from the exhausted condito the
the parent birds would certainly have succeeded, but for the
interference of a couple of labourers, who clambered over lio•
iron railing of the enclosure, and speedily terminated the the
equal combat by rescuing the young jackdaw frot. to
clutches of the feline spoiler, and compelling the o,lf on!
seek safety in flight. The intended victim of heraPo-Pu ono
appetite is now in the possession of one of the mer'
although severely lacerated by her teeth and talons, 15
fair way of recovery.—Lancaster Guardian.

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