The Sun.
London, England, 1844-09-04 00:00:00

MESMERISM.
On Monday, the Marquise St. Simon Tecman
gave another grand soiree nzesmerique, at her resi-
dence in Baker-street. The company was very nu-
merous, and the experiments varied and striking. A
paralytic patient (a lady) being apparently thrown
into the condition called the mesmeric trance, by the
manipulations of Madam Tecman, and being ascer-
tained to be insensible to every sign and sound, and
to every object around or in contact with her, at a
motion of the Marquise's hand from the opposide side
of the room, rose from her chair without assistance
and walked steadily towards the Marqui e, and then
followed her about the room, although the patient was
manifestly in a state of sleep or unconsciousness more
profound than ordinary somnambulism. On being
restored to the ordinary state, the lady stated that she
was progressively recovering the use of the para.
lysed side. The Marquise herself was, in the
course of the evening, subjected to- the mesmeric
influence, in which state she possesses, or is
supposed to possess, the mysterious specialite called
" clairvoyance;" and, indeed, the revelations which i
she made to those who, last night, consulted her were
surprising, and wholly inexplicable by any ascer-
tuned laws of nature. To some she described mi-
nutely the condition of their own health, and the seat,
extent, and duration of disease, if any. To others
she described the appearance, stature, age, health, and'
character of friends at a distance, respecting whom.
they put questions to her; and to one gentleman, of
whose occupations and connections, friends or ene-
mies, she could not by possibility know anything,
the Marquise (all the. tune in a profound sleep) de-
tailed occurrences which happened to him in a distant
country years ago, named the country, and accurately
explained a train of painful sensations to which he is
subject; and, to crown the whole, described to him
the persons, at a distance, who at the moment occu-
pied his thoughts. To account for these things, and,
much more that were witnessed on this occasion, is
impossible, but they seemed to be beyond the suspi-,
cion of collusion or deception.

BURIAL. IN TOWNS.
(From•the Leicester Chronicle.)
" And who would lay
His body in the city burial-place,
To be thrown up again by some rude sexton,
And yield its narrow house another tenant,
Ere the moist flesh had mingled with the dust,
Ere the tenacious hair had left the scalp,
Exposed to insult lewd, and wantonness ?
No, I will lay me in the village ground ;
There are the dead respected."—ll. K.. WHITE.

We should neglect the performance of a duty, were
we not to continue unceasingly to point out the evils of
urban interment, as one of the many causes of public ill-
health. So much happiness or misery depends upon
attention to such matters as those—upon which we are
about to treat, that it would be criminal not to enforce it
upon the community continually and determinedly. Not
only must• a conviction of the great mischief accruing
from the practice of burying the dead in the midst of the
hying, be created, but that conviction must be repeatedly
appealed to, and the feelings of people thoroughly
aroused in detestation= thereof. Rich and poor should
be alike made to see that their homes are not safe fronr
the invasion of pestilential fever—that the bodies of their
friends do not lie safe, sacred, and undisturbed in their
graves—so long as the shocking custom of town burial
continues in existence.

There is no valid reason, either, why it should be
practised. Early precedent, for one thing, is not to be
cited in its favour. We find from Mr. Walker's volume
on this subject (the " Gatherings from Graveyards"*),
that in the early ages of the Christian Church burial
out of the city was an obligation upon all. The bodies
of the deceased friends of the Christians were placed in
catacombs or cemeteries situated at a distance from hu-
man habitations. The plan of interment within churches
was commenced, it seems, by Constantine, whose example
was followed in the case of other Emperors, and of the
benefactors of the church. Afterwards, it became still
more general; yet, the Christian Emperors always cen-
sured the custom: Theodosius (A.D. 381) especially for-
bade it in his code. Early councils also interfered to pre-.
vent the practice. It was condemned, too, in an ordi-
nance of the Archbishop of Toulouse, couched in terms
the most forcible and convincing.
In 1765 the Parliament of Paris made a decided stand
against the system, which had caused almost universal
complaints about its noxious effects. Indeed, the French
people have all along shown a greater regard for the
public health and more respect for the dead than we
have, as a nation, despite the charges of irreligion and
immorality which are often urged against them. In the
city of New York, too,„a Board of' Health reported upon,
this subject, in 1806,. and a prohibition of interment
within the city was afterwards formally determined
upon. The report stated that the practice " ought to be
prohibited. A vast mass of decaying animal matter,
produced by the superstition of interring dead bodies
near the churches, and which has been accumulating for
a long lapse of time, is now deposited in many of the
most populous parts of the city. It is impossible (pro-
ceeds the report) that such a quantity of these animal
remains, even if placed at the greatest depth of inter-
ment commonly practised, should continue to be inoffen-
sive and safe."
In the course of his work Mr. Walker has accumulated
a mass of evidence to prove the dangerous nature of
town burial, against which it would be utterly hopelesa
to appeal. It would be as foolish to deny the mischievous
effects of the custom as to doubt the life-destroying pro-
perty of prussic acid.
Is the human heart so callous to right feeling that men
must wait until their own parents or relations are
dragged from their graves, before they will think, act,
and speak out on this question ? If only this will
satisfy them, let them consult the grave-diggers. They
could tell them tales that would " make their blood run
cold ;" they could make fearful revelations about the
mangled corpses of the friends of many a man who con-
soles himself that his once-loved parent or child reposes
undisturbedly in the grave. But we need not go to the
grave-diggers for facts on this subject. We have heard
of a parent seeing the mutilated remains of his own child
knocked about in the earth, and we have been told by
eye-witnesses of persons having been buried near their
parents, when the dead bodies of those parents fell out
of their coffins, dismembered, into the newly-opened
grave : and these things, too, in Leicester churchyards.
How often do the vaulted aisles of our churches ring
with denunciations of the infidel, the sinner, the sectary,
and the Papist; yet, from day to day, and from week to
week, the ministers of God's Word are themselves vio-
lating its most solemn behests, are themselves counte-
nancing, aye, and profiting by, a practice which shocks all
decent feeling, and which wounds the holiest ties of hu-
manity! Will the inhabitants of this large town remain
for ever indifferent upon this question? Are considera-
tions of public health, morality, and religion so feeble
among us, that no movement will ever be made to abo-
lish the practice? Is there no latent apprehension,
either, among us, that whenever another dreadful visi-
tation, like that of the cholera, sweeps over the face of
the country, our utter disregard of sanitary precautions
will bring upon us a terrible retribution?