The Sun.
London, England, 1842-06-28 00:00:00

DR. ELLIOTSON ON MESMERISM
EXTRAORDINARY CASE.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE " MEDICAL TIMES!

SIR —A short time ago Captain Valiant, of the
4th Regiment, brought me a letter of introduction
from Mr. Collen, the artist, and informed me how
happy he should be to show me a wonderful instance
of mesmerism in his nurse : he soon afterwards
brought her to me, in company with Mrs.)Valiant and
General Sir T. Wiltshire, Bart. She was a short,
delicate, artless woman, about thirty years of age—
one of those worthy and attached servants who are so
valuable in families, and so valued and esteemed in
good families. She consented to let me mesmerise
her, if her mistress remained at her side. She was
presently fast asleep, and in a state of sleep -waking.
Her eyes became firmly closed ; she was greatly dis-
tressed and agitated if I ceased to touch her, though
the contact of the toe of my boot against her shoe
was sufilcient. My purpose is not to describe the
phenomena of her case, but to give you an account
of the inestimable advantages of mesmerism, in
enabling her to go thrtugh a severe and long surgical
operation, without the slightest pain. The facts you
will find in two papers : one written by the surgeon,
himself an unbeliever up to the time of the operation;
the other by her master, Captain Valiant.
I cannot, however, refrain from mentioning that
when the Captain first called upon me, Mr. Brookes,
of Birmingham, was in my library, with his patient,
Anne Badger, whose case is detailed in your number
for June 4th. The Captain witnessed the excite-
ment and stupefaction of various mental faculties in
the young woman during her mesmeric sleep-wak-
ing, by mesmerising and demesmerising the various
corresponding parts of the head according to phreno-
logy. On returning home he threw his servant into
the mesmeric state ; and, although she was totally
ignorant of phrenology, as he assures me, he excited
and depressed her various faculties at pleasure, with-
out any hint to her, by manipulating the various
phrenological organs. I, therefore, repeated these
experiments the day following, when he and Mrs.
Valiant, and Sir T. Wiltshire, called. Dr. Rigoni,
the Professor of Physiology in the University of Pavia;
the Turkish Charge d'Affaires, the highly distin-
guished Mr. W. C. Fox, and several others, were pre-
sent ;. some on this, and others on a second occasion
on which I made the trial. Her eyes were closed,
and she was in a perfect sleep-waking, as I have
already said. On touching the organ of Self-esteem,
she rose instantly from her seat, elevating her hand as
high as possible, speaking with the utmost pride and
disdain, displaying the natural language of these emo-
tions in the most exquisite manner. On withdraw-
ing my finger, and placing it upon the organ of Bene-
volence, the change was instantaneous to a humble
and kind expression of countenance and voice, and
she was all gentleness and goodness. On placing my
finger on the organ of Wit, she became at once most
merry and facetious. On pointing over the organ of
Parental Love and Attachment, she became serious
and gentle, and the tears streamed down both cheeks;
indeed, her distress was such that I was obliged to
touch over some other organ. She talked of her hus-
band, whom she had not long seen, and of Mrs. Va-
liant's baby. On touching over Destructiveness, her
violence was outrageous ; but instantly changed to
pride, gentleness, melancholy attachment, or wit,
when my finger left it for the respective organs of
those faculties. I played upon her brain, by my
fingers, as readily as upon a pianoforte. Great as are
the miracles of mesmerism, witnessed by me now for
above five years, these phenomena surpassed all. Still
my character is too cautious and laborious for me to
give an opinion on mesmeric phrenology till I have
investigated this bralch of the subject more; and I
will therefore now present you with a statement
drawn up by Dr. CI arlton.
[Dr. Elliotson t (1-ifi gives the statement of Dr.
Charlton, from wh;.;'n it appears that a severe opera-
tion, was performe t on the gums and jaw of a servant-
girl while under he effects of mesmerism, without
her evincing the s" ghtest feeling, or even being aware
that any operation had been performed. This is fol-
lowed by a statement made by Captain Valiant, de-
scribing a similar operation on a young woman with
the same success. Dr. Charlton, at the conclusion of
the case described by him, adds, " I had hitherto
been in the habit of ridiculing, and indeed disbeliev-
ing, every statement connected with mesmerism, but
find it impossible to reject the facts of this case,
brought home by the evidence of so many senses.")
Perhaps some of the medical world will believe this
fact, and begin to be satisfied that mesmerism is not
only true, but useful.
The Professors of University College had the fact
before their eyes of a seton being passed into the neck
of one of my patients who required it, without the
slightest sensation ; so that when I demesmerised her,
she was astonished beyond measure. The faculty of
Paris knew that M. Cloquet cut off a breast from a
woman in the mesmeric state without the slightest
sensation, as may be seen in the Penny Cyclopmdia,
article Somnambulism. But they have all, up to this
moment, been as indifferent to the fact as the cattle
grazing in the meadows are to the wonders of the
steam-carriages passing by them on the railroads.
My friend Mr. Gardiner, of Roche Court, Hamp-
shire, entranced a young lady preparatorily to having
some teeth extracted, and the astonished dentist at
Portsmouth took them out, prolonging the tug at Mr.
Gardiner's request, without her knowledge ; so that,
on being awakened, she went to the glass to satisfy
herself that they were out. My friend Mr. Prideaux,
of Southampton, has extracted several without a
pang, after entrancing his patients previously to the
operation. The time will come when no painful ope-
tion will be performed, without a previous attempt,
when there is time, to entrance the patient and pre-
vent all pain.—l have the honour to remain, Sir,
JOHN ELLIOTSON.
Conduit-street, June 21, 1842.