The Sun.
London, England, 1842-03-03 00:00:00

ANIMAL MAGNETISM.

A lecture on this much controverted subject was delivered
last night at the London Tavern, by Mr. Braid, a gentleman
from Manchester, who addressed a metropolitan audience for
the first thee on this occasion. The room was well, but not
fully attended ; and the greatest attention was paid to the
statements and experiments of the lecturer. His address was
a general outline of the science as at present known, but was
snore particelarly directed to the advantages likely to result
from it in a medical point of view, in some cases as a remedy
for many serious diseases, and in others as a se.
condary means that may be employed to extin-
guish, or to such a degree suspend, the sensibility
to bodily pain, as to render it possible to perform the
most painful surgical operation without that shock to the con-
stitution which_ is usual.y sustained. His explanation of this
state of partial insensibility to the natural pains which " flesh
ie heir to," the Lecturer termed " the rationale of nervous
sleep'—a phrase which we prefer to the Greek compound, he
also used to describe . it, Neurohypnology." On persons
thrown into the magnetic seer, he declared most positively,
and on his own' experience, that ,surgical operations
Might be performed without pain. He said that there
was a lady then in the room from whom he had
himself extracted a tooth without pain, though she had
suffered long and acutely from a similar operation when it
was previously
y • Sly performed by one of the most skilful den-
tists in London. He had also by its means completely over-
come the pain of tic dokreux and rheumatism of many years'
standing, and had relieved a case of paralysis. The magnetic
influence he described as most powerful for good or for evil,
and defended it against the insinuations that have been made
against it, that it is capable of being perverted to immoral pur-
poses; he stated also, that as a remedial means it could not be ex-
ercised to the full extent of good of which it was capable, but by
a professional man, skilled in anatomy, and a physiologist. He
declared that his object was not a mercenary one, but that he
was solely anxious to promulgate the knowledge of a science
which he looked on as one of the greatest blessings to hu-
manity. He then proceeded to his experiments, in which he
courted the strictest investigation. The subject of them was
a servant girl, a cook, whom the Lecturer addressed as "Jane.'
He made no parade of mystery, or trickery, but explained that
the end was obtained by fatiguing the visual nerve and the mind,
by directing the attention to one object. He directed the girl
to look steadily at the top of the chandelier, and, in a few se.
condo, her head drooped on her shoulder, and her eyes closed
with all the appearance of deep slumber. He then directed her
to walk to a chair and sit down , and, while in that position, he
raised her arms, which remained as he had placed them, and
certainly presented an extraordinary degree of- rigidity.
Several gentlemen Irons the audience, one of them, we understood,
of the me,fical profession, then tried the pulse, and found it was
greatly quickened, and stated that the pupil of the eyes di-
lated, two things which are quite b"yond tithe power of th s wi I
to aecomplish. She was then subjected to several shocks
front a galvanic battery, and pungent ammonia was
held to her noi, tits without produc.ing th.! slightest effect.
The sense of hearing teat equally neutralized, as several per.
cu,sion caps fred close to her car did not produce the slightest
vibration in the eyelid, which is invariably the case on hearing
sudden sounds. 'fhe frank and easy manner of the Lecturer
disposed the audience in his favour, and he readiness he
showed to explain every thing m'nutely, and to shrink from no
test of the rt ality of his experiments, confirmed the impres-
sion that they were true magnetic phenomena. The Lecturer
was warmly applauded several times during the evening.

The Utrechtsche Coui..akt, of the -Pd inst., states
that Constant Polati, who stole the diamonds of the Princess
Of Ch"tke,,,olv Queen of the Netherlands, died on the previous
nag, 16 the nollize of Correction at Woerdcn. He was born in
1780, to Italy.

THEATRE ROYAL, COVENT-GARDEN.
UNDER the MANAGEMENT of MADAME VESTRIS..
THIS EVENING, MARCH 3,
...
_.
...

Will be performed Bellini's Opera of NUR MA. —Pollio' Mr. W.
Harrison; Oroveso, Mr. Leffler; Flavius, Mr. Clement White;
Wirma, Miss Adelaide Kemble; Adalgisa, Miss Rainforth; Clotilda,
Miss Grant.

After which will be repeated, with additions, Milton's Masque of
COMUS.—Comus, Mr. W. Harrison; First Bacchante, Madame
Vestris; the Lady, Mrs. Walter Lacs; Elder Brother, Mr. J. Vin-
ing ; Syrens, Madame Vestris and Miss Rainforth ; Genius of the
Frozen Clime; Mr. Stretton LEuphrosyne, Madame Vestris; Sabrina,
Miss Rainforth. _ _

Doors open at half-past Fix, and the Performances begin at Seven.
Dress Boxes 75., Second Price 3s. 6d • First and Second Circles 55..
Second Price Ss. 641 ; Pit 35., Second Price 2s. ; Gallery Is. Tickets
and Places for the Boxes to be taken of Mr. Grogan, at the Box-of.
Lice, from Ten till Four, where Season Tickets may be had upon ap.
plication. Private Boxes to be had solely of Mr. Andrews, Book
se ler, 167, New Bond-street.

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