The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-10-17 00:00:00

The few 1.,

Ito this unti,•rtakit
Lf-iti, and Gyikotoi

cotemporary, th
" But for cer

oter ti

have reason to helitowe hold a
Standard, w•e should he at a loss to account for the in-

(so-called)" Etlit,borgh, Leith, and

whaven

—one of the hollowest bubbles ever blown. To-day we
give a specimen of the Standard's statements—or rather,
we should say, tne statements of a person in Liverpool,
y Iwho is perhaps " better known than trnsted," in connec-
tion with this project. We should ill deserve the confi-

dence reposed in us, if we t
unwary as the barefaced puffery of this concerti, ivhit
thrust befote the public in the Liverpool papers. Wi

ore caution the

what has occurred at any meeting, legally constituted,
within the last three years ? 7 hey dare not !
".The whole concern, from first to last, has been carried
most suspiciously ; and if the Directors wish it, we shall
be happy to prove what we thus assert."
In the first place we have a few words to say in reply to
that portion of our cotemporary's remaks which contain
an imputation upon ourselves. We are said to have been
induced to speak favourably of this undertaking on ac-

count of " certain influences " which " hold sway over
the Liverpool Standard ; 'and this by the way, is not
the first occasion on which our contemporary has used
similar language towards us. Coming from such a quar-
ter. the charge is, broadly stated, that we have been
bribed. Iu our own town, we flatter ourselves such an
imputation wottld sc ircely. need a simple denial. It is not,
as our fellow citizens know, an easy task to " hold sway
over" the Liverpool Standard; and, we believe we may
say
,that an attempt to bribe would provoke, from mos,
of our local contemporary's, a'sornewhat hasty and phin
form of rebuke, if it did not even draw personal castigation
'upon the unlucky briber. Before the world at large
however, who know us less, we must take the earliest
opportunity of indignantly repudiating the calumnious
insinuation endeavoured to be tattered upon us. It is
Pls. and malignant in intention; and is, moreover, as
silly as its venal utterer is contemptib e.
. . .

Dr. C. alluded to the verdict of the French Commission
of inquiry, appointed in 1785, and to Dr. Franklin's re-
porting of the want of analogy with electricity and terres-
trial magnetism. He remarked that the class of pheno-
mena were dependant on the persons themselves.
Dr. C., in referring to the manifestations of the cere-
bral organs during the mesmeric sleep, or phreno-mes-
merism, stated that he was the first in America to turn at-
tention to the facts. First he looked upon it as amuse-
ment, then traced its important relations, and lie con-
cludes that where there is no knowledge of phrei
the patient, there is no respondence to the mani,
(pericranial). The Zoist, a new magazine, em racing f value of the laudatory effusions of writers thus venal,
these subjects, asserts Dr. C.'s priority of discovery o f furnishes at the same time a clue to the source of their
phrenc-mesmerism. He touched upon the medical occasional bitterness and malignity. In the present in-
fect of revived memory in fever cases, which corre- stance the quid dam peculium has perhaps not.been fur-
sponds to the extraordinary memory of the mesmerised, niched ! and the Editor has, in addition, a grudge of old
which appears as photographically inscribed. Dr. C. standing against the respected agent of the undertaking.
avers that the will of the operatir is the sole law of the And now with respect to the merits of the line in
Patient when the sleep is complete. question—the Edinburgh, Leith, and Newhaven Railway
Dr. C. appears to entertain his convictions on this re- —which this disinterested, and perhaps disappointed,
vived science with an enthusiasm which carries others scribe describes as "one d the hollowest bubbles ever
away with him, and still further with an honesty which blown." After the explanation which he has afforded us
does credit to the cause as advocated by an ingenuous of the " influences " which " hold sway over" some
mind; corresponding with which we find (an invariable writers, the public will perhaps he inclined to think that
counterpart,) that he given credit to others who may dif. the opinion of a meeting of the 7'otrn Council of the port
fer from him for maintaining their various opinions with a of Leith, signed by their provost, and the statements of
tone alike truth-seeking and honest. He thinks it neccs- facts to be found in the abridged prospectus of the com-
sairy to success, for the subject (patient) to be menially, patty, both of which documents will be found in our
morally. and physically calm, or there will be no conges- 'advertising columns, are entitled to infinitely greater
Lion of brain ; therefore he refused to operate on any of weight than the public opinions and malignant scurrility
the audience. • _ of the Editor of the Railway Times.

tiquestion or two, in return, we will take the liberty

then, employed to " hold sway over" journalists who
comment _upon railway undertakings! A man, for in-
stance, who, week after week, for years past, has ern:=loyed
his hireling pen in misrepresenting the position of any
partiCular line—say the Eastern Counties—and in slan-
dering its directors and supporters, may be BOUGHT °Vint
a I to. becometheir apologist and puffing advocate; The ad-

pulations

mission is an imp;,rtat'i't one; and whilst it establishes the

In Exp. 1, he fixed Ike feet of the young woman whorn
he had only seen for two days past, viz. since his arrival
in Liverpool from America. This was a mental condition
he said, and not a corporeal one, as the general impression
would be. _

COURESPONDENCI

Iv THE. EDITO.

IP THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD

Exp. 2. He fixed -the jaw—mouth open—remarking
further upon the will of the operator as sole law for un-

Stn,—On visiting the Exhibition I was much surprised
And disappointed not to find any of the works of the
eminent portrait painter, Mr. T. C. Thompson, of Lon-
don, therein, for what reason I cannot divine. Phillips,
to be sure, is there; hut slat nominie umbra. I have seen
Thompson's portraits of M'Nrile and Stowell, now at his
rooms, No. 10, Maryland-street, b

conscious F:

Exp. 3. prose, that mental hallucination could he
induced by operator, be took the young woman—only
semi-mesmerised, and, placing a jug in her hands which
previously she •had recognised to be -a jug ; by a few
'passes of his hand, she began to stroke it ss a pet cat,
which she -declared was such ; and, •on her being de-
mesmerised,•her own surprise at her mistake was pictured
by a look and expression of shame ,before the audience
which could not be feigned. Again her mind was taken
in tow, and she •saw a large fish at her side, from which
she endeavoured to escape, with every gesture of horror,
until rectified as before: • •

Ides one or two other

4. A young man and the young woman (both per-
fect strangers to Dr. C., except -during one or two re-
hearsals) were placed in the cataleptic condition, or rigid
spasm of the musel-s of the arms and limbs.

Dr. C. stated that he knew of two operations having
,been performed in America during mesmeric condition,
.viz., extirpation of cancer ft orothe foot, and adjustment
'of a compound-fractured fore-arm. In the latter, por-
tions of hone were removed, in order to set the'litnb,'—
.a very painful operation—and to all this the patient was

The young man so mesmerised as, on attempt-
ing to walk, to reel as if drunk,—a state described by an
old tutor of ours as if a man had business on both sides
the way at once.

Exp.... 6. Hand fixed on table
aatient made great efforts—ta

tlerneath the -table when the 'labia w
patient as brforeibie