The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-04-15 00:00:00

NORTH WALES ancult

CHESTER, APRIL 13.
(Before Mr. Justice MAULE.)
The trials at these assizes terminated at eleven o'clock last
night, with the cases of the soldiers indicted for riot and
creating a disturbance in the town of Stockport. The jury
acquitted all the prisoners (in number 11), their identity in
connexion with the disturbance not being sufficiently proved.
Anne Rathbone, the young woman found guilty of mur-
*ring her infant child, at Macclesfield, had sentence of death
fecordel against her. The learned Judge stated that her life
might be spared, but she must not expect to remain in this
country.

Robert Sandys, a stout-built Irishman, having a pale and
haggard appearance, who was found guilty at the last assizes
for this county of the diabolical murder of his children by
poison, in order to obtain a few pounds from a burial society,
of which he was a member, was this night brought up to re-
ceive the last awful sentence of the law. The sentence, it
will be remembered, was postponed in consequence of the
prisoner's counsel raising an objection to,the wording of the
indictment, the point being reserved for the judges, who sub-
sequently gave a decision against the prisoner.
The prisoner, on being asked by the clerk of the crown if
he had anything to say why sentence of death should not be
passed against him, said, " I am as innoceut as the great
God in heaven. Since the verdict was returned against me
at the last assizes I have suffered a hundred deaths. I could
not commit so shocking a crime as to poison my own children
fora small sum of money."

Sentence of death was then passed upon the prisoner in
the usual form, and he was removed from the dock protesting
his innocence.

His LORDSHIP did nut hold out the slightest hope of mercy
to the culprit.

ANIMAL MAGNETISM.

MONS. LAFONTAINE'S THIRD CONVERSAZIONE

On the evening of Tuesday last, Mons. Lafontaine held
his third conversazione on animal magnetism, at the Tem-
plar's-hall, Great George-street. The audience was not
very numerous, but embraced several scientific and medical
men. There were about a dozen ladies present. Shortly
after seven o'clock, Mons. Lafontaine, accompanied by the
young female from Manchester, who has appeared on previ-
ous occasions, and one of the servants from the George
Hotel, entered the room and ascended the platform.
Before opening the proceedings Mons. Lafontaine an-
nounced that the gentleman who had been in the habit of in-
terpreting for him was not able to attend, and he should
therefore be happy if some gentleman present, who was ac-
quainted with French, would explain his meaning to the audi-
ence

As no one however offered their services. he should
he compelled, without further remarks, to commence his ex-
periments. - '

The first subject was the young female from Manchester,
who was in a very short time placed in her usual somnolent
and cataleptic form state, exhibiting insensibility to pricking,
and to the inhalation of ammonia through the nostrils. A.
needle was also run under the finger nail without any sensa-
tion being evinced. A lady present, who appeared to take
great interest in experiments, examined the legs, which were
extended in the usual rigid state, for the purpose of ascer-
taining if they had any concealed support ; and declared that
they had not. The same lady inquired if Mons. Lafontaine
would operate upon a stranger from amongst the assembly,
as in case of a successful result, such an experiment would
be much more satisfactory than those exhibited upon his own
subjects ; and was informed that, after the experiments with
these, he would endeavour to magnetize any gentleman or
lady who might present themselves. The same querist, upon
the subject being pricked, furnished a pin, which was in-
serted in her hand above half an inch, without sensation.
Mr. Yaniwitz, surgeon, having been induced to ascend
the platform, and interpret between the audience and Mons.
Lafontaine, proceeded to question the subject as to her hear-
ing the report of a pistol, the cap of which was•fired behind
her head, to which she replied that she did. She was after-
wards asked her residence, which she stated to be at present
at the George Hotel. She was also asked to sing, and went
through this portion of the experiment as on former occa-
sions. On being asked whether she felt any pain, she re-
plied in the affirmative. The pain, she said, was in her back.
Her pulse at this period was felt. It seemed full but very
rapid. It was about 102 or 103. It had previously been 104.
Her natural pulge was 72.
She was then removed in the arm-chair to the rear of the
platform, where she was left in a mesmeric state, with her
legs in the horizontal position.
M. LAFONTAINE, in introducing the second female. who
appeared to be about 30 years of age, to the audience, said
that she was a servant at the George Hotel. He had re-
quested her to come to the meeting, and she had been allowed
to come, because she had had hysterical attacks, and derived
great benefit from having been mesmerised on several former
occasions.

She was placed in a chair, and in a very short time her
eyelids closed, and the cataleptiform state succeeded, Her
pulse was ascertained to be at 75. When both her arms were
extended in a horizontal position,
Mr. COLEMAN asked whether it would be fair to put a
question to Mr. Nottingham, as that gentleman seemed to
take a great deal of interest in the science of mesmerism ?
Mr. NOTTINGHAM said he should be happy to answer any
question on the subject. He had received a note to come to
the conversazione that evening, and be should be glad to
help M. Lafontaine in interpreting for him, or in any other
way, because he felt that whether the science were true or
false, it deserved to be examined.

Mr. COLEMAN asked whether he was not sceptical on the

subject?

Mr. NOTTINGHAM said he had already stated in print that
although be did not think there was anything in the pheno-
mena, yet that he believed there .was a class of young hyste-
rical females upon whom phenomena could be produced. It
depended on the natural law, and the animal economy, to
bring it into action. For instance, the female then on the
platform, and in the state, was said to be hysterical, and to
have been relieved from the attacks by submitting to the
process. Two other girls, who had been mesmerised on a
former occasion, were said to have been subject to fits. If
he were asked whether he believed in mesmerism, he would
say " No." (Hear, hear.)
Mr. COLEMAN inquired how htlkould account for the
effects produced?
Mr. NOTTINGHAM said, tbat if he were to answer such a
question he would have to give a lecture himself. (A 'laugh.)

Mr. COLEMAN said, that. semi. a tha audience were sh.
tul to know why he took such an in interest in-the subject at
present?
Mr. NOTTINGHAM said that one of the reasons was this :
—He was at church on the evening of Sunday last when a
sermon had been preached against it, in which mesmerisers
were looked upon as diviners, soothsayers, and those who
practised the black arts, and were supposed to have some
supernatural influence ; and wishing to know who were
witches and who were not, be came to the meeting with a
determination to go on collecting all the facts he could
connected with the matter. The gentleman who preached
had said, that if there were any truth in the science it
should be declared, and not kept in a corner, but he
had evidently looked over the important truth, that be-
fore any great truths could be developed there must be
collected a great number of facts, which required time, pa-
tience, and observation to analyse: No man ought to be so
unreasonable as to declare that facts should be enunciated
before inferences could be drawn, because it made no matter
how unreasonable any sciences might seem to be, they ought
to be tolerated until such time as the public could judge for
themselves, and see the causes which produced them. There
was no doubt but a girl had been put into a peculiar state in
the present instance by certain manipulations of M. Lafon-
taine, who said that the audience might do the same, and if
if it were possible that every man might do the same, the
effects would, certainly be very extraordinary. But he fur-
ther said that a peculiar kind of constitution was required,
and that there were many men and women who could not be
magnetised at all ; and both Mr. Lafontaine and Mr. Braid
appeared to agree in thinking that the party about to be mag-
netised must be willing—at all events, that they must not be
decidedly agatrist it. He (Mr. N.) ought that the obser-
vation of the audience ought to be exercised in all matters of
the kind.

Mr. COLEMAN said there was no doubt but the patients
on the present occasion were sincere. There appeared to
have been no acting on their part; but the question was,
what practical good was to result from it ? (Oh !)
Mr. LAFONTAINE said that the practical result was before
them in the person of the girl from the hotel. She had been
subject to hysteric fits, which came on her once or twice a
week, and for the last fortnight, since she had been magne-
tized. she had not had an attack. It was applicable to the
cure of amaurosis, epilepsy, intermittent, tertian, and quoti-
dian fevers, &c. He had been for the last fortnight applying
for liberty to cure the deaf and dumb in the Liverpool Insti-
tution, and that as yet he had not received any answer. He
wished the committee to give him the very worst case to ope-
rate upon . but, at the same time, he admitted that all t h
deaf and dumb could not be recovered.
Mr. NOTTINGHAM said he had never seen an instance
where the insensibility appeared to have been complete when
the ammonia was applied. Having felt the mouth and jaws
of the last patient, Mr. N. added that this was about the
most powerful muscular contraction he had ever felt, and
that it would take the weight of a great number of pounds to
bring the chin down. _ _ _ _

In reply to a question from the lady whom we have previ-
ously me ntioned,

M. LAFONTAINE said that if the patients, when in the
state, were left alone, they would awake in six, eight, ten,
twenty, or forty hours, in a very uncomfortable state, per-
haps convulsions.
The second female was then demesmerised, with the ex-
ception of her right arm and leg, both of which were left for
some time longer under the mesmeric influence.
In reply to questions from Mr. Nottingham, she said that
she had been asleep, but that she was unable to tell how
long.
She was unable to move either the mesmerised leg or arm.
Pins were stuck into both, but she said she was perfectly
unconscious of having suffered any pain. The pin was then
in various parts of her-arm, and until it was applied to
flesh contiguous to the shoulder blade she said that it pro-
duced no sensation whatever.' The leg apd arm were then
demesmerised, and the experiment was received with loud

applause.
Mr. NOTTINGHAM remarked that the best possible proof
of her insensibility to pai❑ seemed to have been afforded by
the fact of the pin having been applied without effect to her
mesmerised leg and arm, when she was awake.
In reply to a question from one of the audience,
The patient stated that she felt no pain whatever in her
leg, but that it seemed as if it had been in its natural state
all the evening. _ _ _

The first patient was then brought to the front of the plat-
form. She was still in the mesmerised state, and had been
so from the commencement of the proceedings. Both her
legs were demesmerised by M. Lafontaine, who asked her to
stand. She endeavoured to get off the chair, but the attempt
was unsuccessful. She was then assisted by M. Lafontaine,
and, on standing up, leant on Mr. Nottingham, with whom
she walked arm-in-arm for a short distance about the plat-
form, M. Lafontaine following behind her with his arms and
hands extended towards her lower extremities. In a short
time she stopped, as if glued to the floor, from her legs
having been thus remagnetised. In this state she was thrown
backwards and forwards two or three times between Mons.
Lafontaine and Mr. Nottingham, and would obviously, if
not caught, have fallen perfectly rigid and helpless upon the
floor.
M. LAFONTAINE said that he had tried this exnerial ent
upon her on Saturday last for the first time.
A Galvanic apparatus was then attached to the patient.
It was held by a gentleman at the same time for the purpose
of testing the shock. It produced a very manifest effect on
the patient.
M. LAFONTAINE said that as the arms of the female were
not as rigid as upon former occasions the shock did not
succeed in the manner he could have wished. If the cats—
lepsy had been induced to a greater extent a more powerful
gwearneynot signs of
always
shock could be ,gig en. A very powerful shock had been
revsinucitisn
given to the same young woman at the Medical Institution
obtained. The insensibility in the present instance had not
been complete, and therefore he (M. L.) regarded the ex-
periment as an unfortunate one.
M. Lafontaine then proceeded to demesmerise the patient,
and, after several convulsive heavings at the breast, she
opened her eyelids.
She appeared very much exhausted, and
it was some time before she rallied. Her pulse was about
90 at the close of the experiment.
M. LAFONTAINE then said that daily gentlemen who were
already susceptible and willing, and likely to be influenced
by the process, would come forward he would endeavour to
put them in a mesmeric state.
A Mr. COWLEY offered himself.
M. LAFONTAINE, after Inspecting him, said the distance

between his eyet was too great, and that if any 011/3 who had
his eyes closer together—(a laugh)—would offer himself the
experiment would be more likely to succeed. When the eyes
were on a level with the forehead and the chin was prominent
he 'said he scarcely ever failed in producing the phenomena.
No other gentldman having offered, Mr. Cowley was placed
in the chair. M. Lafontaine sat opposite, held his hands, and
looked sternly at him. Some of the audience at this period
set up a loud laugh, when M. Lafontaine desired them to be
quiet, and said that interruptions of the kind had the effect
of preventing the success of the proceeding. He said Mr.
Cowley might laugh as much as be liked, provided he kept
his eyelids open. After several minutes the attempt turned
out to be wholly unsuccessful, the slightest effect not having
been produced on Mr. Cowley.
Another gentleman named Wilson next offered himself.
uvai cis of ten minutes were spent in an endeavour to Mes

merise this gentleman, hut it was equally unsuccessful.
A young lady, who conversed with i\l. Lafontaine .
French, and who, we believe, is a native of France, after an
appeal to the ladies present by Mr. Nottingham, calling upon
some of them for the sake of science to allow M. Lafontaine
to make the experiment upon them, at length stepped for-
ward. For nearly ten minutes she endured the attempt to
magnetise her with little apparent effect. After that period,
however, her eyelids began to droop; notwithstanding she
evidently struggled against the approach of the somnolent
state. After a few passes over her face and eyes had been
made, her eyes finally closed, and the experiment was com-
plete. She several times, before being quite magnetised,
laughed out ; and, on being restored, she explained that this
laughter was caused by her frequent ineffectual attempts to
open her eyelids. We remarked, during the whole time of
the experiment, a nervous twitching of the hands and fingers,
which the subject, however, did not account for, if even she
was conscious of it, which we doubt.
Mr. COLEMAN moved a vote of thanks to the lady, and,
after a few remarks expressive of the approbation of the
audience at what they had witnessed, the meeting broke up ;
an announcement having been made that another conversa-
zione would be held last evening.

Monsieur Lafontaine gave another conversazione last night
at the Templar's-hall, which was attended by a,respectable,
although not a very numerous audience. In his opening re-
marks, Monsieur Lafontaine complained of the difficulties
with which he and others were everywhere met in their en-
deavours to introduce this science of magnetism to the notice
of the scientific world. Every one at first set his face against
the belief of its reality. Still an obstinate scepticism was no
proof of the possession of knowledge. In most of the scien-
tific bodies of Europe the existence of the principle of mag-
netism had been at length acknowledged. The difficulty
under which professors laboured was increased by the
circumstance that one day the same results are not
deduced which show themselves upon another ; and
they are consequently liable to disappoint their audi-
ences, and incur -the reproacli' of being termed charla-
tans. In Berlin, Vienna, and, other capitals of Europe the
academies had consented to examine into the science. In
England, he had had applied io him the word " humbug."
He had applied to many of the deaf and dumb institutions
to he permitted to operate upon their patients, but in vain.
In Liverpool he had offered to overate upon some of the
children of the deaf and dumb schools, in the presence of
their medical men, but as yet without success. Happily, a
gentleman who was now present had offered, at a former
conversazione, to supply him with a deaf and dumb subject,
upon whom he had since twice operated, and who would ap-
pear before them this night.
Monsieur Lafontaine then proceeded to go through the usual
experiments with the same two females who were operated
upon on Tuesday, which, as they presented no new features,
we do not need to report. The deaf and dumb boy pro-
vided by Mr. Coleman, and who, we understand, has been a
pupil of the Deaf and Dumb School, in this town, was then
introduced upon the platform. The lecturer described briefly
the extent of his powers of hearing previous to being magne-
tised. He could distinguish sounds but not words. He had
strictly speaking, no hearing, his perceptions arising
from the effect created by concussion upon the air or
the vibration of the surface upon which he stood. He could
distinguish, for instance, the rolling of coaches or carts,
but had no perception of acute sounds. After having
been twice magnetized he was able to distinguish words, and
even to attempt to utter them. On the present occasion lie
was magnetized and put to sleep, and upon being tested
afterwards could evidently distinguish words repeated in his
ear. The experiment, however, was not so satisfactorily de-
veloped as we had an opportunity of witnessing it previously
at the George Inn, owing to the anxiety of the audience to
see the system tried upon some of the numerous gentlemen
who presented themselves for the purpose.
Upon the conclusion of this experiment about a dozen in-
dividuals presented themselves to be magnetised, and amongst
the number Mr. Freeman, the American giant, whose towering
appearance upon the platform caused some merriment. We
calculate Mons. L. might as easily have attempted to magne-
tise St. Paul's as this man monster; and it is scarcely sur-
prising that he did not select him as the sensitive, hysterical,
or imaginative kind of subject who are according to his
theory peculiarly liable to magnetic influence. Two gsn-
tlemen, however, were subjected to a trial, in both in-
stances, without success. _ _ _

The company separated about half-past ten o'clock, the
proceedings of the evening not having given the same satis-
faction which we noticed on former occasions. We must
express our own opinion, that upon individuals not having
been previously operated upon, the public experiments of
Monsieur Lafontaine upon every occasion have been of a
somewhat inconclusive nature ; and on this evening they
were more than usually so.

CORRESPONDENCE

MESMERISM

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD

Srn,—Having had the advantage of hearing from his own
lips the sentiments of Mr. M'Neile respecting Mesmerism,
and subsequently, of reading a portion of them in your co-
lumns, it is with unaffected humility I presume myself fur-
nished with sufficient knowledge of them to be able to exa-
mine briefly their weight and character. As to their weight,
the name of the rev. gentleman gives to them—whether right
or wrong—a species of authority. Their character is a diffe-
rent question,
other tests than the eminence of
a name. It therefore becomes those who are disposed to
consider what is familiarly called Mesmerism (net that it is
oorreet), independently of all received and oonterr4oraneous
opinion, however authoritative their enunciation, to mark
at they are not
the nature of such a man's ideas, see
likely to be of mere local importance.ing I thregret, however,
that whilst you were reporting a small portion of Mr.
M`Neile's sermons, you did not see the necessity of reporting
the whole, not less indeed for his sake than my own, for your
perhaps unavoidable brevity in ,this respect may somewhat
impair the comprehension of my argument by thine who were
not present at St. Jude's on Sunday night last.
No one knows better than the rev, gentleman himself that
the most accurate reasons are vulnerable somewhere, because
absolute truth cannot be established solely by means of gene-
ral propositions. No one knows better than he that in al-
most all cases truth requires to be worked out, and that in
the process of working it out exceptions arise, often at every
step; and that, the conflict of objections over, a truth, an
axiom, a proposition, (though the term is not sufficiently
large to convey all my meaning) is the issue. Except in
those propositions which are self evident, this is invariably
the case. This, then, is the point wherein Mr. M`Neile, al-
though a reasoner of habitual caution, is vulnerable ,• this is
the position wherein he is most open to the attacks of an as-
sailant, for he has taken an abstract philosophical truth to be
the absolute truth in relation to something almost entirely
unknown, and concerning which these has, as yet, been no
aggregation of experiment.
The pervading, and, indeed, the sole argument, exept some
of a theological nature, with which I shall not meddle, levelled
against mesmerism by Mr. M'Neile is, that if it is in nature
it will follow the known laws of nature, the property of which
is, an uniformity of action. Syllogistically put, he says—
The laws of nature act uniformly ;
Mesmerism does not act uniformly ;
Therefore Mesmerism is not a law of nature.

As may be expected from a predication of this kind, he com-
menced by assuming, instead of proving, that the laws of
nature should act uniformly with regard to the mysterious
power of mesmerism ; in other words, he inverted the natural
order of reasoning by accepting a conclusion before it had
been established. Instead of proving the rule in relation to
mesmerism, he took for granted that mesmerism had no rela-
tion to the rule. Knowing that the rule is true in relation
to present philosophy, he accepted it as true for all the future
philosophy of posterity. Why, had this been the standard
and end of our forefathers' philosophy, galvanism, electricity,
printing, and the mighty power of "compressed steam" itself
would have remained still unknown and unthought of among
the elements of nature • and, indeed, whilst these things were
finding out, Mr. M`Neile's sermon against mesmerism would,
by the mere alteration of names, have been a very eloquent
denunciation against prosecuting them further. I therefore
would have preferred to have heard the question thus stated :
The laws of nature are not all known;
Mesmerism is not yet all known ;
Therefore Mesmerism may yet be a law of nature.
I am not insensible to the logical imperfections of the syllo-
gisms ; but I have little or no regard for schoolmen's forms
when a question can be intelligibly stated without them. It
may be said, with some truth I admit, that the propositions
are distinct. I reply that mine, then, is the best, because it
admits of investigation and experiment, whilst the other has
at least a tendency to shut out those important elements in
the discovery of truth.

Permit me, too, to draw your attention, though the fact
'does not appear from your report giving only a part instead
of the whole sermon, to a manifest inconsistency in the argu-
ment of the rev. gentleman. First, we were told that mes-
merism cannot be true, because according to the known laws
of nature, its effects are not uniform ; and next, that there
may be a yet undiscovered law whereby the required uni-
formity may be obtained. This is supposing law and no law
to exist at the same time and in the same place, which is
something very like attempting to tail towards opposite points
at one and the same moment., Mesmerism is either trne or
false ;it cannot be both. It, upon some principle unknown
to me, these two suppositions are reconcilable. mesmerism is
false on this side of the Mersey, but we have the satisfaction
of knowing that it is true on the other; here Lafontaine and
Braid may be little better than chevaliers d'industrie, but
there they are excellent philosophers, the very Galileo's and
Franklin's of the nineteenth century.
But the strangest inconsistency in the rev. gentleman's
discourse, and one that went very far in leading me to consi-
der whether it was not altogether inconsistent with the sta-
tion of the minister and the sanctity of the place, was the
advice to his congregation not to see or countenance mes-
meric experiments, but to suspend their judgments as to
whether it is a principle in nature till experiments had proved
it to be either one or the other.
I am a plain man, and the defect may be exclusively my
own, but I do protest that this doctrine is to me utterly in-
comprehensible. Member though I am of Mr. M'Neile's
congregation, and one of his warmest admirers, when I
heard these things follow one another, the stare of amaze-
ment might have been seen in my countenance from one end
spite of the extraordinary grim-
of the church to the other,
reasoning and reasonable people are
ness of the gas. How
to discountenance all experiments in the first instance, and
afterwards, if need be, to admit the necessity there was for
those experiments,
my perception does not enable me to see.
What becomes of their consistency ? If men were to adopt
this kind of advice in practical life, what evils might it not
produce? How could the virtue of sincerity be preserved ?
What could there be to prevent an universal dissimulation
among men, and of course to make the greatest dissembler a
subject for imitation by our children
.and dependents ? If
the experiment elicits truth, is not he who opposed the ex-
periment to some extent a hinderer of the truth ? And on
the other hand, if it does not elicit truth does it follow that
the object aimed at is at all unnatural? If what is sought
after be the philosopher's stone, the perpetual motion, the
squaring of the circle, how to make cables of sand, anchors
of smoke, or to print Mr. Lafontaine's posting bills in frog
soup, or any other extravagant conception, then to rail at
experiment is just and good and proper. A little ridicule
soon overcomes all sanguine philosophers of that kind.
But here there are certain effects produced, effects visible to
the eye, effects to be felt, effects which can be foretold, al-
though' the cause remains a mystery, and effects, too
which every human being is more or less susceptible. ' of
In-
deed the effects are so universal that I verily believe the
natural law which Mr. M'Neile is calling for has been dis-
covered, but that " doctors differ" so much that it is not
yet put into unexceptionable language and form. Why then
should experiments be discountenced when something is to
be found out ? _

AnOil;er"Curious assertion of Mr. M`Neile's was, that
medical men are not the best judges whether mesmerism is
true, because their olge ceases when the breath departs from
e:.
the body. I cannot discover any reason why that citcuin-

Manor s.hould disqualify them from judging. To my mind
they appear the men, of all others, best adapted for the office.
Because we must inevitably die seems to be no bad argument
against the employment of the community of physicians and
surgeons altogether, and a good deal might be said against them

on that account; but I apprehend, that if the question was,
whether they area useful race or not, the issue would be in
the affirmative. It is just as reasonable to say they shall be
dispensed with altogether, and for ever, because we know we
must die, as it is to say they are not the best judges of the
truth of mesmerism, because they have done with the body
when it dies. Perhaps, however, Mr. M'Neile meant those
half-read gentlemen who have thought it not beneath them
to become the open disturbers of public audiences, whenever
mesmerism has called them together. If they were (as
small things must be sometimes) present to his mind, he
was, without doubt, in the right ; and it is only this supposi-
tion which takes away the curiosity of the statement.
It seems to me, on the whole, however, that the reverend
gentleman's mind is scarcely made up on the subject, and
that it is his doubting state which produces these apparent
inconsistencies. If his mind is made up, the devoted per-
sonal respect, aye affection, which I feel towards him as a
gentleman, a Christian, and a minister of the church, cannot
prevent me from thinking that, with regard to this sermon,
at least, he has fallen into the primary state of the Arch-
bishop of Toledo, when Gil Bias was his secretary. If so,
"conclamatum est."—l have the honour to be, Sir, your
obedient servant, PENSATORE.
Great George-street, Wednesday.

MESMERISM

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD

SIR,—I beg leave to inform you that I did not insert the
pins into the mesmerised subjects of M. Lafontaine, as stated
in your report of his experiments; and that he would not
allow the stockings to be removed for the purpose of tickling
the soles, as he said the operation would be similar in its ef-
fects to what he employed when he wished to demesmerise.*

After the galvaniC shock had been applied, and the young
woman screamed most lustily, M. Lafontaine stated that she
was not in a favourable state that evening for the success of
his experiments. It was proposed by several gentlemen that,
as I was sceptical, M. Lafontaine should endeavour to mes-
merise me ; he replied that I could not be done, not possess-
ing the peculiar constitution required for the purpose. It
was then proposed, that as M.' Lafontaine professed to dis.-
tinguish the kinds of constitution unsusceptible of the mes-
merising influence, that half a dozen should come forward,
from amongst the audience, and that he should select one
whom he considered favourable.. Several gentlemen offered
themselves. One standing near him he said he would try.
On the gentleman behig seated, M. L. wished an account to
be read to him from a newspaper of the wonderful effects
produced on
.a Dr. Eikington. This was objected to, on the
ground that he ought to produce his effects, and not to inform
the individual what he bad to expect, as it might influence
the imagination. After sixteen minutes hard staring, M. L.
gave up, acknowledging that he bad not been successful that
evening, and requesting that the audience would suspend their
judgment until a future occasion, when he hoped to be able
to convince them.

On M. tafoniaine commencing hi; second lecture, it is
true that I did inquire whether he considered the young wo-
man in a fit state ; and when the galvanic shock was about to
be administered, I did propose that it should be sustained at
the same time by a non-mesmerised individual, to ascertain
whether the mesmerised could resist its effects in a greater
degree. This M. Lafontaine objected to, as it would also
demesmerise. On a powerful shock being given, she screamed
out as before--and this when all was in a favourable slate!'
In the case of the young woman from the York Hotel,
whom M. Lafontaine mesmerised with both arms extended,
the arms were observed to drop by degrees until they rested
on the back of the chair. According to M. Lafontaine, had
the operation been successful, the arms ought to have re-
mained immovably fixed ; and yet, according to your report,
this was a successful case !:
It appears evident that the only satisfactory way of proving
the value of the tests employed, is by comparing their results
on the mesmerised with the non-mesmerised. The sticking
of pins in the skin, however formidable it may appear to the
imagination of the beholder, is of no importance, as the rapid
insertion of a pin produces no pain whatever. The galvanic
shock, however, cannot be mistaken ; and in every instance
where a strong shock was given the mesmerised exhibited
the usual effects,—screaming, &c.§ Now, according to the
mesmerisers, no such results should have followed. Much
has been said of the mesmerised undergoing operations with-
out evincing any symptoms of pain. But who, in the habit
of witnessing operations, has not frequently seen the most
formidable performed without a murmur or a groan, or even
the movement of a muscle ? And can we forget the instances
related of our soldiers and our sailors, who, on the battle
field, and in the cock-pit, have indulged in a favourite song
while subjected to the removal of one, or it may be more, of
their members. Are our memories so beclouded, that, the
sufferings of our martyrs, by the torture, the fire, and the
rack, which so far from inducing wailing, lamentation, and
woe, have only elicited rejoicing, prayer, and praise, must be
cast into the shade? And must the tortures, voluntary and
submissive, of the natives of the east and of the west, who,
to appease their gods, have cherished devotion by the mutila-
tion of themselves and of their fellows, wishout exhibiting
the slightest emotion, be entirely forgotten, that we may be
enabled to attribute the resistance to the comparatively tri-
fling tests of mesmerism, to the operations of science, or of
magic ? But we forget that this is an age when there exists
an insatiable craving after absurdities—mental and material
—unknown tongues, Romism or miracle working, Puseyism,
mesmerism, and the most absurd of all homeopathy, whereby,
one drop Of some mendicament, diluted with the volume
of a million worlds of water, is swallowed, as a panacea, for
every variety of disease.
When we find professors of the pretended science of mes-
merism acknowledging that there are individuals upon whom
they cannot be successful, and when we reflect that their at-
tempts almost invariably fail, when made upon any but their
own creatures ; and when we find one declaring that unless
mind and body given up to him, i. e., unless they have most
implicit faith, he knows he cannot succeed. Dare we not,
from the fear of being considered Singular or sceptical, infer
that this is not a law of nature? Nature's laws we know to
be universal. If we exhibit opium, prussic acid, or arsenic,
in sufficient quantity, we have their invariable results : sleep,
suspension of life, and corrosion. But how is it with animal
magnetism? Why, according to one, that no dose the mat
netiser can administer will produc

ny effect upon

according to another, that no
implicit compliance : so that w
that in the one case faith is the power exerted ; in the othe_
the connivance of the individual operated upon ; and the
successful exhibition of both—the credulity of the au-
J. S. CURRIE.

.oduceti withont
the conclusion

dience.
April 11, 1842

* Upon Mr. Curries word, we are bound to believe that we have
mistaken the name of the gentleman (who was a professional man,
however, and whom Mr. Currie, no doubt, knows,) who inserted
the pins and performed the tickling in question.

t The remarks in this paragraph are a little disingenuous on the
part of Mr. Currie. On the first application of the battery the zub-
ject did certainly_ give utterance to a suppressedscream, very unlike,
however, to the scream of a person in a natural state; but why
does not Mr. Currie acknowledge, as mentioned in our report, that
the battery was again applied, after she had been more completely
mesmerised, when no exclamation was uttered. Both shocks, we
were given to understand, were of the same strength ; and she
could not be taken by surprise (if in a natural state) in either case
t We must dider from Mr. Currie's version of the facts in thi
. . .
case

The arms certainly did drop by degrees slightly, as they have
done in every case which has come under our not.,ce ; but, although
we thought that one arm might be partially supported by the back
of the chair, the other decidedly was not, and could not be. The
chair on which she sate would not support both arms. Besides. we

cannot see that it was necessary that both arms " ought to have
remained immovably fixed," for we never heard it maintained by
the lecturer that the influence exercised was of permanent opera-
tion.

This is not the fact. On the last application of the battery nc
screaming" took place. •

in conclusion, we must state distinctly thst we reported the ex-
periments at these lectures—and the experiments alone—as we saw
them and to the best of our ability correctly. We gave, and we
now give, uo opinion as to the science itself. We are, perhaps,
quite as mnch at sea with respect to the rationale of the matter as
Mr. Currie himself; but we do really think that it is carrying scep-
ticism too far to contend that the whole is illusion, if scientific
men can resolve the effects produced into anything dependent upon.
or regulated by, the laws of matter, let them do so. That is their
affair, not ours. But we do not think it is worthy of then merely
to cavil at the evidence placed before them, unless they an prove,
which we do not think they can, that it is altogether deceitive.