The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1837-09-14
From the Nep York Commercial Advertiser
ANIMAL MAGNETISM.

We have had our time and times of laugh
ing at animal magnetism. We shall laugh at
it no more. There is something awfully mys-
terious in the principle, beyond the power of
man to fathom or explain. Being in Provi-
dence on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, the
Goth, 9th, and 2sth of August an opportuni-
ty was afforded us of seeing and taking part
in series of experiments, with a young blind
lady, while under the magnetic influence, the
results of which were not only marvellous in
our eyes, but absolutely astounding. The ex-
hibition was not public, and the parties were
all people of the first responsibility, profess
sional and otherwise. Having heard much
upon the subject, and disbeieved all, the ex-
periments were made before private circle
of ladies and gentlemen, at our own urgent
solicitation.
We have written narrative Of the circum-
stances, comprising some fifty or sixty pages
of foolscap; and we venture to say, that no
thing hitherto published upon that subject, is
SO wonderful by far, as the facts of which we
were witness-all of which we saw and part
of which we were. We shall publish our
narrative, on taking it to Providence for exami-
nation, provided we can obtain permission Of
the parties-who have hitherto avoided publ
cations, or public exhibitions.
One surprising incident we will mention.
On Sunday, while we were in Providence, a
small package was received from Mr. Stephen
Covill, Of Troy, containing, as he wrote to his
friend, note, which he wished Miss B. to
read, while under the magnetic influence,
without breaking the seal, if she could. Mr..
C. had been induced to try this experiment, in
consequence of having heard of extraordinary
performances of the kind-which, Of course,
he doubted The package, or letter, was evil
IDENTIFY composed Of several envelopes. The
outer one was composed of thick blue paper
On Sunday evening, Miss b., who, it must be
borne in mind, when awake, is blind, was put
into magnetic slumber, and the letter given
to her with instructions to read it. She said
she would take it to bed with her, and read it
before morning On Monday morning she
gave the reading as follows
"No other than the eye Of Omnpotence can read
this, in this development.
We made memorandum of this reading,
and examined the package containing, as she
said, the sentence. She said then on Mon
day morning, that there were one or two
words between the word development" and
the date, as we understood her which she
could not make out. We examined the seal
with the closest scrutiny. The seal of Mr..
Covill was unbroken, and to turn the letter, or
to read it without opening, was impossible.
After our return to the city, viz on We'd
nesday last, we addressed letter to Mr.. Co
will, to ascertain whether the reading of the
blind somnambuist was correct. The fol-
lowing is his reply:
"TRoy, Sept, l, 1887.
"Dear Sir--Your's of yesterday received by this
mornings mail and as to your inquiry relative TO the
package submitted to Miss b. while under the magnetic
influence. have to say, the package to hand yes
to-day The sentence had been written by friend, and
sealed by him at my request, and IN such manner
supposed could not have been read by any human
DEVICE without breaking the seal We think the seals
have not been broken until returned. The sentence
read by Miss B. is No other han The ycof 0ma,po-
ience can read tbs, IN Mis cnrciopmeat-lS37.' And
written in the original on a card, and another card
placed the face of the writing, and enclosed in thick
blue paper envelope, was No other than the eye Of
Omnipoieace read this sentence in this capclope'
Respectfully yours, &c.
" STEPHEN CovLL."
p. S. We have just received a note from
Providence, with permission to publish our
own narrative. But as it is very long. and
equally complex and wonderful, we shall first
take 1t TO Providence, for the examination of
those who were present on the occasion. Our
aim being scrupuous exactness. We also
left a note for the blind lady to read, sealed
with seven seals. We have received it this
morning, the seals unbroken, with the answer
written on the outside. This answer is cor.
rect, as far as it goes. We were in great
haste at the time OF preparing the note, and
having the odd title of queer old book in our
pocket, printed in a small Italic letter, we
wrote part of the note with pencil, and
stuck on two and half lines of the small Italic
printing with wafer. The note, written and
printed, as we left it, was in these words
The following is the title, equally quaint
and amusing, of book which was published
in England, in the time Of Oliver Cromwell:
Eggs IF Charity, loycd by the CAskens Of