Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1842-09-27

reason to suspect it. All the books say, that mesmerc
Experiments will sometimes egregriousy fa-owing
to the peculiar sensbtes at the time of the operator
and his subject-But is il fair TO infer, That under
another given state Of circumstances, it will always
fail, Yet such the argument drawn from this unsats
factory Report In reply TO writer IN the Star we state
positively, that MIR French is himself no Phrenologst
that he could not teach il 10 any peIson-that he never
pretended 10 exhibit the chronological Phenomena IN
his public exhibitions, either at Petersburg or Norfolk
or in his first Lecture IN this City-that he never
dreamed of exhibiting them in his second Lecture, on
Friday night, in this City, until, The night before,
in testing the nervous spnsibty of Emma, whom
Mr. French had never befnre, and, then, IN the
presence of one of Mr. Ri,ers family and of other
| gentlemen, and whom MIR. French put to Sleep
one of the Medical Faculty, and distinguished men,
Der of that Faculty, whose attention had been excited
that very day by the experiments reported in the
LIST No. of the Cincinnati Journal proposed to try the
experiments upon Emma; and true TO the touch oil
Nature, she responded way to anuse and aston'sh
every byslander. From that moment, Mr. r. defer
mined TO exhibit them, with Mr. Rittcrs consent, IN
the exhibition of the following evening. We have no
more doubt of the truth Of these statements, than we
have Of The existence oil this City, or oithe realty OF Inc
Abduction Plot. But Mr.. French has not done with
the subject, and have doubt will again exhb!t
the Phenomena in this City, under circumstances that
will silence every honest sceptic. In connexion win
this, might call TO aid the testimony OF the Re-
ersburg lnelligencer who INDUCES The strongest Po
ca preudices against us, and yet IS compelled to
confess that on this subject we ignore than half
right" for, he has experiments in Petersburg
which DEFY contradiction So, too, Inc petersburg
Statesman, who, "in the matter OF MesmerIsm, IN
spite of the Doctors, "chooses to think Tor (hmself.
The Lynchburg Vrginian relates an amusing anecdote
which happened in Huntsville, Alabama, the other day
I'VE do not vonch for Mr. Moorefor, we are satisfied
that some will turn out this, as on other subjects,
impostors-a and the public ought TO be on their guard
against them:)
"A MIR Moore had been delivering some lectures in
that place. illustrated by experiments and Dr. fearn,
leading citizen Of that town, pronounced It humeng,
and Moore an impos,or, and pledged himself TO give
Moore $500 If he could not prove IL, II Moore wouio
submit hrs experiments 10 the test OF committee TO be
appon,ed by the DR.. To this Moore agreed it he might
be permitted to appoint half the number of Judges
The change was assented to, and The parties went into
r room for the purpose. person was magnellzed and
his eyes securely bandaged, and his we'll stuffed
with cotton; aud while in this situation DR.. Fearn mrote
on slips of paper the various actions which he desired
that the operator should aoU the person to
do-and the actions wied were invariably performed
with very slight variation in two OF The many instances,
the variations being rather conrmatory than other
wise of the magnetic influence under which the man
sc,ed The committee Is 10 81 decided in favor OF
Moore, and DR.. Fearn lost his 500. Here is an e1.
rnen iestt not only under the very eyes, bnt IN
grea, measure controlled by gentleman who had
ayowed his ability to strip from it tie cloak OF mystery,
and 10 reveal The imposiure TO the world. Ills failure
to Go shows that there be any thing like imposture,
is the most skilluy executed deuson that has ever
VI
is N some Of us aspects, certainly Of the most as
tonishng truths that has ever been discovered =
(hloore will be observed, did not exhibit the Phre-
biological Phenomena, without which, no experiments
hereafter can be considered as completely
If We had not substantially closed our columns TO the
discussion of this subject, might lay before our
readers long and interesting letter of MIR. X. A. Wor
rell of Norfolk Of the l1ih inst he was induced to
write il, in consequence Of seeing in the Enquirer the
letter Of the Rev. VIM A. Smith, Of the Methodist
Episcopal Church. who, the Lynchburg Vrginian says,
is stationed in Petersburg, and we'll known to
our own immunity man hose ardent zeal as q
Minister is tempered end cbdsiened by the power as
well as 10y the phosophc cas-, OF his mlnd-a man not
apt 10 be msled by Imagination and fancy, duped by
the tricks Of choratans and npostors last man
on earth who would lend hmsefto the purpose of de-
ceiving others Mr. Worre states, that "only three
VS. ago chez had magnetised lady OF that Borough
and the experme made Sin the presence gen.
tlenen and ladies of the first responsibility, who would
-"of respe liability, and bove all intrigue and ar6ce
come forward and bear testimony TO the truth of what
he writes. She exhibited various phenomena OF sen.
sation, such as these:
IL placed small piece Of tobacco my tongue, and
Instantly she showed signs of sickness at the stomach
and spit out. tasted vinegar, and she pronounced
such, and dspleased at my giving 1t her TO drink
after which drank water and she vinegar, and she
pronounced it rood ratsr. ate apple and she said
was very good, and seemed TO enjoy exceedingly,
che and swallowing just as did; and many other
things the same way. "The most inter
esng portion OF my experiments were IN o-hag
netisIn, il has been termed, and they fol-
lows: The frs, organ that touched was .Hirth and
she was full Of life and bIiarity instantly and related
many of the most amusing incidents OF her life, going
back tar ten or twelve years. While in the lively
mood, touched the organ OF Tune, and she lnmedi.
a,ey struck up and sung with much life and glee,
duet, 81 know bank Wherein the wild thyme blowe.
A ter being awaked, she assured me, when made the
request that she should sing The piece, that she had
sung It for five years, and could not repent more
Of a. ha ,,,Ar
from The organ Of N,rth and magnescd that of Rerer.
renee and she sang hymn and her whole manner and
tone changed instantly. then magnetised her
| fdcay and Language, and she gave the audience a
speech, with all the grace ard gesture imaginable In
the same manner ] brought other organs into exer-
cise and her actions md emotions Of nature cor
responding 10 them The C0mbatieeness being magnet
sed she showed signs of great anger, not only by ac
ton, but by word, aud made threats as 10 what she
would do those who thus provoked her: and quick
as thought | could change her manner and tone from
this Of rritability and may justly add wrath, to
one Of pleasantly and good humor. Many who have
witnessed this and other experiments that have made,
all Of which has been in the private circle, and for the
qualification Of friends have been thoroughly convinced
of the truth Of Animal Magnetism although unable to
account for it, hav much confidence in the truth
of Animal Magnetism, that propose very soon TO mes
merise of my children, and while in that state,
have surgical operation performed on her foot
We have received n letter from respectable Physi-
clan in Buckingham of Friday last, who writes that
he had given "he subject fair investigation by &C:
tual experiment. The first three | succeeded
simply in putting to sleep The fourth soon exhibited
stiffness in the muscles of the arm after being appa
rtntiy asleep. This case was negro girl of my own
i vas totally unprepared with any thing to test my
case, not for moment thinking | could succeed
Immediately got alcohol from nv shop and tasted
IT, she said was tasting alcohol. then got syrup of
squills upon being asked she said she did not know
what it was, but that it was bitter. tried her with
an apple eaten in an adjoining room; size pronounced
it apple without any hesltancy then sugar in like man
ner-l then tried table salt, which think the most
perfect of the tests, for the girl stays my apartments
as nurse, where we keep nothing of the kind; our
dining house in another part Of the yard where my
mother lives, with her bourd; and she could not BY
any mea ms pect salt to be there eat without going
in the room, and she said was eating salt tried