Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1840-1842, 1842-09-03
THE WONDERS OF ANIMAL MAGNETISM
ut THOMAS Rircuie.

From ths Rtehnioid Eaqatrer, .fag. s6ih.
On Saturday. Mr. French WAS polite enough to
visit us ut our own house, and brought with hn the
boy and the girl. We had prepared ourselves for
the experiment-and We were determined to sub.
jeot the great and curious law OF community OF
sat'ou to the severes, analysis. We had dipped in
To very few pages of 'rowns hend's Facts" which,
until within the last three days, had slept on our
table, for almost ten months, unread and almost
. unopened. We had not even, on Saturday, gone
| a. { e his experiments on this .Community Of
Sensation" as he calls Il. The experiments We
now made wete conducted with every advantage
in perfect quiet-and in the presence of our own
family clone. MIR French himself more of n
spectator than actor. lie requested thet one of
tie young ladies should attempt TO mesmerire the
girl. Having seen the experiments made four years
ago. in Philadelphia, by the nquiSitte and cnligh,-
ened DR. Mitchell, IN the presence OF Bishop Moore
she was somewhat familiar with the process, al d.
though she had never p-nctsed Il. The little mes
meTizee was amused by the attempt; but very qui.
city submitted to the operation. IL few minutes
the grl yielded to the influence, which was excIted
over her by tho rubbing and the passes OF the rather
incxpett operator.-Her eyes were closed, as il
! Touched by Mercury's wand of sumbrous notori
oy;" her hands rubbed by those of the operator
twltched IN singular manner, and followed the
litin. hands OF the female mesme rzer, like bit of
per attracted 10y the rubbed scaling Tone OF
| Townsend's comparatively After about 10 minutes
! she proposed to the girl 10 walk and she readily
arose, following the operator into another room.
When she obtained possession of Ma hand, she
would not relirqush it-nnd repealed every other
hind, even MIR Frenehs-cxctpt that of the young
| or sister Of NJ. whom put into communication by NJ.
at the musie-stool. The experiment thus len
under the control Of the young ady-and it result
ed, in establishing beyond the possibility Of doubt
the great law OF a community Of sensation. For
| instance
The sense Of Taste The eyes were closed, and
| then closely baidaged by handkerchief Differ.
ent substances were presented to NJ carefully,
that II was impossible for the mesmerz.e to see
| them or present them TO the cognizance of any OF
her senses. Then as Nj. drank, and swallowed, so
did the notwithstanding water from Wine M
chewed, and swallowed cake-and the girl being
asked by NJ. what she (the grl) eating, prompt.
ly replied cake. Grapes were then put into Ms
| mouth-nnd the girl first said she eating an
| ple-but upon her attention being again awakened
10y NJ Immediately replied, she believed it was
grapes. On a repetition Of the experiment the cla~
ret wine was poured into MS mouth rapidly,
that in swallowing she felt the sensation OF stran-
Cling and coughed. The girl Immediately imita
ted all these muscular MISUNDERSTANDING and
then coughing, as if under the influence of the most
intense sympathy, and as it were, identity OF feel
ings and motions.
| Smeu-M. had snuff applied TO the nose The
muscles OF the girls nose Immediately contracted,
as if she were snellins-and upon being asked wi lat
she smelling, at once replied with some little
disgust, snuff So also with the smell OF flowers.
| One Of these, the ambrosis, she said was sweet
another the African Marigold, (he larges, species
| OF the lower,) she pronounced disagreeable.
Hsaiing.-She seemed to hesr nothing, except
| through the mesmctizer. Her voice alone was nc
cessible 10 her sensorium. The sound OF the pnno
was lost upon her, except when the mesmerizer
put her hand upon the shoulder Of the performer
| or when NJ. became the musician herself and then
! she recognized the tune that was played. On be
ing rcq Vested by M she struck up a song herself
and this fact was noticed, that as she sang, the
merzsr put flower to her own nose. when Annie,
(ths giFl) without stopping her song, initiated the
motion of smelling. bell was ruag suddenly at
| her car, withou, her starting appearing TO hear
| Rut he ran 10 thp unssr nari-
zee seemed sensible Oi its presence.
| Toueh.-M's hair was pulled with some force
and pain, and the girl then complained Of her
hair.
Seeing.-The phenomena exhibited 10 vision
were the most surprising. With her eyeids closed
and bandaged she was able, with considerable &C.
curncy to describe the dresses not only of the
merizer but that Of several other ladies' except one
| in black, that did not seem 10 make such an i'm
preston upon the sensOrium, TO be distinct
enough for ex preston. She described the collar u.
round MS neck; and upon being asked whether
she bEeastpin in the bosom, and what was
il, replied that ths pin dark, and had on il,
| she believed, deer-the pin was OF Mosaic, rep
| resenting a grayhound-but so repOsing sideways
and upwards, us not TO be readily made GU. by the
natural eye. The girl, upon being asked again and
her attention awakened TO it, corrected herself by
saying that she believed it was dog. In like
manner, she distinguished handkerchief on tho lap
of lady, setting few feet from her, and OCCASION
ally flower in the hand Of one neaC her, or fan
| in that OF another. There collision, and il
appeared 10 us all no Illusion. We venture to assert
that no person in Richmond, in full possession OF all
his faculties, and expecting TO DO tTcked but with his
eyes bound up, could have Disseminated all the sub
stances that tasted smelt by NJ. herself and
/ the mere fact, when they were presented 10 her
senses, with the same accuracy and promptiiude
these two uninforme1 mesmeTzees-wth such care,
and so noiseles5iy these simple experiments
conducted OF course, we scarcely expec, any
ono TO believe US, who has not it saw il.
| VI course, ton, we are prepared TO be laughed at
I for our pains; but, in this case, ridcule is not
I the test OF truth We take IL for granted. that
many tricks have b,en played upon the public
many extravaganza doctrines have been put forth
many pretended mesmedzers, with their col
| leagues, have been imposioTs-but all this cannot
shake the strength Of our impressions-nor OF the
| bvc persons whose whole attention was concentfa
ted for nearly two hours upon every phenomenon
as II Yves presented. The great law OF the commu~
nifty OF sensation was conolusivey made out, as
II we had Witnessed oil the experiments Of Town
shend. (rhe phenomena OF Vision are still certainly
the most difficult to be made, the most subtle in
themselves, the most surprising in the result, and
the hardest TO be believed The natural eye was in
the case before US shut out from its ordinary com.
munication with the external world. The lid was
| closed, as n Theoretically seaed-and was tho.
| roughly bandnged. On one occasion, the girl said
she could not see, because her eyes were sore. On
being told 10 rub them, she applied her hands to
two points on each side Of tho chin-and, subse
quently being asked where her eyes were, she ap-
Piled her hands to the same points Of the chin, and
apparently directing up the chin 10 the object she
was directed to see. We do not mean to 90 into
the phenomena stated by Townshend-ofa young
lady's reading letters on page-or OF young
Dutchman's making out cards with book inter-
posed between them and the oye-nor Of one mes.
merizer's asserting tina, he With his forehead.
We have enough to do in believing what we saw
for ourseves-ior h0t is tasking our ereduily in a
sufficient degree. Indeed, the phenomenon is 30
startling in ITSELF that II - almost impossible 10 d.
vest ourself Of all sort Of scepiicsm) And what
can the reader say, for example, TO the phenomena
| stated by TOwnshend (p. iG7 Of the N. Y. Edition,
printed by Harper 4 Brothers, about T.. AT
Though tho power Of vision was greatest in the
forehead, yet at times, and especially when he was
excited, and not in any way called upon TO exhibit
he seemed TO every side Of him, II his head
were one organ Of visual perception" This sleep
walker is stated TO n paper-cutler, n bottle of
ink, &c, by holding them TO the back Of his head
Can this law Of translated sensation be true ns that
of communicated sensation s7)-The girl sang
| long and plainiivo dtiy-and was offer some time
] Disseminated by tho counter passes Of NJ. She
arose ns naturally rs one would do from profound
sleep, and declared with air Of the most perfect
sincerity, that she had recollection Of any Of the
scenes which had pissed,--her eating, smelling,
singing, &C.
The boy (Allcn) was next mosmcfizsd, entirely
by Mr. French, without ony contact with him 90 NJ