Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1843-02-10
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have found themselves possessed Of "the power
and have tried experiments for their own amuse
men. or instruction with various success In the
case of one of them phenomena have been pro.
duced, second only to the far-famed feas of the
Egyptian magicans. We relate what we have
seen, without pretending TO say whether the re-
suits have been produced through the Imagination
or sympathy, or magnetism, or the nervous fluid,
or the 'vilal principal Perhaps many of our
readers would advise us to add" or humbug-
gerry We cannot do this without directly i'm.
pIcatlng persons as intelligent, as worthy, in
every respect, aud of as high moral character as
as any who are to be found in this or any other
community. The experiments of the gentleman
TO whom we allude whom we do not name as he
IS not lecturer, or public exhibitor Of this ism,
have been Witnessed by many persons at various
times by Indies and gentlemen, and by some OF
our physicians. Tho person mesmerized is n
young woman, residing in the family OF one Of
our most respectable and worthy citizens Nearly
six weeks ago the operator commenced mestner-
lzlng her, in order to prevent fits, to which she
was very frequently subject. The result is that
for The whole period since she has been under the
mesneric treatment, she has not had single f
Never, since attacked with the fits, has she been
50 long exempt from them. So much for the
Wthty OF tie ism; or, if the reader chooses, the
utility Of humbug. On Saturday eve. of last week
we witnessed some experiments in the case of
this young woman, aud sasy, among other things,
the following. On taking the chair, she was wide
awake, very lively, and insisted that she would not
60 TO sleep. We certainly thought she would not,
ut least for long time, but in less than two min
utes she was TO all appearances sound asleep, and
insensibe to everything but the voice and will of
the magne,zer. A lad from disian, town came
in after she was asleep, of whose presence she
could not have known anything except mesmeri.
caly. She was asked to tell who the lad was
With her eyes closed, and SO placed that she could
not see the lad even il awake, she named him.
The mesmerizer did not know tho name of this
lad. Again: after she was put TO sleep, several
ladies and gentlemen came into the room, and on
being asked who they were, she named them, and
also told how many were in the room. Still again
the head of the family left the room, and subse-
quenty entered it directly behind the person mag
netized, so that she could not see him if awake
She was asked who it was, and replied correctly
Judge l.. He had something in his hands, |
and so held it that she could not see il if awake
On being required 10 tell what it was she first
named thing which il resembled, and on being
told TO look sharp" she said, correctly, that it
was cage. She was next asked what was in IT,
and at first replied that she thought she saw some.
thing like mouse, and finally said it was an ami
nal of some kird. This was somewhat wide from
the mark. The cage was then placed before her,
but closed, and she was required TO scrutinize il
closely. In the course of a minute, she exhibited
The utmost alarm, approaching 20 commissions, and
The impression OF every one in the room was that
she was going into fit. The cage was instantly
removed from the room, without being opened
'he still remaining usleep and on being asked
what wns IN il, she exclaimed 4" q snake, u snake.n
1t ioas cage, containing fattle-snake. Tho
did mol know that was in the cage, nor
had the person nagnetized previously known that
there was such thing as Gagged snake in town.
1t had been brought into the house after the young
woman was put into the magnetic state. Other
experiments IN cairvoyance were tried, one of
which was to tell where certain members of the
family were, lin Norwich, W. OH vlsit,) in what
sort Of house, aud when they arrived--but
whether she was correct, remains to be seen-
These experiments were never before tried and
we're, TO the magnetizer, literally experiments,
or the pur pose OF testing the alledged claryoy-
mt power. On being awakened, sometime
lfier this, she wus asked, if she had seen any
hing unpleasant during her Sleep und replied
hat she was not aware that she had: when told OF
he snake, she was MS much asonshed at the sto.
y as were The Witnesses who saw the experiment
Some experiments were tried tending to show
hat the mysterious power OF this ism is mol mag.
ietic, and the snake experiment proves that the
,ower is Independent, of the knowledge and will
IF the magnelizer, for he knew nothing about the
snake. On the whole, the experiments very thor
oughly aslonished all who saw them, aud increas-
I'd the great mystery Of mcsmerisn Witchcrait
s fool 10 il; perhaps a part Of it, along with
second sight, somnambulism and the wonders
If the Egyptian magicians.