Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1849-08-06
Blindness Cured BY Mesmerism..

The following remarkable fact, said TO
be authenticated, is narrated by London
correspondent of the New York CONNER.
cial Advertiser
IA case of mesmerism has been publish.
ed in this months number of quarterly
journal called The Zoist, which has result.
ed in the restoration to SIGHT Of a person
who had been blind ior 26 years. The pa.
tient was poor woman, 45 years of age,
and the mesmeriser was the wife of one
who is 'nmong the very highest in virtue,
talent, and rank, iifsour country" but who,
although willing, as well as her husband,
10 verlfy tha facts to all scientific. persons
who may care about the subject, avoids the
needless notoriety Of appearing in print.
The leading points are simply as follows:
The patient became blind four months
alter the birth oi her first child, when, she
was 19 years old. She could with one
eye discern light from darkness but nolh-
ing more. The disease was opacity OF the
curnea. A few years after she BECAME
blind, she underwent three operations, on
one oil which occasions she saw flash of
light. When the last operation was per,
formed which she thinks was about 20
years ago, The surgeon advised her never
to undergo another, for her sight was quite
gone. The eyes were covered with thick,
Opaque, greyisn white substance, but in
one eye there was a small spottess Opaque,
through which, when she held her head in
particular direction, she could discern
the difference between light and darkness.
She was first subjected 10 mesmerism three
years back, the object being to relieve
rheumatic pains ana giddiness OF the head,
from which she had long suffered. Oh
mesmerisn she knew nothing; alfthat was
said was that it was thought the pain might
oe relieved by a hand being placed on her
head and drawn down 10 her eet. AT first
she lelt only ga cold chill run down her
arms" Next she apologised for feeling
drowsy, and at last, after striving few
minutes TO resist the influence, she Tell
asleep. On awaking she said "a great
pain had been raz from her head"
he process was continued daily, and in
The course of little time, during one of
her sit:ings she said she saw something
bright and colered pass before her. 1t was
her mesn,erlser's ring, and from this Cir
cu,nstancta hope was aroused that not only
might her pains be cured but her sight
restored. fhe attendance upon her was
therefore steadily continued, and the mes
merlsed water was also used to wash her
eyes. In six months she could see colors
in the shop windows, apd walk into town
unassisled. Her sleep became less like
natural sleep at this time. She saw vivid
colors in the dark, when her mesneriser
passed her hands before her eyes, and light
seemed 10 stream from them. The im
provement went steadily on, although SUBJ
sequently she was not mesmersed more
than twice q week, and she can now see
as we'll as other women of her age. She
can work in the common way, make arsl.
cles of dress, walks four miles into town
alone, and performs all the ordinary occu.
pations of life. : These things are the
more remarkable in her, it Is observed,
''because she was extremely awkward in
every Thing, and had never performed Tor
herself any Of those little Offices which
blind people are usually taught to accom-
plish. The opacity of the cornea in one
eye has disappeared, leaving only slight
cloudiness in one spot; in the other eyethe
opacity is much contracted and occupies
only small place in the bottom part -
When in the mesmeric sleep she is insen-
sible to pain, and in her normal state she
never remembers what has passed % ..