Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1869-12-23
ALook at the Mysterious,

ferrous on the part OF mediums.
We are satisfied that there was no
collision. We are convinced that
our senses were not deceived
We did not, and we do not, believe,
however, that "spirits" had any
thing to do with these expert
ments. Hoao the feats were &C
complished we do not know but
then it does not follow that we
must accept another's unsatistacto-
Try explanation because we have
none more satisfactory of our own.
Our refuge is to pronounce it a
mystery" Some two hundred
years ago there lived in London q
physician who was famous for Gu
ring cuts and wounds of all kinds
by means of a "magic" ointment.
This ointment was prepared of oil
of roses, human flesh or blood, the
moss grown on the skull of a man
deceased by violence, the fat of a
wild boar, earth worms, powdered
blood-stone, and so on. Worse
than all, this compound was not
applied to the wound itself, but to
the instrument which inflicted or
to anything else wet with the blood
of the injured part. Now, there
is no doubt that the physician in
question was an imposter. He de-
sired to make money, and he rap
idly made it, by playing upon hui
man credullty. And yet, the
wounds in many cases did heal
perhaps by force Of imagination,
and perhaps not. lie maintained
that the blood remaining in the
body still sympathized with the
blood lost from a wound, and that
if the latter could be medically af
fected, the result wonld be precise
Iy the same as if an application had
been made to the wound itself
If his principle be right. his prsc'
tice, it is clear, was not SO prepos-
ferrous. But, there lies the mys-
terry.
What mystery, in fact, it
would be, could it be proved that
the blood taken from US by the Ian
Get still remains so much part of
the blood left in our veins, that
what influences the one must nee
essariIy influence the other. There
was time when it was fashlona-
bic to believe so, and unscientihc
to believe otherwise. There are
books which assure US that 1t was
once customary to fashion a new
nose for rich man who had been
unfortunate enough to lose his own
by cutting piece of flesh out OF
some poor neighbours arm who was
willing to exchange tor gold SC
much of his humanity. But, those
same books tell US that when the
poor man died, the nose gangrened
on the rich mans face, and followed
in the mortal wake of the indivld
nality from which it had been orig
inally taken. Was it the blood
sympathy that occasiOned this?-
Do we really owe to such a fact
the modern "Talicotian operation,
by which, after a delicate gold oil
india-ruEber frame is set up for q
missing nose, the skin is cut and
brought down from the forehead
spread over the frame and sewed
fast to the face, so that all the liv.
ing parts may belong to the same
corporal identity? There are
still philosophers who maintain
that if any portion of your blood
he placed in an air-tight vial, an
inspection Of that blood will ex
hibit your state Of health, no mat
) ter how far distant you may hap
pen to be IN propriG persona. Can
it be believed? Or shall we refer
the whole of it to that love of mys
terry which seems to have a placs
in every bosom, and seeks to man
ufacture marvels where they d.
not actually existf In othel
words, was the London charlatan''
practice built on a truthful princi
} pie 1? Or is the whole miscon
ception, ahoax, or a hallucination
We express no opinion. AS il
the case of the abstract facts OF
spiritualism, we doubt, deny ant
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