The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1881-08-05
THE EMARVELS OF MESMERlSM.
(Ncw York 'rinlcs.1

I HE MAkN Els OF MESMERlSM.
/ Nov York Timcs.l
One of the most curious features of
tho recent attempt to rcs,iscitotc tho
marvcls of mesmcrism, conducted by
DR.. George NJ. Beard, Prof. VIM. A.
Hammond, DIR. Wesley M. Carpenter
ana ether prominent neurologists, lies
in the singular paraIleIism of theory
that has been developed in tho course
of the investigation. DIR. Beard, who
has been, perhaps, the pioneer OF tho
movement, began with strictly
physiological Interpretation of trance
and its phenomina, denying that any
extraordinary sources or manifesto
ticns of intelligence arc associated
with it, either in its natural form
or where artiiicially induced, IA
in hypnotism, and maintaining that
all its prctensions arc eNplalnablc upon
q purely neurological basis. DIR. HAM
mond, while holding a different view
from DIR. Beard of the rationale Of
trance operations and activities, has
coincidcd with him in denying ali tho
pretcrnatural facts alleged of clairvoy-
ance and the kindred conditions, and
from DR.. Carpenter no hypothesis has
yet been published so that what his
views may be must remain undivulgcd
until he is prepared to clucitlatc them.
Singular to relate, the moro Intense be-
comes ones interest in the study of
these facts the more likely he is to find
something in them that cannot be ex-
planned on the ordinary principles Of
sensation and reflex action, and thus,
after dabbling in truncc and its phcno-
mcna for many months, and, to the
extent of lumber of clcverly written
!, pamphlets, DR.. Beard is found comics
ing from later experiments with
patients of tho higher class, that ho is
compelled to modify the views ut first
entertained and to admit that OCCASION
ally extraordinary phases ofintclligencc
arc associated with tho trance contii-
ton. lie has found II tninircatlcr :ts
expert as the famous Brown among
his subjects, and after u great variety
| of tests has been Obliged to admit that
| the extraordinary aspect of intelligence
is genuine, and that his patient really
can tell whnt is going on in another
PERSONS mind by taking his hand or
gazing iiXcdly into his facc. He has
also discovered that in the trance con-
dition Il person can be made to divulgc
the details OF any past crime or trnnsnc-
ton, by II system Of ahroit questioning
ii discovery TINT will no doubt prove
of value to prosecuting officers in tho
| future, provided tho laws of trance
| revelation can DO made sufficiently
clear TO render tho process pracG-
cally available. At the fOrthcom-
ing session Of the international med
ical congress these new views
will~ be set forth with nppro-
pirate verifying experiments before
the Section of Mental Disease, where
| DR. Beard will read Il paper on hypno-
tism and trance phenomena in man
and the inferior animals. Ono of his
subjects has gone nboad with him with
II view to appear before the congress,
and TO submit to any experiments that
the learned and ingenious critics there
assembled may sec tit to impose before
acknowledging tho validity of the
phenomena. Tho issue of this paper,
and of tho attempt that II implies to
convince the medical world of the
gcnuincncs5 OF certain prctcntions to
prctcrnatural intelligence, associated
, with these abnormal states, will be
; regarded with interest by the scientific
world, and If DR.. Beard succeeds better
! with tho medical congress than Mcsmcr
did with the Academy Of Sciences,
: of the Edinburgh school, his admirers
= will have occasion to congratulate him.
But the difficulty is that men must
> see the impossible many times before
, they believe it, and the mind-rca,lcr
will not probably fare better among
the doctors abroad than Mr.. Brown
did with the doctors at home.