Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1881-05-20
FASHIONABLE CIRCLES IN NEW YORK s

! soroc years ago so widely III tnls country
is said to be rsviving in New York, a
number of circles having been established
and mesmeric experiments being intro
duced into more than one reception or
parlor entertainment Some years ago,
says recent writer, and even now to
some extent, ether was employed to pro
duce these states of the nervous system,
and ether frolics were fashionable in good
society, particularly among young gentle
men and ladies' with dash of the morbid
i'll their composition. \ word which has
now passed into disuse, with the discon-
tinuance Of the practices whose motive is
represented was adopted from the Italian
"A very pretty and musical word, ''mor-
bidezza, which one occasionally STUN
bles upon ill rrmmaging over the files of
old magazines during vagrant hour in
second hand bookstores.
There was even book written on the
subject, entitled "Anasthetic Revela-
tlons, 10y one DIR. Blood, which created Il
great impression in certain circles Mr.
Tennyson wrote the author private let
ter, in which he described some analogous
soul-experiences, alluded to in some of
his more mystical poems. But by and
by, ill the suburbs of Boston, n young
lady who was addicted to ether revela-
tions died of an overdose of the drug, and
the tragedy so aifrighted the votaries of
''morbidezza' that ether parties were
abandoned. Many broken constitutions
and clouded intellects were the conso-
quence of this brief madness for ether
frances, and one young lady distinguished
in New York society became SO sensitive
to the drug that single Whit was suffi-
cient to induce profound and protracted
trance. Her physician was. unfortunate
ly, indiscreet, and published pamphlet
report of the case, to the bitter mortItica-
tion of her relatives, she being past ap-
probation of tho indelicacy, not to say
infidelity, of the act. She was dead.
1t was Czcrmak, of the University Of
Leipsic, who, in 1873, disabused mesmer-
ic practices of all romantic Significance
by showing that the magnetic passes, 80
called, arc unnecessary to the induction,
and only tricks of quackery that the
state could be self-induced by persons
possessing the predisposition to trance,
and that i'll the inferior animals the ner-
vous shock of sudden and overwhelming
terror is sufficient to bring it on. The
lion and the tiger are perfectly tractable
in the fright of an earth tremor. Not
long since a New York practitioner, who
had read Czermak's report of his expert
ments at Lepsic, established his reputa-
ton as n sorcerer among tho uncultured
population of Fulton Market by substan-
TALLY repeating them. As ho WIS passing
a fish stand, n basket of living lobsters
caught his eye, and recollecting Ger
mak's experiments with frogs, he propos-
ed to the proprietor to stand II dozen OF
them upon their heads on the marble
slab. The marketman agreed, but was
SO skeptical as to the result that he offer
ed to make the Doctor n present Of every
lobster that he could make stand upon its
head for two seconds after the hand was
Withdrawn. agreed, said the Doctor.
SuitinG the action to tho word, he caught
lobster by the tail with II violent and
paralyzinS jerk, and set it up on the sur
face Of the slab. maintained i'll position
by the anterior pair of legs and the or
gans of prehension. Within five minutes
he had arranged dozen Holsters i'll cir
Gle, each as motionless as Il statue. Not
satisfied with this extraordinary exhibi-
bition, which attracted an admiring
crowd, the Doctor took his scissors from
his surgical case and began, in leisurely
manner, to snip off the tail by sections
and the posterior pair of legs, the animal
evincinS no signs Of suffering or of sensi-
bility. 1t is unnecessary to add that
when he had finished his experiment and
sufficiently excited tho curiosity Of his
audience, he paid for the mutilated lob
ster, and restored the rest To the basket
What the Holsters thought of 1t there
have been no means of knowing since the
days of Esop, when tho brute creation
spoke excellent Greek; but tho Doctor
was hero to every member of that crowd
fOrevermore.
The agency Of shock i'll producing this
extraordinary condition of the nervous
system il, according to Dr. Beard,
as frequent in man as it is in the the IN
ferior animals, and he attributes the
blundars often committed by experienced
officials under circumstances of sudden
peril to the supervention OF trance.
This is his explanation of the Mohawk
disaster several years ago. and he would
similarly explain the Stonington and
other terrible collisions. He asserts that
tho statements of passengers and officers
i'll such cases must always he received
with great caution, owing to the fact that
the liability to the terror trance under
circumstances of fatal accident raises II
presumption against the accuracy of the
senses. Ii is not that the witnesses mean
to falsify the facts or to perlure them
Selves but that they were not at the mo
ment in n condition to observe with ac-
curacy With mesmerism M n parlor
entertainment, tixedness Of attention Is
the principal factor, and dismissng the
animal magnetism hypothcsia as entirely
untenable, the condition il purely sub
jective both i'll causation and phenomena.
This superstition Of some preternatur-
} al energy emanating from tho operator
being abandoned, there IL no objection
to hypnotic craze, unless ITS practices
arc detrimental to health. This Is assert
ed to he the case by eminent physicians.
who aver that the nervous energy is rapid
ly impaired by hypnotism, and the habit
Of trance established m source of per
mancnt inconvenience. Tho victims
usually complain of pains in the head
when the seancc is over, particnarlly II nj
all protracted Tho eyes IN time acquire
a settled expression akin to that OF cpl
leptic patients. and there are dark rings
; beneath them the skin IN abnormal III It's
, pallor; the movement languid, AID the
east of colmtenancc ,lazcd There have
boon some SIX or seven entertainments oi
, this class in New York city within the last
lors of physicinns or literary men. The
experiments incident Ia such occasions
are not exactly of the same kind M those
exhibited bv Hammond at the universi-
ty Medical School, and by Beard, before
the Academy of Sciences. They are hy
no means W decisive ms tests Of the reality
Of the condition, but better adapted to
, entertain and amuse m unscientiiic ali-
, ! "a hl,l tn a.
\ gray haired gentlemen and ladies' playing
, lcapfrng. or pelting each other with imag-
mary snowballs in parlnr suowstorms.
The other evening ut the residence OF Il
Z, physician Of cminence handsome mes
merle professor had II class of digniiicd
old gentlemen and lniics playing marbles.
, They were seated upon the carpet like
school children, aud appeared to take II
vivid interest IN the evnlutions of mag
mary spheres qInrrclIng. accusing each
other Of deception. scramblnS about on
all fours in fact. living over again III
trance the memories Of youth, until the
operator observed, with snap of the fin
ger, thnt 1t was schooltimc. Then they
all scrambled hurriadly To- their seats. pnd
began to study with all their might,
while the spectators laughed until the
tears came Blind mans bui, hunt the
thimble. and other childish games are
PLAYED in trance by mIllionnIrcs and
bankers indeed, the principal point OF
the entertainment is that the action shall
bo M iucuugruous us possible with the age
and position of the individual. Men tn
/; whom tears would be nn indiSnity IN
their proper senses, arc made to weep
| like toddliug 4-yenrs old boys over IN