National Republican., 1883-02-05
ANIMAL MEsMER1sNr.
An Interesting Lecture by DIR. Prentiss
Before the Biological Society.

Before the Biological Society.
Tho fourth in the course of Saturday after
noon lectures before the Biological and An
thropological society," was delivered on Satur-
day afternoon last by DIR. d. w. Prcntiss, of
mis- city, at the hall of the national museum.
These lectures have become deservedly popu-
lar each one, so far, having called out as large
a company as the hall, which seats soven or
eight hundred people, could possibly accom-
modate, DIR. Prentiss was greeted by packed
house, all the seats and most of tho standing
room being occupied and many going away
without gaining udmittance at all His sub
.iect was Mesmerism in Animals"
The speaker opened his lecture by the re-
mark that although the subject of the dis
course was "Mesmerism in Animals" not
| little would be said concerning "mesmerism
in man." This could not be considered in.
appropriate, inasmuch as in the broad accop-
tation of tho term man is an animal A
study of tho subject in its relation to the
lower animals opens up promising field of
investigation.
The history Of mesmerism was briefly ro-
viewed. The manifestations of magic de-
scrbcd in ancient history were attributed TO
the same influences
The magic of Horoaster, the works Of tho
! IilhNl VI lnt Ctlsls lle SpellS anu lnCAntatlOnS
of the Grccian and Roman oraccs, and tho
feats of tho snake charmers of India belong
| to the same category
Tho "daiicing mania" of the fifteenth
century and still more recently in this
country the Salem witchcraft and the jerk
ing exercise Mt religious revival meetings
notably in Kentucky during tho fourth de-
eado of the present ccntury-these phenomena
were not studied scientifically until the tmo
of Mesmor, whose exploits in Paris from 177S
TO 1855 constitute the first epoch in mesmcr-
| ISM The second epoch is that of Braid an
English physician, in 1911. The third epoch
we arc now passing through Interest has
again been revived on the subject by tho
| writings and experiments of Hcidcnhain, of
Germany, Charcob and Richer, of France, and
Beard, Hammond, and Mills, of this country
IL more precise knowledge of the laws gov
erning hypnotsm could bc formulated it
might be of great practical value in tho treat
ment of disease and for the performance of
surgical operations. Esdaille reports seventy
three cases of surgical operations performed
| painlessly under its influence, and many
others corroborato the fact case was men,
| toned of young lady in Philadelphia who
| thus had portion of the skull removed with
out pain, the operation lasting over an hour
Theories in explanation have thus far proved
unsatisfactory. The animal magnetism theory
| of Mesmer has been abandoned. The latest
! a.
who says, "Hypnotism is due to inhibition of
the cortical cells of the cerebrum, caused by
| gentle and prolonged stimulus of the nerves
Of the face, eyes, or ears"
The practice of magic on the lower animals
| is as ancient as that upon man. The most cx-
pert are the serpent charmers of India, and
| their exploits are truly wonderful. Their
mode Of operation was described by tho lee
! turcr.
| In 1916 Athanasius Korcher, an italian
monk, described what he termed the expert
mentum mirabile." lie tied the legs of hen
together and laid her on the ground, where
after violent struggles, she finally lay quiet
| He then drew u chalk line in front of her
| eyes and removed the ribbon from her legs
She still remained quiet. Czermali has re-
Gently 1S72) made many experiments in the
same direction in the physiological labratOry
of the University of Leipsic. lie dwells upon
tho general unreiability of unframed OBJ
servation, and applies the term "ovcnts
viewed unequally " to such reports. Ho found
that the chalk line was unnecessary in the
old Italian monks experiment, and exposed
q similar fallacy in relation to crawilsh. Ger
max himself, however, made the mistake of
supposng that "anmals are free from all
thoughts of deception" The lecturer in
stanced the well-known case of the opossum
"playing 'possum as opposed to this also of
the turkey buzzard and wild goose pretend
rom their captor.
The phenomena presented by hypnotism in
s. imals were analyZed and classified under
their causes, such as fear, assembling Curl
osity, training, parental affection, and changes
in the condition of the blood. Each of these
was briefly considered and examples illustra-
tive of the manner in which they operated
given. In speaking of serpents charming
birds tho beautiful plato of tho mocking bird
in Audubon's Birds of North America was
referred to-. A pair of these birds arc repre-
sented as having built their nest in bush of
| Florida iessamine. A rattlesnake has discov-
cred their retreat and is making an attack
| His mouth is distended, showing his horrid
fangs ready to seize the male bird who gall
lantly opposes him upon the side of the nest
while the female is in the act of pecking ut
his eye. The drawing graphically tells the
! story of heroic defense of home against fear
! ful odds, and explains the usual manner in
which snakes charm birds. In addition to
! these influences there are others which affect
only man, such rs the power Of the imagina-
tion, the disposition of imitation, and the will
Of the operator. Each of these were briefly
considered.
In closing, the lecturer stated that there was
something about hypnotism not yet faith
omed; not, however, that it was anything
mysterious or supernatural, but simply that
we do not yet understand sufficient of tho re-
lations between mind and matter to follow
the connection between various mental attri-
| butes.
At the close of the lecture chicken and u
canary were introduced and mesmerized
The chicken was gently and firmly laid on its
back, and after u moment remained perfectly
passive just as it was placed 1t received no
further attention, but remained in this posi-
tion while similar experiment was tried
upon n canary bird with a similar result
The next lecture in the course will be by
Prof j. Gill ON Mythical Animals"