Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1884-01-18
MESMERISM.

"That is merely sham Sleep" whis-
pered well-known Seventh street ply
sician to the reporter, while seated near
the stage one night witnessing the feats
in mesmerism, which have since become
the talk of the town.
The professor had touched his first
subjects eye-lids, making him sink into
an apparent deep sleep.
"Merely sham sleep" continued the
physician. "Mesmerism is all snare
and fraud. When Mesmer made his
first exhibitions in Paris, in 1878, Ben
jamin Franklin gave the subject serious
attention, and after long and careful ex-
aminations he declared that Mesmer and
mesmerism were humbugs. The medical
fraternity has no reason to-day to believe
otherwise"
"What was Franklin doing in Paris
at that time? thought he was an Ameri-
can citizen.
I" So he was He was the American
minister to Paris, and was one of nine
commissioners appointed by the king of
France to investigate Mesmer."
Have you ever before been present at
an exhibition of this kind? Did you see
Carpenter at Melodeon hall last year9'
No, to both questions; but common
sense tells me that Ben Franklin was
right, and am positive that l will 90
out of here tonight with mistaken faith
in him."
Two victims in apparent mesmeric
sleep were now seated side by side upon
the stage. The eyes of one were shut
tight, while the the eye-lids of the
other, but partly closed over the eye
balls, quivered constantly.
"We will now show you what queer
appetites these gentlemen possess, "be-
gan the professor on the stage, handing
an ordinary wax-candle to each of the
sleepers. who Immediately crunched the
tit-bits with every appearance of delight.
When the candles were half eaten and
every particle of wax sucked from the
bare ends of the wicks, the physician
found his voice again.
"They do seem to be under some
strange influence" F." he said, "but be sure
they are merely playing a part, and un-
derstand what they are doing just as well
as you or l. The candles are no doubt
made to order, of some palatable compo-
sition, and are not so disagreeable in
taste as they look. Let me tell you
about one of the experiments which con-
vinced the French commission that Mes
mer was a humbug."
The audience was so thoroughly occu-
pied in laughing at the antics of the
sleeping candle-eaters that the doctors
chatter did not disturb any one in the
least.
Fire away"
"Well, sir, they called a woman who
had been one of Mesmers favorite sub
jects into room apart from the place
where the experiments were usually con-
Quoted, and after bandaging her eyes
one of the number opened and closed
the outer door sharply, at the same
time saying aloud, so that she might
near: 'Ah, DR.. Mesmer, you are just in
time. We are perfectly ready for the
manipulation. Then another pretended
to speak to the mesmerizer and requested
him to begin. Nothing was done. The
commissioners sat quiet, watching the
woman. In three minutes she began a
nervous shivering Then she put her
hands to her head, as though it
panied her; she complained of a
prickly feeling in her hands and arms.
She became rigid, struck her hands
together, got up stiffly from her seat and
stamped on the floor; seemed not to hear
when spoken to, nor to feel pain when
pricked with pin. In word she was
completely mesmerized-by nothing"
"Who was Mesmer, and what was his
idea of the phenomenon"
=" He was an English physician, and
made his first public exhibition of what
he claimed was discovery that would
revolutionize the practice of medicine in
1773. He claimed that his power was in
volatile fluid which passed from the
mesmerizer into the body of the subject,
and surrounded himself on the stage
with a lot of cumbrous machinery calcu-
lated to excite suspicion. The patient
was compelled to seat himself in a chair
raised above the stage upon four iron
rods, and his motions and grimaees were
of the most grotesque nature. These
gentlemen make use of no mummery of
that kind, ! see, and in that respect are
far ahead OF the old professors"
The candles were almost wholly eaten,
now, and the professor gently rubbed the
eyelids of one of the eaters He came
out of his sleep at once, and after look
ing about in dazed way for second,
suddenly caught sight of the candle end
in his hand. He gave it an involuntary
toss from him, sending it plump into the
reporters lap, and then spit out mouth
full of the half -chewed wax.
The candle end was genuine, and was
never designed for edible purposes, as
the Seventeenth street physician acknowl-
edged, after taking bite out of it.
To more subjects were presently put
to sleep and the professor proceeded to