The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??, 1890-01-17
MEsMeRIsM IN THE ORIENT.
Two Wonderful and Cruel Tests Described
by an Eye Witness.

MESMERISM IN THE ORIENT.
Two Wonderful and Cruel Tests Described
by an Ego Witness.
There were ten years ago, and presume
are now, in India, mesmerists whose perfor-
mances transcend in wonder the combined
efforts of such Of their Christian rivals as
have ever seen. Let me describe one perfor-
nance:
It was in Secunderabad, in 1878. and it
took place in the broad corridor Of the palace
Of Saler Jung, the nyzam. I was one of a
party of Englishmen, among whom were DR..
Crawford, surgeon Of the British army, and
Mr.. John Hodgkins, formerly an officer in
her majesty's Lancers, but at that time in
the employ Of an English banking and mer-
camille firm in Hong Kong. We were In the
front ranks Of the spectators, nearly all of
whom were Europeans. After we had waited
few minutes, tanning ourselves, for the day
was oppressively hot, the falxirs made their
appearance. There were eight in the party.
An old man with aquiline features, a patri-
archal white beard and a pair of flashing
black eyes, was the leader. His wife, pretty
little woman, young enough to be his dangh-
ter, was his chief assistant, and the six re-
naming men served as subjects and under
assistants
had heard much about the wonderful per-
formances of this particular band of fakirs,
as all itinerant performers are generally
termed and thus when received the invita-
ton of the palace authorities was deli, hted
to accept it. But / must admit that all the
praise had heard seemed faint and cold at
ter had seen all that was to be seen. It
was, taking it all in all, the most wonderful
performance Of the sort any of our party had
ever witnessed
After the fakirs arrived they proceeded at
once to business. The old man bound a band
age tightly around the forehead of one of his
young men, placing small wedge shaped
piece Of pith under the cloth and directly be-
tween the eyes. Then he handed him small
round mirror, telling him to place it in his
hand and gaze upon it intently. This the
young man did. Meanwhile the other fakirs
made circle partially around him, droning
q monotonous chant that ran something as
follows:
Ram, ram, amaram, amaram, ram.
Amaram, amaram, amaram, ram.
This was repeated over and over again in
singing tones, resembling the distant hum Of
a hive of bees, and when the chant was ended
we were nearly as drowsy as the poor subject
was
Directly the song was finished we started
from our lethargy and brought our tagging
senses to bear upon the victim of this remark
able incarnation. He was lying on the par.
lor floor, to all appearances dead His face
was of the CHASTITY pallor of the tomb. His
arms, legs and fingers were as though they
had been suddenly turned to ice. His blood
70 hov 10 hooy, q 1ou y1o,,x
living spectators were almost suffocated by
the heat.
We felt his fingers They were as rigid as
ford raised his eyelids. The pupil had been
visible. The doctor examined his heart and
felt his pulse. His blood had stopped flowing
through his veins. To make the test even
more complete the doctor stopped his nostrils,
his eyes and his ears and mouth with thick,
putty like paste, that made breathing an inn
possibility. In every previous mesmeric or
hypnotic experiment had witnessed the sub
ject always breathed.
Now came some further tests, and cruel
ones they were, too. Large bodkins were
thrust entirely through the palm of his hand,
and he never moved a muscle. Neither did a
single drop of blood follow the withdrawal of
the steel. This prodding was repeated upon
his cheeks, his finger points, his thighs and
arms, with precisely the same results. Then
the old man took glowing coal of burning
charcoal from his pot and placed it on the
upturned palm of his unconscious victims
hand. Here it at first smoked, then sizzled,
and the corridor became permeated with the
odor of burning human flesh. Still the man
was unconscious. At last the doctor forced
the old man to remove the coal, for fear that
it might do the young man some permanent
injury.
The subject was then turned over to the
doctors care. The physician made every eff
fort known to medical science to resuscitate
him, but all for naught. After he had been
in this trance for nearly an hour the old fakir
made some wide spreading passes over his
body with his arms and leaned back to watch
the result. A shiver passed over the sub
ject's form, and a grim smile of triumph
curled the corners Of the old mans mouth.
We gathered around the PROSTATE man and
watched him until we grew sick at heart and
felt faint. Such torture, such horrible ago
ny never before beheld on a human BEINGS
face His features were twisted and distort-
ed out Of all human resemblance. His limbs
became knotted, and he wrlthed into thou
sand different shapes from his finger tips to
his toes. After five minutes, that seemed to
us an age, he opened his eyes, rubbed the
moisture from his forehead and sat up as one
dazed. A minute later he rose and took his
place among the others as though nothing
whatever had happened.
While this was very wonderful, the old
man now proceeded to astonish us still more.
With no one to help him save the singers and
their chant, of his own volition he threw him
self into this same marvellous state. We re-
peated the same experiments upon him that
we had done in the first instance. We drove
steels through his limbs and scorched the
palm Of his hand with living coal. We
stopped up his nostrils, ears, eyes and mouth,
and then the doctor worked on him for half
an hour or more. The effect of death was in
this case more pronounced than in the for
mer. The natural pallor Of the old mans
face, his flowing white hair and beard made
him appear like the carved figure of some old