The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1890-01-02
MARVELS OF MESMERlSM,
ASTOUNDING PERFORMANCES IN
THE ORIENT.
\ Man Burned With a Glowing
Coal without Feeling lt-Buried
Alive for Forty Days.

Alive for Forty Days,
have seen during the last twenty
years, says Kellar, the conjurer, almost
every hypnotist and mesmerist of note in
America and Europe. l have been per-
mitted to carefully examine their per-
formances and to note the precise effect
produced upon the subjects by their
manipulations. With this expericrce l
think am able to judge whether per-
Torrance of that character is well or
poorly done, and | say to you that there
were ten years ago, and presume are
now, in India mesmerists whose per-
formances transcend in wonder the COM
bined efforts of such of their Christian
rivals as l have ever seen. Let me
describe one performance.
1t was in Secunderabad in 1878, and
it took place in the broad corridor in the
palace of Saler Jung, the Nyzam, ! was
one of party of Englishmen, among
whom were Dr. Crawford, surgeon of
the British army, and Mr.. John Hodg-
klns, formerly an officer in Her Majestys
Lancers, but at that time in the employ
of an English banking and mercantile
tirm 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 our
selves, for the day was oppressively hot,
the fakirs made their appearance. There
were eight in the party. An old man,
with aquiline features, patriarchal
white beard and pair of flashing black
eyes, was the leader. His wife, pretty
little woman, young enough to be his
daughter, was his chief assistant, and his
six remaining men served as subjects and
under assistants.
After the fakirs arrived they proceeded
at once to business. The old man bound
bandage tightly around the forehead
of one of his young men, placing small
wedge shaped piece of pith under the
cloth and directly between the eyes,
Then he handed him small, round
mirror, telling him to place it on his
hand and gaze upon it intently. This
the young man did. Meanwhile the
other fakirs made circle partially around
him, droning a monotonous chant that
ran something as follows:
Ram, ram, amaram, amaran, ram.
Amaram, amaram, amaram, ram"
This was repeated over and over again
IN sing song tones, resembling the distant
hum of hive of bees, and when the
chant was ended we were nearly as drowsy
as the Door subject was.
Dit gly the song was finished we
started from our lethargy and brought
our tagging senses to bear upon the vic.
TIM of this remarkable incarnation. He
was lying on the parlor floor, to all APP
pearance dead. His face was of the
ghastly pallor of the tomb. His arms,
legs and fingers were as though they had
been suddenly turned to ice. His blood
seemed to have been frozen on day
when we living spectators were almost
suffocated by the heat.
We felt his fingers. They were as rigid
as though modelled from marble. DIR.
Crawford raised his eyelids. The pupil
had been upturned and nothing but the
white was 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 his mouth with thick,
putty like paste, that made breathing an
impossibility. In every previous mes
meric or hypnotic experiment l had wit.
messed the subject had breathed.
Now camo somo furtho- toSts, and Grue
ones they were, too. Large buukins
were thrust entirely through the hand
and he never moved muscle. Neither
did single drop of blood follow the
withdrawal of the steel. This proddine
was repeated upon his cheeks, his finger
points, and arms, with precisely the SAINT
results. Then the old man took glow
ing coal of charcoal from his pot ant
placed it on the upturned palm of his un
| conscious victims hand. Here it frs
smoked, then sizzled, and the corridor
became permeated with the odor of burn
ing human flesh. Still the man was I'm
conscious At last the doctor forced TIN
old man to remove the charcoal for fea
that it might do the young man SOM
permanent injury.
The subject was then turned over t,
the doctors care The physician mad
every effort known to medical science t.
resuscitate him, all for naught. Afte
he had been in this trance for nearly al
hour, the old fakir made some wide
spreading passes over his body with hi
arms, and leaned back to watch the re
suit A shiver passed over the subject
form, and grim smile of triumph curlc'
the corners of the old mans mouth. w
gathered around the PROSTATE man, an
watched him until we grew sick at hear
and felt faint. Such torture, such hor
rible agony | never beheld on huma
beings face. His features were twiste
and distorted out of all human resem
blance. His limbs became knotted, an
he writhed into thousand differer
shapes from his finger tips to his toes
After five minutes, that seemed to ,
an age, he opened his eyes, rubbed tn
moisture from his forehead, and sat u
as one who was dazed. A minute late
he rose and took his place among til
others as though nothing whatever ha
happened.
While this was very wonderful, the oil
man low proceeded to astonish us sti
more With no one to help him, say
the singers and their chant of his ow
volition, he threw himself into this san
marvellous state. We repeated the san
experiments upon him that we had dor
in the first instance. We drove stee
: through his limbs and scorched the pail
of his hand with living coal. "
stopped up MS nostrils, ears, eyes an
mouth and then the doctor worked c
him for half an hour OF more The effe'
, of death was in this case more pronounce
i than in the former. The natural pall'
of the old mans face, his flowing viii
hair and beard made him appear like Il
carved figure of some old Indian Chic
tain in one of the royal burial ground
1t impressed us as though we were in Il
presence of actual death and we instin
tivplv enoke in xyhispers