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LIBRARY OF 
 
 t^ EMBRACING i? 
 
 ^ *"= ^ 
 
 JS $(Jo$f £of># 3A)olrl(3 on fS>e §#cf, ^ 
 
 INCLUDING 
 
 Thk Philosophy of Mesmerism. The Philosophy op Charming. 
 
 The Philosophy of Psychology. A Treatise on Mental Alchemy. 
 
 The Science of the Soul. i Principles of Electro-Biology. 
 
 Elements of Animal Magnetism. 
 
 I'll Cfo0 ©dames. 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF CHARMING. 
 
 MENTAL ALCHEMY. 
 
 ELECTRO-BIOLOGY. 
 
 ELEMENTS OF ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 
 
 NEW YOEK: 
 FOWLERS AND WELLS, PUBLISHERS, 
 
 Clinton Hall, 131 Nassau Street. 
 Boston, 142 Washington-street.] 1854. [London, No. 142 Strand. 
 
CHIRON FASCINATING ESCULAPIUS. B. C 928. 
 
 Chiron the Centaur, a prince of Thessaly, has fascinated his pupil Esculapius, a 
 brother prince, for the purpose of discovering a remedy to cure the foot of Hercules, 
 which had been wounded by a poisoned arrow. An herb was prevised which saved 
 the hero : this plant, known from the circumstance as the Centaury, (Centaur's herb,) 
 gave name to a genus, one species of which is our common blue-bottle. Chiron was 
 the great physician of his day, and derived his name from a Greek word, meaning 
 the hand, because he performed most of his cures by manipulating. His wonderful 
 skill in horsemanship has made the poets represent him as a centaur, half man, half 
 horse. In after times, the medical fame of Esculapius far eclipsed that of his master. 
 Chiron, and he was early invested by the people with divine honors. His mode of 
 practising, called by his descendant Hippocrates, the secret means of medicine, can 
 be found detailed in the work. 
 
FASCINATION, 
 
 OR THE 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF CHARMING 
 
 ILLUSTRATING 
 
 THE PRINCIPLE'S OF LIFE 
 
 IN CONNECTION WITH 
 
 SPIRIT AND MATTER, 
 
 BY JOHN B/NEWMAN, M. D. 
 
 AUTHOR OF VARIOUS WORKS ON NATURAL HISTORY, *TO 
 
 TENTH THOUSAND. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 FOWLERS & WELLS, 131 NASSAU-STREET; 
 
 AND 142 WASIIINGTON-STBEET, BOSTON. 
 
 1854. 
 
 N\ 
 

 >\cK 
 
 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1847, 
 Br FOWLERS & WELLS, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court rf the Southern District of 
 
 New York. 
 
 STEREOTYPED BY BURNS & ^.LttfgS. 
 11 STRUCK STREET. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 It is related of Epimenides, one of the sages of antiquity, that he fell 
 asleep in a cave, and remained in that state some years. When he awoke, 
 everything was altered around him, and he scarcely knew where he was 
 During his absence he affirmed that he had familiar intercourse with spir- 
 its, and obtained the gift of prophecy,, etc. He was reported able to dis- 
 miss his soul from his body, and recall it at pleasure. So high was his 
 reputation for sanctity, that during a plague in Attica, 596 B. C, the 
 Athenians sent for him to perform a lustration ; in consequence of which 
 the plague ceased. 
 
 Some German students in the last century, wishing to raise the devil, 
 carried a pan of burning charcoal into a close room, and throwing m it 
 various prescribed substances, danced around it, chanting a magic formula, 
 ^ne of them fell dead, and the rest, upon seeing his fate, fled with diffi- 
 culty ; the incantation, they thought, had evidently been too powerful 
 A professor in the same university accounted for the facts by the poison- 
 ous influence of fixed air (carbonic acid gas) generated by the ignited 
 carbon ; and offered to produce the gas at pleasure. He was instantly 
 accused from this of having intercourse with familiar spirits. 
 
 Science has long since endorsed the professor's solution, and to doubt it 
 at the present day would betray gross ignorance. Not so fortunate, how- 
 ever, was Epimenides, for it is only in our own times that his claims have 
 been acknowledged ; and from the want of more extended information, 
 many are even now incredulous. Increasing light will induce belief, and 
 it is my earnest wish that the following pages may tend to that result. 
 
 Man, besides soul and matter, possesses an intermediate principle dis- 
 tinct from and between both, called the life power : or in the words of 
 Bonard, " he is an intelligence served by organs" — these organs being the 
 servants of the life power, by which it operates upon the material world, 
 and is in turn operated upon by it. A proper knowledge of the life power 
 is a key to explain all the phenomena of fascination ; and this it is the ob 
 ject of the present work to communicate. A very concise but perfectly 
 lear idea of physiology is given, and on this the foundation is laid. 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 The Delphic priestess inhaled fixed air to act on the life power in such 
 a rnanner^as to cause the spiritual in the system to preponderate over 
 the material, that she might the better give her responses. In some cases 
 so great was the preponderance as to cause death ; the priestess sharing 
 the fate of the German student (who accomplished his desire), and by the 
 same means. When the wished-for change is induced, new powers or 
 instincts, previously dormant, become suddenly developed ; and like the 
 lower animals, who, when sick, run and devour the herb suited to their 
 case, a like faculty of properly prescribing remedies is perceived — the 
 spiritual world is often beheld, and its denizens sometimes give the sleep- 
 wakers information of events that will shortly happen. History tells us 
 that the coming of Cortez, and his conquest of their nation, had been 
 told the Mexicans long before a Spaniard was ever heard of; and the 
 journals of the missionaries stationed at the Pacific isles will present simi- 
 lar facts. 
 
 We can now see why the brazier was used in the incantation of the 
 student, and the probability of Epimenides undergoing a change upon en- 
 tering a certain cavern (likely by accident the first time) wherein fixed 
 air was generated. His powers of curing disease, having intercourse with 
 spirits, and predicting events, are thus explained. It should be remark- 
 ed here, that none but those predisposed to the change, can experience 
 it; all artificial efforts to induce it, except in such, resulting in almost 
 certain insanity or death. 
 
 Like many others in my profession, I was a bitter eiaemy to fascination 
 till accidentally led to examine it : but having done so, found the phe- 
 nomena it presented, though new and startling, in strict accordance with 
 the laws of life. In explaining my views, I have written for the people, 
 entirely dispensing with technical terms except in one or two instances. 
 That their perusal may clear up in the minds of others as many obscure 
 and mysterious points as they did in his own, and thus subserve the inter- 
 ests of truth, is the sincere desire of the 
 
 AUTHOR. 
 
 296 Fifth street, New York City. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CONVERSATION 1. 
 
 CHARMING 
 
 FAGS 
 
 Popular views on fascination — Influence of the imagination — Re- 
 port of Jussieu to the French Academy — Records of the existence 
 of fascination for three thousand years — Process of fascination — 
 Choosing the name — Snake charming — Anecdotes — Man charming — 
 Anecdotes — Rationale of fascination — Nervous vapor — Charming of 
 men — Man can fascinate man — Man can fascinate the lower animals — 
 The lowftr animals can fascinate man — The lower animals can fasci- 
 nate one another — Young persons sleeping with old — King David — 
 School-masters — Savage nations — Lower animals — Poetry, - 11-24 
 
 CONVERSATION II. 
 
 DISCOVERY OF FASCINATION. 
 
 Adam acquainted with fascination — The town of Mansoul built by 
 King Shaddai in the country of Universe — Its privileges, and their 
 forfeiture — Locality of heaven — Material world contained in the spir- 
 itual — Encampment of angels — Stephen — Elisha and his servant — 
 Idolatry — Discovery of fascination after the deluge — Worship of Sa- 
 tan — Heathen magi the first fascinators, and their apotheosis — Mer- 
 cury and his caduceus — Priests of India — Our Saviour accused of 
 stealing secrets fiom Egypt — Cases of cures — Priests of Egypt — 
 Life principle — Matter governed by laws of its own — Vegetable 
 kingdom, ----- - 25-38 
 
 CONVERSATION III. 
 
 PHYSIOLOGY. 
 
 That <Ti?>u has two lives may be deduced from the narrative of his 
 creation — Seven properties of the living principle explained — Defini- 
 
Vlll CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 tion of instinct — Illustrations — Human understanding — House of the 
 soul — Modelling of bone — Anecdote — Men taller in the morning than 
 at night — Two hundred and forty-eight bones, and five hundred dis- 
 tinct muscles in the humar body — Caterpillars — Elephant — Embryo 
 —Digestive process — Stomach and gastric juice — Liver and bile — 
 Pancreas and their juice — Chyle, and its passage through the lacteals 
 and mesenteric glands — Wheels of life moving on iron axles — Heart 
 pumps through it two hogsheads of blood per hour — One hundred 
 and forty gallons of air used per hour in respiration — Nervous sys- 
 tem — Gadfly without feeling — Transmigration of the human em 
 bryo, - 39-^2 
 
 CONVERSATION IV. 
 
 DOUBLE LIFE OF MAN. 
 
 Nerves of animal and vegetable life — Heart insensible — Separation 
 of the two lives — Anecdotes — John Hunter — Colonel Townshend — 
 Wescloff — Ganglion of the understanding — Phrenology — Seat of the 
 soul — Two brains — Organs of animal life double — Insanity — Sleep — 
 Sight without the eye — bearing without the ear — Nervous vapor the 
 fluid used in fascination — Physicians should in all cases operate, or 
 superintend the operation — Six stages of fascination — First stage — 
 Idiosyncrasy — Anecdotes — Danger of slighting the warnings of antip- 
 athy — Second and third stages — Mr. Braid, of Manchester — Fourth, 
 fifth, and sixth stages — What are small causes — Egyptian priests — 
 Origen — Apollonius Tyanneus — Pythagoras — Hippocrates, - 63-79 
 
 CONVERSATION V. 
 
 SPIRITUAL STATES. 
 
 Trance of William Tennant — Delirium tremens a kind of trance- 
 Servant of Elisha — King Saul and the witch of Endor — Naaman and 
 Elisha — Power of the Jews to cast out devils — -Solomon's knowledge 
 and charms — Eleazar casts out a devil in the presence of Vespasian 
 and Josephus — Sons of Sceva — Robert Cochran's method of impart- 
 ing the Holy Ghost — Mormonism exposed — Pretended miracles — 
 Swedenborg and his theory — Value of dead physiology — Rejection 
 of the Trinity — Epistles not to be maltreated — Clairvoyance of Swe- 
 denborg, and his communication with the spiritual world — Shape of 
 the life power — Amputated limbs — Calvin's entrance to the spiritual 
 world — Seeress of Prevorst — Remarkable boy, ... 80-95 
 
CONTENTS. IX 
 
 CONVERSATION VI. 
 
 STAGES IN DYING. 
 
 FAQS. 
 
 Death is the sixth stage of fascination — No pain in dying — Illus- 
 trations — Dr. Adam Clarke — Account of hanging — Decomposition 
 the only sure mark of death — Premature interments — Resuscitation — 
 Thespesios of Soli — Methodist communion — Dr. David Nelson, and 
 his Cause and Cure of Infidelity — Theories in regard to the brain — 
 Materialism — Death-bed scenes — Opening of the spiritual sight — 
 Difference between really dying and only thinking ourselves dying — 
 Illustrative cases — The Infidel — The Christian — Different classes of 
 fancies belong to different individuals according to their belief, 97-109 
 
 CONVERSATION VII. 
 
 OPERATION OF MEDICINE. 
 
 Worms on the face — Purifying the blood — Constables in the 
 body — Briny peaches — Self-moving porter-houses — Spontaneous com- 
 bustion — Anatomy — Physiology — Pathology — Operation of medicine 
 well known — Vis Medicatrix Nature — Natural history of the dor- 
 mouse — Experiments upon it — Example of the conservative power 
 on the human system — Medicines — Arsenic — How to discover alter- 
 ations in the life power — Illustration — Active plan of treatment — 
 Expectant plan of treatment — Fascination inducing disease — Expla- 
 nation of the water cure — Homoeopathy — Hannehman a fascinator — 
 Why is Homoeopathy patronized — Action of salt on the blood in yel- 
 low fever — Transfusion of blood — Our bodies change every seven 
 years — Vaccination — True church of physicians, .- - 110-125 
 
 CONVERSATION VIII. 
 
 PREVISION. 
 
 Faculty of prevision — Organic prevision — Revealed prevision — 
 Organic prevision shown in the lower animals — Anecdotes — Medi- 
 cal practice derived from brutes — Case of Pierre Cazot — Case of Soc- 
 rates — The philosopher Cazotte's famous prediction — Passages in the 
 life of Joan of Arc attesting prevision — Experience of the statesman 
 Heinrich Zschokke illustrative of revealed prevision — Anecdote, 126-148 
 
X CONTENTS. 
 
 CONVERSATION IX. 
 
 SOMNAMBULISM. 
 
 PAOK. 
 
 Philosophy of mystery — Somnambulism — Anecdotes — Girl in Dres- 
 den — Source of life — Pain necessary in surgical operations — Som- 
 nambulism rescues fascination from the imputations of sorcery and 
 the black art —Dendy considers mesmerism true — Pixey and fairy — 
 Tailor's guardian angel — Marcus — Anecdotes — Performing dreams — 
 Mr. Koggenbach — Story of Professor Upham — Captain Brown — Mr. 
 John Wise — Somnambulism induced by disease — Anecdotes — Som- 
 nambulism induced by medicinal agents — Anecdotes — Dances of 
 witches true, and nature of the ingredients thrown by them in the 
 cauldron — Anecdotes — To wnshend's sleep- waking — Somnambulic 
 music for the flute — Cataleptic phenomena, - 144—156 
 
 CONVERSATION X. 
 
 HISTORY OF FASCINATION. 
 
 History of Fascination — St. Martin — St. Anthony — Royalty of 
 France — James of England — Charles of France — Battle of Jarnac — 
 Van Helmont — Valentine Greatraks — Gassner — Mesmer — Puseygar 
 — Perkins' tractors — United States — Fascination a key to the various 
 superstitions of the world — George Bush — Dilemma of Swedenborg 
 — Directions for operating in fascination — Alarming symptoms should 
 not disconcert the operator — Illustrations — The object of fascination 
 curative not experimental — Newnham — Deleuze — Conclusion, 157 — 171 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 LETTER FROM REV. W. H. BEECHER, 
 
 Attesting, by his own experience, without any previous knowl- 
 edge of the subject, the reality of the influence of fascination, phe- 
 nomena of prevision, clairvoyance, etc., - - . - 172 — 176 
 
FASCINATION 
 
 CONVERSATION L 
 
 CHARMING. 
 
 Lady. My dear doctor, I can never sufficiently thank 
 you for the relief you have afforded me by your treat 
 ment. I had been for years on the verge of the grave, 
 and without the expectation of ever being, even for one 
 day, free from pain. The first time you fascinated me, 
 I experienced an incredible change — my pains ceased, 
 the heart beat regularly, and my appetite returned, and, 
 what is better still, my improvement has been rapid 
 and thorough since then. I confess this freely, as it 
 will preface what I am afraid will give you some pain. 
 My friends attribute my recovery to imagination, and 
 seem to think I w r as not really ill, but only nervous; 
 and they suppose that a sufficient degree of irritation 
 would make me as bad as I was at first. 
 
 Doctor. They mentioned, no doubt, many wonderful 
 qases of the effects of imagination on the body. 
 
 Lady. Yes, and some as strange as my own. The 
 cases that had the most effect on my mind were that of 
 Joe, the Scottish drover, who was persuaded to believe 
 himself sick, and in consequence really became so — and 
 would have died had not the joke been discovered to 
 him — and that of the criminal whom the physicians 
 
12 IMAGINATION. 
 
 pretended to bleed to death, and who actually died from 
 the fancied loss of blood. 
 
 Doctor. That imagination exercises a powerful in- 
 fluence upon our bodies, is an undoubted fact ; but it is 
 equally a fact that it has full credit for all it performs. 
 Jussieu, one of the commissioners appointed to examine 
 this subject by the French Academy in 1784, states, as 
 the result of a series of assiduous and attentive investi- 
 gations, that he had observed some facts that admitted 
 of physiological explanations ; others which seemed to 
 militate against animal magnetism ; a third series of 
 facts which he attributed to the imagination ; and, 
 lastly, those which could lead to no other conclusion 
 than that of admitting a particular agent in their pro- 
 duction. 
 
 Lady. I had no idea the subject was known as far 
 back as 1784; I thought it a new discovery of the 
 present day. 
 
 Doctor. We have authentic records showing its 
 existence for upward of three thousand years. I have 
 been examining some authorities, and, if you are suf- 
 ficiently interested in the matter, will take considerable 
 pleasure in submitting the result of my labors to you ; 
 and also explaining the connection of fascination with 
 the laws of life. 
 
 Lady. I am very much obliged to you for the offer, 
 and will hold you to your promise. To tell the truth, I 
 was on the point many times of asking the same thing ; 
 for I find it to be the universal opinion of every one I 
 am acquainted with, that, if true, it is something allied to 
 witchcraft, and if not true, the greatest humbug of the 
 age ; and, despite my own experience, I often feel very 
 uneasy about it. 
 
VARIOUS NAMES. 13 
 
 Doctor. I do not wonder at your feelings ; but, in 
 relation to its effect on the imagination, I would ask if 
 you believed in fascination before I saw you ? 
 
 Lady. I had never heard anything about it. One 
 day, when you came in and found the medicine had as 
 usual produced no effect, after some conversation on 
 ordinary matters, you directed me to sit down and look 
 attentively in your eyes, at the same time taking hold of 
 my hands. In a little time a rather uneasy feeling stole 
 over me, which soon became pleasant and exhilarating ; 
 before long I felt sleepy, a dreamy and triumphant 
 sensation succeeded, and my eyelids closed without the 
 power to open them. My pains vanished, and when 
 you opened my eyes, I felt better than I had done for 
 years ; and to the surprise of all my acquaintances, who 
 predicted a speedy relapse, my recovery has been rapid 
 and permanent. 
 
 Doctor. Well, then, your case cannot surely be 
 attributed to imagination. 
 
 Lady. I never thought it could ; but why do you 
 name your new science Fascination ? Others call it 
 Mesmerism, or Animal Magnetism. 
 
 Doctor. You are mistaken in supposing it to be a 
 separate science ; it is only a part of medicine. And 
 besides the names you have mentioned, Mental Elec- 
 tricity, Neurology, Pathetism, Sychodunamy, and many 
 others, are in turn used to signify it. The forces of 
 life, as I shall explain in another place, brook no inter- 
 ference from those of Chemistry or Mechanics, so that 
 such terms as Magnetism and Electricity are inapplicable. 
 Mesmer did not discover anything new. Neurology 
 treats only of the nerves. Pathetism is a term derived 
 from the Greek, meaning suffering ; and Sychodunamy 
 2 
 
14 SNAKE CHARMING. 
 
 is another word from the same language, meaning the 
 force of the soul. Now, as we have a word in our 
 language already expressive of the power in the lower 
 animals, I saw no necessity to add another, especially 
 as Fascination is universally acknowledged. 
 
 Lady. You surely do not mean the charming of 
 snakes ? 
 
 Doctor. You have exactly expressed my idea ; for 
 the power in man and the lower animals is exerted 
 through the same medium, and produces, to a certain 
 extent, the same results. Do you remember any cases 
 of the fascination of snakes? 
 
 Lady. Quite a number. Professor Silliman mentions 
 that in June, 1823, he crossed the Hudson at Cattskill, in 
 company with a friend, and was proceeding in a car- 
 riage by the river along the road, which is there very 
 narrow, with the water on one side, and a steep bank, 
 covered by bushes, on the other. His attention at that 
 place was arrested by observing the number of small 
 birds, of different species, flying across the road and 
 then back again, and turning and wheeling in manifold 
 gyrations, and with much chirping, yet making no 
 progress from the particular place over which they 
 fluttered. His own and his friend's curiosity was much 
 excited, but was soon satisfied by observing a black 
 snake of considerable size, partly coiled and partly erect 
 from the ground, with the appearance of great anima- 
 tion, his eyes brilliant, and his tongue rapidly and inces- 
 santly brandishing. This reptile they perceived to be 
 the cause and centre of the wild motions of the birds. 
 The excitement, however, ceased as soon as the snake, 
 alarmed by the approach of the carriage, retired into 
 the bushes ; the birds did not escape, but, alighting upon 
 
SNAKE CHARMING. 15 
 
 the neighboring branches, probably awaited the re-ap- 
 pearance of their cruel tormentor and enemy. 
 
 I have read of a man residing in Pennsylvania, who, 
 returning from a ride in warm weather, espied a black- 
 bird, and a large blacksnake viewing the bird. The 
 latter was describing circles, gradually growing smaller, 
 around the snake, and uttering cries of distress. The 
 bird had almost reached the jaws of its enemy, when 
 the man with his whip drove off the snake, and the bird 
 changed his note to a song of joy. 
 
 A gentleman himself told me that while travelling 
 one day, by the side of a creek, he saw a ground-squir- 
 rel running to and fro between the creek and a great 
 tree a few yards distant. The squirrel's hair looked 
 very rough, which showed he was much frightened; 
 and his returns being shorter and shorter, my friend 
 stood to observe the cause, and soon discovered the 
 head and neck of a rattlesnake pointing directly at the 
 squirrel through a hole of the great tree, which was 
 hollow. The squirrel at length gave over running, and 
 laid himself quietly down, with his head close to the 
 snake's. The snake then opened his mouth wide, and 
 took in the squirrel's head, when a cut of the whip 
 across his neck caused him to draw in his head, which 
 action, of course, released the squirrel, who quickly ran 
 into the creek. 
 
 Doctor. Dr. Good mentions the curious fascinating 
 pow r ei the rattlesnake, in particular, has over various 
 small animals, as birds, squirrels, and leverets, which, 
 incapable of turning off their own eyes from those of 
 the serpent-enchanter, and overpowered with terror and 
 amazement, seem to struggle to get away, and yet pro- 
 gressively approach him, as though urged forward or 
 
16 SNAKE CHARMING. 
 
 attracted by a power superior to that of natural instinct 
 till at length they enter, apparently without foreign 
 force, into the serpent's mouth, which had all along been 
 open to receive them, and are instantly devoured. The 
 larger kinds of various snakes have undoubtedly a simi- 
 lar power. Dr. Barrow, in his Travels into the interior 
 of South America, asserts this to be a fact, well known 
 to almost every peasant in that quarter of the world ; 
 and Vaillant, in his Travels into Africa, affirms that, at 
 a place called Swortland, beholding a shrike in the very 
 act of fascination by a large serpent at a distance, the 
 fiery eyes and open mouth of which it was gradually 
 approaching, with convulsive tremblings, and the most 
 piteous shrieks of distress, he shot the serpent before 
 the bird had reached it ; still, however, the bird did not 
 fly, and on taking it up, it was already dead, being killed 
 either by fear or the fascinating influence of the ser- 
 pent, although, upon measuring the ground, he found 
 the space between them to be no less than three feet 
 and a half. There is a case, much in point, inserted in 
 one of the early volumes of the Philosophical Transac- 
 tions, which states that a mouse, put by way of experi- 
 ment into a cage in which a female viper was confined, 
 appeared at first greatly agitated, and was afterward 
 seen to draw near to the viper gradually, which con- 
 tinued motionless, but with fixed eyes and distended 
 mouth, and at length .entered into its jaws, and was 
 devoured. 
 
 Lady. If any of the lower animals could be fasci- 
 nated by man, I should think that would be a certain 
 proof, not only of the reality of the power, but that it 
 did not exert its influence through the imagination. 
 
 Doctor. Animals of ate days have been frequently 
 
MEN CHARMING. 17 
 
 fascinated for purposes of experiment, and a universal 
 rigidity of the muscles produced to such an extent as to 
 cause them to resemble pieces of statuary, so that the 
 animal could be taken up and its whole weight supported 
 by one foot — and this state produced and continued at 
 pleasure. Mr. Bruce, the great African traveller, dis- 
 tinctly states, from minute personal observation, that all 
 the blacks in the kingdom of Sennaar, whether Funge 
 or Nuba, are perfectly armed by nature against the bite 
 of either scorpion or viper. They take the horned ser- 
 pents in their hands at all times, put them into their 
 bosoms, and throw them at one another, as children do 
 apples or bells ; during which sport the serpents are sel- 
 dom irritated to bite, and when they do bite, no mischief 
 ensues from the wound. The influence exerted upon 
 them is so great that they are scarcely ever able to 
 attempt any resistance, even when eaten up alive, as 
 Bruce assures us he has seen them, from tail to head, 
 like a carrot. He also positively affirms that they con- 
 stantly sicken the moment they are laid hold of, and are 
 sometimes so exhausted by this invisible power or fasci- 
 nation, as to perish as effectually, though not as quickly, 
 as though struck by lightning. " I constantly observed," 
 says he, "that, however lively the viper was before, 
 upon being seized by any of these barbarians, he seemed 
 as if taken with sickness and feebleness, frequently shut 
 his eyes, and never turned his mouth toward the arm of 
 the person that held him." 
 
 This power is often used by man to disarm the fury 
 of the most enraged or vicious quadrupeds. This is 
 peculiarly seen at times in the case of watchdogs, over 
 whom some house-breakers have found out the secret of 
 exercising so seductive and quieting a power as to keep 
 2* 
 
18 MEN CHARMING, 
 
 ♦hem in a profound silence while the burglary is com 
 unfitted. Lindecrantz, of Sweden, tells us that the na- 
 tives of Lapland and Dalarne are in possession of this 
 secret generally, insomuch that they can instantly dis- 
 arm the most furious dog, and oblige him to fly from 
 them, with all his usual signs of fear, such as dropping 
 the tail, and becoming suddenly silent. 
 
 Grooms are sometimes found possessed of a similar 
 power over horses. Mr. Townsend gives a striking 
 anecdote to this effect in his account of James Sullivan. 
 The m-an — an awkward, ignorant rustic of the lowest 
 class — was by profession a horse-breaker, and generally 
 nicknamed the whisperer, from its being vulgarly sup- 
 posed that he obtained his influence over unruly horses 
 by whispering to them. The actual secret of his fasci- 
 nating power, it is very likely, was unknown to himself, 
 for it died with him, his son, who was in the same occu- 
 pation, knowing nothing of it. It was well known to 
 every one that, however unbroken or vicious a horse or 
 even a mule might be when brought to him, in the short 
 space of half an hour he became altogether passive 
 under his influence, and was not only entirely gentle 
 and tractable, but in a very considerable degree contin- 
 ued so, though somewhat more submissive to himself 
 than to others. There was a little mystery in his plan, 
 but unquestionably no deceit. When sent for to tame an 
 unruly horse, he ordered the stable-door to be shut upon 
 himself and the animal alone, and not to be opened 
 until a given signal. This singular intercourse usually 
 lasted for about half an hour ; no bustle was heard, or 
 violence seemingly had recourse to ; but when the door 
 was opened, on the proper sign being given, the horse 
 was always seen lying down, and the fascinator by his 
 
NERVOUS VAPOR. 19 
 
 side, playing with him familiarly as a child with a 
 puppy. Mr. Townsend once saw his skill tried on c a 
 horse that could never be brought to stand for a smith 
 to shoe him. The day after Sullivan's half-hour lecture, 
 he went, not without some incredulity, to the smith's 
 shop with many other curious spectators, who w T ere eye- 
 witnesses of the complete success of his art. This, too, 
 had been a troop horse, and it was supposed, not with- 
 out reason, that after regimental discipline had failed, no 
 other would be found availing. He observed the ani- 
 mal seemed afraid whenever Sullivan either spoke to 
 or looked at him. In common cases, the mysterious 
 preparation of a private interview was not necessary, 
 the animal becoming tame at once. 
 
 Lady. Has no person ever attempted to explain this 
 wonderful influence ? for the facts seem to have been 
 known a considerable time. 
 
 Doctor. Yes, though some have doubted the facts ; 
 for, as Dr. Good remarks, in the marvellous it is always 
 far more easy to doubt than to determine. By far the 
 best explanation^ and one with which I entirely coincide, 
 is that of Major A. Gordon, of South Carolina, the 
 rationale of which I will enter upon after a little time. 
 In a paper of his, he attributes the fascinating power 
 supposed to be possessed by serpents, to a vapor which 
 they secrete, and can throw around them to a certain 
 distance at pleasure. He advances various facts in 
 support of this opinion, and observes that the vapor 
 produces a sickening and stupefying effect ; and alludes 
 to a negro who, from a peculiar acuteness of smell, 
 could discover a rattlesnake at a distance of two hun- 
 dred feet, when in the exercise of this power, from his 
 smell being effected by it, and who, on following such 
 
20 MEN CHARMED. 
 
 indication, always found some animal drawn within its 
 vortex, and struggling with its influence. 
 
 Lady. Does man possess the pow T er of throwing off 
 a similar vapor 1 
 
 Doctor. Undoubtedly ; the instruments in both are 
 the same, and these instruments I will take occasion to 
 describe to you, and explain their mode of operation. 
 
 Lady. I should think it possible, in that case, for 
 animals, in some instances, to fascinate man. 
 
 Doctor. We have well-attested instances of their do- 
 ing so. I remember reading, some time since, of a man 
 walking out in his garden, who accidentally saw a snake 
 in the bushes, and, observing the eyes gleam in a pecu- 
 liar manner, watched it closely, but soon found himself 
 unable to draw his own eyes off. The snake, it appeared 
 to him, soon began to increase immensely in size, and 
 assume, in rapid succession, a mixture of brilliant colors 
 He grew dizzy, and would have fallen in the direction 
 of the snake, to which he felt himself irresistibly im- 
 pelled, had not his wife come up, and, throwing her arms 
 around him, dispelled the charm, thus saving him from 
 certain destruction. There are too many of these sto- 
 ries to mention a tithe of them ; so I will conclude with 
 but one more that is very generally known. Two men 
 in Maryland were walking together, when one found 
 fault with his companion because he stopped to look at 
 something by the road-side. Perceiving he did not heed 
 him, he returned to draw him along, when he perceived 
 the other's eyes were fixed upon a rattlesnake, which 
 had its head raised and eyes glaring at him. The poor 
 fellow was leaning toward the snake, and crying pite- 
 ously, in a feeble tone, " He will bite me ! he will bite 
 me." " Sure enough he will," said his friend, " if you 
 
KING DAVID. 21 
 
 do not run off. What are you staying here for ?" Find- 
 ing him dumb to all entreaties, he struck down the 
 snake with a limb of a tree, and pulled his companion 
 violently away. The man, whose life was thus provi- 
 dentially saved, found himself very sick for some hours 
 after his enchantment. 
 
 Lady. I must express my astonishment at the new 
 light in which you have presented the whole subject to 
 my mind. There can possibly be no cavilling at any of 
 the positions you have assumed. 
 
 Doctor. I give you the result of my own conclu- 
 sions, after considerable study, and, from what has been 
 shown, I think we may prove four things : — 
 
 First : That man can fascinate man. 
 
 Second : That man can fascinate the lower animals. 
 
 Third : That the lower animals can fascinate one 
 another. 
 
 Fourth : That the lower animals can fascinate man. 
 
 Townsend remarks, that if we wish to seek for a 
 general instance of the power one human being possesses 
 over another, with regard to the influence of fascination, 
 we have only to look at the effects produced when 
 young persons sleep with old. It is recorded of the 
 Psalmist, King David, that, when he became very old, 
 he got a young damsel to sleep with him, that, from her 
 vigorous life, he might obtain a supply to lengthen out 
 his days. Some painful instances of this kind came un- 
 der his own observation — one in which the future well- 
 being of a person very dear to him was compromised ; 
 and he was acquainted with an infirm old lady, who was 
 so perfectly aware of the benefit she derived from sleep- 
 ing with young persons, that, with a sort of horrid vam- 
 pireism, she always obliged her maid to share the same 
 
22 SAVAGE MAGICIANS. 
 
 bed with her ; thus successively destroying the health 
 of several attendants. 
 
 The celebrated German physiologist, Hufeland, has 
 remarked the longevity of schoolmasters, and attributes 
 it to their living so constantly amid the healthy emana- 
 tions of young persons. 
 
 It may be well to mention, in this connection, the fact 
 that savage nations, generally, practice fascination. 
 They rub or pat one another when fatigued, and it 
 refreshes. The wife of one of the Sandwich Island 
 missionaries, on a visit to this country, some years since, 
 exclaimed, on returning from a long and tiresome walk, 
 that had completely exhausted her strength : " If I was 
 home, the native women, by patting me, would soon 
 give me complete relief from this weariness, and make 
 me feel as lively as ever." The rites and gestures of 
 savage magicians, the medicine-men of the wilds, over 
 their patients, which so much alarm travellers, are 
 nothing more than fascinating passes to cure disease — a 
 method, too, that very generally succeeds. 
 
 Even among animals, it has been found that the 
 young cannot be too closely associated with the old 
 without suffering detriment. Young horses, standing in 
 a stable beside old ones, become less healthy, and, in 
 time, weak and sickly. 
 
 Lady. And you say these wonders can all be ex- 
 plained, in accordance with what is already known of 
 the laws of life ? 
 
 Doctor. With the utmost certainty. 
 
 Lady. But do you really think it possible that I can 
 ever understand them ? I am fearful that I have not 
 strength enough of mind to pry into such mysteries. 
 
 Doctor. The subject is not difficult, by any means, 
 
SUBJECT EASY. 23 
 
 and a moderate degree of perseverance is only neces- 
 sary to master the whole. If you like, we will spend a 
 little time to-morrow in its examination, and, in the 
 meanwhile, I will leave you Mrs. Abdy's lines on fasci- 
 nation, which prove, in a pleasing enough manner, that 
 there can be some poetry in the subject : — 
 
 He stands before a gathered throng, strange knowledge to unfold, 
 Charming the dazzled fancy like the fairy-tales of old ; 
 Yet must he brook the idle jest, the cold and doubting sneer, 
 He hath no beaten patn to tread, no practised course to steer. 
 
 The wondrous science that he strives to bring to life and light, 
 Is softly, faintly breaking from the misty shades of night ; 
 And scoffing prejudice upbraids the pure and genial ray, 
 Because it doth not burst at once to bright and beaming day. 
 
 He tells the healing benefits that through this power arise ; 
 How sweet and soothing sleep may seal the w r eary mourner's eyes 
 How raging madness may be checked ; how sufferers may obtain 
 The boon of deep oblivion from the keenest throbs of pain. 
 
 Anon he dwells on loftier themes, and shows how mind may claim 
 An empire independent of the still and slumbering frame. 
 Can ye doubt the proofs, ye careless throng, submitted to your view 
 Can ye hold them in derision, because yet untried and new ? 
 
 Know that improvements ever wend a tardy course on earth ; 
 And though Wisdom's mighty goddess gained perfection at her birth 
 Her children reach by slow degrees the vigor of their prime, 
 For the wisdom of this lower world requires the growth of time. 
 
 None wish ye on the statements of a single voice to rest ; 
 The marvels ye have witnessed ye are urged to prove and test ; 
 Survey them in their varied forms — inquire — observe — inspect— 
 Watch — meditate — compare — delay — do all things but neglect ! 
 
 If ye bear in mind the lessons that to-day ye have been taught, 
 Ye need not lack materials for intense and stirring thought ; 
 And my simple lay can little aid an orator's discourse, 
 So gifted with the energ* :f intellectual force. 
 
24 POETRY. 
 
 But I ask ye if your cherished ones sharp anguish should endure* 
 Which the stated arts of medicine had in vain essayed to cure; 
 Would it not grieve ye to reflect ye might those pangs allay, 
 But that, jestingly and mockingly, ye cast that means away ? 
 
 Mistake me not — I prize not aught, however great or wise, 
 If held not in subjection to the God who rules the skies ; 
 To me all knowledge would be poor, all splendor would be dim 
 All boons unsafe, all joys untrue, unless derived from Him. 
 
 And if eagerly this wondrous power I witness and approve, 
 It is because I know no bounds to Heaven's amazing love. 
 And 1 cannot, by the pedant rules of critic caution, scan 
 The depths of those exhaustless gifts His mercy pours on roaa 
 
CONVERSATION II. 
 
 DISCOVERY OF FASCINATION. 
 
 Doctor. I wish to prove, in our conversation to-day 
 that Adam was perfectly aware of the power of fasci- 
 nation, together with clairvoyance, and those other mys- 
 teries that astonish so much the people of the present 
 day. 
 
 Lady. Why did he not communicate this knowledge 
 to his descendants, so that the matter might become 
 universal and undoubted ? 
 
 Doctor. I cannot answer better than in the words 
 of that veritable historian, John Bunyan, who tells us 
 that King Shaddai, in the sixth day of the year one, built 
 in the country of Universe a fair and delicate town, 
 called Mansoul, and endowed it with corporate privi- 
 leges — a town for building so curious, for situation so 
 advantageous, that there was not its equal on the face 
 of the whole world. Yea, it was so goodly, when first 
 built, that the gods, at the setting up of it, came down 
 to sing for joy. It was so mighty as to have dominion 
 over all the country round about it; for all were required 
 to acknowledge it for their metropolitan, and do it 
 homage. It had commission and power from the king 
 to demand service of all, and also subdue those who in 
 any way opposed it. 
 
 There were certain gates in Mansoul, by which access 
 could be gained to the celestial country round about it, 
 and communion held with the messengers who were 
 3 
 
26 TOWN )F MANSOtJL. 
 
 constantly coming and going from the court of Shaddai. 
 The inhabitants took full advantage of all their glorious 
 privileges, and conversed with the gods freely, so that, 
 all the time they continued under the dominion of its 
 builder, nothing but sounds of joy and praise were 
 heard ; but when, as is well known, they rebelled 
 againsj his government, and swore allegiance to Diabo- 
 lus, his enemy, a dreadful change came over them, and, 
 among the other enjoyments of which they were bereft, 
 the gates were closed that opened to the celestial coun- 
 try, and no communication through them, unless under 
 extraordinary circumstances, ever allowed. As the 
 gates became disused, they were gradually forgotten by 
 the many, and, for thousands of years, all remembrance 
 of them lost. 
 
 Lady. Why, you do not surely think that heaven is 
 around us, and that, if we could see through those gates, 
 we would behold its glories at once ? I have always 
 entertained the idea that the celestial country was an 
 immense distance off, and, when we died, there was a 
 long journey to travel before it could be reached. 
 
 Doctor. That the material world is contained in the 
 spiritual, admits of direct proof, and a little reflection 
 will convince us at once of the fact. You know we are 
 told, that the angels that encamp round about them that 
 fear the Lord, do always behold the face of our Father 
 which is in heaven. And w T ere our senses not holden 
 until the time when we shall be caught up to meet the 
 Lord in the air, we might see the cloud of witnesses 
 surveying our heavenward race, and behold, as Stephen 
 did when he was martyred, heaven opened, ana Jesus 
 sitting at the right hand of God. 
 
 Lady. I must confess it would please me better to 
 
CELESTIAL GATES. 27 
 
 find some certain proof of this in the Bible, and also of 
 some one who had seen it, that would be immediately 
 convincing. 
 
 Doctor. You will be surprised, then, by an attentive 
 examination of the sixth chapter of 2 Kings. When 
 Elisha' s servant perceived his master's house surround- 
 ed by the warriors of the king of Syria, who evidently 
 came with a hostile intent, he was extremely frightened, 
 and cried, "Alas, my master ! how shall we do ?" And 
 Elisha answered and said, " Fear not ; for they that be 
 with us are more than they that be with them." But as 
 this did not quiet him, Elisha prayed, and said, " Lord, I 
 pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see." And the 
 Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw ; 
 and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots 
 of fire round about Elisha. 
 
 Lady. I am satisfied, but cannot help expressing my 
 astonishment at the clearness of all the proofs you bring 
 forward to sustain your positions. Do you suppose they 
 practised fascination before the deluge ? 
 
 Doctor. Though they might be aware of the exist^ 
 ence of the celestial gates, yet that the mode of opening 
 them, and also producing curative influence, was known 
 before the flood, it is, of course, out of our power to 
 determine ; but that it was soon manifest after that pe 
 riod, is undoubted. 
 
 Though the immediate descendants of Noah were 
 aware of the being, and some of the attributes, of 
 Jehovah, yet their knowledge, handed down to posterity 
 only by tradition, becam? corrupt, and the invisible and 
 eternal One was lost sight of in the homage paid to 
 things of wood and stone ; the charge of which, involv- 
 ing, as it did in their eyes, communion with superio r 
 
28 HEATHEN WORSHIP. 
 
 powers, was the most important office in the nation, and 
 one, too, which it was the earnest endeavor of all to 
 obtain. Now, who so likely to obtain it as those who 
 pretended to be especial favorites of the gods them- 
 selves, proving their assertions in the most satisfactory 
 manner by the cure of diseases. Accordingly, we find 
 the heathen priests were the first fascinators. 
 
 Lady. But how did they discover the mode of doing 
 it? 
 
 Doctor. An attentive examination of the subject has 
 brought me to a conclusion that, most likely, will very 
 much surprise you. I think the requisite knowledge was 
 imparted by Satan himself, either in a direct manner, or 
 by prompting the mind to a series of experiments that 
 led to the discovery. He did this to increase his influ- 
 ence, so that a chosen few, on whom he could depend, 
 might guide the many in the ways of destruction. 
 Proof of this, I think, can be found in the fact, naturally 
 abhorrent to humanity — for man has been defined to be a 
 religious animal — that all barbarous nations pay more 
 homage to the Spirit of Evil than they do to the Spirit 
 of Good. And, as a matter of course, their rites of wor- 
 ship are of the most revolting and blood-thirsty descrip 
 tion ; extreme licentiousness characterizing their devo 
 tions, as well as suspension by hooks, etc., and the mur 
 der of infants and adults. 
 
 Lady. If fascination is a power imparted by Satan 
 why is it not sinful to have recourse to it ? 
 
 Doctor. He did not impart the power, but merely 
 showed the fact of its existence. It is a gift from Jeho 
 vah, and, as such, with all thankfulness, we make use of 
 it to subserve his honor and glory. The Lord makes 
 the wrath of man to praise him as well as the wrath of 
 
 
GODS OF INDIA. 29 
 
 Satan, who will no doubt find it in the end, like many 
 other of his projects, one of the most efficient means of 
 his overthrow. 
 
 Uniting, as the heathen magi did, the offices of priest 
 and physician, as well as king, (which last office they 
 afterwards voluntarily separated, though they kept it 
 subordinate to their own,) and the number of known 
 remedies being then very few, they were mostly com- 
 pelled to rely on fascination for giving relief in sickness. 
 Some of them possessed this power in so extraordina- 
 ry a degree, and had their fame so widely extended, 
 as to be deified after death ; having idol statues shaped 
 in their likenesses, to which divine honors were paid, 
 the qualities for which they were thus honored being 
 symbolized by an additional number of arms. Proofs 
 of this may be seen at the present day in the images of 
 the gods of India ; Vichenow, Chiven, Parachiven, Ra- 
 venna, g,nd many others, have four, six, and twelve 
 arms, all presenting the hands open, with the palms 
 inclining downwards, the fingers being in the most ap- 
 proved fascinating positions of the present day. 
 
 It is probable that the immediate application of the 
 hands was reserved for special purposes, curiously- 
 shaped rods of various kinds being mostly used to direct 
 the influences ; thus the caduceus of Mercury, it was 
 supposed, had the power of putting any one whom it 
 touched to sleep ; with it he deepened the slumbers of 
 Argus, after lulling him to a gentle repose by the sound 
 of his lyre, preparatory to cutting off his head. That 
 he sometimes dispensed with its use is evident from a 
 passage in Plautus, which makes him say of Sosia : 
 " What if I stroke him gently with the hand so as to put 
 him to sleep ?" May no the regal sceptre have been 
 3* 
 
30 EGYPTIAN MAGI. 
 
 used, before the separation of priest and king, for the 
 same purposes as the caduceus of Mercury, and be, 
 as well as the royal touch for the cure of scrofula, the 
 last remains of the former union of offices ? 
 
 Lady. Nothing can be more probable in this view of 
 the subject. 
 
 Doctor. The magi, or wise men of India, the most 
 ancient fascinators of whom profane history gives any 
 account, practised mostly gestures and manipulations in 
 curing disease, though they often prescribed herbs. 
 
 Lady. Is any particular account given of their curing 
 by fascination ? 
 
 Doctor. Philostratus mentions the case of a young 
 man, whom a lion had injured in the knee to such an 
 extent as to keep him in constant agony, and who went 
 to the magi to obtain relief. They rubbed him gently 
 with their hands at intervals during a few days, when 
 he returned home perfectly cured. 
 
 Next come the priests of Egypt, who took the great 
 est possible advantage of the secret, and made the 
 knowledge of it the last and holiest rite of their ancient 
 magic, in the initiation of candidates. So celebrated 
 were they, that many persons, taking advantage of our 
 Saviour's temporary residence in Egypt, professed to 
 account for his miracles, by accusing him, according to 
 Arnobius, of being a magician ; of making things by 
 secret means ; and of stealing, from the sanctuary of the 
 Egyptian priests, the names of the powerful angels, and 
 their occult disciplines. 
 
 Patients flocked to these Egyptians from all parts of 
 the world. Their mode of proceeding was to previously 
 prepare them by means of fasting and prayer, and then 
 wrap them up in goat skins. After the process of 
 
CURATIVE REVELATIONS, 31 
 
 fascination, they were left to wait for sleep and pro- 
 phetic visions ; in some instances these did not occur, 
 but to provide for the emergency, there was a company of 
 priests who slept for them, and revealed the dreams. A 
 record of each case, telling the name of the person, the 
 disease and the remedy, was engraved on the temple ; 
 and these inscriptions, we are told, were, for a long while, 
 the sole record of practical medicine. Five of these 
 have been translated, the following two of which will 
 give an idea of what they were : 
 
 The god, in a nocturnal apparition, ordered the son of 
 Lucius, who was attacked with a hopeless pleurisy, to 
 take from the altar some cinders, and, mixing them with 
 wine, make an application to the affected side. He was 
 saved ; he thanked the god, and the people wished him 
 happiness. 
 
 A blind soldier named Valerius, after consulting the 
 god, received for answer : " Go in the temple, mix the 
 blood of a white fowl with honey, and wash your eyes 
 with it during three days." He recovered his sight, and 
 thanked the god before the people. 
 
 Lady. What does it mean when it says they waited 
 for visions ? 
 
 Doctor. I must take a rather circuitous mode of 
 answering your question. We must now study a little 
 physiology, and, as I will avoid all hard names, and en- 
 deavor to simplify as much as possible, you will not find 
 it difficult to follow me in the explanations. 
 
 Man has three perfectly distinct elements in his com 
 position — Matter, the Life Principle, and the Soul or 
 Immortal part. 
 
 Lady. I thought life resulted from the union of all 
 the different organs, and that their being placed in 
 
32 LIFE WITHOUT SOUL. 
 
 just such relations made the machine work harmoni 
 ously. 
 
 Doctor. That has been, and even now is, the opinion 
 of a great many, but when the system is growing, and 
 also in disease, some parts are always out of relation to 
 the rest, and the proportion and balance thus utterly 
 destroyed ; and did life only result from the union of all, 
 it must cease in such cases at once to exist. The in- 
 ductive and only true method of reasoning refers the 
 various operations going on within the body to a com- 
 mon cause, which source of action is called the life or 
 vital principle. 
 
 Lady.' But how is this cause discovered? 
 
 Doctor. By the phenomena it presents to us ; we 
 can perceive these phenomena only through the agency 
 of Matter, for which purpose alone, it would seem, mat- 
 ter was created. 
 
 Lady. As matter is governed by laws of its own, it 
 appears to me that, in experimenting upon it, you would 
 only be finding out those laws. 
 
 Doctor. The laws of matter, which are known as 
 the chemical and mechanical forces, differ entirely from 
 those manifested by it when organized. 
 
 Lady. Still I have not a clear idea of the vital prin- 
 ciple. When I would separate it from the soul and mat- 
 ter, the two last continually force themselves upon my 
 mind, and make the whole subject very confused. If it 
 was only possible to observe the vital principle acting 
 with matter alone, without the soul's interference, I 
 could easily understand it. 
 
 Doctor. Your wish can at once be gratified, by 
 looking at the geranium on your window sill. Veget- 
 ables have only the vital principle and matter ; but 
 
LIFE IN PLANTS. 33 
 
 perhaps 1 cannot do better than refer you to an article 
 on this subject prepared by myself for a literary maga- 
 zine some years ago. Will you read it aloud ? 
 
 Lady. It was remarked by a philosopher, some years 
 ago, that it was scarcely possible to tell the differ- 
 ence between a dog and a rose. This statement, to the 
 greater number of my readers who have not reflected 
 on the subject, will appear hardly probable. Anecdotes 
 of the sagacity and faithfulness of dogs are known to 
 all ; and I doubt not many of them in our city are pos- 
 sessed of more knowledge and practical information, 
 and are better members of society, than the swarms of 
 idle and vicious youth who crowd our streets. How, 
 then, with such facts before him, could Bonnet make 
 such an assertion ? I will tell you. Our ideas of the 
 intelligence of animals are derived from the proofs of 
 design we see them exhibit. Having a certain end in 
 view, they will choose, with the most astonishing dis- 
 crimination, out of a number of means, the ones best 
 adapted to their purposes, arid contrive to use these in 
 such a way as to be almost uniformly successful. Nat- 
 ural history is made up of facts in support of this po- 
 sition. Our next inquiry will be to find out whether 
 plants ever show such instances of choice and foresight ; 
 and a little examination will prove that most unquestion- 
 ably they do. 
 
 Strawberries, planted on moist ground, give out no 
 runners ; but, on placing them in a dry soil with water 
 at some distance, we find runners travelling around un- 
 til they discover it, and then remaining — a living aque- 
 duct — to supply the plant. If these runners are moved 
 round to the other side, they will soon regain their 
 original position with unerring certainty. If you turn 
 
34 INSTINCT OF PLANTS. 
 
 the under surface of a rose-leaf upward, it will, in a 
 little while, commence a return movement, gently twist- 
 ing, with a kiM of effort, on its peduncle, as on a sort 
 of pivot. The Abbe Martin transplanted a rose-tree 
 from one part of his garden to anwther, for the purpose 
 of experiment. To the right of the new position, the 
 soil was hard, dry, and sterile ; to the left, moist, rich, 
 and tender. The roots, at first, radiated alike to the 
 right and left. But he soon discovered that the roots, 
 which had advanced to the right, bent backward toward 
 the fertile and mellow earth, as if divining that their 
 companions at the left had found better pasture. To pre- 
 vent their intercepting nourishment intended for other 
 plants, he dug a ditch to stop the farther advancement 
 of the roots. Arrived at the ditch, they plunged per- 
 pendicularly below its bottom, ran around and advanced 
 anew toward the point whence they had discovered 
 the rich soil. 
 
 Instances of their foresight in guarding against ex- 
 cessive heat, wind, and rain, are equally numerous. 
 In France, the peasants train the carlina by their doors, 
 to serve as a barometer ; its open flowers show clear 
 weather — but closed, an abundance of rain. The shep- 
 herd's weather-glass has the same property. If it does 
 not show its face to greet the sun on his ascension, the 
 sheep remain in the fold on that day. The four-o'clock 
 opens its flowers regularly every afternoon at that hour, 
 to show the laborer that, if he cannot afford a watch, 
 nature will provide him with the means of knowing the 
 hour without expense. Such examples certainly prove 
 a faculty of judging according to the sense in plants. 
 
 And now the inquirer asks, "What is the nature 
 of this Drmciole, and in what does it differ from chem- 
 
VEGETABLE LIFE. 35 
 
 ical affinity or attraction?" A perfect exemplification 
 of this difference is given in the history of its creation. 
 And God made every plant of the field before it was in 
 the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew. 
 Drv land and seas, bv this time, were divided, and the 
 forces of the inorganic world in operation. These forces 
 are called pullers-down of nature. Exposed to their 
 influence, mountain and hill crumble to dust ; and it is 
 owing to their agency that volcanoes and earthquakes' de- 
 stroy cities and swallow up nations. This is due, proba- 
 bly, to the shape of the ultimate atoms, which, fitting into 
 each other in different ways, occasion perpetual change. 
 
 But on the third day, a controlling influence, a new- 
 set of powers, the builders-up of nature, appear — cre- 
 ated, in kind and degree, different from matter, yet 
 only manifesting their presence to us in connection 
 with it. So for from allowing these atoms to unite 
 according to their affinities, which would soon destroy 
 nature, they exercise the most despotic sway, control- 
 ing them to the last. The chemical forces are in per- 
 fect subjection while life remains ; but the moment it 
 departs, dust returns to dust, the work of destruction 
 begins, and the body vanishes into air. 
 
 A beautiful example of this opposition is shown by 
 seeds, which are the simplest independent forms of the 
 union of the life power with matter. Take two of these, 
 and, having destroyed the vitality of one of them by pass- 
 ing an electric spark through it, place both in warm and 
 moist earth. The dead seed, surrounded by all the con- 
 ditions favorable to its decomposition, is speedily resolved 
 into its native elements, while the living one makes slaves 
 of its enemies, rapidly sprouts up amid the surrounding 
 desolation, and hangs out its flowery banners as tokens 
 
36 TERMINATION. 
 
 of victory. Seeds etain life, almost any length of 
 time. I noticed, this week, an account of an abundant 
 harvest reaped from the growth of seeds found in an 
 Egyptian mummy, over two thousand years old. 
 
 A seed, finding itself in a warm moist place, suddenly 
 becomes aware that it has work to do, and sets about it 
 without delay. The seed-case bursts, a stalk and leaves 
 appear above, while the root, sending off filaments, 
 remains below ; at the end of each of these little fila- 
 ments is a spongiole, or bundle of leech-like mouths. 
 These suck from the soil whatever they require, and 
 then act the part of a stomach in instantly digesting it. 
 i\. series of ascending vessels, or veins, are ready to 
 carry it to the leaves, to be further elaborated ; when it 
 arrives there, its oxygen is given off, and a supply of 
 carbonic acid, obtained from the air, is combined with 
 it ; and the pure blood, or sap, is carried by the arteries 
 to every part, to supply its necessities and form com- 
 pounds. 
 
 Plants are manufacturing establishments ; some make 
 the essential oils — as the cinnamon, sassafras, and rose ; 
 others salts — as the sorrel, oxalic acid ; the Peruvian 
 \ --irk-tree, quinine ; and the willow, salacine. Many a 
 dt > ^ised shrub has powers more deadly and dangerous 
 than a powder magazine ; the laurel and peach . yield 
 pruss ■ acid, one drop of which will destroy life ; and 
 traveliv * s tell us that the atmosphere of the upas-tree is 
 fatal for miles around it. 
 
 The vital principle of each plant, being separate and 
 independent in itself, explains the reason why two of 
 them — the one a virulent poison, the other a table vege- 
 table—will grow side by side, and draw their nourish- 
 ment from the same source. It also shows the error of 
 
USES OF PLANTS. 37 
 
 our modern agriculturists, who treat these living exist 
 ences, endowed with a power of choice and foresight, 
 as if they were tubes, imbibing whatever was placed 
 near them by capillary attraction. 
 
 Man resembles a torch, in requiring oxygen to keep 
 him burning or alive ; in return for this he throws out 
 carbonic acid, which to him is a virulent poison. .Now, 
 what prevents this gas accumulating in the air, and des- 
 troying the animal kingdom ; and from what source 
 shall the supply of oxygen be derived to answer our 
 continual demand? Only from the respiration of plants ; 
 which we may now see not only supply us with food, 
 but are absolutely necessary for our daily existence. 
 
 When the new Custom House and Merchant's Ex- 
 change were erecting, they were the daily resort of 
 thousands who flocked to witness their gradual progress ; 
 yet how much more wonderful is the building of a 
 vegetable palace ! Unseen workmen are urging it for- 
 ward with untiring industry ; column after column 
 forms ; story after story rises ; staircase and hall and 
 gallery are soon fixed in their positions. We think it a 
 great thing to have the Croton water brought into our 
 houses ; yet in every one of these little chambers, there 
 are pipes to carry food and water and take away the 
 residue. The vegetable house is made of the finest 
 wood, is elastic, and capable of bending to the breeze ; 
 and, to defend it from the rain, covered either with wa- 
 ter-proof varnish, or stuccoed over with the rares por- 
 celain. And all this time the spectator is not dist urbed 
 by noise or dust, the greater part of the work being car- 
 ried on under ground. 
 
 When all is completed, no monarch on earth could ob- 
 tain such a residence. The very paint of its walls, though 
 4 
 
38 R0S1CIIUCIAN. 
 
 exposed to all kinds of impurity, is of such rare quality 
 that the king's stateliest robes cannot match it. " Con- 
 sider the lilies of the field ; they toil not, neither do they 
 spin ; yet Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like 
 unto one of these." Nay, kings are even glad to obtain 
 ; ts essences at second hand, to perfume themselves. 
 
 The name of the inhabitant who owns the house is 
 written on a broad door-plate of surpassing beauty, so 
 that we can tell one from another. Books have been 
 written on the language of these door-plates or flowers, 
 and it is said that angels, by their means, write myste- 
 rious truths on hill and field. The poet, from the ear- 
 liest ages, has held the most sweet and loving converse 
 with them. But to the physician, the priest of nature, 
 they speak in a higher and more exalted strain. In 
 them he reads the success of his mission. By their 
 means he can conquer the most obstinate diseases. 
 That nothing has ever been formed for show alone, the 
 truly useful will always be the truly beautiful. That 
 when their uses are perfectly understood, the fond dream 
 of the Rosicrucian shall not want verification : the 
 bone shall continue firm and the muscle strong ; the eye 
 of youth retain its lustre ; and as century after century 
 passes away, the lapse of time shall but witness our 
 triumph over the pullers-down of nature, and our in- 
 crease in wisdom and love. These happy children of 
 Flora, that have retained undimmed the influence of 
 their Creator's smile, when first he pronounced his work 
 good in Eden, shall receive added radiance and more 
 dazzling glory as they again behold His face in the 
 dawning morn of the millenium. 
 
HOUSE OF THE SOUL. 39 
 
 CONVERSATION III. 
 
 PHSYIOLOGY. 
 
 Doctor. The body is the house of the soul : in an 
 upper story, confined to an inner chamber, closely im- 
 prisoned, and having no communication with the exter- 
 nal world, except through the medium of the life prin- 9 
 ciple, resides our immortal being. 
 
 Lady. But there is no mention of a double life in the 
 account of man's creation. Genesis ii, 7, says that the 
 Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground, 
 and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life ; and 
 man become a living soul. 
 
 Doctor. The Hebrew word, in that passage, for life, 
 is used in the plural ; so that your objection but con- 
 firms the physiological view. It should read, breathed 
 into his nostrils the breath of lives. 
 
 Lady. Is the life principle immortal as well as the 
 soul? 
 
 Doctor. I believe it is, but only in consequence of 
 its connection with the soul, to which it is subservient. 
 It is an intermediate between spirit and matter, present- 
 ing to us certain phenomena, by which we are enabled 
 t: recognize its possession of seven distinct properties ^ 
 these are :— 
 
 Vital Affiniti 
 Vivification. 
 Mobility. 
 Irritability. 
 
40 NSTINCT 
 
 Instinct. 
 
 Sympathy. 
 
 Sensibility. 
 
 The first five are common to all animated natuie — 
 plants as well as animals ; the last two, in consequence 
 of requiring a nervous system for their development, 
 belong only to animals. 
 
 Vital affinity and vivification are used in the organiza- 
 tion of matter. Mobility is the power of originating 
 motion, as shown in the circulation of the sap and 
 shrinking of the mimosa. Irritability, or excitability, is 
 the power of giving and receiving impressions — of act- 
 ing upon matter, and of being, in turn, acted upon by 
 it — and is one of the most important of all. The instinct- 
 ive property of plants has been already mentioned ; that 
 of animals needs no illustration. Sympathy and sensi- 
 bility possess names sufficiently explanatory of their 
 powers. 
 
 Lady. But have not animals a separate principle of 
 instinct besides a life power ? 
 
 Doctor. They have not. Coleridge, who is the best 
 authority on this subject, remarks that instinct is the 
 power of selecting and adapting means to proximate 
 ends; and illustrates the point by taking the stomach of 
 a caterpillar, which, he observes, has the power of 
 selecting the appropriate means (that is, the assimilable 
 part of the vegetable congesta) to the proximate end — 
 which is, the growth or reproduction of the insect's 
 body. It does this by the vital power of the stomach. 
 
 From the power of the stomach, he passes to the 
 power exerted by the whole animal ; traces it, wander- 
 ing from spot to spot, and plant to plant, till it finds the 
 appropriate vegetable ; and again, on this chosen vege- 
 
INSTINCTIVE NTELLtGENCE. 41 
 
 table, he marks it seeking out and fixing on the part of 
 the plant, bark, leaf, or petal, suited to its nourishment — 
 or (should the animal have assumed the butterfly form) 
 to the proper place of depositing its eggs, and making 
 provision for the sustenance of the little animals that 
 shall emerge from them. The power, thus exhibited, of 
 selecting and adapting means to proximate ends, accord- 
 ing to circumstances, he considers as a higher species 
 of adaptive power, and calls it Instinct. 
 
 Then, citing anecdotes from the writings of zoolo- 
 gists, he proves in the lower animals a power of select- 
 ing and adapting the proper means to the proximate 
 ends, according to varying circumstances ; and this yet 
 higher species of adaptive power he calls Instinctive 
 Intelligence. 
 
 In addition to these, he says that he finds one other 
 character common to the highest and lowest ; namely, 
 that the purposes are all manifestly predetermined by 
 the peculiar organization of the animals, and both actions 
 and purposes are in a necessitated reference to the 
 preservation and continuance of the particular animal, 
 or the progeny. There is selection, but not choice ; 
 volition, rather than will. 
 
 Lady. I suppose wild men have their instinctive 
 faculties best developed, and that man, in proportion as 
 he becomes civilized, or under the dominion of reason, 
 loses those powers. 
 
 Doctor. You must remember that the manifestations 
 of instinct depend on the peculiar organization of the 
 animal. Man is not fitted to live in a wild state, for 
 then he is, of all animals, the most helpless. But Cole- 
 ridge speaks directly on this point, and I will give you 
 his words, premising that he defines understanding as 
 4*' 
 
i'2 UNDERSTANDING. 
 
 the faculty that judges by the senses. He says, that if 
 we suppose the adaptive power, in its highest state, 
 (instinctive intelligence) to co-exist with reason, free-will, 
 and self-consciousness, it instantly becomes understand- 
 ing ; in other words, that understanding differs, indeed, 
 from the noblest form of instinct — not in itself, 01 in its 
 own essential properties, but in consequence of its co- 
 existence with far higher powers, of a diverse kind, in 
 one and the same subject. Instinct, in a rational, re- 
 sponsible, and self-conscious animal, is understanding. 
 
 Having now reviewed the characters of the servants 
 n the house of the soul, we will glance at their offices 
 in the building, and at the building itself. In comparing 
 the human frame to a self-moving house, the bones and 
 muscles should be represented as beams and pillars ; the 
 stomach as the kitchen ; the lungs as the ventilator, etc., 
 etc. The house must be furnished with bells and wires 
 to convey news, receive messages, and connect all the 
 parts together into a common whole ; such offices are 
 performed by the senses. 
 
 The skeleton of the human body is composed of two 
 hundred and forty-eight bones ; each of which is mod- 
 elled with the utmost care for the various offices it has 
 to perform ; and so close a relation does one bone bear to 
 another, that an anatomist can tell from seeing one, or, 
 in some cases, even a part of one, with the utmost cer- 
 tainty, the general form and habits of the animal to 
 which it belonged. A happy illustration of this fact 
 was shown some years since in England, by Mr. Con- 
 nybear, a philosopher of considerable eminence. Hav- 
 ing found a few bones of an extinct species of animal, 
 he set himself to work to construct the perfect skeleton. 
 Little attention was paid to his performance at the time. 
 
BONES. 
 
 43 
 
 but some years afterward, a complete skeleton of that 
 singular animal, the Plesiosaurius, was discovered, and 
 found almost exactly to correspond with Mr. Conny- 
 bear's drawing ! 
 
 L# a, spinal column 
 capped by the skull ; r 
 r, ribs connected by gris- 
 tle ( cartilage, ) to the 
 breast bone, x ; y y, col- 
 lar bones (clavicles) ; b, 
 the arm bone ('humer- 
 us) ; c, the elbow; d, 
 the radius ; e, the ulna » 
 f t the wrist joint (com- 
 posed of 8 small bones, 
 in two rows ) ; g t the 
 finger bones (phalanges, 
 19 bones) ; s s, hips or 
 pelvic bones, joining w, 
 the sacrum ; i, the thigh 
 bone united to the trunks 
 of the body by the joint 
 k ; 1, the knee-pan (pa- 
 tella) ; k, the knee ; m, 
 the tibia, and n, the fib- 
 ula, both small bones of 
 the leg ; 0, ancle, com- 
 posed of 7 bones ; p, 
 toe bones (phalanges, 19 
 bones). ] 
 
 BONY SKELETON. 
 
 The back bone and skull are by far the most import- 
 ant among the bones ; they are the caskets in which 
 are deposited the spinal marrow and brain — indeed, to 
 
44 BACK BONE. 
 
 protect the nervous system from injury seems, in every 
 instance, the first intention of the formation of a skele- 
 ton. 
 
 The spine, or back bone, is composed of twenty-four 
 smaller bones, between the most of which is a layer of 
 gristle, so that* while the indispensable condition of great 
 strength is preserved, a degree of motion is allowed. 
 The weight of the upper parts of the body, presses 
 down this gristle during the day, thus accounting for 
 the singular fact that persons are always shorter at 
 night than in the morning soon after getting up. The 
 loss in height in different individuals varies from half an 
 inch to one or two inches. 
 
 Lady. I know a gentleman who habitually loses m 
 height from one-half to three-quarters of an inch every 
 day ; and, while speaking on the subject, told me an 
 anecdote relative to the practice pursued by British re- 
 cruiting sergeants, who, when they found a man willing 
 to enlist, not more than half an inch under the requisite 
 height, made him lie in bed and fed him well for two or 
 three days, by which time his gristle became well swelled 
 out, and he was almost invariably sure to pass muster 
 when immediately presented at the station house. 
 
 Doctor. Every little protuberance and ridge we see on 
 bones give origin or hold to muscles, which attach them- 
 selves to them by means of strings or tendons. There are 
 nearly five hundred distinct muscles named by anato- 
 mists in the human body. This is probably underrating 
 the real number, for a caterpillar has over four thousand 
 muscles, and there are one thousand in the proboscis of 
 an elephant. Muscles are composed of layers of cellu- 
 lar tissue, the compression of which at the ends forms ten- 
 dons ; while the cells in the middle are filled with fibrin. 
 
MUSCLES. 
 
 45 
 
 MUSCULAR SKELETON. 
 
 \_f g is the sterno mastoid ; its contraction makes the head approach the 
 chest ; i i i, abdominal muscles, to retain the parts in their places, assist 
 respiration, etc. ; h, muscles on the chest, to move the arm toward it ; I 
 extends the arm on a level with the shoulder ; k is the muscle to raise the 
 fore-arm; a moves the fingers; b, the fore-leg; and c is the tailor's mus- 
 cle, by which he is enabled to cross his legs.] 
 
 The mode in which the nerves act on the mobility 
 of muscles, so as to cause them to thicken or contract, 
 is well shown in this cut. One part of the muscle is at- 
 tached to the fore-arm, and the other to the head of the 
 
DIGESTION. 
 
 arm ; as it gradually contracts and shortens on : self, the 
 hand approaches the head 
 
 [The figure represents the bones of the arm and hand, having all the 
 soft parts dissected off, except one muscJe, O B i of which the function 
 is to bend the arm ; O, the origin of the muscle ; B, the belly ; I, the 
 insertion ; T T, the tendons; S, the shoulder-joint; E, the elbow. When 
 the belly contracts, the lower extremity of the muscle I is brought nearer 
 to the origin or fixed point, O, and by thus bending the arm at the elbow 
 joint, raises up the weight, W, placed in the hand.] 
 
 When the human germ or embryo is first excited to 
 action, it is not as large as a pin's head, yet, even small 
 as it is, the life power is in vigorous exercise ; it stations 
 deputations of its properties in the proper places to form 
 their own instruments of action out of the minute pulp. 
 In a short time the heart and blood-vessels are formed 
 to carry nutriment to every part, and the bones, mus- 
 cles, and other organs appear in succession. Its first 
 care is to perfect all the arrangements that are necessary 
 for purposes of nutrition, which arrangements you will 
 understand better in the adult than in the infant, in whom 
 the parts are out of proportion. 
 
 When food is taken in the mouth, the saliva is poured 
 out from manufactories of that substance ; it mixes with 
 the food, not only softening it, but also affecting on it an 
 actual change, which is the first real act of digestion. 
 When this fluid is deficient, its want is imperfectly sup- 
 
STOMACH. 
 
 47 
 
 plied in the other processes of assimilation. This cause 
 alone would account for the dyspepsia, so prevalent 
 among tobacco chewers and smokers, who wantonly 
 exhaust a supply intended for other purposes than the 
 filthy use to which they apply it. 
 
 The second act is performed by the stomach, into which 
 the food descends from the mouth by means of a long tube 
 (cesophagus) composed of a series of muscular rings, 
 
 THE STOMACH. 
 
 [The stomach is capable of containing, generally, from one to two quarts 
 of liquid; cases occur, however — by want on the one side, and gluttony 
 on the other — in which this proportion is either much diminished or 
 increased. It has two openings — the cardiac, C, (from cardium, the heart, 
 it being near that organ) and the pyloric, P, from the Greek for gate- 
 keeper, because it will not let anything but chyme pass it. S S, and B, 
 are arteries surrounding it, to give it a good supply of blood for making 
 the gastric juice.] 
 
 which, by contracting constantly above, push it before 
 them. When there, the gastric fluid is poured out on it, 
 completely dissolving the whole, and changing it into 
 a greyish-looking fluid called chyme. The stomach then 
 contracts, closing up the opening by which it entered C, 
 
48 
 
 INTESTINES. 
 
 INTESTINAL TUBE. 
 
 tie intestinal tube, from the mouth to its final termination, is over 
 thirty feet long. After leaving the stomach, it is divided into large and 
 Bmall intestines. R S S S S T, are the latter, which end at T into the 
 large, which are marked U U U W ; and the termination X y is called 
 the rectum, clasping which last are the strong muscle, Z Z, joining in a 
 continuous circular band below. M M M, shows the stomach ; AAA, 
 the liver, and its depository of bile, B, the gall-bladder.] 
 
VISCERA. 
 
 40 
 
 THE Lf73R, GALL-BLADDER, PANCREAS, AND KIDNEYS. 
 
 [L is the liver, turned up to show its under surface ; G, the gall-blad- 
 der ; P, the pancreas ; K, the kidneys, which secrete urine from the blood, 
 which they empty into the bladder, B, by means of the tubes called 
 ureters U ; S is the spleen, an organ at the present day considered merely 
 a reservoir of blood for the stomach. The rectum, R, runs behind the 
 bladder toward its terminating point ; V is the great vein carrying up the 
 refuse blood to be purified ; A is the artery returning the same blood 
 purified, to meet the wants of the system.] 
 
50 
 
 MESENTERIC GLANDS. 
 
 and thus forcing it out through the other orifice P. Soon 
 after entering the intestines, a fluid is poured out through 
 a tube. This fluid is composed of the secretion of the 
 liver (bile), and another secretion from the pancreas 
 (sweet breads) ; each sending a tube trom itself, the 
 tubes uniting into a common duct before opening into the 
 intestines. The liver has a repository for bile, called 
 the gall-bladder, so that it is capable of performing its 
 part in digestion at any moment. It is supposed by 
 many that the juice from the pancreas merely dilutes 
 the bile, but this is not very probable. This juice, when 
 
 7» 
 
 MESENTERIC GLANDS. 
 
 [I I I f, portions of intestine; L, lacteals, which empty into the mesen- 
 tery glands M G ; TD, thoracic duct, which conveys the elaborated fluid 
 (which is, at this point, of a pale pinkish color) into the reservoir in the 
 neck The spine, S. is shown in the back-ground. The mesentery 
 glands exercise a very important part in digestion ; they are sometimes 
 diseased in children, a fact which may be known by feeling on their bel- 
 lies a number of little hard knots; in such cases, the child, if not cured-— 
 no matter what the nourishment is — rapidly wastes away and dies. Dr. 
 Edson, the living skeleton lately exhibited at the American museum, died 
 in consequence of disease closing the thoracic duct, and thus preventing 
 any access of nourishment to his system.} 
 
HEART. 
 
 51 
 
 poured on tl 3 chyme, separates it it, o two parts the 
 chyle and ex 3rement. The chyle, at this stage, so much 
 I'esembles milk, as to take its name from a Greek word 
 meaning that article : it is instantly sucked up by mil- 
 lions of little leech-like vessels, called milk carriers, 
 (lacteals from lactus, milk,) which convey it to the mes- 
 enteric glands to be further elaborated ; leaving them, 
 it is carried to a duct and finally mixed with a reservoir 
 of venous blood in the neck, from whence it enters the 
 upper cavity of the right heart, is thrown into the lower 
 cavity, and then taken to the lungs to receive the last 
 stage of purification. 
 
 THE HEART. 
 
 [Man possesses two hearts, which are only placed together for the sake 
 of convenience. Each heart has two cavities, an upper and a lower one ; 
 the upper cavity is called an auricle, from its resembling, in shape, an 
 animal's ear; the lower cavity is called a ventricle, from its shape, resem- 
 bling a belly. The sudden expansion of the receiving chamber, or auricle 
 
52 WHEELS OF LIFE. 
 
 of tlk.* right heart, n, produces a vacuum, which is directly filled by the 
 mixture of elaborated food and veinous blood from various sources, o, p, q; 
 it instantly contracts and empties this blood into the distributing chamber, 
 or ventricle below ; the ventricle b contracts upon itself, and sends the 
 blood into the pulmonary artery, k, to be carried to the lungs, 1 1; after 
 receiving a supply of oxygen, and throwing off its carbonic acid, it 
 returns to the left heart by four pulmonary veins, two of which are shown 
 at m m; the left auricle, ?•, expands, produces a vacuum, becomes filled, 
 contracts, and sends the blood into the left ventricle, a, which also con- 
 tracts in turn, and throws the fluid into the aorta, c e, from whence it is 
 carried through all parts of the system. If the time that elapses between 
 the contractions of the heart be divided into four parts, three of these 
 parts will represent the period of the heart's activity, and one that of its 
 repose ; it thus rests one-quarter of the time, or six hours in every twenty- 
 four; it does this (in common with every part of the body that has 
 been exhausting its strength in working) to recruit. The artery that 
 supplies the heart with blood is called the coronal, s. Each cavity of the 
 heart holds two ounces ; it commonly contracts seventy times a minute, 
 so that over two hogsheads of blood are pumped through our hearts 
 every hour ! That the irritation of the blood does not cause the heart to 
 contract, and that it possesses an inherent power of action in itself, are 
 shown by the fact that, when taken out of the body (of course, a very 
 short time after apparent death) and pricked, its first motion is to expand. 
 The heart of a sturgeon was hung up to dry, and continued in motion so 
 long that its rustling could be heard in any part of the house.] 
 
 Arrived at the lungs, it throws out carbonic acid and 
 takes in a supply of oxygen; it is then thrown into the 
 upper cavity of the left heart, which contracts, sends 
 it into the lower cavity, from whence the aorta receives 
 it, and it then makes its rounds in the system to supply 
 the wants of every part. Chemists tell us that an atom 
 of pure blood is composed of eighteen different elements ; 
 and also that the atoms resemble a spangle in shape, 
 being thin and circular with a dot of iron in the middle, 
 occasioning Dr. Good's remark that the wheels of life 
 ran on iron axles. 
 
 The arteries subdivide to an excessively minute de- 
 gree, and the extreme branches terminate in little blad 
 ders. Each of these litth bladders or globular cells has 
 
LUNGS. 
 
 m 
 
 THE LUNGS. 
 
 [The windpipe, «, gives passage to the air ; it ramifies into exceedingly 
 minute branches, e e e, which terminate in little cells, the masses of 
 which, in three distinct lobes, are shown at c c c; this is only on the 
 right side of the body ; on the left side there are but two lobes, the space 
 required for the third being filled by the heart. By means of the muscles 
 surrounding the chest, the lungs are alternately expanded and contracted. 
 It has been found that we require one hundred and forty gallons per hour 
 of pure air for respiration. It is an error that the carbonic acid given out 
 from the lungs poisons the atmosphere in crowded assemblies. Such 
 air has been analyzed, and found to contain as much oxygen as that in a 
 forest; the ill effects are produced from pent-up human exhalations.] 
 
 three openings, one for the artery, one for a vein, and 
 one for an absorbent. When an atom of blood arrives 
 in one of them, the absorbent takes from it what is re- 
 quired, and works it up to suit its own purposes ; what is 
 left is immediately sucked up by the vein and carried off, 
 
54 
 
 ARTERIAL SYSTEM. 
 
 to be again mixed with the elaborated food, and passed 
 
 through the lungs. 
 
 ARTERIAL SYSTEM. 
 
 You will remember my mentioning, when speaking o 
 the development of the embryo, the fact of deputations 
 of the life power being stationed in different places to 
 form their own instruments of action ; these instruments 
 are called glands and their office is to secrete from the 
 
GLANDS. 
 
 55 
 
 blood the different fluids required in the system ; they 
 are merely a greater or less number of bundles of little 
 bladders, acting in the mode I have just mentioned, and 
 endowed with specific properties to make certain sub- 
 stances. Thus the liver secretes bile ; the lachrymal 
 gland, tears ; and the salivary gland, spittle ; and the 
 inside coat of the stomach, the gastric juice. Here is a 
 cut showing the mode in which the blood-vessels ramify 
 
 I wish you to carefully examine these cuts and the ac- 
 companying descriptions, as too much minuteness in 
 describing the anatomy of the organs, while explaining 
 the functions, would have made the subject very difficult 
 of comprehension. 
 
 Lady. I think I understand the nutritive functions 
 now, and I am glad to think that nothing but the nervous 
 system remains between us and the sleepers in the 
 Egyptian temples, to whom I am impatient to return ; 
 but I should like to know, if anything injurious should 
 enter in the channels of the circulation, how the blood 
 would get rid of it. 
 
56 
 
 NERVES. 
 
 Doctor. By means of the skin, kidneys, and lungs, 
 which are all excreting glands, or organs, that throw 
 off offending matters. But, to pursue our subject, we 
 
 Up Jm 
 
 NERVOUS SYSTEM. 
 
 must examine the nervous system. This cut of it will 
 give you an idea of the ramifications of the nerves over 
 the surface of the system. The nerves, like every other 
 
CEREBROSPINAL AXIS. 
 
 51 
 
 part of our system when forming, begin at the circum- 
 ference, and grow toward the centre, as shown here : — 
 
 CEREBRO-SPINAL AXIS. 
 
 [View of the base of the brain, front portion of the spinal marrow, and 
 several attached nerves : a, cerebrum (large brain) ; b, cerebellum (little 
 brain, which is lower and posterior than the other) ; c, spinal marrow ; j 
 medulla oblongata, the so-called bulging spinal marrow which swells out 
 as it enters the brain; 1, the nerves of 6mell ; 2, nerves of sight; 3, 4, 5, 
 6, nerves going to different parts of the head, of no particular interest in 
 this place ; 7 is related to the nerves of hearing ; 8, 9, nerves going to the 
 tongue and gullet, etc.] 
 
58 MOTION AND SENSATION. 
 
 Those of the lower extremities, k k, unite in distinct 
 bundles before entering the spine ; proceeding upward, 
 we find nerve after nerve running into the back-bone, 
 through holes bored for their reception, as n, c\ /, g, z, 
 show the nerves as they come from the superior extrem- 
 ities, or arms ; m, those of the neck, etc. The spinal 
 canal is already filled when the nerves enter it by two 
 kinds of nervous matter, the white and the grey; the 
 latter is supposed to be the origin of sensation and mo- 
 tion, as we invariably find, by tracing the nerves to 
 their terminations, that they end in it ; and we know the 
 nerves are nothing more than communicating media. 
 
 Lady. By your course of reason, I would conclude 
 that cutting the nerve of a part, before it entered 
 the grey matter, would destroy all sensibility in that 
 part. 
 
 Doctor. And motion as well. All distinct masses 
 of the grey matter in the body are termed ganglia ; 
 the spinal cord, from its lowest part till some distance 
 upward in the neck, is composed of two ganglia, sensa- 
 tion and motion. With regard to cutting the nerves, 
 that has been done so often, and so invariably with the 
 same result, that it has become an established point in 
 science, of no sensation of any kind existing, except as 
 connected with a superior essence. Sensation in the 
 lower animal seems even on a par with their intelli- 
 gence. The gadfly, Dr. Good remarks, when it fastens 
 on the hand, can be cut to pieces without its experiencing 
 any apparent pain ; and the idea of Shakespeare has 
 been long ago exploded — that 
 
 -" the poor worm thou tread'st on, 
 
 In corporeal suffering, feels a pang as great 
 A» when a giant dies/' 
 
SPINAL CORD. 
 
 59 
 
 The nerve of sensation, and that of motion, are bound 
 in the same sheath, till within a short distance of the 
 spinal cord ; they then separate, and each enters its 
 own ganglion. This cut shows a front section of the 
 spinal cord and nerves : — 
 
 SPINAL CORD AND NERVES. 
 
 A represents the spinal cord ; B, the united nerves : 
 C, the branch for motion, travelling alone ; D, that of 
 sensation, which always thickens into a knot in its 
 progress before entering its ganglion. 
 
 At the upper part of the spinal marrow, we find a 
 series of ganglia in pairs, one set behind the other, in 
 regular order, and always found in the same relations to 
 their parts ; these are the ganglia of the special senses. 
 So much has observation been directed to these points, 
 and so true and unvarying is nature, that, by examining 
 the size of the ganglia of the animal, we can tell the 
 degree of perfection the several senses have attained. 
 In the eagle, we find the optic ganglion large ; in the 
 hound, the olfactory ; in the rabbit, the auditory; and ii> 
 all instances, the same re?u t holds. 
 
60 
 
 SIDE VIEW OF THE BRAIN. 
 
 The nerves supplying the teeth come from the thira 
 branch of the five pair marked in the side view 5". 
 
 V^.5 
 
 SIDE VIEW OP THE BEAIN. 
 
 (.The numerals correspond to those in the cut of the cerebro-spinal 
 axis. The tree-like and branchy appearance of the cerebellum, or lesser 
 brain, is well shown.] 
 
 Many of the lower animals have only two ganglia, 
 sensation and motion ; as we ascend the scale, and find 
 animals possessed of special senses, so do we find the 
 corresponding ganglia present ; still ascending, we find 
 a new pair of ganglia, w T hich I will denominate those of 
 instinctive intelligence ; for, in proportion as the 
 animal exhibits marks of intelligence, do these ganglia 
 increase in size, and the enlargement gives shape to the 
 skull. So small is this in some animals, that they have 
 a perfectly flat skull on a line with the spine. As we 
 still ascend the scale, it continually enlarges, and the 
 
TRA EMIGRATION. 61 
 
 skull protrudes above the spinal column, as may be seen 
 in the dog and horse. 
 
 In man, the ganglia of instinctive intelligence — or, 
 according to Coleridge, of understanding — is out of all 
 proportion, as regards size, to the others ; it covers 
 them all, its bulging in front forming the forehead. 
 
 Lady. One might find some excuse, in what you are 
 saying, for the eastern ideas of transmigration ; a con- 
 stant and perfect ascent from the very lowest germ of 
 life to man would give rise to some ideas of its being 
 one identical spirit — an immortal being undergoing its 
 education for eternity, and, in the highest and last stage 
 of material maturity, preparing for its future spiritual 
 existence. 
 
 Doctor. You will be much surprised to find that the 
 brain of the child before birth is not the miniature brain 
 of the man ; but, on the contrary, rises, as you have just 
 guessed, from the lowest to the highest, passing through 
 the grades of animated existence till it arrives at its 
 present state in man, and even then continues growing, 
 if cultivated, as many well-attested cases have fully 
 demonstrated. The head of Napoleon, after he became 
 emperor, was much larger than it was some years pre- 
 vious ; a fact shown by two busts of him, now at Paris, 
 taken at different periods. 
 
 A Scotch gentleman once informed me that the eldest 
 son among the aristocracy of Great Britain is titled 
 from birth, and, at the death of his father, receives the 
 honors of the deceased without any delay ; but that 
 with the heir to the throne it was entirely different — he 
 must be made a knight, a baron, an earl, etc. ; gradual 
 and successive steps giving him rank — the laws, unless 
 these preliminaries are observed, declaring him without 
 6 
 
62 TUANSMC6EAT )N 
 
 any. I have never made inquiry to know whether this 
 matter was so or not, but, at any rate, it illustrates 
 the stages of the lords of creation, as they style them- 
 selves. 
 
 Lady. You have destroyed transmigration, as there 
 could be no occasion of letracing the steps if once gone 
 over, 
 
CONVERSATION IV, 
 
 DOUBLE LIFE OF MAN. 
 
 Doctor. You will remember the care of the life 
 power, when first excited, to complete all the arrange- 
 ments required in nutrition. These arrangements are 
 called by anatomists the organs of vegetable or organic 
 life : such are the stomach, liver, heart, arteries, veins, 
 kidneys, etc. Another set is required for the soul : the 
 organs composing it are called the organs of animal 
 life : such are the brain and voluntary muscles. 
 
 Lady. To recall your former comparison, every thing 
 that relates to keeping the house in good order, and feed- 
 ing its inmates, would belong to the vegetable organs, 
 while the animal are devoted to obeying the commands 
 of the soul. 
 
 Doctor. You comprehend my meaning. The appa- 
 ratus in animals that pertains to nutrition, though indi- 
 rectly influenced by the brain, is a system within itself, 
 having its own set of nerves and ganglia. Its ganglia 
 differ from those of animal life, in being of a reddish 
 grey color, and lying among the soft parts ; they are 
 distributed from the orbit of the eye to the lower part 
 of the back bone, and have a grand centre or brain, 
 called the semi-lunar ganglion, which lies behind the 
 stomach. 
 
 So sparsely are the nerves of sensation given to the 
 organs of vegetable life, that, in surgical operations 
 there is little or no pain felt after the skin is cut. Har 
 
64 SEPARATION OF LIVES. 
 
 vey, tne demonstrator of the circulation of the blood, 
 was acquainted with a young nobleman who, from dis- 
 ease, had the heart so exposed that it could even be 
 handled while beating : he found, to his astonishment, 
 that unless his fingers came in contact with the outer 
 skin, the young man was altogether unconscious of the 
 heart »being touched. 
 
 The cut on page 65 shows the ganglionic system of 
 organic life. A A A A is the semi-lunar ganglion, or 
 brain of the system ; the letters and numerals name the 
 different ganglia from the organs they superintend, 
 need not mention all these, my object being only to give . 
 a general idea of the two lives, vegetable (organic) 
 and animal, that belong to our system. 
 
 Lady. Has a distinct separation ever taken place be- 
 tween the two sets of organs, so that one acted while 
 the other was quiescent ? 
 
 Doctor. Yes; and quite enough to prove that the 
 body and the mind can exist independently of each 
 other. In concussion of the brain, sensation, thought, 
 and locomotion, the functions of animal life, are entirely 
 passive, while the organic continue with the usual ac- 
 tivity and regularity. Sleep, which I will refer to again 
 in a short time, affords a less striking instance. 
 
 Dr. Good remarks that in cases of suspended anima- 
 tion, by hanging, drowning, or catalepsy, the vital prin- 
 ciple continues attached to the body after all the vital 
 functions cease to act, often for half an hour, and some- 
 times for hours. In the year 1769, Mr. John Hunter, 
 being then forty-one years of age, of a sound constitu- 
 tion, and subject to no disease except a casual fit of the 
 gout, was suddenly attacked with a pain in the stomach, 
 which was shortly succeeded by a total suspension of 
 
GANGLIONIC SYSTEM. 
 
 65 
 
 GANGLIONIC SYSTEM OF VEGETABLE LIFS- 
 
66 VOLUNTARY TRANCE. 
 
 the action of the heart and lungs. Bv the pwer of the 
 will, or rather by violent striving, he occasionally in- 
 flated the lungs, but over the heart he had no control 
 whatever; nor, though he was attended by four of the 
 chief physicians of London from the first, could the ac- 
 tion of either be restored by medicine. In about three- 
 quarters of an hour, however, the vital actions began to 
 return of their own accord, and in two hours he was 
 perfectly recovered. Sir Everard Home observed that 
 in the attack there was a suspension of the most mate- 
 rial involuntary actions ; even involuntary breathing 
 was stopped, while sensation, with its consequences, as 
 thinking and acting, with the will, were perfect, and all 
 the voluntary actions were as strong as ever. 
 
 Dendy mentions cases in which this power of discon- 
 nection was voluntary. Colonel Townsend's case was 
 one of undoubted authority. That officer was able to 
 suspend the action of both his heart and lungs, after 
 which he became motionless, icy cold, and rigid, a glassy 
 film overspreading his eyes. As there was no breathing, 
 the glass held over his mouth showed no apparent mois- 
 ture. Though all consciousness would pass away, yet 
 the colonel could re-animate himself when he chose. 
 Dr. Cleghorn relates the case of a man who could stop 
 the pulse at his wrist, and reduce himself to the condi- 
 tion of fainting by his will. 
 
 Though it is only in rare cases that the will has any 
 power over the nutritive organism, yet the emotions 
 always exercise a very considerable influence. Every 
 one has experienced the manner in which ill news spoils 
 the appetite. Some cases of the effects of imagination, 
 in producing fear, and thus exciting disease, we have 
 already reviewed, but a few more will not be out of 
 
FATAL EFFECTS OF JOY. 6? 
 
 place here. Platerus tells us of some girls playing near 
 a gibbet, when one of them threw stones at a criminal 
 suspended on it. Being violently struck, the body 
 swung, and the girl, believing it was alive, and was de- 
 scending from the gibbet, fell into violent convulsions 
 and died. 
 
 Wescloff was detained as a hostage by the Kalmucs, 
 and was carried along with them in the memorable 
 flight to China. His widowed mother had mourned him 
 as dead, and on his sudden return, the excess of joy was 
 fatal instantaneously. In the year 1544, the Jewish 
 pirate, Sinamus TafFurus, was lying in a port of the Red 
 Sea called Orsenoe, and was preparing for war, being 
 then at variance with the Portuguese. While he was 
 there, he received the unexpected intelligence that his 
 son (who, in the seige of Tunis, had been made prisoner 
 by Barbarossa, and by him doomed to slavery,) was 
 suddenly ransomed and coming to his aid with seven 
 ships well armed. He was immediately struck as if 
 with apoplexy, and expired on the spot. The same 
 effect was produced upon the door-keeper of Congress 
 during the revolution, who, on hearing the news of a vic- 
 tory won by his countrymen, fell back and expired in 
 ecstacy. 
 
 Lady. I suppose it is in the ganglion of the under- 
 standing that phrenologists map the seats of the various 
 properties of the mind. 
 
 Doctor. It is : they say that if there are separate 
 ganglia for the special senses, which are, after all, but 
 mere modifications of general sensibility, why should 
 not the same plan hold good in locating the different 
 properties of the mind, which may be called the special 
 senses of the understanding ; and the anatomical analo- 
 
68 THE BRAIN. 
 
 gies favor this view. It had been said, before phrenol- 
 ogy was known, that the faculty by which the astrono- 
 mer calculated eclipses was as distinct in his mind, and 
 oreserved its individuality as much, as the eye in his 
 body. 
 
 Lady. It would also account for the influence of 
 habit, our constant pursuit of one object fostering the 
 germ of an organ to maturity. What is the brain 
 made of? 
 
 Doctor. Its chemical constitution is principally al- 
 bumen. It is formed of an immense number of arteries, 
 veins, and nerves. Dr. Gall was the first to completely 
 unravel its complex web, which he was enables, to do 
 after hardening its substance by long-continued boiling 
 in oil. 
 
 Lady. The ancients must have been aware, as well 
 as ourselves, that the height and prominence of the 
 forehead were the distinguishing traits of a high degree 
 of intelligence, w r hen they made the foreheads of the 
 gods bulge out beyond an angle of ninety degrees. 
 
 Doctor. They were as close observers as ourselves, 
 and I am inclined to think knew almost as much. 
 Nearly in the centre of the brain is a substance, com- 
 monly about the size of a pea, called the pineal body, 
 which Galen considered to be the seat of the soul : an 
 idea that has been much ridiculed. But an attentive 
 ^iudy of the brain has convinced me of the truth of 
 Galen's supposition ; for it has communication, by means 
 of nerves, with the most important ganglia. And I 
 think it reasonable to suppose the soul occupying a 
 superior and independent position, overlooking and gov- 
 erning the inferior powers ; and precisely such a posi- 
 tion would be obtained >y a residence in the pineal 
 
SEAT OF THE SOUL. 69 
 
 body ; this opinion is confirmed by the fact, that in idiots 
 its means of communication are mostly cut off and 
 injured. 
 
 Lady. Can disease of the body injure the soul ? 
 
 Doctor. Only by acting on its means of communica 
 tion with the external world. We have considered the 
 soul to resemble a man shut up in a dark and central 
 chamber of his house ; he has servants stationed at the 
 windows who tell him what they see ; an apparatus, 
 also superintended by servants, is fixed on each side of 
 his house, to collect sounds, which are then reported ; 
 and the other senses communicate in the same manner. 
 Cut off from all personal observation, he can only judge 
 of the outward world from his messengers ; when these 
 are true to their office, and the full growth of the brain 
 is attained, man is in complete possession of all his fac- 
 ulties ; if he does not become eminent then, he never 
 will. For many years his messengers have been im- 
 parting news ; and the time has come when they should 
 work up and mentally digest all this material. Knowl- 
 edge digested becomes wisdom. For this purpose, the 
 avenues gradually close ; the servants become old and 
 inactive ; and at last — " sans hearing, sight, and taste" — 
 his communications with the external world are at 
 an end ; he then moves around — a walking vegetable. 
 Where nature's laws are allowed free operation, we 
 never find abrupt transitions ; all rises by a gradually 
 ascending scale ; and as man bids adieu to this world, 
 another begins opening to his view, and the soul be- 
 comes gradually accustomed to its future mode of 
 existence. 
 
 Lady. While on this subject, I would like to know if 
 we have two brains ? 
 
70 THEOtY OF INSANITY. 
 
 Doctor. Yes. Dr. Wigans has lately written a very 
 interesting book on the subject: he argues, that as we 
 have duplicates of all the organs of animal life- — such 
 as the eyes, ears, etc. — and as each of these produces a 
 distinct and separate impression on the orain, and were 
 so made the better to render us able to judge of, ana 
 correct, erroneous impressions, by comparing the effect 
 of each, so the duality of the brain was intended for the 
 same purpose. 
 
 Lady. I can easily conceive why the senses shoulc 
 be double, as I have seen persons who were deaf in one 
 ear, and from that cause could not tell the direction 
 from whence the sounds they heard proceeded. The 
 experiment, cited by Abercrombie, of placing a cent on 
 the edge of a table, and standing at the extreme distance 
 from the table to be enabled to knock it off with ease, 
 with both eyes open, by means of the finger when the 
 arm is stretched out — and the certain failure attending 
 'he effort when one eye is closed — would prove the ne- 
 cessity of two optical organs. 
 
 Doctor. Dr. Wigans argues, in relation to the brain, 
 in a similar manner, and thus accounts very ingeniously 
 for all stages of insanity. He says, that as there are 
 two brains, and each receives from its nerves a distinct 
 impression, both, provided they are healthy, will convey 
 a correct and single report to the soul ; but if diseased, 
 a very different and conflicting account reaches it, and 
 acting first on one, and then on the other, produces 
 insanity, more or less complete in accordance with 
 the amount of disease. He makes a madman, in this 
 sense, most truly, a " man beside himself" — who holds 
 series of conversations with himself, which, if the sep- 
 arate trains were followed out, we should find consistent 
 
SLEEP. 71 
 
 in themselves. Let us ailow the seat of the soul to be 
 the pineal body, and the theory of Dr. Wigans will be 
 verified. 
 
 Lady. Insanity, then, might be considered, in this 
 light, as a squinting of the brains ! 
 
 Doctor. I am glad to perceive you understand the 
 ^lustrations. We are now very near to our sick devo- 
 
 ees in the Egyptian temples. But I must first make a 
 few remarks on the functions of the brain. The office 
 of this organ is to secrete the nervous fluid, by means of 
 which the mind holds communication with, and directs, 
 all the parts to which it is connected by nerves. Though 
 the organs of vegetable "life have a ganglionic and ner- 
 vous system of their own, still many fibres from the 
 Drain and spinal marrow are sent to them, and, as in 
 
 he case of the emotions, a powerful though indirect 
 influence is exerted upon them. So long as we have 
 a supply of the nervous fluid, sensation, thought, and 
 locomotion (the functions of animal life), are in vigorous 
 exercise ; but the moment the supply becomes deficient 
 or ceases, a partial or total failure of these powers, 
 depending on the quantity, is the direct result, and 
 slumber succeeds, to allow more of the necessary arti- 
 cle to be secreted. Whatever acts on the irritability 
 of the brain, so as to change or alter the nervous se- 
 cretion, acts in a corresponding manner on all the 
 parts to which the changed fluid is carried by the 
 nerves. 
 
 The optic and auditory nerves are the principal ser- 
 vants that wait on the mind in conveying news. The 
 eye and ear resemble each other in being instruments 
 for the purpose of condensing vibrations, to make them 
 sufficiently intense to produce impressions on their sep- 
 
12 SPECIAL, SENSES DISPENSED WITH. 
 
 arate nerves, so that messages can be carried to the 
 inner chamber. 
 
 Lady. Is light produced by vibrations, as well as 
 sound 1 I have always considered it to be composed 
 of particles of matter. 
 
 Doctor. It is now proved to be merely the vibra- 
 tions of an ether existing throughout all space, and 
 capable of being excited by luminous bodies. 
 
 Lady. If the optic nerve were uncovered, then we 
 might do without the eye, as the vibrations of light 
 would alone suffice to produce distinct images. 
 
 Doctor. We need not have recourse to so violent a 
 mode of reaching the special senses, which even then 
 would require something more to insure success. The 
 material in ordinary life has the preponderance ; but we 
 are so formed that the spiritual in certain cases may ob- 
 tain the balance of power; in proportion as the latter 
 gains the ascendency do the servants become more 
 active and easily impressible, till at length a point is 
 reached where the apparatus for condensation can be en- 
 tirely dispensed with. In this state, the vibrations of 
 light that strike on the bony covering of the head will 
 find the nervous matter behind it sensitive enough to 
 convey impressions to the sensorium. This state is com- 
 monly termed that of clairvoyance. 
 
 Lady. Can we, in any case, ever hear sounds without 
 the ear ? 
 
 Doctor. Easily ; and it does not require any prepa- 
 ration to produce that effect. Hold your watch in such 
 a manner inside the mouth that nothing is touched, and 
 no sound will be heard ; but by closing the teeth on it a 
 loud ticking can be instantly perceived. The sounc 1 
 travels through the bony structure to the auditory nerves 
 
NERVOUS FLUID. 73 
 
 Lady. You certainly present proof sufficient ; it is as 
 ^ou say. This reminds me of a story I read some years 
 ago about a merchant in Holland, who had not heard a 
 sound for years, till once, while smoking, the end of his 
 pipe accidentally touched a harpsichord, on which his 
 daughter was playing ; to his astonishment, he was con- 
 scious of the music even to the lowest tones, and he 
 afterwards found that he could converse with any of his 
 family through the medium of a stick supported by the 
 teeth of each. 
 
 Doctor. As nature does nothing abruptly, the ascen- 
 sion of the spiritual over the material is gradual. The 
 influence that produces it in fascination is the nervous 
 fluid or vapor thrown off from the person operating. 
 This vapor acts upon the irritability of the patient ; by 
 sympathy it is transmitted to the brain; the secretion of 
 that organ is changed ; and the altered nervous fluid it is 
 making when sent to the various parts over which it has 
 influence by the nerves, produces a series of results 
 called fascinating phenomena. 
 
 Lady. Does not the loss of this fluid injure the fasci- 
 nator ? 
 
 Doctor. In some cases it does, but there are many 
 so gifted as to impart it without danger. A sensation 
 of weakness ensues, which soon vanishes by a new sup- 
 ply of fluid from the continued secretion of the brain. 
 It is the patient that runs the greatest risk, for many per- 
 sons take the office upon themselves without any ability 
 to discharge its duties properly, and much trouble often 
 ensues in consequence. So well is this understood, that 
 in Prussia it is a criminal offence for any but physicians 
 to operate. Cases have occurred, under my notice, in 
 which the chest has been paralyzed ; in others, incessant 
 7 
 
74 FIRST STAGE. 
 
 vomiting produced, and convulsions ha^e been very 
 common. Its true mode of action should be thoroughly 
 understood before it is practised, and then only by the 
 order and in the presence of the physician himself. 
 
 Lady. It is divided into stages, is it not ? 
 
 Doctor. Yes, into six, each of which are again sub- 
 divided into six others, making thirty-six in all. 
 
 The first stage seems a mere quickening of the senses ; 
 it is characterized by a sensation of coolness, and a feel- 
 ing of more wakefulness than before. In your own case, 
 at this point, you felt, I remember, rather more uneasy 
 than before I commenced ; but, in another instance, I 
 was told by the patient that it was impossible to operate 
 on him, so much was his mind filled with the idea of a 
 necessity of going to sleep in being fascinated. I had 
 doubted his susceptibility up to the moment he spoke, 
 but I was then convinced I was affecting him ; and, in 
 fact, he was soon insensible. The quickening of the 
 senses is often shown without the agency of fascination, 
 as in fever, when the slightest noise will disturb a man, 
 whom, in health, the explosion of a cannon would not 
 move. 
 
 Lady. I have often felt so. Last week I had a severe 
 headache, and could not endure any motion whatever 
 around me, and, if I was touched by accident, was in 
 absolute pain. 
 
 Doctor. An extraordinary class of phenomena owes its 
 existence to a peculiar development of this susceptibility 
 I mean what is commonly called idiosyncracies, or pecu- 
 liarities. I have heard Professor Revere speak of a 
 lady who lived in a state of agony during the flowering 
 season of plants ; the pollen floating in the atmosphere 
 acted upon her irritability in such a manner as to pro- 
 
IDIOSYNCRASY. 75 
 
 duce serious disease, realizing in her own experience 
 Pope's idea of 
 
 " Quick effluvia darting through the brain, 
 Die of a rose in aromatic pain ;" 
 
 and, strange to say, his lines on more refined sensibility 
 and its consequences, have all been verified in this stage. 
 Some men cannot endure the presence, or even proxi 
 mity, of a cat ; others abhor cheese. Stepping into a 
 friend's store one evening, while his clerk was absent, to 
 procure some ipecac, I was requested to weigh it out 
 myself, and replace the bottle on the shelf; should he do 
 it, he said, it would cause him a week's illness. And 
 this seems, too, an instinctive precaution, warning the 
 system against unseen evil, and to disregard which 
 would be dangerous. The friends of a young lady hav- 
 ing tried in vain to induce her to eat cheese, enclosed a 
 very small quantity in some cake, which she swallowed 
 without suspicion ; an alarming and long continued ill- 
 ness was the result. 
 
 The sense of dullness, felt in the first, stage in- 
 creases, and the pulse begins to rise rapidly ; the 
 second stage continues but a short time, and finally 
 ushers in the third, which is denoted by a dreamy and 
 triumphant state of feeling. If any pain exists it now 
 ceases, and the eyes close beyond the power of the will 
 to open. The closure of the eyelids is, beyond doubt, 
 caused by fixing the eyes so steadily on an object as to 
 exhaust their nervous power. Mr. Braid, of Manches- 
 ter, England, has proved this fact ; he considers that it 
 will account for all the phenomena of fascination. His 
 writings, however, demonstrate exhaustion in a most 
 incontestible manner, but they most assuredly do nothing 
 else ; it was labor lost, the facts being well known long 
 
76 FOURTH AND FIFTH STAGES. 
 
 before, and never doubted. Your personal experience 
 only reaches this stage. 
 
 Lady. Is it possible to produce curative effects with- 
 out reaching the third stage ? 
 
 Doctor. The second and even first, when thus artifi- 
 cially induced, will often have a beneficial influence. 
 But it is a difficult matter to mark out and separate these 
 stages, closure of the eye not being sufficient evidence, 
 for it may not occur at all. I heard this morning of a 
 man who had three teeth drawn while in one of these 
 stages, and was shown the teeth. The fascinator, after 
 trying several times to close his eyes without success, 
 undertook to draw the teeth. Though at other times 
 exceedingly sensitive, the man from whom they were 
 drawn did not experience the slightest pain. 
 
 As the fourth stage is approached, rigidity of the mus- 
 cles can be induced ; the body and limbs may be fixed 
 in the most strange and painful attitudes without causing 
 any pain, and thus continue any length of time. Ar- 
 rived at the fourth, sensation totally ceases ; and a cata- 
 leptic state intervenes. Surgical operations can now be 
 performed without pain, or the knowledge of the patient. 
 The nervous system undergoes a remarkable change ; 
 either the white matter is not capable of carrying, or the 
 grey of receiving, ordinary impressions. 
 
 The fourth is the highest state that man can induce 
 by artificial means ; but some persons are so peculiarly 
 constituted as to continue ascending. As they near 
 the fifth, clairvoyance becomes fully manifest. Pass- 
 ing the fifth, the spiritual obtains the entire predomi- 
 nance, and the things of the invisible world are displayed 
 with more or less clearness, in proportion as they verge 
 on the sixth, which is death. 
 
ANGEL OF DEATH. 77 
 
 Lady. Fascination seems to me to be a separation 
 between our animal and vegetable lives. As the ties 
 that bind the animal to earth are loosening, it gains 
 vigor and power ; and qualities, the germ of which we 
 have only been enabled faintly to discern below, ex- 
 pand to their full proportion, giving rich promise of 
 future capability. 
 
 Doctor. True : and at the sixth, the separation of 
 soul and body is completed, and the corruptible puts on 
 incorruption, and the mortal immortality. 
 
 Lady. Then perhaps the final separation of soul and 
 body is accomplished by an angel fascinating us, and 
 death's cold dart be, after all, a pass from a superior 
 being. As I review the wonders I have just heard, it 
 appears to me exceeding strange that so minute a cause 
 as a pass in fascination should produce such astonishing 
 results. 
 
 Doctor. It is a very difficult matter to tell what small 
 causes are. A little yeast, mixed with a thousand gal- 
 lons of malt infusion, will make the whole ferment. A 
 grain of calomel will sometimes alter the irritability of 
 the whole system. Why, then, should not the most 
 highly organized product in our bodies, acting, too, with 
 every advantage on the most sensitive powers of anoth- 
 er, produce a strange effect ? 
 
 But to return to our patients in the goat skins ; you 
 will have no trouble now, I presume, in understanding 
 how it was that they had peculiar visions ; for, if my 
 supposition of Satan first moving men to the discovery 
 of fascination be true, nothing can be more rational than 
 to suppose he also appeared, or some of his demons, 
 assuming the form of Esculapius, and prescribing the 
 proper remedies for diseases. Though it must have 
 7* 
 
78 EMPEROR JULIAN. 
 
 caused him considerable chagrin to relieve pain, and in 
 any way promote human happiness, still it hacK the ad- 
 vantage of increasing the faith of his devotees, and the 
 number of his followers. That Satan exercised a direct 
 influence on the mind of the emperor Julian is evident, 
 by his deadly hatred of all that pertained to our Saviour, 
 and his mad attempt to refute his prediction in relation 
 to the Jewish temple. Indeed, Julian himself tells us 
 that, when sick, he had often been cured by Esculapius 
 pointing out the proper remedies as he slept in that god ? s 
 temple. 
 
 It would be an easy matter to fill volumes with proofs 
 taken from the early history of the ancient nations ; 
 proofs, too, which show, in the most convincing manner, 
 that fascination was universally known and practised by 
 the priests of the temples ; and that it was principally 
 in this way they were enabled to retain their power and 
 influence over the people. Even Origen tells us that in 
 his day vast multitudes flocked to the temples of Escu- 
 lapius for relief from infirmities ; and distinctly intimates 
 that many remarkable cures were really performed. A 
 few instances from these early times are all we can con- 
 sider at present. 
 
 Charles Radclyffe Hall gives to Apollonius Tyanneus 
 the palm as a mesmerizer. He seems to have been a 
 man of prodigious fascinating power, and was not only 
 famous for curing diseases, and his powers of clairvoy- 
 ance, but also in foretelling events. While delivering a 
 public lecture at Ephesus, in the midst of a large assem- 
 bly, he saw the emperor Domitian being murdered at 
 Rome; and it was proved, to the satisfaction of all, that 
 while the murder was performing, he described every 
 circumstance attending it to the crowd, and announced 
 
HIPPOCRATES. 79 
 
 the very instant in which the tyrant was slain. It is 
 recorded, that so great was his nervous influence, that 
 his mere presence, without uttering a single word, was 
 sufficient to quell popular tumults. 
 
 Pythagoras, also, ranks high, and not undeservedly. 
 After receiving his education in Egypt, he ever after 
 assumed the dress of a priest of Isis. It is related of 
 him that he could give relief from any pain or disease ; 
 his method consisted in passing the hands slowly over 
 the body, beginning with the head, retaining them for 
 some time at a little distance from the place of disease. 
 In common w T ith the philosophers of his day, he veiled 
 the real means of relief under the form of an incanta- 
 tion ; for, while fascinating, he kept continually uttering 
 magical words. His power over the lower animals 
 must also have been considerable ; he is said to have 
 tamed a furious bear, prevented an ox from eating 
 beans, and stopped an eagle in its flight. 
 
 Hippocrates, the father of medicine, was not himself 
 entirely free from the wish to keep this means of cure 
 secret. He informs us that there are two distinct 
 parts in the practice of medicine — the common, such 
 as young herbs, and the secret ; which latter must only 
 be divulged to particular persons, who are in favor 
 with superior powers. He mentions, that when the 
 eyes are closed, there are times in which the soul can 
 discern diseases in the body ; and also that the light we 
 derive from dreams is a gieat help in our progress to 
 wisdom. 
 
CONVERSATION V. 
 
 SPIRITUAL STATES. 
 
 Lady. 1 am glad to see you this morning, Doctor. 
 I wanted to ask you if cases ever occurred, in our day, 
 of persons seeing the spiritual world. I remember 
 your remark of the celestial gates, in Mansoul, being 
 closed, but they were not taken away; why, then, 
 should they not be occasionally opened in the nineteenth 
 century, as well as the first ? 
 
 Doctor. A little research will convince you that 
 such cases are anything but uncommon : that of William 
 Tennant, a Presbyterian clergyman, of Brunswick, New 
 Jersey, is well known, and of undoubted truth. 
 
 He tells us, that while conversing with his brother on 
 the state of his soul, and the fears he entertained for his 
 future welfare, he found himself, in an instant, in another 
 state of existence, under the direction of a superior 
 Being, who ordered him to follow. He was imme- 
 diately wafted along, he knew not how, till he beheld, 
 at a distance, an ineffable glory, the impression of 
 which he found it impossible to communicate to mortal 
 man. "I immediately reflected on my happy change, 
 and thought, Well, blessed be God ! I am safe at last, 
 notwithstanding all my fears. I saw an innumerable 
 host of happy beings, surrounding the inexpressible 
 glory, in acts of adoration and joyous worship ; but I 
 did not see any bodily shape or representation in the 
 glorious appearance. I heard things unutterable. I 
 
TRANCE OF TENNANT. 81 
 
 heard their songs and hallelujahs of thanksgiving and 
 praise, with unspeakable rapture. I felt joy unutterable 
 and full of glory. I then applied to my conductor, and 
 requested leave to join the happy throng ; on which he 
 tapped me on the shoulder, and said, ' You must return 
 to earth.' This seemed like a sword through my heart. 
 In an instant, I recollect to have seen my brother dis- 
 puting with the doctor. The three days during which 
 I had appeared lifeless, seemed to be of not more than 
 ten or twenty minutes. The idea of returning to this 
 world of sorrow and trouble gave me such a shock that 
 I fainted repeatedly. Such was the effect on my mind 
 of what I had seen and heard, that if it be possible for 
 a human being to live entirely above the world and the 
 things of it, for some time afterward I was that person. 
 The ravishing sound of the songs and hallelujahs that I 
 heard, and the very words that were uttered, were not 
 out of my ears for at least three years. All the king- 
 doms of the earth were, in my sight, as nothing and 
 vanity ; and so great were my ideas of heavenly glory, 
 that nothing which did not, in some measure, relate to 
 it, could command my serious attention." 
 
 So numerous are the cases of this kind of experience, 
 that time would not be profitably occupied in consider- 
 ing them ; but it will be well to dwell a moment on 
 another class, of opposite character, which is not less 
 frequent. 
 
 I have often seen men who, after a prolonged indul- 
 gence in every species of wickedness and blasphemy, 
 have suddenly experienced a change, which gave the 
 spiritual, in their system, the predominating influence. 
 At such times they become aware of the presence of 
 the devils, who \y acting upon the corruptions of their 
 
82 DELIRIUM TREMENS. 
 
 hearts, have been successfully engaged in tempting 
 them to sin. 
 
 More heart-rending pictures than these, of agony and 
 distress, are seldom or never witnessed. They have 
 many times described to me the shapes and gestures of 
 their tormentors, and the unholy thoughts they were 
 endeavoring to instil into their minds. While speaking 
 to me, they would often be seized with a frenzy of fear, 
 and would close the eyelids, and cover them with their 
 hands, in a vain attempt to shut out the horrible spec- 
 tacle. An urgent desire to commit suicide in some 
 violent manner is generally felt, and mnny find it im- 
 possible to resist the temptation. Multitudes, in this 
 way, are lost every year. I should remark, here, tha 
 delirium tremens can be produced in many ways with- 
 out the use of alcohol, as by tobacco and opium. 
 
 We are thus enabled to trace, in a measure, the deal 
 ings of heaven with our fallen race. The good man 
 worn down by disease and grief, as was Tennant, is not 
 allowed to despair ; his heart is cheered, and he is en- 
 couraged to persevere by a view of the mansions pre- 
 pared for him when his toils and troubles are ended 
 below. The bad man is suddenly arrested in his career 
 of wickedness, by withdrawing the veil that covers 
 invisible things, and is thus shown his prompters in 
 vice, and the future companions he must assoc 'ate with 
 in eternity, whose torments he must share if he continues 
 in the way of destruction. Happily, in some a change 
 is produced. I know one to whom the warning sufficed, 
 and who, at the present time, is serving under the ban- 
 ners of the Prince of Peace. 
 
 Lady. And this accounts exactly for the manner in 
 which Elisha's servant, that you mentioned some time 
 
HEATHEN FASCINATORS. 88 
 
 since, had his eyes opened. When Elisha prayed, 
 " Lord, I pray thoe, open his eyes," he must have meant 
 the spiritual ones ; for the others could discern the sur- 
 rounding danger. I suppose the Saviour and his apos- 
 tles and prophets performed the miracles recorded in 
 Scripture by means of great endowments of fascinating 
 power. 
 
 Doctor. On the contrary, there is so broad a line 
 of distinction drawn between the power of performing 
 miracles, and that of fascinating, that it seems impious 
 to confound the two. 
 
 The difference between the heathen fascinators and 
 the priests of Jehovah was well shown when they finally 
 failed to compete with Moses in showing wonders, and 
 were forced at the last to exclaim, " This is the finger 
 of God." 
 
 Passing Balaam and the prophets of Baal, who com- 
 peted with Elijah, let us examine the witch of Endor. 
 Artificially inducing clairvoyance, and thus holding in- 
 tercourse with familiar spirits, was punishable by death 
 in Israel. 
 
 Lady. I would ask if you think the woman fascinated 
 Saul? 
 
 Doctor. By no means; the whole scene in the 19th 
 chapter of Samuel has its counterpart in many a similar 
 transaction of the present day. A friend of mine once 
 wishing to obtain intelligence of a son who had been 
 dead about three years, went to the house of a clairvoy<- 
 ant. At his request I was present. The husband of 
 the clairvoyant put her to sleep, and, in a little time, she 
 announced the fact of her spiritual state, and soon after- 
 wards found the gentleman's son. Messages were given 
 and received by both parent and chile, through the me- 
 
84 WITCH OP ENDOR. 
 
 dium of the clairvoyant, and my friend departed satis- 
 fied : although I still felt incredulous. 
 
 When Saul entered the woman of Endor's house, the 
 latter was evidently unaware t: r his character ; and it was 
 only upon a strong pledge she consented to employ her 
 art. The moment she entered the clairvoyant state, 
 however, she was at once aware of the rank of her 
 guest, and exceedingly frightened at the consequences. 
 Our translation reads as if she was scared at Samuel, but 
 this was evidently not the case — witness the cry, " Why 
 hast thou deceived me? for thou art Saul." When, 
 after he had succeeded in tranquilizing her personal 
 fears, she gave the description of her spiritual visitant, 
 Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and bowed himself 
 to the ground. The conversation occurred through the 
 woman, who, on being awakened when it was finished, 
 had so little recollection of all the occurrences as to be 
 totally unaware of his rank, and persuade him to eat in 
 her house and recover his exhausted strength. 
 
 The manner in which the magicians were enabled 
 o foretell events is graphically shown in the 22nd 
 chapter of the first book of Kings : " I saw the Lord 
 sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing 
 by him on his right hand and on his left. And the Lord 
 said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and 
 fall at Ramoth-Gilead ? And one said in this manner, 
 and another said in that manner. And there came forth 
 a spirit and stood before the Lord, and said, I will per- 
 suade him. And the Lord said unto him, Wherewith ? 
 And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit 
 in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou 
 shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth and 
 do so/' 
 
NAAMAN AND ELISHA. 85 
 
 Of course, then, when the king, rejecting the adv ce of 
 Jehovah's minister, sought counsel of his own seers, 
 they gave him the revelations of the false familiar. 
 And it was not the only time evil befell man. when, " as 
 the sons of God came to present themselves before the 
 Lord, Satan came also amongst them." 
 
 When Naaman came to Elisha to be healed from his 
 leprosy, it was evidently with the expectation of visiting 
 a more powerful fascinator than any in his own country. 
 Elisha, to render him aware of his error, would not let 
 him enter the house, but as soon as the horses and cha- 
 riot stopped at his door, sent out a messenger, saying : 
 *' Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh 
 shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean." But 
 Naaman was wroth, and went away and said : " Behold, 
 I thought, he will surely come out to me, and stand and 
 call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike Ids 
 hand over the place, (in the context it reads, move his 
 hand up and down over the place), and recover the 
 leper." 
 
 Lady. I have always been struck with the narrative 
 myself, but your view explains the whole matter to my 
 entire satisfaction, and I do not wonder at the effect it 
 produced on Naaman' s mind, to cause him to renounce 
 his idolatry, when he returned cured out of the river, 
 after his servants persuaded him to obey the prophet's 
 injunction. 
 
 Doctor. These instances will show how totally out of 
 the power of all physiological explanations were the mir- 
 acles. I have before mentioned the accusation brought 
 against our Saviour of having gained his wonderful 
 powers by stealing magic secrets from the Egyptian 
 temples. Had those who preferred the charge been as 
 
86 CASTING OUT DEVILS. 
 
 open to conviction as the idolator Naaman, but little 
 observation would have convinced them of its ground- 
 lessness. 
 
 Lady. Did the magicians ever pretend to cast out 
 devils 1 
 
 Doctor. Our Saviour presumes that power in com- 
 mon use amongst them when he says, (Matt, xii., 27,) 
 in answer to their remark of his casting out devils by 
 the power of Beelzebub : "And if I by Beelzebub cast 
 out devils, by whom do your children cast them out ?" 
 Josephus accounts for this power in speaking of Solo- 
 mon, whose sagacity and wisdom he pronounces to ex- 
 ceed those of the ancients ; " insomuch that he was in 
 no way inferior to the Egyptians, who are said to have 
 been beyond all men in understanding ; nay, indeed it 
 was very evident that their sagacity was very much 
 inferior to that of the king's." "God also enabled him 
 to learn that skill which expels demons, which is a use- 
 ful science to men. He composed such incantations, 
 also, by which distempers are alleviated ; and left be- 
 hind him the manner of using exorcisms, by which they 
 drive away demons, so that they never return ; and 
 this method of cure is of great force until this day. 
 For I have seen a certain man of my own country, 
 whose name was Eleazar, releasing the people that were 
 demoniacal in the presence of Vespasian, and his sons, 
 and his captains, and the multitude of his soldiers ; and 
 the manner of the cure was this : he put a ring, that had 
 a root of one of those sorts mentioned by Solomon, to 
 the nostrils of the demoniac, after which he drew out 
 the demon through his nostrils ; and when the man fell 
 down, he adjured him to return unto him no more, mak- 
 ing still mention of Solomon, and reciting the incanta- 
 
FASCINATION LAWFUL. 87 
 
 tions which he composed. And when Eleazar would 
 demonstrate to the spectators that he had such a power, 
 he set a little way off a cup or basin full of water, and 
 commanded the demon as he went out of the man to 
 overturn it ; and thereby let the spectators know that 
 he had left the man. And, when this was done, the skill 
 and wisdom of Solomon were shown very clearly." 
 
 Lady. After all, the practice of divination was forbid- 
 den by the Jewish law, and the penalty was death. If 
 it deserved so severe a punishment in those days, how 
 can it be harmless in our own ? 
 
 Doctor. In former times, the higher powers of fas- 
 cination were universally abused, and made to subserve 
 idolatry. Those who practised it, sedulously kept the 
 people in perfect ignorance as to its real nature. Even 
 when fascinating, the priests continually chanted magic 
 verses, to which all the curative powers were ascribed. 
 Still it appears to have been lawful to use it for benevo- 
 lent purposes, as the physicians did not scruple to em- 
 ploy its influence for king David. 
 
 Lady. Casting out devils, from an account given in 
 Acts xix, 13, was not always attended with safety: 
 " Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took 
 upon themselves to call over them which had evil spi- 
 rits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you 
 by Jesus, whom Paul preacheth. And there were seven 
 sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which 
 did so ; and the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I 
 know, and Paul I know, but who are ye ? And the man 
 in whom the evil spirit was, leaped on them and over* 
 came them, and prevailed against them, so that they 
 fled out of that house naked and wounded." 
 
 Poctor. It was not only among the ancients that 
 
88 ROBERT COCHRAN. 
 
 false religions, based on assumptions and supported by 
 the pretended miracles of fascination, existed ; there is 
 quite as much of this kind of imposture prevalent in 
 modern times. 
 
 Some years ago, in the town of Saco, in Maine, lived 
 Robert Cochran, a man who, by pretending to a more 
 than ordinary share of inspiration — working wonders, 
 curing diseases by the laying on of hands, and other 
 apparent miracles — created a schism in the church to 
 which he belonged, drawing after him a ciowd of 
 zealous followers. Upon his death, as his mantle did 
 not descend to another, the society declined in numbers, 
 until, finally, nothing more was heard of the schismatics 
 for a long period. Some time afterward, when the sect 
 had nearly been forgotten, a man — who, it was known, 
 had many years before embraced Cochran's tenets, and 
 had, since then, lived a life of perfect seclusion — entered 
 the town on business. Passing by a lawyer's office, his 
 attention was attracted by a gentleman in it fascinating 
 the lawyer's son. He stood, transfixed with astonish- 
 ment, before the door, until the process was completed 
 and the boy asleep ; when he exclaimed aloud, " My 
 God ! that is the way in which Robert Cochran used to 
 give the Holy Ghost." 
 
 The Mormons rest their claims of being the true 
 church on the same basis : "Is any sick among you, let 
 him send for the elders of the church, and let them pray 
 over him, anointing hi\) with oil in the name of tho 
 Lord, and the praye r of faith shall save the sick man." 
 It is a notorious fact that the exhibition of this proof, as 
 they w T ish it to be supposed, of apostolic power, has been 
 the means of converting the majority of that deluded 
 sect. Some three years since. I attended a Mormon 
 
M0RM0NISM. Sf) 
 
 lady, who had disease of the heart, with marked suc- 
 cess. One day, while operating, an elder of the faith, 
 who stood by, remarked that I possessed the gift of lay- 
 ing on of hands. I paid very little attention to his 
 remark at the time ; but some weeks afterward, while 
 visiting a friend one evening, I heard a lady explaining 
 the tenets of Mormonism, and triumphantly quoting her 
 own case as an illustration of the fact of their possess- 
 ing apostolic power, more especially the gift of healing 
 by laying on of hands ; she had frequent attacks of 
 tic doloreux, and nothing except that rite of the Mormon 
 church had ever sufficed, for one moment, to alleviate 
 the pain. 
 
 She was speaking with considerable animation, and 
 had produced a powerful impression on the minds of 
 those present, but was suddenly arrested, in the midst 
 of her interesting and enthusiastic discourse, by an 
 attack of that horrid disease. Finding that she was 
 suffering the most exquisite agony, I rose rather hesi- 
 tatingly — for I dislike scenes — and offered to relieve 
 her, giving her the assurance that one of the Mormon 
 elders had pronounced me in possession of the gift. The 
 drowning will catch at a straw ; and my proposition 
 was assented to, but evidently without any hope of 
 success on the part of the sufferer. In less than a 
 minute — for her system had been prepared by repeated 
 fascinations — she was powerfully under my influence, 
 and the relief was immeasurably greater than it had 
 ever been before. After awaking the lady, I explained 
 the whole matter to those present ; and it is very prob- 
 able that but few of my hearers ever undertook a pil- 
 grimage to the holy city of Nauvoo. 
 
 In classifying the fanatical sects, the Swedenborgians 
 8* 
 
90 SWEDENBORG. 
 
 follow ihe Mormons. Their name is derived from 
 Emmanuel Swedenborg, a Swedish philosopher who 
 became clairvoyant in the fifty-third year of his age, in 
 1743. The ascendancy of the spiritual over the mate- 
 rial occurred naturally in him, probably owing to some 
 defect in the constitution ; for intense study and a 
 sedentary life paved the way for this change. Sweden- 
 borg rejected faith— that is, would not believe any- 
 thing which could not be demonstrated to the under 
 standing — the faculty that judges according to the 
 senses — and of course would not receive any religion, 
 the doctrines of which he could not perfectly compre- 
 hend. 
 
 He ardently desired a knowledge of the soul, and the 
 method he took to procure this knowledge gives a good 
 illustration of his character. He tried to obtain his 
 wish by confining his experiments to the dead body. 
 To give his own words : " The body being her (the 
 soul's) resemblance, image, and type, for this purpose I 
 am resolved to study her whole anatomy, from top to 
 toe." Had he but studied the laws of life in their living 
 operation, he would have escaped the errors he after- 
 ward blundered into. 
 
 Lady. Such a mode of operation seems to me about 
 as rational as going into a printer's office when he is 
 out, and trying to form an idea of his countenance from 
 an examination of the type lying around ; or inspecting 
 a worn-out and cast-off steam-engine, with an idea to 
 investigate the properties of steam : life in the one case, 
 and vapor in the other, (the only things that can give 
 the required information,) being equally absent. 
 
 Doctor. Swedenborg, not finding his own observa- 
 tions very satisfactory, calls t? his aid the observations 
 
MATERIALISM. 91 
 
 of others, and professes, on this subject, to have ob- 
 tained the greater part of his knowledge from books, 
 and those written by men who, like himself, from the 
 shape of fibre and spiracle, endeavored to diagnose the 
 functions and mode of operation of each organ. His 
 philosophical works are filled with such nonsense as 
 this, and, as he proceeds, there is a gradual and legiti- 
 mate degeneration into downright materialism of a 
 modified character ; he proclaimed all life to consist in 
 an influx from Deity, and that a plant, a dog, and a man, 
 differ, in reality, only in the shape of their receptacles. 
 You will easily understand how he gained this idea, by 
 considering the brains of different animals, and consid- 
 ering that of man as only a little more powerful and 
 complicated than his inferiors in the animated scale. 
 The study of living nature would have taught him the 
 difference between the faculty, judging by sense, and 
 that in which reason, free-will, and self-consciousness 
 existed. Knowledge, on such a subject, gained from 
 the dead body, is only such 
 
 " as putrefaction breeds 
 In fly-blown flesh, whereon the maggot feeds, 
 Shines in the dark ; but, ushered into day, 
 The stench remains — the lustre dies away." 
 
 Swedenborg was a moralist. His pride dispensed, 
 with a crucified Saviour, and consequently a Trinity. 
 "The tiuth is, that the division of God, or of the Divine 
 essence, into three persons, each of which by himself, or 
 singly, is God. leads to 4 the denial of God." "It is as if 
 there should be Unity and Trinity painted as a man 
 with three heads upon one body, or with three bodies 
 under one head, which is the form of a monster. If 
 any one should enter heaven with such an idea, h? tvovld 
 
92 LAST JUDGMENT 
 
 certainly be cast out headlong, although he should say 
 that the head or heads signified essence, and the body or 
 bodies distinct properties" 
 
 Lady. Do you not think that a person who is really 
 honest in an erroneous opinion will be saved ? 
 
 Doctor. I do not believe that erroneous opinions of 
 the doctrines of salvation can be honestly entertained. 
 Our Saviour tells us: "He that doeth the will of my 
 Father shall know him that sent me." He has promised 
 his Spirit to guide us into all truth. Consequently, if 
 we really want instruction, by the perusal of the Scrip- 
 tures, and prayer, with an active, watchful life, we can 
 obtain all we wish from Him who giveth wisdom to all 
 men liberally, and upbraideth not. 
 
 Following the example of many others who preceded 
 him, Swedenborg allegorized the Scriptures, with the 
 exception of the Epistles, which, sturdily resisting all 
 such attempts, he pronounced wanting in an internal 
 sense. He fortifies the dogmas of his system by direct 
 consultation with, and advice from, the celestial powers. 
 Finally, buoyed up beyond measure, he declared that 
 the second coming of Christ was manifested in his per- 
 son, and that his illumination (clairvoyance) ushered in 
 the last judgment, which took place, not on earth, but 
 in the spiritual world. Among other interesting mat- 
 ters, we are informed, by him, that in the interior of 
 Africa exists a race of spiritual believers (the term he 
 applied to his disciples) ; that marriages take place in 
 heaven as well as upon earth, our Saviour's words on 
 that subject being figurative ; that God resembles a man 
 in shape, his body forming the universe, each atom be- 
 ing a solar system ; that a man consists of five spirits., 
 one contained within the other, like a nest of apothe- 
 
UHEEN OF SWEDEN. 93 
 
 cary's pill-boxes; man is not naturally aware of J -his, 
 only he (Swedenborg) being permitted to see and 
 reveal the mystery ; that there is a purgatory of thirty 
 years ; that in heaven there are separate places for dif- 
 ferent nations ; that, in heaven, God is seen by the 
 angels, with the right eye as a sun, with the left eye as 
 a moon ; that there are lower animals in the spiritual 
 world ; sickness exists there, etc., etc. 
 
 Several well-attested cases of Swedenborg's clairvoy- 
 ant powers are recorded. Once, while dining with a 
 friend, at a place many miles distant from his own town, 
 he suddenly rose and walked out in the open air, seem- 
 ingly in great agitation. At length he entered the house, 
 apparently composed, and informed the company present 
 that there was a great conflagration near his own resi- 
 dence, and that he had been fearful for its safety ; but it 
 had just been quenched within one door of his house. 
 The next post brought a full and perfect confirmation of 
 all he had said. 
 
 At another time, when the queen of Sweden was jest- 
 ing with Swedenborg on account of his pretensions to 
 intercourse with the spiritual world, he offered to con- 
 vince her of the fact by any proof she could propose. 
 She told him that the late king, her husband, at the mo- 
 ment of death, when she was alone with him, had whis- 
 pered something important to her, and if he (Sweden- 
 borg) could tell her what it was, she would be satisfied 
 that he had spiritual communication. The next after- 
 noon, Swedenborg called on her, mentioned that he had 
 seen her husband, and had been informed by him what 
 were his last words, which he then told the queen. Her 
 majesty immediately swooned away, and, on recover- 
 ing, expressed her astonishment ; declaring that she 
 
94 SPIRITUAL SHAPE. 
 
 had no longer any doubt relative to the philosopher's 
 power. 
 
 Swedenborg taught that the spirit gives shape to the 
 body, and if any member (as a leg) is lost, still the per- 
 fect spiritual shape is preserved. Some persons confirm 
 this view by instancing cases where pain remains in the 
 toes after the limb to which th^se toes belonged has been 
 cut off. 
 
 Lady. Do such cases ever occur ? 
 
 Doctor. Very frequently. The next day, and some- 
 times for months after amputation, considerable pain is 
 felt in the excised member. After the nerves have ha- 
 bituated themselves to their new relations, it ceases. 
 Physiologists account for this singular matter in various 
 ways ; but many consider the spiritual solution the best. 
 He also taught that after death, as the body remained in 
 exactly the same shape, it was very difficult, from the 
 preconceived notions of that state, for the deceased to 
 really believe they were in another world. He seems 
 to entertain much dislike to Calvin, whose entrance to 
 the spiritual world he thus describes : " I have heard 
 (from the angels) that when he first came into the spi- 
 ritual world, he believed no otherwise than that he was 
 still in the world where he was born ; and, although he 
 heard from the angels who were associated with him at 
 his first entrance, that he was now in their world, and 
 not in his former world, he said, ? I have the same body, 
 the same hands, and the like senses.' But the angels 
 instructed him that he was now in a substantial body, 
 and that before he was not only in the same, but in a 
 material body, which invested the substantial ; and that 
 the material body had been cast off and the substantial 
 remained, which is man. This, a. first, he understood ; 
 
SEERE3S OF PREVORST. 95 
 
 but the next day, etc" As we have spent sufficient 
 time on Swedenborg, I must conclude by mentioning 
 that his religion was evidently formed before his illu- 
 mination, and that, clairvoyant only in a low degree, 
 his philosophy every where chimes in with his revela- 
 tions. 
 
 Lady. Have others ever given to the world any 
 
 similar experience? 
 
 Doctor. Many have done so; of whom the seeress 
 of Prevorst is an instance. In 183-, in the upper part 
 of our city, a boy resided in whom this anomaly ex- 
 isted. A Methodist minister lived in the same house, 
 and being much interested in the boy, would often take 
 him as a companion while visiting his charge. The boy 
 would often cross the street to avoid the proximity of 
 some one passing ; and, upon being asked the reasons 
 for his conduct, would reply, "that the person was 
 wicked, and had given evil spirits power over him, and 
 he could see them flocking round, filling his mind with 
 evil suggestions." Some time after this, two young 
 ladies passed a night in attendance upon a poor woman 
 who was dying ; her children, a boy and two girls, were 
 in the room. Just before her death, she called the boy 
 to her, and, after a little conversation, they heard her 
 remark, " Is that all ?" While his mother was dying, 
 the boy fell upon the floor in a convulsive fit, in which 
 he continued, despite of all assistance, some ten minutes ; 
 but at last rose, exclaiming, " Mother is happy, and I am 
 satisfied !" and was perfectly calm afterwards. The 
 ladies seized a chance, afforded by the temporary ab- 
 sence of the boy, to ask the girls what all this meant ; 
 they replied, that their brother could see spirits, and their 
 mother, wishing to find out what some dark forms 
 
90 PROPHETS IN ISRAEL. 
 
 around her bed were saying, he told her they merely 
 came to carry her off, when she repjied, " Is that all ?" 
 On inquiry, they found it was the same boy with whom 
 the Methodist minister was acquainted. 
 
 It is probable that the prophets in Israel, in ancient 
 times, had the powers of the inner man developed. 
 This change in the system seems to have been the test 
 Elijah gave Elisha, whether his request would be granted. 
 " And it came to pass, when the Lord would take up 
 Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went 
 with Elisha from Gilgal," etc. " And it came to pass, 
 when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, 
 \sk what I shall do for thee before I am taken from 
 thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion 
 of thy spirit be upon me. And he said, Thou hast asked 
 a hard thing ; nevertheless, if thou see me when I am 
 taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee," etc. " And it 
 came to pass, as they still went on and talked, that behold 
 there came a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and 
 parted > them both asunder ; and Elijah went up by a 
 whirlwind into heaven, and Elisha saw it? etc. 
 
CONVERSATION VI. 
 
 STAGES IN DYING. 
 
 Doctor. As we have considered the various stages 
 of fascination, from a mere quickening of the senses to 
 death, it will be well to consider this last a little more in 
 detail; as, in doing so, we shall in a measure review the 
 others. 
 
 Lady. Does the dying person pass through the six 
 stages in regular succession ? 
 
 Doctor. I believe that is generally the case. 
 
 Lady. But how then do you account for the extreme 
 pain that is often felt in dying ? The stages of fascina- 
 tion soothe pain — they do not cause it. 
 
 Doctor. That is very true ; and when these stages 
 really commence there is no longer any pain ; but up 
 to the first stage the fatal disease exerts unlimited sway. 
 After the fourth commences, bodily insensibility is an 
 inevitable consequence ; the violent convulsions of the 
 muscles do not cause suffering in the mind. Dr. Adam 
 Clarke, when relating his recovering from drowning, 
 stated to Dr. Lettsom that, during the period of his ap- 
 parent unconsciousness, he felt a new kind of life. He 
 says, " Now I aver, 1st. That, in being drowned, I felt 
 no pain. 2d. That I did not, for a single moment, lose 
 my consciousness. 3d. I felt indescribably happy ; and 
 though dead, as to the total suspension of all the func- 
 tions of life, yet I felt no pain in dying ; and I take it for 
 granted, from this circumstance, those who die by 
 9 
 

 98 NO PAIN IN DYING. 
 
 V drowning feel no pain, and that probably it is the easiest 
 ' of all deaths. 4th. That I felt no pain till once more 
 exposed to the action of the atmospheric air ; and then 
 I felt great anguish and pain in returning to life, which 
 anguish, had I continued under water, I never should 
 have experienced," etc. 
 
 Dr. Moore cites Mr. Green, who, in his diary, men- 
 tions a person who had been hung and cut down on a 
 reprieve, who, being asked what were his sensations, 
 stated that the preparations were dreadful beyond ex- 
 pression, but that, on being dropped, he instantly found 
 himself amidst fields and rivers of blood, which gradu- 
 ally acquired a greenish tinge. Imagining that if he 
 could reach a certain spot he should be easy, he seemed 
 to himself to struggle forcibly to attain it, and then he 
 felt no more. Schiller, when dying, was asked how he 
 felt. " Calmer and calmer," he replied. Dr. Moore 
 says that when the vital flame flickered, almost extin- 
 guished, the heart faltering with every pulse, and every 
 breath a convulsion, he said to a dying believer, who 
 had not long before been talking of undying love, " Are 
 you in pain ?" and the reply, with apparently the last 
 breath, was, "It is delightful!" In another person, in 
 whom a gradual disease had so nearly exhausted the 
 physical powers that the darkness of death had already 
 produced blindness, the sense of God's love was so 
 overpowering, that every expression, for many hou:^, 
 referred to it in rapturous words, such as, " This is life — 
 this is heaven — God is life — I need not faith — I have the 
 promise /" 
 
 Lady. I would ask if there is any certain sign by 
 which we may recognize death so as to prevent bury- 
 ing alive ? 
 
TEST OF DEATH. 99 
 
 Doctor. Only one, and that is putrefaction. Dendy 
 cites several cases of premature interment, some of 
 which I will mention : 
 
 On the exhumation of the Cimetiere des Innocents at 
 Paris, during the Napoleon dynasty, the skeletons were 
 many of them discovered in attitudes struggling to get 
 free ; indeed some, we are assured, were partly out of 
 their coffins. So noted was this matter in Germany, as 
 to give rise to a custom of placing a bell-rope in the 
 hand of a corpse for twenty- four hours before burial. 
 
 Miss 0. and her brother were the subjects of typhoid 
 fever. She seemed to die, and her bier was placed in 
 the family vault. In a week her brother died also, and 
 when he was taken to the tomb, the lady was found 
 sitting in her grave-clothes on the steps of the vault, 
 having, after her waking from the trance, died of terror 
 or exhaustion. 
 
 A girl, after repeated faintings, was apparently dead, 
 and taken as a subject into a dissecting room in Paris. 
 During the night, faint groans were heard in the room ; 
 but no search was made. In the morning it was appa- 
 rent that the girl had attempted to disengage herself from 
 the winding-sheet one leg being thrust off from the tres- 
 sels, and an arm resting on an adjoining table. 
 
 The emperor Zeno was prematurely buried ; and 
 when the body was soon after casually discovered, it 
 was found that he had, to satisfy acute hunger, eaten 
 some flesh from off his arm. 
 
 Lady. Have there not been cases in which recovery 
 has taken place ? 
 
 Doctor. None that bear any proportion to the pre- 
 mature interments. A romantic story is told of a young 
 French lady at Paris, who was condemned by her father 
 
100 BURYING ALIVE. 
 
 to a hated marriage, while her heart was devoted to 
 another. She fell into a trance and was buried. Under 
 some strange influence her lover opened her grave, and 
 she was revived and married. Dendy tells a story of 
 another strange lady, who was actually the subject of 
 an anatomist. On the existence of some faint signs of 
 vitality, he not only restored the lady to life, but united 
 himself to her in marriage. 
 
 Bourgeois tells that a medical man, in 1833, from the 
 sudden influence of grief upon the organic system, sunk 
 into a cataleptic state, but his consciousness never left 
 him. The lamentations of his wife, the condolence of 
 friends, and the arrangements regarding his funeral, 
 were all distinctly heard. Perfectly aware of- all that 
 was going on around him, he was placed in the coffin, 
 and carried in solemn procession to the grave. As the 
 solemn words, " Earth to earth," were uttered, and the 
 first clod fell upon his coffin lid, so sudden an influence 
 was produced upon his organic system by terror, as to 
 neutralize the effect of grief — he shrieked aloud, and was 
 saved. 
 
 A story is related of a lady who fell into a cataleptic 
 state after a violent nervous disorder. It seemed to her, 
 as if in a dream, that she was really dead ; yet she was 
 perfectly conscious of all that happened around her in 
 this dreadful state. She distinctly heard her friends 
 speaking and lamenting her death at the side of her cof- 
 fin : she felt them pull on her dead clothes, and lay her 
 in it. This feeling produced a mental anxiety which 
 was indescribable. She tried to cry, but her soul was 
 without power, and could not act on her body. She 
 had the contradictory feeling as if she were in her own 
 body, and yet not in it at the same time. It was as 
 
RESUSCITATION. 101 
 
 equally impossible for her to stretcn out her arm or to 
 open her eyes as to cry, although she continually endea- 
 vored to do so. The internal anguish of her mind was, 
 however, at its utmost height when the funeral hymns 
 were sang, and when the lid of the coffin was about to 
 be nailed on. The thought that she was to be buried 
 alive w T as the first one w r hich gave activity to her soul, 
 and caused it to operate on her corporeal frame. 
 
 Abbe Menon tells of a cataleptic girl, who was 
 doomed to dissection ; when laid on the table, the first 
 cut of the knife awoke her and she lived. Less fortu- 
 nate, says Dendy, was Cardinal Somaglia, who, falling 
 into syncope from intense grief, it was decided that he 
 should be opened and embalmed. As the surgeon's 
 knife punctured the lungs, the heart throbbed, and the 
 cardinal attempted to avert the knife with his hand ; but 
 the die was cast, and he died. 
 
 A gentleman was apparently seized with apoplexy 
 while at cards. A vein was opened in both arms, but 
 no blood flowed. He was placed in a room with two 
 watchers, who slept, alas ! too long ; for, in the morn- 
 ing, the room was deluged with blood from the punc- 
 tures, and his life was gone. 
 
 Lady. Did the persons who recovered relate any 
 spiritual views 1 
 
 Doctor. In some cases ; but the most of them expe- 
 rienced nothing more than a separation between organic 
 and animal life, so complete, indeed, as to deprive them 
 of the use of the voluntary muscles for a time. A re- 
 view of these facts will justify the conclusion that inter- 
 ment is wrong until putrefaction commences. 
 
 Wonderful stories have been related in ail ages about 
 the wonders of trance, or the fifth degree. Moore gives 
 
102 THKSPESIOS OF SOLI. 
 
 the substance of one from Plutarch : Thespesios of Sol 
 fell violently on his neck, and was supposed to be dead. 
 Three days after, however, when about to be interred, 
 he recovered. From this time, a wonderful change was 
 apparent in his conduct ; for he had been licentious and 
 prodigal, but ever after was devout, noble, and con- 
 scientious. On his friends requiring the reason of this 
 strange conversion, he stated that during his apparent, 
 death, his rational soul had experienced marvellous 
 vicissitudes ; his whole being seemed at first on a sudden 
 to breathe, and to look about it on every side, as if the 
 soul had been all eye, while, at the same time, he felt as 
 if gliding gently along, borne upon a stream of light. 
 Then he seemed to meet a spiritual person of unuttera- 
 ble loveliness, who conducted him to various parts of 
 the unseen world, and explained to him the mysteries 
 of divine government, and show;ed him the manner in 
 which wickedness meets its reward. This vision ex- 
 erted all the influence of truth upon his mind, and en- 
 tirely altered his character and conduct. 
 
 The Methodist denomination afford many strange 
 instances of singular experience, so w r ell known that it 
 would be useless to repeat them. *We will conclude 
 the degrees by a chapter from Dr. Nelson, who, in his 
 Cause and Cure of Infidelity, (a work published by 
 the American Tract Society, and which ought to lay on 
 the shelf of every family in the land, with the Bible 
 and Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress; a work, too, which 
 no child of mine, able to tell the letters, should ever fail 
 to peruse and commit to memory,) mentions several 
 cases of the opening of the spiritual eye. The unbe- 
 liever, at the point of death, sees the reality of those 
 things at wh'ch he formerly scoffed ; he commences the 
 
APPROACHING DEATH. 103 
 
 passage of the river (a transition of the stages) with 
 stoical indifference, but before reaching the other side, 
 evinces the most terrible despair, and the parting spirit 
 bids adieu in a wail of agony. The follower of the 
 Man of Calvary approaches the brink with fear, but 
 ere long, the choral music of the seraphim proves a cor- 
 dial to his fainting spirit, he pants to enter the blessed 
 abodes he sees opening before him, and the rapturous 
 exclamation, " Lord, receive my spirit!" announces that 
 he sleeps in Jesus. You are sufficiently prepared to ap- 
 preciate the physiological state he describes without fur- 
 ther explanation. 
 
 OBSERVATIONS ON MAN'S DEPARTURE. 
 
 "While attending medical lectures at Philadelphia, I heard, from the 
 lady with whom I boarded, an account of certain individuals who were 
 dead to all appearance, during the prevalence of the yellow fever in that 
 city, and yet recovered. The fact that they saw, or fancied they saw, 
 things in the world of spirits, awakened my curiosity. 
 
 " She told me of one, with whom she was acquainted, who was so 
 confident of his discoveries that he had seemingly thought of little else 
 afterward, and it had then been twenty-four years. These things ap- 
 peared philosophically strange to me, for the following reasons: — 
 
 f First : Those who, from bleeding or from any other cause, reach a 
 state of syncope, or the ordinary fainting condition, think not at all, or are 
 unable to remember any mental action. When they recover, it appears 
 either that the mind was suspended, or they were unable to recollect its 
 operations. There are those who believe on either side of this question. 
 Some contend for suspension ; others deny it, but say we never can recall 
 thoughts formed while the mind is in that state, for reasons not yet 
 understood. 
 
 " Secondly : Those who, in approaching death, reach the first state of 
 insensibility, and recover from it, are unconscious of any mental activity, 
 and have no thoughts which they can recall. 
 
 " Thirdly: If this is so, why, then, should those who had travelled fur- 
 ther into the land of death, and had sunk deeper into the condition of 
 bodily inaction, when recovered, be conscious of mental action, and 
 remember thoughts more vivid than ever had flashed across their souls 
 in the health of boyhood, under a vernal sun, and on a plain of flowers ? 
 
 "After this, I felt somewhat inclined to watch, when it became my 
 business, year after year, to stand by the bed of death. That which I saw 
 
104 ST-AGE3 IN TRANCE. 
 
 was not calculated to protract and deepen the slumbers of infidelity, but 
 rather to dispose toward a degree of restlessness ; or, at least, to further 
 observation. I knew that the circle of stupor, or insensibility, drawn 
 around life, and through which all either pass, or seem to pass, who go 
 out of life, was urged by some to prove that the mind could not exist 
 unless it be in connection with organized matter. For the same reason, 
 others have contended that our souls must sleep until the morning of the 
 resurrection, when we shall regain our bodies. That which I witnessed 
 for myself, pushed me (willing or unwilling) in a different direction. 
 Before I relate these facts, I must ofFer something which may illustrate, 
 to a certain extent, the thoughts toward which they pointed. 
 
 " If we were to stand on the edge of a very deep ditch or gulf, on the 
 distant verge of which a curtain hangs which obstructs the view, we 
 might feel a wish to know what is beyond it, or whether there is any 
 light in that unseen land. Suppose we were to let down a ladder, pro- 
 tracted greatly in its length, and ask a bold adventurer to descend and 
 make discoveries. He goes to the bottom, and then returns, telling us 
 that there he could see nothing — that all was total darkness. We might 
 very naturally infer the absence of light there ; but if we concluded that 
 his powers of vision had been annihilated, or that there could surely be 
 no light in the land beyond the curtain, because, to reach that land, a 
 veiy dark ravine must be crossed, it would have been weak reasoning ; 
 so much so, that, if it contented us, we must be easily satisfied. It gave 
 me pain to notice many — nay, many physicians — who on these very 
 premises, or on something equally weak, were quieting themselves in the 
 deduction that the soul sees no more after death. Suppose this adven- 
 turer descends again, and then ascends the other side, so near the top that 
 he can reach the curtain and slightly lift it. When he returns, he tells us 
 that his vision had been suspended totally as before, but that he went 
 nearer the distant lafid, and it was revived again ; that, as the curtain 
 was lifted, he saw brighter light than he had ever seen before. We 
 would say to him : ' A certain distance does suspend ;•■, but inaction is not 
 loss of sight : only travel on further, and you will see again.' We can 
 understand that any one might go to the bottom of that ravine a thousand 
 times ; he might remain there for days, and, if he went no further, he 
 could tell, on his return, nothing of the unseen regions. 
 
 " Something like this was illustrated by the facts noted during many 
 years' employment in the medical profession. A few cases must be 
 taken is examples from the list. 
 
 " I was called to see a female, who departed under an influence which 
 causes the patient to faint again and again, more and still more profoundly, 
 until life is extinct. For the information of physicians, I mention, it was 
 uterine hemorrhage from inseparably-attached placenta. When recov- 
 ered from the first condition of syncope, she appeared as unconscious, or a? 
 destitute of activity of spirit, as others usually do. She sank again and 
 revived : it was still the same. She fainted more profoundly still ; and 
 
ANECDOTES. 105 
 
 when awake again, she appeared as others usually do who have no 
 thoughts which they can recall. At length she appeared entirely gone. 
 It did seem as though the struggle was forever past. Her weeping rela- 
 tives clasped their hands and exclaimed : ' She is dead V but, unexpect- 
 edly, she waked once more, and, glancing her eyes on one who sat near, 
 exclaimed : ' Oh, Sarah, I was at an entirely new place V and then sunk 
 to remain insensible to the things of the place we live in. 
 
 " Why she, like others in fainting, should have no thoughts which she 
 could recall, when not so near death as she afterward was when she 
 had thought, T could not clearly explain. Why her greatest activity of 
 mind appeared to happen during her nearest approach to the future 
 world, and while so near that, from that stage, scarcely any ever return 
 who once reach it, seemed somewhat perplexing to me. I remembered, 
 that in the case recorded by Dr. Rush, w T here the man recovered who 
 was, to all appearance, entirely dead, his activity of mind was unusual. 
 He thought he heard and saw things unutterable. He did not know 
 whether he was altogether dead or not. St. Paul says he was in a con- 
 dition so near to death, that he could not tell whether he was out of the 
 body or not, but that he heard things unutterable. I remembered that 
 Tennant, of New Jersey, and his friends, could not decide whether or not 
 he had been out of the body; but he appeared to be so some days, and 
 thought his discoveries unutterable. The man who cuts his finger and 
 faints, recovering speedily, has no thoughts, or remembers none : he does 
 not approach the distant edge of the ravine. These facts appeared to 
 me poorly calculated to advance the philosophical importance of one 
 who has discovered from sleep, or from syncope, that there is no other 
 existence, because this is all which we have seen. They appeared to me 
 rather poorly calculated to promote the tranquility of one seeking the 
 comforts of atheism. For my own part, I never did desire the consola- 
 tions of everlasting nothingness; I never could covet a plunge beneath 
 the black wave of eternal forgetfulness, and cannot say that these obser- 
 vations, in and of themselves, gave me pain; but it was evident that 
 thousands of the scientific were influenced by the weight of a small peb- 
 ble to adopt a creed — provided that creed contradicted Holy Writ. I 
 had read and heard too much of man's depravity, and of his love for dark- 
 ness, not to see that it militated against my system of deism, if it should 
 appear that the otherwise learned should neglect to observe, or if 
 observant, should be satisfied with the most superficial view, and, seiziug 
 some shallow and questionable facts, build hastily upon them a fabric 
 for eternity. 
 
 " In the cases of those who, recovering from yellow fever, thought 
 they had enjoyed intercourse with the world of spirits, they were indi- 
 viduals who had appeared to be dead. 
 
 "-The following fact took place in recent days. Similar occurrences 
 impressed me during years of observation. In the city of St. Louis, a 
 female departed, who had a rich portion of the comforts of Christianitv. 
 
106 ANECDOTES. 
 
 It was alter some kind of spasm, that was strong enough to have been 
 the death-struggle, that she said — in a whisper, being unable to speak 
 aloud — to her young pastor: 'I had a sight of home, and I saw my 
 Saviour!' 
 
 " There were others, who, after wading as far as that which seemed to 
 be the middle of the river, and, returning, thought they had seen a dif- 
 ferent world, and that they had an antepast of hell. But these cases we 
 pass over, and look at facts which point along the same road we have 
 been travelling. 
 
 " I was surprised to find that the condition of mind in the case of those 
 who were dying, and of those who only thought themselves dying, dif- 
 fered very widely. I had supposed that the joy or the grief of death 
 originated from the fancy of the patient, (one supposing himself very near 
 to great happiness, and the other expecting speedy suffering,) and resulted 
 in pleasure or apprehension. My discoveries seemed to overturn this 
 theory. Why should not the professor of religion who believes himself 
 dying, when he really is not, rejoice as readily as when he is departing, 
 if his joy is the offspring of expectation ? Why should not the alarm of 
 the scoffer, who believes himself dying and is not, be as uniform and as 
 decisive as when he is in the river, if it comes of fancied evil or cow- 
 ardly terrors ? The same questions I asked myself again and again. I 
 have no doubt that there is some strange reason connected with our nat- 
 ural disrelish for truth, which causes so many physicians, alter seeing such 
 facts so often, never to observe them. During twenty years of observa- 
 tion, I found the state of the soul belonging to the dying was, uniformly 
 and materially, unlike that of those who only supposed themselves depart- 
 ing. This is best made plain by noting cases which occurred. 
 
 " 1. There was a man who Relieved himself converted, and his friends, 
 judging from his walk, hoped with him. He was seized with disease, 
 and believed himself within a few paces of the gate of futurity. He felt 
 no joy ; his mind was dark, and his soul clouded. His exercises were 
 painful, and the opposite of every enjoyment. He was not dying. He 
 recovered. He had not been in the death-stream. After this he was 
 taken again. He believed himself dying, and he was not mistaken. All 
 was peace, serenity, hope, triumph. 
 
 "2. There was a man who mocked at holy things. He became 
 seriously diseased, and supposed himself sinking into the death-slumber. 
 He was not frightened. His fortitude and composure were his pride, 
 and the boast of his friends. The undaunted firmness with which he 
 could enter futurity was spoken of exultingly. It was a mistake. He 
 was not in the condition of dissolution. His soul never had been on the 
 line between two worlds. After this he was taken ill again. He sup- 
 posed, as before, that he was entering the next state, and he really 
 was; but his soul seemed to feel a different atmosphere. The horrors of 
 these scenes have been often described, and are often seen. I need not 
 
CASE OF ILLUSTRATION 107 
 
 endeavor to picture such a departure here. The only difficulty hi which 
 I was thrown by such cases was, ' Why was he not thus agonized when 
 he thought himself departing ? Can it be possible that we can stand so 
 precisely on the dividing line, that the gale from both this and the coming 
 world may blow upon our cheek ? Can we have a taste of the exercises 
 of the next territory before we enter it?' When I attempted to account 
 for this on the simple ground of bravery and cowardice, I was met by 
 the two following facts : — 
 
 " First, I have known those (the cases are not unfrequent) who were 
 brave, who had stood unflinching in battle's whirlpool. They had 
 resolved never to disgrace their system of unbeJef by a trembling death. 
 They had called to Christians in the tone of resolve, saying: 'I can die 
 as coolly as you can.' 1 had seen those die from whom entire firmness 
 might fairly be expected. I had heard groans, even if the teeth were 
 clenched for fear of complaint, such as I never wish to hear again ; and I 
 had looked into countenances, such as I hope never to see again. 
 
 " Again, I had seen cowards die. I had seen those depart who were 
 naturally timid, who expected themselves to meet death with fright 
 and alarm. I had heard such, as it were, sing before Jordan was half 
 forded. I had seen faces where, pallid as they were, I beheld more 
 celestial triumph than I had ever witnessed anywhere else. In that voice 
 there was a sweetness, and in that eye there was a glory, which I never 
 could have fancied in the death-spasms, if I had not been near. 
 
 " The condition of the soul, when the death-stream is entered, is not 
 the same with that which it becomes (oftentimes) when it is almost 
 passed. The brave man who steps upon the ladder across the dark 
 ravine, with eye undaunted and haughty spirit, changes fearfully, in many 
 cases, when he comes near enough to the curtain to lift it. The Christian 
 who goes down the ladder, pale and disconsolate, oftentimes starts with 
 exultation, and tries to burst into a song when almost across. 
 
 " Case of illustration. — A revolutionary officer, wounded at the 
 battle of Germantown, was praised for his patriotism. The war ended; 
 but he continued still to fight, in a different way, under the banner of 
 one whom he called the Captain of his salvation. The applause of men 
 never made him too proud to talk of the Man of Calvary. The hurry of 
 life's driving pursuits could not consume all his time, or make him forget 
 to kneel by the side of his consort, in the circle of his children, and 
 anticipate a happy meeting in a more quiet clime. 
 
 " To abbreviate this history, his life was such that those who knew 
 him believed, if any one ever did die happily, this man would be one 
 of that class. I saw him when the time arrived. He said to those 
 around him : ' I am not as happy as I could wish, or as I had expected. 
 I cannot say that J distrust my Saviour, for I know in whom I have be- 
 lieved; but I have not that pleasing readiness to depart which I had 
 looked for.' This distressed his relatives beyond expression. His 
 
108 DYIX3 FANCIES. 
 
 friends were greatly pained, for they had looked for triumph. His d& 
 parture was very slow, and still his language was: 'I have no exhilara 
 tion and delightful readiness in my travel.' The weeping circle pressed 
 around him. Another hour passed. His hands and his feet became 
 entirely cold. The feeling of heart remained the same. Another 
 hour passes, and his vision has grown dim, but the state of his soul is 
 unchanged. His daughter seemed as though her body could not sustain 
 her anguish of spirit, if her father should cross the valley before the 
 cloud passed from his sun. She (before his hearing vanished) made an 
 agreement with him, that, at any stage as he travelled on, if he had a 
 discovery of advancing glory, or a foretaste of heavenly delight, he 
 should give her a certain token with his hand. His hands he could still 
 move, cold as they were. She sat holding his hand, hour after hour. In 
 addition to his sight, his hearing at length failed. After a time he ap- 
 peared almost unconscious of anything, and the obstructed breathing 
 peculiar to death was advanced near its termination, when he gave the 
 token to his pale but now joyous daughter, and the expressive flash of 
 exultation was seen to spread itself through the stiffening muscles of his 
 face. When his child asked him to give a signal if he had any happy 
 view of heavenly light, with the feelings and opinions I once "owned, 1 
 could have asked: ' Do you suppose that the increase of the death-chill 
 will add to his happiness ? Are you to expect, that as his eyesight 
 leaves, and as his hearing becomes confused, and his breathing convulsed, 
 and as he sinks into that cold, fainting, sickening condition of pallid 
 death, that his exultation is to commence?' 
 
 " It did then commence. Then is the time when many, who enter the 
 dark valley cheerless, begin to see something that transports ; but some 
 are too low to tell of it, and their friends think they departed under a 
 cloud, when they really did not. It is at this stage of the journey that 
 the enemy of God, who started with look of defiance and words of pride, 
 seems to meet with that which alters his views and expectations; but he 
 cannot tell it, for his tongue can no longer move. 
 
 " Those who inquire after and read the death of the wife of the cel- 
 ebrated John Newton, will find a very plain and very interesting in- 
 stance, where the Saviour seemed to meet with a smiling countenance 
 his dying servant, when she had advanced too far to call back to her sor- 
 rowful friends, and tell them of the pleasing news. 
 
 " My attention was awakened very much by observing the dying fan- 
 cies of the servants of this world, differing with such characteristic 
 singularity from the fancies of the departing Christian. It is no uncom- 
 mon thing for those who die, to believe they see, or hear, or feel, that 
 which appears only fancy to by-standers. Their friends believe that it is 
 the overturning of their intellect. I am not about to enter into the dis- 
 cussion of the question, whether it is, or is not, always fancy. Some 
 attribute it to more than fancy ; but inasmuch as, in many instances, the 
 
TEST OF DEATH. 109 
 
 mind is deranged while its habitation is falling into ruins around it, and 
 inasmuch as it is the common belief that it is only imagination of which 
 I am writing, we will look at it under the name of fancy. 
 
 " The fanciful views of the dying servants of sin, and the devoted 
 friends of Christ, were strangely different, as far as my observation 
 extended. One who had been an entire sensualist and a mocker at re- 
 ligion, while dying, appeared in his senses in all but one thing. ' Take 
 that black man from the room,' said he. He was answered that there 
 was none in the room. He replied: 'There he is, standing near the 
 window. His presence is very irksome to me — take him out.' After a 
 time, again and again, his call was : ' Will no one remove him ? There 
 he is— surely some one will take him away V 
 
 " I was mentioning to another physician my surprise that he should 
 have been so much distressed if there had been many blacks in the room, 
 for he had been waited on by them, day and night, for many years ; also 
 that the mind had not been diseased in some other respect : when he 
 told me the names of two others (his patients) — men of similar lives — 
 who were tormented with the same fancy, and in the same way, while 
 dying. 
 
 " A young female, who called the Man of Calvary her greatest friend, 
 was, when dying, in her senses, in all but one particular. ' Mother,' she 
 would say, pointing in a certain direction, ' do you see those beautiful 
 creatures V Her mother would answer: ' No, there is no one there, my 
 dear.' She would reply : ' Well, that is strange. 1 never saw such 
 countenances and such attire. My eye never rested on anything so 
 lovely.' Oh, says one, this is all imagination, and the notions of a mind 
 collapsing ; wherefore tell of it ? My answer is, that I am not about to 
 dispute or to deny that it is fancy ; but the fancies differ in features and 
 in texture. Some in their derangement call out: ' Catch me, I am sink- 
 ing — hold me, I am falling.' Others say : ' Do you hear that music ? O, 
 were ever notes so celestial !' This kind of notes, and these classes of 
 fancies, belonged to different classes of individuals ; and who they were, 
 was the item which attracted my wonder. Such things are noticed by 
 few, and remembered by almost none ; but I am inclined to believe that, 
 if notes were kept of such cases, volumes of interest might be formed. 
 
 " My last remark here, reader, is, that we necessarily speak somewhat 
 in the dark of such matters ; but you and I will know more shortly 
 Both of us will see and feel for ourselves, where we cannot be mistaken, 
 in the course of a very few months or years." 
 
 ['• Cause and Cure of Infidelity," by Rev. David Nelson — American Tract 
 Society. Pages 264-276.] 
 
 10 
 
CONVERSATION VII. 
 
 OPERATION OF MEDICIN1). 
 
 Lady. Here is a box of pills, seat me, this morning, 
 by a neighbor, who was in last evening when my son 
 entered, and having noticed a number of little black 
 spots on his face, said his blood was in a bad state, and 
 that these pills would purify it. 
 
 Doctor. Frequently washing the face will remove 
 the black spots, or worms, as they are commonly called. 
 You have, no doubt, often noticed an oily matter on the 
 face ; the oil is made by minute glands lying under the 
 external skin ; these glands send out a tube to carry the 
 oil to the surface ; sometimes dust will collect on the 
 orifice of the tube, and form the black spots your neigh- 
 bor observed on George ; the oil thus prevented egress, 
 becomes hardened, and, when squeezed out, resembles a 
 worm from the shape of the tube. 
 
 Lady. What is the use of this oil ? 
 
 Doctor. To grease or lubricate the external skin, so 
 as to prevent irritation either from atmospheric causes, 
 or the motion of the muscles under it. To return to the 
 pills, can you tell me of any mode by which they could 
 gain access to the blood, to effect such an important 
 object as purifying it ? 
 
 Lady. I have always considered that medicines oper- 
 ated by changing the nature of the blood; but I now 
 see that they cannot approach it ; to do so requires a 
 
SALT PEACHES. Ill 
 
 passage through the lacteals, mesenteric glands, and 
 thoracic duct ; and you have informed me that even the 
 pyloric orifice of the stomach will not allow anything to 
 pass it, except properly-prepared chyme. 
 
 Doctor. Allowing, for a moment, the pills entered 
 the blood, what would ensue? 
 
 Lady. They w T ould be instantly taken out of the cir- 
 culation either by the lungs or kidneys, which are excre- 
 ting glands, acting, I suppose, as constables to M emove 
 everything offending and unnecessary. 
 
 Doctor. There is a complete system of guards sta- 
 tioned in our bodies, to prevent the entrance of improper 
 substances, beginning with the warnings of taste ; but 
 unhealthy agents, by presenting themselves too fre- 
 quently, will at last accustom the sentinels to their ap- 
 pearance, and can then enter with impunity, and without 
 danger of being ejected by the excretory organs. 
 
 This fact may sometimes be witnessed in the vegeta- 
 ble kingdom. The late Dr. Mitchell, of this city, had 
 once sent to him a basket of saline-tasting peaches. 
 Around the base of the tree upon which they grew, a 
 quantity of brine had been thrown. The spongioles or 
 leech-suckers at the roots, at first, refused the salty mat- 
 ter admittance, but, their excitability (irritability) being 
 altered by continued contact, at last sucked them up, 
 and thus a strange phenomenon was the result. 
 
 Alcohol has produced the same effect on the human 
 system. A surgeon mentions a case of setting fire to 
 the blood of a confirmed drunkard, which he had just 
 drawn, its strong odor tempting the experiment. 
 
 Lady. That drunkard was not much removed, I 
 should think, from a state of spontaneous combustion. 
 
 Doctor. Probably not ; saturating the system with 
 
112 SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION. 
 
 alcohol is perhaps one of the first steps in that process. 
 Bone is composed of a mixture of phosphoric acid and 
 lime {phosphate of lime) ; as an acid is the union of a base 
 with a certain amount of oxygen, phosphoric acid is made 
 of phosphorus and oxygen. When the chemist wishes to 
 exhibit intense combustion to his audience, he throws a 
 piece of phosphorus into a jar of oxygen gas, and pro- 
 duces a blaze rivalling that of the sun. In a healthy 
 state of the system, the life power controls all the ele- 
 ments, and, as shown in the vegetable kingdom, only 
 allows them to unite in a manner that subserves its own 
 purposes ; but when lowered and debilitated by excess- 
 ive stimulus, the power becomes weakened, and finally 
 lost in death ; the elements then obey their natural 
 affinities, and a virulent internal combustion ensues. 
 
 Lady. The drunkard, in a double sense, then, is a 
 self-moving porter-house. Is it not very strange, that, 
 with all the clear and accurate information known rela- 
 tive to the organs and their functions, such profound 
 ignorance on the subject of the operation of medicine 
 should exist ? 
 
 Doctor. You have quoted, almost verbatim, the com- 
 mon jargon of the day; it is 'used by those noted for 
 vague and confused notions on physiology. I do not 
 think any man, who cannot give the rationale of the 
 medicine he prescribes, should be trusted to practice. 
 So far from being dark and in any way incomprehen 
 sible, it is easily explained, and the effects of medicine 
 capable of being predicted with almost mathematical 
 certainty. 
 
 The study of the different organs in the system, after 
 the life power has departed, is called Anatomy. When 
 living and proper agents stimulate irritability, so as to 
 
CONSERVATIVE POWER, 113 
 
 produce a healthy action of these organs, the study is 
 called Physiology. When improper agents or stimuli 
 act on irritability, an alteration of the vital powers en- 
 sues, with a corresponding alteration of function, disease 
 results, and its study is called Pathology. In the latter 
 case, how do you imagine the system can become right 
 again ? 
 
 Lady. Only, 1 should think, by the direct interposition 
 of the Almighty ? 
 
 Doctor. After the Croton aqueduct was finished, the 
 pipes laid down, and the whole in successful operation, 
 do you suppose anything more was required ? 
 
 Lady. Yes, a company of superintendents and labor- 
 ers, to constantly inspect every part with the greatest 
 care, and instantly repair whatever breaks in the line, or 
 other damages might occur. The water-works would 
 not even be safe without such a precaution. 
 
 Doctor. The life power has an exactly similar re- 
 serve — a distinct and powerful conservative principle, 
 called by the older physicians, who were well acquaint- 
 ed w T ith it, the Vis Medicatrix Naturce. Whenever a 
 part is injured, it is the office of this principle to come 
 forward and repair it ; so very intelligent appears its 
 operation, that some have attributed the effects to a 
 special interference of the Creator, and others supposed 
 it was the rational soul. 
 
 Lady. The two seeds cited in your article on the 
 Vegetable Kingdom, to show the difference between the 
 forces of life and those of chemistry, brought instant 
 conviction to my mind, and the clear conceptions I then 
 acquired have proved serviceable since in pursuing this 
 subject. Can you not illustrate the conservative prin- 
 ciple in a similar manner ? 
 10* 
 
114 DORMOUSE. 
 
 Doctor. Have you ever* read the natural history of 
 the dormouse ? 
 
 Lady. It is one of the hybernating or winter-sleep- 
 ing animals ; in summer it is very lively and frolic- 
 some ; as autumn approaches, it becomes very fat ; and 
 when cold weather sets in, retires to a concealed nook 
 to sleep out the winter, but comes forth in the spring 
 almost fleshless. While in the hybernating state, its 
 breathing is very slow, and its temperature the same as 
 that of the surrounding atmosphere. 
 
 Doctor. If a dormouse is taken from its sheltered 
 hole, in the midst of winter, and placed in a receiver 
 surrounded with a freezing mixture, some very curious 
 phenomena will be evolved. As the cold increases, 
 and the little portion it had is "becoming absorbed, its 
 breathing will be proportionally slower, and the heart 
 pulsate more feebly; this state of things continues — the 
 animal constantly failing— until a point is reached where 
 remaining another moment would destroy life. At this 
 very point an unseen power presents its workings, a 
 hidden spring is touched, and an evident change takes 
 place with extreme rapidity ; the pulse becomes fuller 
 and faster; a warmth diffuses itself over the surface; 
 the eyes brighten and limbs contract ; finally, in less 
 than three minutes, the little animal is as hot, and his 
 pulse as rapid, as in the midst of summer. Take the 
 dormouse now out of the receiver, and expose him to 
 the open air, and his torpidity gradually returns ; it is 
 then best to restore him to his former nook. The con- 
 servative power that preserved the dormouse from 
 death, we name the Vis Medicatrix Nature. 
 
 Lady. How is this power developed in the human 
 body ? 
 
TRUE PHYSICIAN. 115 
 
 Doctor. Let us suppose a combination of peculiar 
 circumstances, as the poisonous air of a marsh (marsh 
 miasmata), to act on our excitability, an injurious influ- 
 ence is immediately exerted upon the system ; it sinks 
 quickly, a chill is felt, and this chill increases, lowering 
 and d-epressing us, till a point is gained (as in the dor- 
 mouse experiment), from which we cannot descend with 
 life ; at this point the conservative power awakes ; it acts 
 on the other powers, more especially on the brain ; the 
 nervous secretion becomes altered and radiated to every 
 part ; a change is induced, fever ensues, and with it a 
 long train of other symptoms which finally terminate 
 in profuse perspiration, and a restoration to health. 
 
 Lady. Then fever, and the symptoms which are 
 commonly considered the disease itself, are nothing 
 more than signals of battle going on within for the pur- 
 pose of liberating us from injurious influences. If such 
 be the case, why does the physician interfere in the mat- 
 ter at all, and of what use are doctors ? 
 
 Doctor. The true physician remains a spectator, or 
 rather general, watching the battle's progress with a 
 careful eye ; knowing each separate stage and crisis, 
 and how far nature can be trusted, he often does nothing 
 more than to clear the battle-field, (remove injurious in- 
 fluences,) and allow her to combat alone. 
 
 Lady. Suppose it becomes necessary for him to 
 interfere ? 
 
 Doctor. *If nature cannot cope successfully with the 
 existing form of disease, it is his business to substitute 
 another form which she can conquer. It is a pathologi- 
 cal law that there can be but one disease at a time in 
 the system ; and, acting cto that law, he brings some 
 influence stronger than the original one to bear on ex- 
 
110 ARSENIC. 
 
 citability ; in other words, he must produce a different 
 alteration of the vital powers, which he is certain the 
 conservative principle can rectify. 
 
 Lady. If it is stronger than the original one, why 
 should it not be still worse for the vis medicatrix to 
 combat ? 
 
 Doctor. Each thing produces an influence peculiar 
 to itself; and our ideas of strength are only compara- 
 tive. What will powerfully depress excitability may 
 give the vis medicatrix little effort to overcome, and 
 vice versa. 
 
 There is a class of bodies, which, properly pre- 
 scribed, produce a decided and powerful effect on exci- 
 tability ; an effect which experience has taught us it is 
 always in the power of the vis medicatrix to subaue, 
 and restore the system when laboring under their influ- 
 ence to health. Such are the medicines, as opium, cam- 
 phor, arsenic, and quinine. 
 
 Lady. Is arsenic a medicine ? 
 
 Doctor. A very useful one. You must not suppose 
 that its only use was to make stearine candles and Ger- 
 man silver spoons. Nothing in nature was ever created 
 for murderous purposes ; it is man who perverts them. 
 
 Lady. After the effect is produced on excitability by 
 the medicine, the original malady disappears ; the phy- 
 sician is then treating sickness he has himself induced, 
 and curing diseases of his own infliction. 
 
 Doctor. Exactly so ; and this shows y<£i what care 
 and judgment should be exercised in selecting the right 
 medicine. Cases occur in which, out of a list of twenty 
 purgatives, one alone is suited to the existing nature of 
 the complaint. 
 
 Lady. But, doctor, how can you discover all these 
 
CASE OF DISEASE, 117 
 
 separate modifications of disease ; how can you possi- 
 bly tell what is going on within the system ? 
 
 Doctor. In the same manner as we discover the ex- 
 istence of a life principle and its properties — that is, by 
 observing the phenomena they exhibit. 
 
 You will remember that every part of the body has a 
 separate office to fulfil, that there are two lives, an ani- 
 mal and vegetable, in action, developing distinct series 
 of phenomena, and that the study of all the functions in 
 health is physiology. 
 
 When pernicious influences act, and the whole train 
 becomes disordered, the physician, previously well ac- 
 quainted with the results produced by healthy actions, 
 observes the changed appearances disease presents to 
 his view, and from these deduces his opinion relative to 
 the amount of injury, and acts accordingly. 
 
 Lady. Will you be kind enough to apply this to a 
 particular case ? 
 
 Doctor. I was sent for, yesterday, to see a man, who 
 I was told had been ill for two or three days. On 
 entering the room, and observing his countenance 
 (often a sufficient index by itself to the experienced), its 
 wild and haggard aspect led me to look for abdominal 
 disease. 
 
 Sitting down by his bed, I inquired the history of the 
 case, and then proceeded (without his suspecting it) to 
 a regular examination. 
 
 The functions of animal life are sensation, thought, 
 and locomotion. Everything had acquired a bitter 
 taste to him, and noise of any kind was agonizing ; his 
 mind was wandering; and, to conclude with animal 
 life, he was feeble as a child. 
 
 Turning to the vegetable system, I found respiration 
 
118 SYMPTOMS. 
 
 more frequent than in health, but perfectly full, and no 
 pain about the chest ; the pulse fast and rather weak, 
 but steady ; this absolved the heart and lungs. Upon 
 examining the tongue, I found it covered with a thick 
 yellowish-brown fur, characterizing trouble in the liver ; 
 and as the lining membrane for nostrils, mouth, stomach, 
 liver-tube, etc., is one continuous sheet, disease of one 
 part would soon extend along the whole surface by 
 sympathy, and, reaching the tongue, paint on As surface 
 the cause of trouble for the information of the phy- 
 sician ; the skin had a yellowish tinge, was at times cold 
 and moist, and at others hot and dry ; the bowels and 
 liver, more especially the stomach, were very sensitive 
 to pressure, and vomiting came on every ten or fifteen 
 minutes, at which times he ejected a greenish watery 
 fluid, etc., etc. 
 
 The day of his attack, he had been eating a very 
 hearty dinner, with some unripe fruit as dessert, and 
 then quickly returned to work (he was a stone-cutter) 
 beneath a hot sun; soon getting sick, he went home, 
 where an old woman, a great doctress of the neigh- 
 borhood, had been summoned to attend him; she called 
 his disease janders, and every hour or two, during the 
 day, poured down his stomach strong tansy tea. 
 
 I concluded that his unwholesome dinner had been 
 imperfectly digested, and when the chyme wished to 
 pass the pyloric orifice, the sentinel tightly contracted 
 his muscular ring, and refused admittance by blocking 
 up the passage. The hot sun, acting on the brain, 
 altered the nervous secretion, a share of which, being 
 radiated to the stomach, made matters worse ; and the 
 stomach, finding itself utterly incapable, in such cir- 
 cumstances, of re-digesting the food, cast it off entirely by 
 
 
VIS MEDICATRIX NATURAE. 119 
 
 the sesophagus ; the bile that was preparer; o act on the 
 chyme being poured out about the time it ought to be 
 there, and finding nothing to act on, altered the excita- 
 bility of the sentinel at the pyloric orifice, and gained 
 admission into the stomach, from whence it was imme- 
 diately thrown out, sharing the fate of the food. To 
 crown all, the tansy tea, by producing irritation, kept 
 up the morbid action, involving all the parts connected 
 with the lining membrane, as the liver, etc. 
 
 I caused him to be removed into a cool and quiet 
 room; had his feet bathed with mustard and warm 
 water, to assist the action of a mustard plaster on his 
 stomach ; and then caused a strong injection to be ad- 
 ministered, leaving a powder to be taken at a certain 
 time afterward. The vomiting ceased, the bowels 
 moved, a terrible headache (which I forgot to mention 
 in my notice of sensation) disappeared, etc., etc., and 
 the next morning found him free from all pain, but 
 very weak. This is called the active plan of treat- 
 ment. 
 
 Very frequently, a mere removal of injurious influ- 
 ences, by allowing the vis medicatrix free scope, will be 
 sufficient to cure. This is called the expectant plan of 
 treatment. 
 
 Lady, Nature, after all, has to fight her own battles, 
 the physician generally dc;ng nothing, except, by re- 
 moving injurious influences, to show fair play; the ut- 
 most he can perform is to substitute one morbific cause 
 for another. If it were not for the vis medicatrix, there 
 would be no science of medicine — we should all die off 
 as soon as injured. 
 
 Doctor. I am glad that you understand so well 
 what I have been endeavoring to teach ; you have now 
 
120 WATER CURE. 
 
 learned enough of the principles of medicine to pursue 
 the study as much as you choose. 
 
 Lady. Does fascination act by inducing a new dis- 
 ease ? 
 
 Doctor. Most assuredly ; it forms no exception to 
 the mode of operation of the others, from all of which it 
 differs, however, by giving the vis medicatrix less effort 
 to displace its effects. I suppose this fact will make no 
 advice needed with regard to fascinating healthy per- 
 sons, as direct disease is thereby induced. 
 
 Lady. Why did I not get well directly after the first - 
 fascination ? 
 
 Doctor. From the influence of habit, and the same 
 causes still acting that produced your disease in the first 
 instance. Directly after the effect of each operation 
 was over, and before the disease again seized upon you, 
 the system had time to gain strength ; as the intervals 
 increased, more strength was acquired, until, at length, 
 your frame was strong enough to resist the injurious 
 influence, and then your recovery was complete. 
 
 Lady. In what manner does the water cure operate ? 
 A friend of mine was very anxious that I should try it \ 
 he thought every case of chronic disease in the conti- 
 nent of Europe would soon be cured at Graefenberg. 
 
 Doctor. I have very little doubt but that it would 
 have killed you. You can no more expect one particu- 
 lar medicine, or plan of treatment, to cure all diseases, 
 than to find one book which would suit all readers ; or 
 one coat capable of fitting all men. Wherever life is 
 present, variety is certain to be found, as well in dis- 
 ease as in health. In certain cases, fascination, as a 
 curative agent, is invaluable ; but, recommend it as a 
 succedaneum, and it is certain to do much mischief. 
 
HOMXEOPATHY. 121 
 
 Hydropathy, as a curative agent, acts exactly on the 
 dormouse principle ; it depresses until the vis medicatrix 
 rises to the rescue. The process, you will observe, 
 has already been gone through with at the first time of 
 the attack ; it says to nature, " You have failed in your 
 attempt, try again." In many chronic cases of long 
 standing it is certainly a valuable remedy ; that it is a 
 new discovery, or that it will supercede all other reme- 
 dies, are both ridiculous ideas. 
 
 Lady. I am aware, doctor, that you have attentively 
 examined homoeopathy ; and since such a golden oppor- 
 tunity presents itself for inquiry, I should be much 
 obliged if you w.ould tell me what it really is worth ; 
 many of my friends think its cures are almost miraculous ? 
 
 Doctor. Cases of medical treatment under such cir- 
 cumstances, stand in the same relation to truth as the 
 tricks of a juggler to the deductions of science; such 
 reports, in fact, have elicited the remark that " medical 
 facts are medical lies." Whatever militates against 
 common sense and experience cannot be received as 
 evidence. 
 
 Lady. Their infinitessimal doses lead me to conclude 
 that their object is to let nature, in all cases, take care 
 of herself. Much harm cannot be done except by 
 inducing delay. 
 
 Doctor. That alone should condemn the whole mat- 
 ter, as no where are " delays so dangerous" as in medi- 
 cine, a life often turning on an hour of time. My study 
 of Hannehman has led me to consider him possessed 
 of remarkable talent, and that the whole system of ho- 
 moeopathy is nothing more than a disguised recommenda- 
 tion of fascination. Do you remember how he tests the 
 strength of his medicines ? 
 II 
 
122 FASCINATION 
 
 Lady. By the number of dilutions ; the greater the 
 number, the more powerful the medicine. 
 
 Doctor. That simple fact should have led to the dis- 
 covery of his meaning, the solution of his enigma. He 
 directs his medicines to be prepared by hand, and consi- 
 ders them increased in strength proportionally as the 
 hand is laid upon them : this is nothing more than a 
 practice, long known, of mesmerizing medicine for pa- 
 tients. 
 
 Lady. Still I should have thought that where so 
 much was at stake, he would have given some intima- 
 tion of his secret more plainly than that ; that he would 
 even in some cases direct them to fascinate. 
 
 Doctor. He has done so : where nature alone will 
 cure, or the expectant plan will suffice, he directs the 
 minimum doses ; in more serious cases, you must, to use 
 his own words, " stroke the patient down with the palm 
 of the hand till relief be obtained." 
 
 His object, in concealing his real sentiments, was 
 doubtless to escape the ridicule of the age in which he 
 lived, If he possessed an acute sense of mirthfulness, 
 great must have been his merriment to have known that 
 glass factories, in many countries, were solely employed 
 blowing his little vials ; thousands of apothecaries en- 
 gaged in manufacturing medicines to fill those vials ; 
 machines inventing to prepare his triturations and dilu- 
 tions ; and, finally, hosts of the sons of Esculapius, 
 equipped with whole pharmaceutical establishments in 
 their coat pockets, visiting their patients, and who, ever 
 and anon, were drawing forth the organcn of him upon 
 whom they looked as more than mortal, to seek fresh 
 instructions regarding the best nethod of dispensing 
 sugar plums. 
 
COMMON SALT. 123 
 
 It is rarely that persons will take pains to examine 
 into any system of medicine ; the small amount of medi- 
 cal knowledge out of the pale of the profession, owing 
 most likely to the small amount within, has given an 
 idea that the whole subject is nothing more than a sys- 
 tem of guessing ; and those entertaining this view are 
 rather pleased with homoeopathy, as being a practice in 
 which wrong guessing cannot produce much detriment. 
 
 Another source of injury to the science of medicine 
 has been various hypotheses started by men who were 
 not properly versed in the laws of life. During the 
 prevalence of a certain deadly pestilence in the West 
 Indies, the blood was, in all cases in those affected, dark, 
 almost black. A physician, who had been bleeding a 
 patient, found the dark blood, as soon as it gained the 
 bowl, become of a bright healthy-looking red ; and, upon 
 examining the matter, found the florid appearance was 
 owing to some table salt which had been accidentally left 
 in the bowl ; his sapient brain instantly conceived the 
 idea that it was the loss of muriate of soda (common 
 salt) in the blood that caused the fever. This fancied 
 discovery changed his whole plan of treatment, and his 
 after practice consisted in injecting solutions of salt 
 into the veins, and giving it by the stomach. His fellow 
 physicians followed his example as soon as the matter 
 was published. The uniformly fatal termination of all 
 cases treated in this absurd manner at length obliged 
 the doctors to relinquish the practice ; but the hypothe- 
 sis, like the bodies of ancient heroes, was accompanied 
 to the grave by thousands of victims slaughtered to its 
 honor. 
 
 Lady. What is the meaning of transfusion of blood ? 
 
 Doctor. It was discovered that where death would 
 
124 VACCINATION. 
 
 ensue from the loss of blood, taking a supply from the 
 veins of another and directly introducing it into that of 
 the patient, would preserve life in many instances. 
 The French received it with open arms, and were eager 
 to embrace the advantages it offered. Supposing the 
 secret of perpetual youth was made known, old age 
 hastened to fill its veins with the blood of juvenescence. 
 Though the majority who tried the plan fell victims to 
 its fatal influence, it still continued to be the enthusiasm 
 of the day till a prince of the blood royal was added to 
 the list of victims. The laws immediately made it a 
 penal offence, and it fell into disuse. 
 
 A knowledge of the laws of life would have prevented 
 all this victimizing, as it would also correct many popu- 
 lar prejudices. You wished me, some time since, to 
 vaccinate your son George, because more than seven 
 years had elapsed since he had taken the cow-pox, and 
 I could not then explain the reason why I did not think 
 it was necessary. 
 
 Our bodies are perpetually changing ; they are not 
 tne same to-morrow as to-day. This fact, which they 
 could perceive but not explain, puzzled the ancients : 
 " To be another, yet the same !" was the astonished ex- 
 clamation of an old philosopher. By the constant ab- 
 sorption and deposition of matter, it has been computed 
 that we undergo a total change every seven years ; and 
 persons informed of this, think the effect of vaccination 
 worn off, when every particle of matter that was 
 present in the body at the time of the operation is de- 
 parted. The life piinciple is entirely forgotten in this 
 estimate ; impressions made on it are indelible ; every 
 particle of matter it directs to be removed, is replaced 
 by an exactly similar particle ; thus a depression in the 
 
PRIESTS OF NATUR&. l25 
 
 skin, or mark of any kind, often remains for life. When 
 perfectly vaccinated, the system is forever surely guard- 
 ed against the attacks of small-pox; but when any 
 doubt exists relative to the former effect, it is well to 
 repeat the operation. 
 
 You must not be surprised to find doctors often disa- 
 greeing with this explanation ; for there are as many sects 
 in medicine as in theology. Many of them, perhaps a 
 majority, consider the human body a vast chemical la- 
 boratory, and scoff at the notion of a life power. Some 
 of these affirm, and others deny, the existence of an im- 
 mortal soul, by which last, when allowed to remain, 
 those who believe in it solve all the living problems 
 chemistry cannot explain. 
 
 Since the days of Hippocrates, or rather his ancestor 
 Esculapius, there has always been a church of faithful 
 priests of nature, who closely observed her laws and 
 obeyed her dictates. One after another of these has 
 added his quota to the general amount of information, 
 till, being fully prepared for generalizing, the great prin- 
 ciples of health and disease have been established, which 
 no doubt will continue in force till this mortal puts on 
 immortality. These true physicians are known under 
 the name of vitalists, or observers of life. 
 
 Our opponents, when they talk of uncertainty and 
 
 confusion, but proclaim the chaos existing in their own 
 
 minds, on which the spirit of truth had never moved to 
 
 correct disorder, and impart life and light. 
 
 11* 
 
CONVERSATION VIII. 
 
 PREVISION. 
 
 Doctor. The patient, while under the influence of 
 fascination, will, in some cases, often materially assist 
 the treatment by prescribing remedies for himself, his 
 instinctive faculties undergoing remarkable develop- 
 ments. 
 
 This power has been named prevision ; but I think it 
 is susceptible of a two-fold distinction — that which re- 
 lates to the organism, and by perceiving " a series of 
 organic movements, consequent one upon the other," and 
 thence foretelling results ; and that which is probably the 
 communication of a superior being, in attendance upon 
 us, and whose revelations are made only for special 
 purposes. 
 
 We will name the first organic, and the second 
 revealed, prevision. 
 
 Lady. This organic prevision seems to me nothing 
 more than a development of the vis medicatrix naturse. 
 
 Doctor. It certainly resembles it in many particu- 
 lars, and the fact of its being possessed by the lower 
 animals to a considerable extent favors your view. 
 
 Bruce tells us that the African Arabs secure them- 
 selves from the mortal consequences attending the bite 
 of serpents, by chewing a particular root, and washing 
 themselves with an infusion of certain plants in water ; 
 he gives a particular account of several of these plants, 
 some of which seem only capable of acting against the 
 
 
CURATIVE INSTINCTS, 127 
 
 power of the serpent ; others, only against that of the 
 scorpion ; and a third sort, against both ; and all wil 
 operate both 'as an antidote and preventive. Vargus 
 throws considerable light on the manner in which the 
 Arabs acquired the knowledge of these plants ; he was 
 a gentleman residing at Santa Fe, (S. A.,) who was 
 accustomed to venture into the open fields and seize the 
 largest and most venomous serpents, from whose bite 
 he was perfectly protected by drinking a small portion 
 of the juice of the quaco-witky, and inserting some in 
 punctures made in his hands, breast, and feet. The 
 name of the plant is derived from the Indian term for 
 the serpent hawk, who was observed, before attacking 
 poisonous serpents, to suck its juice, which, when tried 
 for the same purpose by mankind, proved equally effi- 
 cacious. 
 
 An old writer long since remarked that no fact ap- 
 peared better attested, in the history of human know- 
 ledge, than that of a proficiency in the art of practical 
 physic, far beyond the scope of their other attainments ; 
 forming a curious but unfailing trait in the character of 
 savages. Now, whether that proficiency was attained 
 b} observations made on the instincts of the lower 
 animals, or the result of their own organic prevision in 
 a fascinated state, it is hard to discover ; perhaps it was 
 compounded of both. 
 
 The apes of Abyssinia are reported to have, by trials 
 on themselves, first exhibited to men the laxative pro- 
 perties of the cassia fistula. A dog having had some 
 sheep's blood injected into his veins, was observed to 
 immediately begin eating grass ; and this was consid- 
 ered by the transfusers sufficient evidence that the na- 
 ture of each animal resided in the blood, and that the 
 
128 TOAD AND SPIDER. 
 
 dog would in future partake of the qualities of the 
 sheep. A gross error ; the organic prevision of the 
 dog warned him that to produce vomiting was to ob- 
 tain relief from the pain caused by his cruel tormentors , 
 hence his conduct ; for he is commonly observed, when 
 sick, to eat a quantity of prickly grass, an expedient 
 that seldom fails to answer the purposes of an emetic. 
 
 Lady. I was once called, while in the country, to 
 witness something of this kind. It was a toad fighting 
 with a large spider ; every time the toad was bitten, it 
 ran off, and, having eaten some plantain leaves, would 
 return to the fight. A person present, while the frog 
 was trying to reach the plantain, covered it up ; he 
 swelled up immediately, and died in consequence. 
 
 I am aware that hogs, after being kept for some time 
 without salt, refuse food, and greedily devour ashes or 
 cinders in great quantities. Some time ago, I met with 
 an anecdote of a gentleman who, when sick, never used 
 medicine ; giving, as reason, the example of a monkey 
 in his possession, that, if ill, would abstain from food 
 a few days, when he was always sure to recover health 
 and spirits. 
 
 Doctor. But that the fascinated patients of the Egyp- 
 tian temples remembered their visions, I should have 
 classed such cases in organic prevision: as an instance 
 of the latter faculty, I will quote a case from the report 
 of the commission of the Royal Academy of Medicine, 
 and vouched for by them. 
 
 " Pierre Cazot, twenty years of age, a working hatter, born of an 
 epileptic mother, has been subject, from ten years of age, to attacks of 
 epilepsy, which have recurred five or six times a week up to the time 
 when he entered the Hopital de la Charitc, in the early part of the 
 month of August, 1827. He was at once magnetized by M. Foissac, was 
 placed in the magnetic sleep at the third sitting, and became somiiambi- 
 
ORGANIC PREVISION. 129 
 
 lie at the tenth, which took place on the 19th of August. It was on 
 that day, at nine o'clock in the morning, that he announced, that on the 
 same day, at four o'clock in the afternoon, he should have an attack of 
 epilepsy ; but that it might be prevented, if he was magnetized a little 
 before that period. The verification of his prediction was preferred— 
 and, therefore, no precaution was taken to prevent the paroxysm ; wo 
 contented ourselves with observing him, without his having any suspicion 
 that we were doing so. At one o'clock he was seized with a violent 
 headache ; — at three he was obliged to go to bed, — and at four o'clock 
 precisely the paroxysm attacked him, and lasted about five minutes. 
 Two days afterwards, Cazot being in somnambulism, M. Fouquier sud- 
 denly thrust a pin, of an inch long, between the thumb and the forefin- 
 ger of the right hand ; with the same pin, he also pierced the lobe of the 
 ear; — and the eyelids being separated, the white of the eye itself was 
 repeatedly struck with the head of the pin without occasioning the 
 smallest indication of sensibility. 
 
 " The commission met at the Hopital de la Charite on the 24th of August, 
 at nine in the morning, in order to observe the experiments which M. 
 Fouquier, one of its members, proposed continuing upon this in.valid# 
 
 " At this seance, M. Fouquier took his station about six feet in front of 
 Cazot : he looked at him firmly — made use of no passes with the hands, — 
 observed the most perfect silence, and Cazot was asleep in eight minutes. 
 At three different times, a bottle of ammonia was held under his nose— - 
 the countenance became flushed — the breathing quickened, but he did 
 not awaken. M. Fouquier thrust a pin an inch long into the fore-arm ; 
 afterwards, another pin was thrust to the depth of two lines, obliquely 
 under the chest ; — a third was similarly inserted into the pit of the sto- 
 mach ; and a fourth was thrust perpendicularly into the sole of the foot. 
 M. Guersent pinched him in the fore-arm so severely as to leave a bruise 
 mark ; — and M. Itard leaned the whole weight of his body upon his 
 thigh. 
 
 " We endeavored to tickle him by lightly passing a little piece of 
 paper under the nose, upon the lips, upon the eyebrows, the eyelashes, 
 the neck, and the soles of the feet — but nothing could awaken him. We 
 then urged him with questions. ' How many more attacks will you 
 have ?' ' During a year.' * Do you know whether these attacks will be 
 near to each other?' ' No.' ' Will you have one this month ?' ' I shall 
 have a fit on Monday the 27th, at twenty minutes before three o'clock. 
 1 Will it be a strong one V 'It will not be half so strong as the last. 7 ' On 
 what other day will you have an attack V After an expression of impa- 
 tience, he answered, — ' A fortnight hence, that is to say, on the 7th of 
 September.' ' At what hour V l At ten minutes before six in the morning. , 
 
 mi The illness of one of his children obliged Cazot to leave la Charit6 
 on that very day, the 24th of August. But it was agreed that he should 
 return on Monday the 27 th, early in the morning, in order that the gt 
 
130 CASE OF CAZOT. 
 
 which he had declared to be impending in the afternoon of that day, at 
 twenty minutes before three, might be accurately observed 
 
 " The steward, having refused to take him in when he presented him- 
 self for admittance, Cazot repaired to the house of M. Foissac in order to 
 complain of this refusal. M. Foissac, as he afterwards told us, preferred 
 dissipating this attack by magnetism, to being a solitary witness to the 
 occurrence, — and consequently we were unable to establish the exacti- 
 tude of this prevision. But it still remained for us to observe the parox- 
 ysm which he had announced for the 7th of September. M. Fouquier 
 having caused Cazot to re-enter the hospital on the 6th, under the pre- 
 text of paying him some attentions, which he could not pay out of that 
 establishment, had him magnetized in the course of the day of the 6th 
 by M. Foissac, who put him to sleep by the simple act of his will, and 
 by steadfastly looking at him. In this sleep, Cazot repeated, that the next 
 day he should have an attack at ten minutes before six in the morning, 
 and that it might be prevented if he was magnetized a little before. At 
 a signal agreed upon, and given by M. Fouquier, M. Foissac, of whose 
 presence Cazot was ignorant, awakened him in the same way as he had 
 putfcim to sleep, by the sole act of his will, notwithstanding the ques- 
 tions which were addressed to the somnambulist, and which had no 
 other object than to conceal from him the moment in which he ought to 
 waken. 
 
 " In order to be witnesses of this second attack, the commission met 
 on the 7th of September, at a quarter before six in the morning, in the 
 ward St. Michel, at la Charite. There they were informed, that the 
 evening before, at eight o'clock, Cazot had been seized with headache, 
 which had tormented him all night, — that this pain had occasioned the 
 sensation of beating in his head, and that he had had some darting sensa- 
 tions in his ears. Ten minutes before six o'clock we witnessed the epileptic 
 attack, characterized by contraction and stiffness of the limbs, — by the 
 repeated and forcible tossing of the head backwards, — by the convulsive 
 closing of the eyelids, — by the retraction of the globe of the eye towards 
 the roof of the orbit, — by sighs, — by screams, — by insensibility to severe 
 pinching, — and by the biting of the tongue between the teeth. This set 
 of symptoms lasted for about five minutes, during which, he had two 
 remissions of some seconds each, and then a painful relaxation of the 
 limbs, and sense of general exhaustion. 
 
 "On the 10th of September, at ten o'clock at night, the commission 
 met again at the house of M. Itard, in order to continue its inquiries 
 upon Cazot: the latter was in the library, where conversation had been 
 carried on with him till half-past seven, at which time, M. Foissac, who 
 had arrived since Cazot, and had waited in an ante-chamber separated 
 from the library by two closed doors, and a distance of twelve feet, began 
 to magnetize him. Three minutes afterwards Cazot said, I think that 
 Foissac is there, for I feel myself oppressed and enfeebled. At the 
 
OA.SE of cazot. 131 
 
 expiration of eight minutes he was completely asleep. He was again 
 questioned, and assured us, that in three weeks from that day, ihat is, 
 on the first of October, he should have an epileptic paroxysm at ten 
 minutes before noon. 
 
 "It was desirable to observe with equal care, as on the 7th of Septem- 
 ber, the epileptic attack which he had predicted for the 1st of October. 
 With this view, the commission met together on that day at half-past 
 eleven, at the house of M. Georges, manufacturer of hats, No. 17, Rue 
 des Menetriers, where Cazot lived and worked. We learned from M. 
 Georges, that he was a very regular workman, whose conduct was ex- 
 cellent, — and that he was, both by the simplicity of his mind, and by his 
 moral principles, absolutely incapable of lending himself to any decep- 
 tion ; that he had had no attack of epilepsy since the one which the com- 
 mission had witnessed at la Gharite ; — that not feeling himself well that 
 morning, he had remained in his own chamber, and was not at work ; — 
 that at this moment, there was with him an intelligent man, whose vera- 
 city and discretion might be relied upon ; that this man had not told him 
 he had predicted an attack for that day;— that it appeared that since the 
 7th of September, M. Foissac had had some communication with Cazot, 
 but without permitting the inference that he had in any way recalled to 
 him his prediction, since, on the contrary, M. Foissac attached the highest 
 importance to the circumstance, that no one should speak to the patient 
 on the subject of what he had announced. At five minutes before twelve, 
 M. Georges went up into a room situated immediately under that occu- 
 pied by Cazot, and in one minute afterwards he came to inform us that 
 the attack had supervened. We hastily ran to the sixth story, that is, 
 MM. Guersent, Thillaye, Marc, Gueneau de Massy, Itard, and the Re- 
 porter, where, on our arrival, the watch pointed at one minute to twelve 
 by the true time. Assembled around the bed of Cazot, we distinguished 
 the epileptic paroxysm characterized by the following symptoms : tetanic 
 stiffness of the body and of the limbs — tossing of the head, and occasion- 
 ally of the trunk of the body backwards, — a convulsive retraction, and 
 up-turning of the eye, so that the white of the eye only is visible, — a 
 very remarkable fullness of the face and neck,-— contraction of the jaws,— 
 partial convulsive movements of the fibres of the muscles of the right arm 
 and fore-arm; — soon afterwards so decided a tetanic attack, that the trunk 
 of the body was so raised as to form the segment of a circle, of which the 
 only bases were formed by the head and the feet ; which movements 
 terminated by a sudden collapse. A few moments after this attack, that 
 is, after one minute of relaxation, a new paroxysm, similar to the preced- 
 ing one, took place ; there were uttered inarticulate sounds — his respira- 
 tion very frequent and interrupted, — the larynx being rapidly and vio 
 lently raised and depressed ; and the pulse beating from 132 to 160 in v 
 minute : — there was no frothing at the mouth, nor contraction of tha 
 thumbs to th^ inside of the palm *f the hand. At the end of six minutes 
 
132 CASE OF CAZCT. 
 
 the paroxysm terminated by deep sighs, by relaxation of the limbs, and 
 opening of the eyelids. 
 
 " The invalid fixed an astonished look upon the persons present, and 
 complained of being painfully stiff, especially in the right arm. 
 
 u Although the commission could not doubt the veritable action pro- 
 duced by magnetism upon Cazot, even without his knowledge, and at a 
 certain distance from him, yet they desired to acquire a new proof of this 
 state ; — and as it had been proved at the last seance, that M. Foissac had 
 had some communication with him, and therefore might have told him 
 that he had announced an attack for the 1st of October, the commission 
 w r ere also desirous, while submitting Cazot to some new trials, to lead M. 
 Foissac himself into error as to the day on which his epileptic should 
 have announced as the next for the return of the paroxysm. By this 
 plan we should shelter ourselves from every species of connivance, even 
 supposing that a man, whom we had always seen honest and upright, 
 could possibly have any secret or collusive understanding with a man 
 without education, without intelligence, — and that in order to deceive 
 us. We will confess that we did not ourselves do this iqjustice, even in 
 thought, to either the one or the other; and we feel bound to render the 
 same testimony to MM. Dupotet and Chapelain, of whom we have more 
 than once had occasion to speak to you. 
 
 " The commission met again on the 6th of October at noon, in the 
 library of M. Bourdois, at which hour Cazot arrived there with his child, 
 M. Foissac having been invited to come at half-past twelve: he was exact 
 to his appointment, and remained in the ante-room, without the cogni- 
 zance of Cazot, and without any communication with us. We sent to 
 inform him, however, by a side door, that Cazot was seated on a sofa, 
 placed ten feet from the door, which was closed, and that the commission 
 requested he would magnetize, and awaken him also at that distance, he, 
 M. Foissac, remaining in the ante-room, and Cazot in the library. 
 
 " At twenty-three minutes before one, while Cazot was occupied with 
 the conversation which we carried on among ourselves, or examining the 
 pictures which adorn the library, M. Foissac, placed in the next room, 
 began to magnetize him : we remarked that in four minutes Cazot began 
 slightly to droop the eyelids-^that he had a restless unquiet air — and that 
 in nine minutes he was asleep. M. Guer*ent, who had attended him for 
 his epileptic attacks at the Hopital des Enfants, asked him if he remem- 
 bered him : — lie answered affirmatively. M. Itard inquired, when he 
 should have a paroxysm. He replied that it would be this day four 
 weeks, (the 3rd of November,) at five minutes after four in the afternoon. 
 He was then asked when he should have another, to which he answered, 
 after apparent reflection and hesitation, that it would be five weeks after 
 the one which he had just indicated — the 9th of December, at half past 
 nine in the morning. 
 
 " The process verbal of this seance having been read in the presence of 
 
CASE OF CAZOT. 133 
 
 M. Foissac, in order that he might sign it with us, we wished, as it has 
 been above remarked, to lead him into error : and in reading it to him, 
 before presenting it for signature to the members of the commission, the 
 reporter read, that the first attack of Cazot would take place on Sunday 
 the 4th of, November, whereas the somnambulist had fixed Saturday the 
 3rd. lie practised the same deceit with regard to the second; and M 
 Foi&sac took a memorandum of these erroneous indications as if they had 
 been exact ; but having some days afterwards put Cazot into somnambu- 
 lism, as he was accustomed to do, in order to dispel his headaches, he 
 learned from him, that it was the 3rd and not the 4th of November, that 
 he ought to have a return of the fit, and he informed M. Itard of this on 
 the 1st of November, believing that there had been an error in the pro- 
 ces verbal, of which, nevertheless, M. Itard maintained the assumed cor- 
 rectness. 
 
 " The commission again took all the necessary precautions to enable 
 them to observe the attack of the 3rd of November; — they met at four 
 o'clock in the afternoon at the house of M. Georges ; they learned from 
 him, — from his wife, — and from one of the work-people, that Cazot had 
 gone through his customary labor all the morning, till two o'clook in the 
 afternoon, and that during his dinner, he had complained of headache ; 
 that nevertheless he had returned to his work, but that the headache 
 increasing, and having felt giddy, he had retired to his own room — had 
 gone to bed, and to sleep, MM. Bourdois, Fouquier, and the reporter, 
 preceded by M. Georges, then went up stairs to Cazot's room : M. Geor- 
 ges alone went in, and found him in a profound sleep, which he begged 
 of us to observe through the door, which was partially open to the stair- 
 case. M. Georges spoke loudly to him — shook him rather rudely, pulled 
 him by the arm without awakening him. Cazot was then seized with 
 the painful symptoms which constitute an attack of epilepsy, and precisely 
 similar to that which we had formerly observed upon him. 
 
 " The second attack announced at the seance of the 6th of October, for 
 the 9th of December, that is, two months beforehand, took place at half 
 past nine, or a quarter of an hour later than had been predicted, and was 
 characterized by the same precursory phenomena, and by the same 
 symptoms as those of the 7th of September, 1st of October, and the 3rd of 
 November. 
 
 " Lastly, on the 11th of February, 1328, Cazot fixed the period of a 
 new attack for the 22nd of the following April, at five minutes before 
 noon : and this announcement, like the preceding ones, was verified 
 within five minutes, that is, at ten minutes before twelve. This attack 
 was remarkable for its violence, for the species of madness with which 
 Cazot bit his hand and fore-arm, — for the violent and repeated shocks 
 with which the body was distorted, and for its having lasted thirty-five 
 minutes, when M. Foissac, who was present, magnetized him. Very 
 soon, this convulsive state yielded to the state of magnetic som»"»ambilism, 
 
 J2 
 
134 CASE OF CAZOT, 
 
 during which Cazot got out ot bed, sat down upon a chair, and said that 
 he was very much fatigued ;— that he should have two more attacks one 
 of which should be nine weeks from to-morrow (June 23rd,) at three 
 minutes after six. He would not fix the second attack, because he mus-t 
 think of what would take place beforehand, (at this moment he sent away 
 his wife, who was present,) and added, that in about three weeks after 
 the attack of the 23rd of June, he should go mad ; that his madness would 
 last three days, during which he should be so mischievous, that he should 
 attack every body ; — that he should even ill-treat his wife and his child ; 
 that he ought not to be left alone with the in ; — and that he did not know, 
 that he should not kill an individual without intending it. It would be 
 necessary to bleed him from both feet ; ' then,- said he, 1 1 shall be well for 
 the month of August ; and once cured, the disorder will not return, what- 
 ever circumstances may happen to me afterwards.' 1 
 
 " It was on the 22nd of April, that all these previsions were announced 
 to us, and two days afterwards, the 24th, Cazot wishing to stop a run- 
 away horse which had got the bit between his teeth, was violently thrown 
 down against the wheel of a cabriolet, which occasioned a fracture of the 
 left supra-orbitary ridge, and bruised him horribly. He was conveyed to 
 the Hopital Beaujon, where he died on the 13th of May. On inspecting 
 the body, and opening the head, there were found traces of recent mem- . 
 branous inflammation, — purulent collections under the integuments of the 
 skull, and at the extremity of the choroid plexus, a substance externally 
 white, but yellowish internally, and which contained some small hydatids. 
 
 " We see in this history a young man, subject for years to attacks of 
 epilepsy, for which he had been treated successively ai" the Hopital des 
 Enfants, and at Saint Louis, and in consequence of which he had been 
 exempted from military service. Magnetism acted upon him, although 
 he was perfectly ignorant of what was going on, — and he became som- 
 nambulist. The symptoms of his disorder were ameliorated; the par- 
 oxysms diminished in frequency; — his headaches, his oppression disap- 
 peared under the influence of magnetism ; — he prescribed for himself a 
 treatment appropriate to the nature of his malady, and from which he 
 promised his restoration. Magnetized without his knowledge, and from a 
 distance, he fell into somnambulism, and was aroused from it with the 
 same promptitude, as if he had been magnetized close at hand. Finally, 
 he indicated with extraordinary precision, one or two months beforehand, 
 the day and the hour of the return of the epileptic attack. Yet notwilk- 
 standing he was thus endowed with prevision for attacks at so great a dis' 
 tance of time, and even for attacks which would never take place, he did 
 not foresee, that in two days he should meet with a fatal accident. 
 
 " Without attempting to reconcile all which at first sight is apparently 
 contradictory in such a history, the commission would draw your atten- 
 tion to the fact that the previsions of Cazot related only to his attacks ; — 
 that thev are reducible to the knowledge of organic modifications in him 
 
PREVISION OF SOCRATES. 135 
 
 self, which were preparing, and which would arrive as the necessary 
 result of the interior functions ; that these previsions, although of greater 
 extent, are really precisely similar to those of certain other epileptics, who 
 recognize by divers premonitory symptoms, such as headache, giddiness, 
 irritability, the aura epilcptica, that they shall soon have an attack. Is it 
 then surprising, that these somnambulists, whose sensations, as you have 
 seen, are extremely acute, should be able to foresee their attacks a long 
 time previously, according to some symptoms, or interior impressions, 
 which escape the notice of waking men ? It is in this way, gentlemen, 
 that we may understand the prevision attested by Aretreus in two parts 
 of his immortal works, — by Sauvages, who also records an example, — and 
 by Cabanis. Let us also add, that the prevision of Cazot, was not abso- 
 lute, and unalterable, but conditional; since in predicting an attack, he 
 announced that it w T ould not take place, if he was magnetized, and that 
 in point of fact, it did not take place : — the prevision is icholly organic, 
 wholly interior. Thus we easily understand, why he did not foresee an 
 event wholly exterior, — that is to say, that accident led him to meet a run- 
 away horse, — that he was imprudent enough to try to stop him, and that 
 he received a mortal injury. Thus he might foresee an attack which was 
 not to happen. It is the hand of a watch, which in a given time, ought 
 to pass over a certain portion of its facial circle, and which does not de- 
 scribe that portion, because the watch is broken." 
 
 Cases of revealed prevision are quite as common as 
 those of organic, and have been known a much longer 
 period. Socrates presented a remarkable instance of 
 *his kind. He informed his disciples that he possessed 
 a genius, who told him future events and directed his 
 conduct, and whom he never failed to obey. He often 
 warned his friends (by the advice he told them of his 
 genius,) against certain courses of action, and, in every 
 case where they refused to profit by his counsel, disas- 
 trous results followed. 
 
 He predicted all the events of any importance in his 
 own life, and lastly, his death and its mode. After sen- 
 tence was passed on him, his enemies waited but the 
 return of a ship to put it into execution. The night be- 
 fore the vessel was expected in, his disciples w r ere 
 grieving bitterly to think that before another evening 
 
130 PREVISION OF CAZOTTE. 
 
 the philosopher would be taken from them ; he informed 
 the sorrowful group around him that the ship had been 
 injured at sea, and would not return for three days ; and 
 the event happened as he predicted. 
 
 Cazotte's famous prediction was verified, even to the 
 minutest point, in the history of the French revolution. 
 Newnham takes it from La Harpe ; you cannot fail to be 
 intensely interested in its perusal — its truth is undoubted. 
 
 " It appears but as yesterday, and yet, nevertheless, it was at the begin- 
 ning of the year 1788. We were dining with one of our brethren at the 
 Academy — a man of considerable wealth and genius. The company was 
 numerous and diversified — courtiers, lawyers, academicians, etc., and, 
 according to custom, there had been a magnificent dinner. At dessert, 
 the wines of Malvoisin and Constantia added to the gayety of the guests 
 that sort of liberty which is sometimes forgetful of bon ton : — we had 
 arrived in the world, just at that time when anything was permitted that 
 would raise a laugh. Chamfort had read to us some of his impious and 
 libertine tales, and even the great ladies had listened without having 
 recourse to their fans. From this arose a deluge of jests against religion. 
 One quoted a tirade from the Pucelle ; another recalled the philosophic 
 lines of Diderot — 
 
 4 Et des boyaux du dernier prdtre, 
 Serrez le cou du dernier roi* — 
 
 for the sake of applauding them. A third rose, and, holding his glass in 
 his hand, exclaimed : 4 Yes, gentlemen, I am as sure that there is no God 
 as I am sure that Homer is a fool;' and, in truth, he was as sure of the 
 one as of the other. The conversation became more serious ; much ad- 
 miration was expressed on. the revolution which Voltaire had effected, 
 and it was agreed that it was his first claim to the reputation he enjoyed. 
 He had given the prevailing tone to his age, and had been read in the 
 ante-chamber as well as in the drawing-room. One of the guests told us, 
 while bursting with laughter, that his hairdresser, while powdering his 
 hair, had said to him: l Do you observe, sir, that although I am but a 
 poor miserable barber, I have no more religion than any other? 1 We 
 concluded that the revolution must soon be consummated ; that it was 
 indispensable that superstition and fanaticism should give place to philos- 
 ophy, and we began to calculate the probability of the period when this 
 should be, and which of the present company should live to see the reign 
 of reason. The oldest complained that they could scarcely flatter them- 
 selves with the hope; the younger rejoiced that they might entertain 
 this very probable expectation ; and they congratulated the Academy 
 
CA13TTE. 137 
 
 especially for having prepared this great work, and for having been the 
 great rallying point, the centre, and the prime mover of the liberty of 
 tli ought. 
 
 " Oae only of the guests had not taken part in all the joyousness of this 
 conversation, and had even gently and cheerfully checked our splendid 
 enthusiasm. This was Cazotte, an amiable and original man, but unhap- 
 pily infatuated with the reveries of the illuminati. He spoke, and with 
 the most serious tone. ' Gentlemen/ said he, ' be satisfied ; you will all 
 see this great and sublime revolution, which you so much desire. You 
 know that I am a little inclined to prophesy ; I repeat, you will see it.' 
 He was answered by the common rejoinder: * One need not be a conjuror 
 to see that.'' l Be it so ; but perhaps one must be a little more than con- 
 juror for what remains for me to tell you. Do you know what will be 
 the consequence of this revolution — what will be the consequence to all 
 of you, and what will be the immediate result — the well-established 
 effect — the thoroughly-recognized consequence to all of you who are 
 here present?' 'Ah!' said Condorcet, with his insolent and half-sup- 
 pressed smile, ' let us hear — a philosopher is not sorry to encounter a 
 prophet.' ' You, Monsieur de Condorcet— you will yield up your last 
 breath on the floor of a dungeon; you will die from poison, which you 
 will have taken, in order to escape from execution — from poison which 
 the happiness of that time will oblige you to carry about your person.' 
 
 " At first, astonishment was most marked ; but it was soon recollected 
 that the good Cazotte is liable to dreaming, though apparently wide 
 awake, and a hearty laugh is the consequence. ' Monsieur Cazotte, the 
 relation which you give us is not so agreeable as your Diable Amoureux,' 
 (a novel of Cazotte 's.) 
 
 " ' l5ut what diable has put into your head this prison, and this poison, 
 and these executioners ? What can all these have in common with phi- 
 losophy and the reign of reason ? « This is exactly what I say to you ; it 
 is in the name of philosophy — of humanity — of liberty ; it is under the 
 reign of reason that it will happen to you thus to end your career; and it 
 will indeed be the reign of reason, for then she will have her temples, 
 and indeed, at that time, there will be no other temples in France than 
 the temples of reason.' < By my truth,' said Chamfort, with a sarcastic 
 smile, ' you will not be one of the priests of those temples.' ' I do not 
 hope it ; but you, Monsieur de Chamfort, who will be one, and most 
 worthy to be so, you will open your veins with twenty-two cuts of a 
 razor, and yet you will not die till some months afterward.' They 
 looked at each other, and laughed again. ' You, Monsieur Vicq d'Azir, 
 you will not open your own veins, but you will cause yourself to be 
 bled six times in one day, during a paroxysm of the gout, in order 
 to make more sure of your end, and you will die in the night. You, 
 Monsieur de Nicolai, you will die upon the scaffold ; you, Monsieur Bailly, 
 on the scaffold ; you, Monsieur de Malesherbes, on the scaffold.' ' Ah ! 
 
 12* 
 
138 CAZOTTE. 
 
 God be thanked/ exclaimed Roacher, ' it seems that Monsieur has no 
 eve but for the Academy; of it he has just made a terrible execution, and 
 
 I. thank heaven ' 'You! you also will die upon the scaffold.' 
 
 • Oh. what an admirable guesser,' was uttered on all sides ; ' he has sworn 
 to exterminate us all.' ' No, it is not I who have sworn it. 7 ' But shall 
 we, then, be conquered by the Turks or the Tartars? Yet again . . .' 
 1 Not at all ; I have already told you, you will then be governed only by 
 philosophy — only by reason. They who will thus treat you will he all 
 philosophers — will always have upon their lips the self-same phrases 
 which yon have been putting forth for the last hour — will repeat all your 
 maxims — and will quote, as you have done, the verses of Diderot, and 
 from La Pucelle.' They then whispered among themselves: * You see 
 that he is gone mad ;' for he preserved, all this time, the most serious and 
 solemn manner. ' Do you not see that he is joking, and you know that, 
 in. the character of his jokes, there is always much of the marvellous.' 
 ' Yes/ replied Chamfort, ' but his marvellousness is not cheerful ; it sa- 
 vors too much of the gibbet; and when will all this happen?' 'Six 
 years will not pass over, before all that I have said to you shall be 
 accomplished.' 
 
 " ' Here are some astonishing miracles (and, this time, it was I myoelf 
 who spoke), but you have not included me in your list.' ' But you 
 will be there, as an equally extraordinary miracle ; you will then be a 
 Christian.' 
 
 " Vehement exclamations on all sides. ' Ah,' replied Chamfort, ' I am 
 comforted; if we shall perish only when La Harpe shall be a Christian, 
 we are immortal.' 
 
 "'As for that,' then observed Madame la Duchesse de Giammont, 
 1 we women, w T e are happy to be counted for nothing in these revolu- 
 tions: when I say for nothing, it is not that we do not always mix our- 
 selves up with them a little ; but it is a received maxim that they take 
 no notice of us, and of our sex.' ' Your sex, ladies, will not protect you 
 this time ; and you had far better meddle with nothing, for you will be 
 treated entirely as men, without any difference whatever.' ' But what, 
 then, are you really telling us of, Monsieur Cazotte ? You are preaching 
 to us the end of the world.' ' I know nothing on this subject ; but what 
 I do know is, that you, Madame la Duchesse, will be conducted to tho 
 scaffold, you and many other ladies with you, in the cart of the execu- 
 tioner, and with your hands tied behind your backs.' ' Ah ! I hope 
 that, in that case, I shall at least have a carriage hung in black.' ' No, 
 madame; higher ladies than yourself will go, like you, in the common 
 car, with their hands tied behind them.' 'Higher ladies! what! the 
 princesses of the blood ?' ' Still more exalted personages.' Here a 
 sensible emotion pervaded the whole company, and the countenance of 
 the host was dark and lovrering ; they began to feel that the joke wag 
 hecome too serious. 
 
JOAN OF ARC. 139 
 
 " Madame de Grammont, in order to dissipate the cloud, took no notice 
 of the reply, and contented herself with saying in a careless tone: \ You 
 see that he will not leave me even a confessor. 1 ' No, madame, you will 
 not have one — neither you, nor any one besides. The last victim to 
 
 whom this favor will be afforded will be ' He stopped for a 
 
 moment. ' Well ! who then will be the happy mortal to whom this 
 prerogative will be given V i 'Tis the only one which he will have 
 then retained — and that will be the king of France.' 
 
 " The master of the house rose hastily, and every one with him. He 
 walked up to M. Cazotte, and addressed him with a tone of deep emo- 
 tion: * My dear* Monsieur Cazotte, this mournful joke has lasted long 
 enough. You carry it too far — even so far as to derogate from the soci- 
 ety in which you are, and from your own character.' Cazotte answered 
 not a word, and was preparing to leave, when Madame de Grammont, 
 who always sought to dissipate serious thought, and to restore the lost 
 gayety of the party, approached him, saying : ' Monsieur the prophet, 
 who has foretold us of our good fortune, you have told us nothing of your 
 own.' He remained silent for some time, with downcast eyes. • Mad- 
 ame, have you ever read the siege of Jerusalem in Josephns?' 'Yes! 
 who has not read that ! But answer as if I had never read it.' ' Well 
 then, madame, during the siege, a man, for seven days in succession, 
 went round the ramparts of the city, in sight of the besiegers and be- 
 sieged, crying unceasingly, with an ominous and thundering voice: Wo 
 to Jerusalem! — and the seventh time he cried : Wo to Jerusalem. — wo to 
 myself! And at that moment an enormous stone projected from one of 
 the machines of the besieging army, and struck him and destroyed him.' " 
 
 Joan of Arc's case will appropriately follow that of 
 Cazotte ; it is also a matter of history, and may be 
 relied on without the slightest hesitation. Like Socrates, 
 she openly professed herself under the guidance of a 
 familiar genius, whom she called St. Michael. She at 
 length fell into the power of the English, by whom she 
 was (as might be expected from the ignorance of the 
 age), regarded as a witch; they tried her as a heretic 
 and sorceress by an ecclesiastical tribunal, and after 
 condemnation, burnt her at Rouen. I will take the ac- 
 count from Newnham : 
 
 " On the 12th of February, 1428, on which the disastrous battle of 
 Rouvray-Saint-Denis was fought, Joan said to M. Robert de Baudricourt, 
 
140 JOAN OF ARC. 
 
 Governor of Vaucouleurs, that the king had suffered great losses before 
 Orleans, and would experience further losses unless she were sent to 
 him. The exactitude of this announcement determined Baudricourt to 
 send her. 
 
 " The next day, on her departure, many persons asked Joan how she 
 could possibly undertake this journey, since the whole country was over- 
 run with soldiers ; she answered that she shonld find the way clear. No 
 accident happened to her, nor to those who accompanied her, and even 
 very few difficulties during the whole journey, which lasted eleven days, 
 through an enemy's country, at the close of winter, over a distance of one 
 hundred and fifty leagues, and intersected by several deep rivers. 
 
 " On the 27th of February, when she was about to be presented to the 
 king, a man on horseback, who saw her passing, employed some blas- 
 phemous expressions. Joan heard him, and, turning her head, said, i Ha, 
 dost thou blaspheme the name of God, and yet so near to death?' In 
 about an hour afterwards, j.his man fell into the water and was drowned. 
 
 " The following month, Joan informed the doctors, who were commis- 
 sioned to examine her at Poictiers, — 
 
 " 1. That the English would be beaten ; that they would raise the 
 seige of Orleans ; and that this city would be delivered from the said 
 English ; 
 
 " 2. That the king would be consecrated at Rheims; 
 
 " 3. That the city of Paris would be restored to its loyalty ; 
 
 " 4. That the Duke of Orleans would return from England. 
 
 " The king, in council, having determined to send Joan to Orleans, 
 Jthey commissioned her to conduct a convoy of provisions, of which the 
 place stood in the greatest nesd." " It was observed to her, that it would 
 be a difficult enterprise, considering its fortifications, and the English be- 
 siegers, who were strong and powerful. ' By the help of my God,' an- 
 swered she, 'we will put them into Orleans easily, and without any 
 attempt to prevent us on the part of the English.' " ' . 
 
 " The generals of Charles VII., not daring to take the route which 
 Joan of Arc pointed out to them, the convoy was obliged to halt at some 
 leagues from Orleans, from the want of water, and from adverse winds. 
 Everybody was confounded and in grief; but Joan announced that the 
 wind would soon change, and that the provisions would be easily thrown 
 into the town, in spite of the English ; all which was completely verified. 
 
 " The English retained one of the heralds whom Joan had sent to 
 summon them to surrender; — they even wished to burn him alive ; — and 
 they wrote to the university of Paris to consult upon the subject : Joan 
 assured them, that they would do him no harm. 
 
 " When Joan appeared on the redoubt called the boulevard de la 
 Belle-Croix, to summon them to raise the siege, these loaded her with 
 abuse, especially one of the officers, to whom Joan replied, that ' he spoke 
 falsely, and in spite of them all, they would soon depart; but that he 
 
JOAN OF ARC. 141 
 
 would never see it, and that many of his people would be killed. In fact, 
 when the fort of Tournelles was taken this officer wished to make his 
 escape by the bridge which separated the fort from the suburbs ; but an 
 arch gave way beneath his feet, and he, with all his men, were drowned. 
 
 " Having introduced the convoy of provisions and ammunition into 
 Orleans, Joan foretold to the inhabitants, that in five days not an English- 
 man would remain before their walls. 
 
 " On the 6th of May, Joan informed her confessor, that on the next 
 day she should be wounded above the bosom, while before the fort at the 
 end of the bridge. And in fact she received a lance between the neck 
 and the shoulder, which passed out nearly half a foot behind the neck. 
 
 " On the morning of the 7th, her host having invited her to partake of 
 some fish which had been brought him, she desired him to keep it till 
 night, because she would then bring him a stranger who would do his 
 part in eating it. She added, that after having taking the Tournelles, she 
 would repass the bridge — a promise which seemed impossible to any 
 body ; but which nevertheless was fulfilled, like all the other impossibili- 
 ties. 
 
 " The irresolution of the king was the greatest punishment to Joan: — 
 'I shall only continue for a year, and a very little more,' said she; 'I 
 must try to employ that year well.' 
 
 " The Duchesse d'Alenc^n was greatly alarmed, on seeing her husband 
 at the head of the army, which was about to enforce the coronation of 
 the king, at Rheims. Joan told her to fear nothing — that she would 
 bring him back safe and sound, and in a better condition than he was at 
 that moment. 
 
 " At the attack of Jargean, the Due d'Alen^on was attentively recon- 
 noitering the outworks of the town, when Joan told him to remove from 
 the spot on which he was standing, or that he would be killed by seme 
 warlike missile. The duke removed, and almost immediately afterwards, 
 a gentleman of Anjou, by the name of M. de Lade, was struck in the very 
 place which the duke had just left. 
 
 " The English generals, Talbot, Searles, and FalstafF, having arrived, 
 with four thousand men, to the relief of the Castle of Beaugenie, in order 
 to raise the siege of that place, Joan predicted that the English would 
 not defend themselves — wonld be conquered, and that this triumph 
 would be almost bloodless on the part of the royal army ; and that there 
 would be very few — not quite to say no one — killed of the French com- 
 batants. In truth, they lost but one man, and almost all the English 
 were killed or taken. 
 
 " Joan had told the king not to fear any want of troops for the expedi- 
 tion to Rheims, for that there would be plenty of persons, and many 
 would follow him ; in truth, the army increased visibly from day to day 
 and numbered twelve thousand men by the end of June, 1429. 
 
 11 When the army had arrived before Troyes, that city shut its gates, 
 
142 JOAN OF ARC. 
 
 and refused to yield. After five days waiting, and useless efforts of capitu- 
 lation, the majority of the council advised to return to Gien; but Joan 
 declared that in less than three days she would introduce the king into 
 the city, by favor or by force. The chancellor said that they would even 
 wait six days, if they could be sure of the truth of her promises. ' Doubt 
 nothing/ said she — 'you will be master of the city to-morrow.' Imme- 
 diately preparations were made for the projected assault, which so 
 alarmed the inhabitants and their garrison, that they capitulated next day, 
 
 " Charles feared that the city of Rheims would oppose a long resist- 
 ance to his arms, and that it would be difficult to make himself master 
 of it, because he was deficient in artillery. ' Have no doubt,' said Joan, 
 1 for the citizens of the town of Rheims will anticipate you. Before you 
 are close to the city, the inhabitants will surrender.' On the 16th of July, 
 the principal inhabitants of the city laid its keys at the feet of the king. 
 
 " During her captivity, Joan made the following predictions, on the 
 first of March, 1430, in the presence of fifty-nine witnesses, whose names 
 are given faithfully by M. le Bran de Charmettes: — ' Before seven years 
 are past, the English will abandon a larger prize than they have done be- 
 fore Orleans, and will lose everything in France. They will experience 
 the severest loss they have ever felt in France ; and this will be by a 
 great victory which God will bestow upon the French.' 
 
 " Paris was actually retaken by the French, under the command of the 
 Marshal de Richemont, and the Count de Dunois, on the 14th of April, 
 1436. 
 
 " As to the great victory which should prove so fatal to the English, M. 
 le Brnn thinks may be understood either the battle of Tormigny, gained 
 by the French in 1450, and which resulted in the conquest of Normandy, 
 or the battle of Castillon, fought in 1452, in which the renowned Gen. 
 Talbot perished, and which completed the submission of la Guienne to 
 France. 
 
 " In order to explain the expression, will lose everything in France, the 
 same author recalls the fact, that the people in general restricted the term 
 France to what had originally composed the immediate dominion of Hugo 
 Capet and his successors, as Flsle de France, 1'Orleannais, le Berri, la 
 Touraine, etc. Thus Joan of Arc, born at Domremy, at the extremity of 
 la Champagne, said that St. Michael had ordered her to go into France." 
 
 Lady. I have been reading a somewhat similar ac- 
 count, belonging, I presume, to the same class, in the 
 "Use of the Body in Relation to the Mind," by Moore ; 
 he says : 
 
 " There is another form of supersensuous vision, for the existence of 
 which we can scarcely discover sufficient reason unless to intimate an 
 
HEINKICH ZSCHOKKE. 143 
 
 undeveloped faculty, which, in another state, may be proper to man. 
 The nature and character of this strange endowment will be best 
 expressed in the language of one who believed himself to be possessed 
 of it. Heinrich Zschokke, a man remarkable for the extent of his honor- 
 able labors as a statesman and an author, solemnly writes the following 
 passage in his autobiography : ' It has happened to me sometimes, on 
 my first meeting with strangers, as I silently listened to their discourse, 
 that their former life, with many trifling circumstances therewith con- 
 nected, or frequently some particular scene in that life, has passed quite 
 involuntarily, and, as it were, dream-like, yet perfectly distinct, before 
 me. During this time I usually feel so entirely absorbed in the contem- 
 plation of the stranger's life, that at last I no longer see clearly the face 
 of the unknown wherein I undesignedly read, nor distinctly hear the 
 voices of the speakers, which before served in some measure as a com- 
 mentary on the text of their features. For a long time I held such 
 visions as delusions of the fancy, and the more so as they showed me 
 even the dress and emotions of the actors, rooms, furniture, and other acces- 
 sories.' He was at length astonished to find his dream-pictures inva- 
 riably confirmed as realities, and he relates this instance as an example 
 of his visionary gift : i One day, in the city of Waldshut, I entered an inn 
 (the Vine) in company with two young students. We supped with a 
 numerous company at the table d'hote, where the guests were making 
 very merry with the peculiarities of the Swiss, with Mesmer's magnet- 
 ism, Lavater's physiognomy, etc. One of my companions, whose national 
 pride was wounded by their mockery, begged me to make some reply, 
 particularly to a handsome young man who sat opposite to us, and who 
 had allowed himself extraordinary license. This man's life was at that 
 moment presented to my mind. I turned to him, and asked whether he 
 would answer me candidly if I related to him some of the most secret 
 passages of his life, I knowing as little of him personally as he did of me. 
 He promised, if I were correct, to admit it frankly. I then related what 
 my vision had shown me, and the whole company were made acquainted 
 with the private history of the young merchant — his school years, his 
 youthful errors, and, lastly, with a fault committed in reference to the 
 strong-box of his principal. I described the uninhabited room w T ith 
 w T hitened walls, where, to the right of the brown door, on a table, stood 
 a black money-box, etc. A dead silence prevailed during the whole 
 narrative, which I alone occasionally interrupted by inquiring whether I 
 spoke the truth. The startled young man confirmed every particular, 
 and even, what I had scarcely expected, the last mentioned. Touched 
 by his candor, I shook hands with him, and said no mere. He is, prob- 
 ably, still linng<" 
 
CONVERSATION IX. 
 
 SOMNAMBULISM. 
 
 Lady. I have been reading Dendy's Philosophy of 
 Mystery, and have marked a number of cases which 
 seem to bear much resemblance to some of the stages 
 of fascination. 
 
 He says that somnambulism is the most perfect para- 
 dox among the phenomena of sleep, as it exhibits actions 
 without a consciousness of them ; indeed so complete 
 is suspension of sensibility that contact, nay, intense 
 inflictions, do not produce that mental consciousness 
 which is calculated to excite alarm or even attention. 
 
 He says that in London, 1883, a man was brought 
 before Alderman Thorp, who had a parcel cut from his 
 arm, although he had strapped it tightly on to prevent 
 this, as he was often falling asleep during his walk. 
 Yet, even then, he usually took the parcels to the proper 
 directions. 
 
 The crew of a revenue boat, on the coast of Ireland, 
 about two o'clock in the morning, picked up a man 
 swimming in the water. He had, it appeared, left his 
 house about twelve, and walked two miles over a most 
 dangerous path, and had swam about one mile. After 
 he was taken into the boat he could not be persuaded 
 that he was not still in his warm bed at home. 
 
 In 1834, Marie Pan was admitted into the hospital at 
 Bordeaux, France ; her left arm and hand covered with 
 
NATURAL SLEEPVVAKIVG. 145 
 
 deep and bleeding gashes, its tendons projecting, and the 
 bones broken. She had, in her sleep, gone into a loft to 
 cut wood with a hedging bill ; thinking she was cutting 
 the wood, she had hacked her forearm and hand until 
 she fainted away and fell, bathed in her own blood. 
 She had felt no pain, but merely a sensation, as if the 
 parts were pricked with pins. 
 
 In 1832 some fishermen near Brest, in France, were 
 surprised at finding, at two o'clock in the morning, a 
 boy about twelve years old, up to his waist in the sea, 
 fishing for flounders, of which he drew up five or six. 
 Their surprise, however, was increased to wonder 
 when, on approaching him, they found he was fast 
 asleep. He was taken home and put to bed, but was 
 immediately afterward attacked with a raging fever. 
 
 In 18 — , says the Augsburg Gazette, Dresden was the 
 scene of a melancholy spectacle. As early as seven in 
 the morning a female was seen walking on the roof of 
 one of the loftiest houses in this city, apparently occupied 
 in preparing some ornaments as a Christmas present. 
 The house stood as it were alone, being much higher 
 than those adjoining it, and to draw her from her 
 perilous situation was impossible. Thousands of spec- 
 tators had assembled in the streets. It was discovered 
 to be a handsome girl, nineteen years of age, the 
 daughter of a master baker, possessing a small independ- 
 ence, bequeathed to her by her mother. She continued 
 her terrific promenade for hours, at times sitting on the 
 parapet and dressing her hair. The police came to the 
 spot, and various means of preservation were resorted 
 to. In a few minutes the street was thickly strewn 
 with straw, and beds were called for from the house, 
 but the heartless father, influenced by the girl's step- 
 . 13 
 
146 OPPOSITION 
 
 mother, refused them. Nets were suspended from the 
 balcony of the first floor, and the neighbors fastened 
 sheets to their windows. AH this time the poor girl 
 was walking in perfect unconsciousness, sometimes 
 gazing at the sky, and at others singing or talking to 
 herself. Some persons succeeded in getting on the 
 roof, but dared not approach her for fear of the conse- 
 quences if they awoke her. Towards eleven o'clock 
 she approached the very verge of the parapet, leaned 
 forward and gazed upon the multitude beneath ; every 
 one felt that the moment of the catastrophe had arrived. 
 She rose up, however, and returned calmly to the 
 window by which she had got out. When she saw 
 there were lights in the room, she uttered a piercing 
 shriek, which was re-echoed by thousands below, and 
 fell dead into the street. 
 
 Doctor. You have extracted all that is worth 
 noticing in the Philosophy of Mystery ; for a man is 
 certainly unfit to treat on physiology who believes, like 
 Dendy, that electricity is the source of life, and who, 
 driven to confess the fact of the existence of several cases 
 of apathetic trance produced by fascination, which he 
 quotes, says, "It is, I believe, quite true, that they were 
 unconscious of the operation ; but even this is not safe. 
 Pain is given us as warning against extreme injury, 
 that by our complaint or suffering, the surgeon's mind 
 may be on its guard" 
 
 Newnham says that the phenomena of somnambulism 
 are established and recognized by the antagonists of 
 fascination. And that in fact the knowledge of som- 
 nambulism rescues many of these natural phenomena 
 from the alleged dominion of sorcery and of the black- 
 art, under which they have been classed by the ignorant 
 
FAIRY STORIES. 147 
 
 and the short-sighted, and restores them to their proper 
 position as the natural effects of natural causes. 
 
 Dendy, continually rushing into dilemmas from which 
 he cannot extricate himself without overthrowing his 
 former positions, remarks, ".That whatever may be the 
 influence imparted by tractions, the phenomena of 
 excited somnambulism are similar or precisely to those 
 spontaneously occurring." "In a word, mesmerism is 
 true in part : it may induce catalepsy, somnambulism, 
 exalted sensation, apathetic sensibility, suspended circu- 
 lation, even death. Clairvoyance and prophecy alone 
 are the impositions as regards its effects," etc. 
 
 In both cases the parties remember nothing whatever 
 of the recurrences experienced in sleep-waking. The 
 actions of many natural sleep-wakers explain the origin 
 of many stories of pixey and fairy, who would enter, in 
 some cases, the houses of their friends at night, and do 
 up all their work for them, and in others cause much 
 trouble, to whom they bore ill-will, by breaking their 
 crockery, overturning chairs, etc. A tailor in this city, 
 who worked for a shop which furnished suits made to 
 order at twenty-four hours notice, had taken a coat to 
 finish by the next morning, under the expectation of his 
 wife assisting him. Arrived at home, his wife was ill, 
 and unable to do anything to help him beyond sewing 
 the sleeves. He worked steadily at his task during the 
 day, but so much did his unusual efforts exhaust him, 
 that despite himself he went to bed with a heavy heart, 
 for he dreaded, with good reason, the loss of his situation 
 from the disappointment of his employers. When 
 roused at an early hour the next morning, he hastily pre- 
 pared to resume his work, when, to his utter astonish- 
 ment, he found the coat perfectly finished, and done too, 
 
148 PERFORMING DREAMS. 
 
 he confessed, in a much better manner than it was possi 
 ble for him to do it. Immediately perceiving that it 
 was the deed of his guardian angel, he fell on his knees 
 and gave thanks. He told me that it was the only way 
 in w T hich the coat could . have been made ; for, on 
 account of his exertions the preceding day, he was 
 utterly incapable of working, and the next morning could 
 do little more than stand. He had evidently risen in the 
 night and finished the coat himself, and must have done 
 this in complete darkness, for a light would have, in all 
 probability, (owing to a peculiar state,) awakened his 
 wife, and they had but one room. 
 
 Marcus, the freedman of Pliny, dreamed that a 
 barber, sitting on his bed, had shaved him, and awoke 
 well trimmed ; Marcus had unconsciously shaved him- 
 self. Dendy mentions that early one morning, at a 
 farm-house in Sussex, England, an immense number of 
 foot-prints were observed by the men about a gate, 
 which were not there over night. On their return the 
 servant girl was relating her dream ; that she was told 
 the cows had got into a wrong field, and that she had 
 gone out, opened the gate, and driven them back. She 
 had been observed by one of the family performing her 
 dream. A young gentleman at Brenstein was seen to 
 rise, get out of his window on the roof, and take a 
 brood of young magpies from their nest, and wrap them 
 in his cloak. He then returned quietly to his bed, and 
 in the morning related his dream to his two brothers. 
 They had slept with him and witnessed this feat, of 
 which he would not be persuaded until they showed him 
 the birds in his cloak. 
 
 Dr. Gall relates a case of a Mr. Roggenback, who 
 informed him, in the presence of many persons, that he 
 
NATURAL SLEEP-WAKING. 149 
 
 had been a somnambulist from infancy. In this state 
 his tutor had made him read, look for places on the 
 map, (and which he found more readily than awake,) 
 and perform many other actions, all of which he per- 
 formed more readily than in his waking moments. All 
 this time bis eyes would be open and fixed ; he did not 
 move them in the least, but would turn his head to vary 
 their direction. 
 
 A &tory is credited to Professor Upham of Bowdoin 
 College, relating to a farmer who rose in his sleep, went 
 to his barn, and thrashed out five bushels of rye in the 
 dar*k 9 separating the grain from the straw with great 
 exactness. Captain Brown, of Portland, Me., while at 
 sea, became very ill and confined to his berth. Those 
 on board noticed a peculiar stiffness and rigidity of his 
 limbs. Though encompassed by timber, and unable to 
 go on deck, he saw distinctly all that passed around 
 him ; describing many vessels that passed his own, 
 together with several at a great distance, at anchor; 
 and told all that took place on board of them. His 
 descriptions were confirmed in every instance where it 
 was possible to make inquiry. 
 
 The letter of Mr. John Wise, of Lancaster, Pa., will 
 aptly conclude our cases of natural somnambulism : — 
 
 " From the age of ten to fifteen, it was almost a nightly habit with me 
 to get up from my bed and travel through the whole house, unbarriug the 
 doors and walking through the different apartments with the greatest ease 
 |n utter darkness, sometimes unlocking the back door, and travelling into 
 the yard and out-houses, stopping at different places, and examining, ap- 
 parently with the nicest precision, such articles as happened to fall in my 
 way. 
 
 '* Yet after being awakened, not the slightest recollection remained of 
 what had happened. During some of these nocturnal excursions, I open- 
 ed a dormar window, and crawled out thence to the very apex of the 
 roof? On one of these occasions, after getting on the top of the house, I 
 
 13* 
 
150 CASE OF JOHN WISE. 
 
 was awakened by a slight shower of rain, and it was with difficulty I 
 made a safe descent by way of the next neighbor's house, which obliged 
 me to rouse the family in order to get back to my bed again. 
 
 " The most singular feat, however, that I performed in the somnambu 
 lie state, was a situation that I got into, out of which I could not extricate 
 myself again in a waking state, neither could I, upon trial, without the 
 assistance of something to step on first, get into it again. The room in 
 which I slept at this time, had in it an old-fashioned cradle of double 
 length, made for twin babes. This was placed upon a long narrow keg, 
 which stood on its ends, so that when standing alongside of it, the sides 
 of the cradle came within two inches of my chin, and it was so poised, 
 that a slight preponderance either way would capsize it. During one of 
 my nocturnal perambulations in the middle of the night, by some means I 
 got into this cradle, without the assistance of anything that would enable 
 me to step up, save some strange inexplicable cause. It was a cold win- 
 ter night, and I became awakened while in the act of pulling books from 
 around me, which were in the cradle at the time. After being perfectly 
 awakened, it required a great deal of caution to support my centre of 
 gravity, until I had called the assistance of some of the family to enable 
 me to get down. 
 
 44 In the somnambulic state, I am told my eyes are wide open, and 
 have a glassy appearance. Although I would answer questions, and talk 
 freeb" -»n subjects that were indicated by my conduct, yet it was next to 
 impossible to awaken me by any other process than the application of cold 
 water. After a more advanced age, these symptoms have taken a different 
 form, my nightly perambulations being confined to my chamber, and they 
 are more particularly connected with the organs of hearing and vision. 
 It does appear, that, like the inner vision without the aid of the external 
 eye, there is also a distinct faculty of hearing, independent of the external 
 ear. This has been experienced by persons of my acquaintance. I have 
 frequently hastened to the place from whence sounds appeared to come. 
 Generally it appears to be the calling of my name, by persons whose 
 voice I can recognize ; but the most frequent delusions are through the 
 eye. These symptoms, from their frequency, although not fearful in them- 
 selves, have been of late a source of annoyance, and they always occur in 
 a half-waking condition. The clearer and smoother the chamber in 
 which I sleep, the less am I annoyed with these delusions. Of these 
 symptoms and their operations, I have a tolerable distinct recollection 
 afterwards. I generally find myself sitting up in bed, in the act of getting 
 up and moving towards the objects, which mostly appear to be human 
 beings, and often persons of my acquaintance. Although this happens to 
 me in a half-waking condition, still, I possess the faculty of reasoning 
 within myself upon the necessity of not minding these delusions, but 
 seldom become perfectly satisfied until I get up and try to touch the 
 object but invariably get awake on being touched by another person. 
 
 
DISEASED SLEEP-WAKING. 151 
 
 After being awakened, it has often appeared to me that a conflict had 
 been going on between the material and spiritual functions." 
 
 Lady. Is somnambulism ever induced by disease ? 
 
 Doctor. There have been a great number of cases 
 recorded by the medical profession, in which illness 
 developed the faculty, and when restored to health it 
 would be lost. Many of these cases present all the phe- 
 nomena of induced prevision, clairvoyance, etc. ; and, 
 what will seem a strange fact regarding the matter, 
 none ever think of doubting them, not even the most 
 bitter opponents of fascination ; yet speak of them in 
 connection with fascination, and you will but excite their 
 anger. 
 
 We find a case published by two French gentlemen 
 of this character. The patient predicted a detail of the 
 principal events that should happen to her in the course 
 of the following years, — of the maladies to which she 
 would be subjected, — of the remedies which would be 
 necessary, — of the effect of these remedies, — -of the 
 crisis which she would experience, — and of the precise 
 period of her cure ; all of which were substantially cor- 
 rect and accomplished. 
 
 Lady. Do medicines ever produce symptoms similar 
 to these ? 
 
 Doctor. Quite a large number of cases produced by 
 medicinal substance, are also recorded ; the cases vary 
 from those of intense mental exaltation and development 
 of the intellectual powers* to catalepsy and trance. 
 
 Dr. O'Shaughnessy, describing the effects of Indian 
 hemp, tells us that in a lad of excellent habits, ten drops 
 of the tincture induced the most amusing effects. A 
 shout of laughter ushered in the symptoms, and a transi- 
 tion state of cataleptic rigidity^ occurred for two or 
 
152 WITCH CAULDK0N8. 
 
 three minutes. He enacted the part of a rajah giving 
 orders to his courtiers ; he could recognize none of his 
 fellow-students or acquaintances ; all to his mind seemed 
 as altered as his own condition ; he spoke of many 
 years having passed since his student days ; described 
 his teachers and friends with a piquancy a dramatist 
 would envy ; detailed the adventures of an imaginary 
 series of years, his travels and his attainments of wealth 
 and power ; he entered on discussions of religious, sci- 
 entific, and political topics with astonishing eloquence, 
 and disclosed an extent of knowledge, reading, and a 
 ready apposite wit, which those who knew him best 
 were altogether unprepared for. For three hours and 
 upwards he maintained the character he at first assumed, 
 and with a degree of ease and dignity perfectly becoming 
 his high assumption. 
 
 Similar facts were known in ancient times. The 
 Thracians used to intoxicate themselves by casting the 
 seeds of certain poisonous plants into a fire made for 
 the purpose, around which they sat and inspired the 
 narcotic fumes. Moore says that there can be no 
 doubt that the incantations of witchcraft and magic 
 were generally attended with the practice of burning 
 herbs of a similar kind. The ancients deemed certain 
 temperaments essential to the reception of the divine 
 efflatus, and the melancholic was considered the most 
 suitable, especially when aggravated by rigid absti- . 
 nence and the use of narcotics, (this exactly suits Swe- 
 denborg, etc.) Pliny informs us that the soothsayers 
 were accustomed to chew roots supposed to be of a 
 certain species of henbane. The Hindoos employ the 
 Indian heaip for the same purpose; and in St. Domingo 
 the suppDsed prophets chew a plant called cohaba, that 
 
ORACLE OF DELPHOS. 153 
 
 they may be the better able to look into the unseen 
 world and perceive the shadows of coming events. 
 Sophocles called the priestesses of Delphos laurel eaters, 
 because they were in the habit of chewing the leaves 
 of that shrub before they mounted the tripod, etc., etc. 
 
 Townshend tells us of a sleep-waker who played 
 beautifully on the flute, and was accustomed iO impro- 
 vise upon that instrument with all the musical genius 
 he possessed ; but the charming strain, once uttered, 
 was lost forever. One day, in sleep-waking, being 
 asked to write down a composition, he instantly seized 
 music paper and a pen, and wrote down the air you 
 observe on this paper. I need not mention that he was 
 utterly incapable of such a display of talents in the 
 waking state. 
 
154 
 
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CASE FROM SANDBY. 155 
 
 The following case of diseased somnambulism is 
 taken from Mr. Sand by. It is related with singular 
 truthfulness and accuracy. 
 
 "It is perfectly true, that our poor friend who has now been some 
 months with us, presents one of those singular and almost incredible 
 cases of hysterical or nervous affection, which are at distant intervals, 
 witnessed under the dispensation of the Almighty, 
 
 "The overthrow of the regular functions of the .lervous system, was 
 occasioned by the almost sudden death of her father, to whom she was 
 most fondly attached, who was seized with illness, during her absence 
 from him, and died in a few hours after she returned to her home. I 
 cannot enter into any longer details of the case, which has been attended 
 with all those varieties, which have long characterized the complaint, 
 among medical men as the Protean disorder. The extraordinary powers 
 communicated to the other senses by the temporary suspension of one or 
 two of them, are beyond credibility to all those who do not witness it; and 
 I really seldom enter into any of the details, because it would be but 
 reasonable, that those who have not seen, should doubt the reality of 
 them. All colors she can distinguish with the greatest correctness by 
 night or by day, whether presented to her on cloth, silk, muslin, wax, or 
 even glass — and this I may safely say, as easily on any part of the body 
 as with the hands, although, of course, the ordinary routine of such an 
 exhibition of power, takes place with the hands, — the other being that 
 of mere curiosity. Her delicacy of mind, and high tone of religious 
 feeling, are such, that she has the greatest objection to make that which 
 she regards in the light of a heavy affliction from God a matter of show 
 or curiosity to others, although to ourselves, of course, all these unusual 
 extravagances of nervous sensibility, are manifest, for at least twelve out 
 of every twenty-four hours. She can not only read with the greatest 
 rapidity any writing that is legible to us, music, etc., with the mere 
 passing of her fingers over it, whether in a dark or light room, (for her 
 sight is for the most part suspended, when under the influence of the 
 attack, or paroxysm, although she is perfectly sensible, — nay, more acute 
 and clever than in her natural state,J but within this month past, she has 
 been able to collect the contents of any printing or MS., by merely laying 
 her hand on the page, without tracing the lines or letters ; — and I saw her 
 last night only, declare the contents of a note just brought into the room f 
 in this way, (when I could not decipher it myself without a candle,) and 
 with a rapidity with which I could not have read it by daylight. I have 
 Been her develop hand-writing by the application of a note to the back 
 of her hand, neck, or foot / and she can do it at any time. There is 
 nothing unnatural in this, for of course the nervous susceptibility 
 extends all over the surface of tlie body, but use and habit cause us to 
 
156 cash: from sandby. 
 
 limit its power more to the fingers. Many, even medical men, take upon 
 themselves to declare, that we are all (her medical attendants as well) 
 under a mere delusion. We ask none to believe anything, if they pre- 
 fer not to do so, and only reply — The case is equally marvellous either 
 way; — either that this our poor patient should be thus afflicted, or that 
 eighteen or nineteen persons of my family and friends, in the daily habit 
 of seeing her, should fancy she is for every twelve hours out of the 
 tweny-four, doing at intervals, that which she is not doing. There are 
 many exhibitions of extravagant powers which she possesses, that we talk 
 of to no one ; for finding it difficult to acquire credit for lesser things, we 
 do not venture on the greater. Her power ceases the moment the attack 
 passes off. A considerable swelling has at times been visible at the back 
 of the head, which has yielded to the treatment. 
 
 " It is certainly a case which would be an instructive one, in the con- 
 sideration of the physiology of the human frame: but she, poor thing! 
 is most averse to experiments being purposely made on her; — but in her 
 every day life among us, we have no lack of proof for all we believe and 
 know. 
 
 " Between the attacks, she is as perfectly in a natural state, as ever she 
 was in her life. There is but one paradox in her state ; and that is, that 
 she can at such times, hear some sounds and not others, though very much 
 louder, — and see some things, and not others, though placed before her. 
 She could hear a tune whistled, when she could not hear a gun fired close 
 to her. It is certainly the absorption or absence of mind that occasions 
 this; absent to some things, though present to others, like any absent 
 man ; and thus Dr. Y accounts for it." 
 
CONVERSATION X. 
 
 HISTORY OF FASCINATION. 
 
 Doctor. We have now reviewed, with a rapid 
 glance, the six stages, curative effects, and natural con* 
 ditions, simulating the phenomena of fascination. To 
 complete our plan, I have compiled a brief history of 
 the matter, which, with your permission, I will read. 
 
 Lady. I am anxious to hear it. It certainly appears 
 strange to me that the matter should have been forgot- 
 ten through the middle ages, and, until very lately, 
 remain unknown. 
 
 Doctor. That it was known and practised is an un- 
 doubted' fact, but it was, after the Christian era, confined 
 to convents ; and many a miracle at the tombs and other 
 depositories of the relics of saints, may safely be referred 
 to this agency of fascination. In some instances, the 
 Esculapean visions, prescriptions, etc., were repeated. 
 St. Gregory, bishop of Tours, tells of the efficacy of 
 pilgrimages to the tombs of saints. Says he : " Any 
 person filled with faith, coming near the tombs and 
 praying, will be speedily cured of whatever illness may 
 befall them. Some affirm that the saints appear to 
 them in the night (of course while sleeping on or near 
 the tomb), during their dreams, and reveal the proper 
 remedies." For any number of similar instances, see 
 accounts of St. Martin, Protegene, Moses of Lysbia, 
 Julianus of Edessa, St. Litard, St. Fortunatus, etc., etc. 
 
 Leger quotes George Fabricius, who, in his Commen- 
 14 
 
158 ROYAL TOUCHING. 
 
 tary on Poets, 1720, p. 73, says that he saw, in Padua, 
 country people who were going to the church of St. 
 Anthony for the purpose of obtaining salutary visions 
 during their sleep. "This," says Fabricius. "exactly 
 resembles the ancient pagan worship. And in truth 
 even at the present day, the churches of saints are 
 resorted to, to receive the same kind of revelations for 
 curing disease." 
 
 The king of France, from the time of Clovis, was the 
 royal fascinator of his day. Laurent tells us that one 
 of the officers of Clovis was afflicted with scrofula ; the 
 king felt much concern for him, as the resources of 
 medicine had been tried in vain. He dreamed, one 
 night, that if he touched the officer's neck, it would be- 
 come well ; he arose in the morning and did so ; from 
 that time the power remained in his family. 
 
 Marino Cavalli, ambassador from Venice to France 
 in 1546, thus describes the operation of touching for the 
 scrofula. After giving a description of the reigning 
 monarch, Francis, he says: "Like all the monarchs of 
 France, he has received from heaven the singular gift 
 of curing the evil. Even Spaniards flock hither to 
 profit by this miraculous property. The ceremony 
 takes place some solemn day, like Easter, or Christmas, 
 or the festivals of the Virgin; the king first confesses 
 and receives the sacrament, then makes the sign of the 
 cross on the sick, saying : ' The king touches, may God 
 cure thee !' If the sick were not restored, they would 
 not, doubtless, flock hither so far ; and since the num- 
 ber augments always, we must believe that God takes 
 this method to deliver the infirm, and to increase, at the 
 same time, the dignity of the crown of France." The 
 power, however, it seems only remained with them 
 
.'AUEEN OF NAVARRE. 159 
 
 while virtuous ; for the abbot of Nogent tells us that 
 Philip the First, who at first possessed the gift when he 
 ascended the throne in 1060, lost it by indulgence in 
 vice. 
 
 Many other monarchs, determined not to be outdone, 
 assumed the same power, not curing scrofula alone, but 
 all other diseases; in one instance it was of singular 
 benefit to one of the " Lord's anointed." James, the 
 exiled king of England, engaged himself as a toucher 
 for scrofula in the public hospitals of France. Fascina- 
 tion was also useful, in some cases, to the royal opera- 
 tors themselves : Tytler, speaking of Charles VI., tells 
 us that " he once narrowly escaped being burned to 
 death, and in consequence was seized with a dreadful 
 fit of frenzy. To relieve him, they sent for a magician 
 from Montpellier, and he became somewhat better" 
 
 We are told by Beniveni, a Florentine physician, that 
 he had a young man under his care, who was wounded 
 in the chest by an arrow, which surgical skill could not 
 extract. After a time of great pain, this faculty of pre- 
 vision became developed, and he told the day and hour 
 when the arrow-head should issue from the wound, and 
 the time of his perfect cure ; said he would go to Rome, 
 die there, etc., with many other strange particulars, all 
 of which, to the astonishment of the narrator, happened 
 exactly as he had predicted them. 
 
 In the eighty-fourth page of the Life of the Queen of 
 Navarre, it tells, while lying at Metz, at the point of 
 death, in consequence of a severe fever, she described 
 the battle of Jarnac in every minute particular ; told 
 the victory of her son ; his falling to the ground, death 
 of the prince of Conde, and flight of the enemy ; and 
 the information was confirmed the next night, to the 
 
160 CHARLES R. HALL. 
 
 astonishment of her attendants, who had thought her 
 delirious while giving it. 
 
 Van Helmont tells us, that " there exists in man a 
 certain energy which can act beyond his person, accord- 
 ing to his will or imagination, and impart virtues, and 
 exercise a durable influence, even on distant objects " 
 
 Cardanus at Naples, in 1501, performed extraordinary 
 cures by fascination. He declared that nature had 
 endowed him with strange faculties. He could go into 
 sleep, waking at will, and in that state cure himself of 
 an occasional attack of the gout, prescribe remedies, 
 see at a distance, and correctly predict future events. 
 For all these faculties he was imprisoned, as a sorcerer, 
 at Bologna. 
 
 A volume might easily be filled with facts similar to 
 the above. But it is unnecessary to recite them all ; 
 when once attention is awakened to the subject, enough 
 can be found in our every-day reading and observation. 
 Suffice it to say, that there is an uninterrupted chain of 
 evidence from the earliest times to the present. I shall 
 briefly, then, recount a few of the most remarkable, 
 which I will mainly extract from Dr. C. R. Hall, a bit- 
 ter opponent of fascination, but who, despite himself, 
 gives such evidence in its favor — even his own expe- 
 rience proving it — that the perusal of his book, " The 
 Rise, Progress, Mysteries," etc., etc., will convince any 
 person of the reality of the subject he tries to injure^ 
 and also of his own silliness in endeavoring to make 
 ridicule a test of truth. 
 
 In the seventeenth century there appeared in England 
 a gardener, Levret, an Irish gentleman, Valentine Great- 
 raks, and a Dr. Streper ; and in Italy, Francisco Bag- 
 none, etc., all of whom possessed the power of curing 
 
LIFE OF MESMER. 1G1 
 
 diseases by touching or striking with the hand. The 
 most celebrated of these, Greatraks, is represented by 
 the Lord Bishop of Derry, as being a simple, unpre- 
 tending man, and sincerely pious. The same authority 
 informs us, that not only had he seen, among other 
 cures, " dimness cleared and deafness cured by his 
 touch, etc., etc. ; running sores of the king's evil dried 
 up ; and kernels brought to a suppuration by his hand • 
 grievous sores, of many months' date, in a few days 
 healed ; obstructions and stoppages removed ;" but 
 " even cancerous knots in the breast dissolved." 
 
 Gassner, in 1770, excited much attention in Germany 
 and performed several miraculous cures. In 1794, a 
 Count Thun appeared at Leipsic, professing to cure 
 gout, palsy, and other complaints, by the imposition of 
 his hands ; he was of a weak constitution, and his suc- 
 cess would vary. 
 
 Mesmer was born in 1734. He was a severe stu- 
 dent, and soon became a proficient and able physician. 
 It has been truly observed that from time immemorial 
 the mineral magnet was employed as a remedy in the 
 cure of burns, and other injuries, but it was not until 
 the sixteenth century, when alchemy was in its zenith, 
 that its use as a remedy for internal diseases became 
 general. At this time there was the earliest specula- 
 tions on the extensive diffusion of the magnetic principle, 
 which, as in our own day, was made to explain the 
 motions of the planets and the laws of life. 
 
 Mesmer fell into the universal error, and commenced 
 treating the sick by means of magnetized rods, which 
 he obtained from Father Hell or Holl, a Jesuit, profes- 
 sor of Astronomy at Vienna. His great success aston- 
 ished himself, and very much chagrined the professor 
 
1G2 LIFE OF MESMER 
 
 the consequence of which was an irreconcilable quarrel 
 between the two. The acuteness of Mesmer soon led 
 him to perceive that he might dispense with the rods, 
 and that he could produce the same effects by merely 
 drawing his own hands from above downwards in front 
 of his patient. 
 
 His success in fascination was wonderful ; for a 
 great number of years nothing like it had been seen in 
 Europe, and the fame of Mesmer spread rapidly. He 
 left Vienna, and travelled through various towns and 
 cities in Europe, met with considerable encouragement, 
 finally returned, and then left for Paris, w r here we find 
 him established in 1778. D'Eslon, one of the court 
 physicians, was his first convert ; others soon followed, 
 and the majority of the Parisians declared in his favor. 
 He finally surmounted the enmity of all his opponents, 
 and retired with a large fortune, the result of his bene- 
 volent exertions, after founding a school of pupils, 
 nearly all of whom became celebrated. The facts in 
 his experiments^were allowed by the French Academy 
 of Medicine, but the idea of a fluid denied. 
 
 The Marquis de Puseygar, one of Mesmer's pupils, 
 having, in March, 1784, fascinated his gardener, found 
 that his patient was capable of holding a conversation 
 while wrapped in induced somnambulism. He found, 
 moreover, that the patient not only understood the 
 words, but even the unexpressed thoughts of his mas- 
 ter, and would answer with equal clearness the intended 
 question while it was yet a mere suggestion of the 
 mind, as after it had been conveyed to him in language. 
 This was the origin (wrongly so called) of induced 
 somnambulism. 
 
 In 1778, Perkins, an American surgeon practising m 
 
TRACTORS OF PERKINS. 163 
 
 London, invented and obtained a patent for his " metal- 
 lic tractors." The tractors were merely smail pieces 
 of steel, strongly magnetized, (nothing more than a dif- 
 ferent form of the magnetized rod.) They were applied 
 over the affected part, and gently moved about, touch- 
 ing the skin. Gout, rheumatism, toothache, and palsy, 
 were a few of the diseases cured by the tractors, etc. 
 Among those who publicly vouched for the truth of the 
 wonderful cures performed by means of the tractors, 
 were eight university professors, four being professors 
 of medicine ; twenty clergymen, ten being D.D.s ; 
 thirty-six medical men, nineteen being M. D.s. 
 
 To prove the error of these doctors of divinity and 
 medicine, two men in Bath had precisely similar instru- 
 ments made of wood, painted and shaped so as exactly 
 to resemble the real ones. These were publicly tried 
 with all due solemnity, at first upon five hospita. 
 patients. Of these four were affected with chronic 
 rheumatism in the ancle, knee, wrist, and hips. The 
 fifth had chronic gout. All were much relieved. One 
 was sure that his knee was warmer, and thought that 
 he could walk across the room. He did so, though he 
 had previously been unable to stir. The following day 
 the real metallic tractors were applied, with results pre- 
 cisely similar. Mr. Smith applied the wooden tractors 
 to a patient with rheumatism of the shoulder, so severe 
 as to prevent his raising his hand ; in four minutes the 
 man was able to lift his hand. In another patient the 
 fictitious tractors caused so much increase of suffering, 
 that he would on no account submit to a repetition of 
 the operation. Had these sapient individuals but half 
 the talent of Mesmer, they would soon have discovered 
 the real source of action. 
 
164 GENERAL ^EELING. 
 
 Fascination has been known and practised to a 
 greater or less extent in the United States since the 
 early part of the nineteenth century ; at the present 
 time we have scores of lecturers traversing the country. 
 The people receive it rather doubtingly ; they want 
 some show of reasoning to sustain what they consider 
 experiments against the laws of nature. To show the 
 feeling I cannot do better than add an editorial from 
 one of my exchanges. After describing the scene, 
 performers, and examining committee, to the latter of 
 which he belonged, he says : — 
 
 " The first evening the lady's eyes were bandaged so that the commit- 
 tee were satisfied she could not see. On Thursday night more than 
 usual pains were taken. Adhesive plasters were put over her eyes, and 
 they did positively adhere so closely to her skin that they were with dif- 
 ficulty removed. Over these, soft kid gloves were spread, over these 
 again, a handkerchief was tied, secured above and below by tape strings. 
 
 " It was an unusual and very severe test. Pier eyes were, without 
 doubt, in total darkness — in regard to that, there is no possible mis- 
 take ; but notwithstanding all our precautions in bandaging, she did see. 
 She read the names of a score of newspapers, and some of the smaller 
 print on them — she read writing with a lead pencil — told the time by 
 numerous watches, though set far from the true hour, and described the 
 watches. She also read several bank notes. 
 
 " She held the papers, etc., over her forehead, at the lower edge of her 
 hair. While engaged in her readings she was very sprightly, and 
 evinced considerable smartness — but we have not room for farther 
 detail. 
 
 " In regard to this matter, we can only say that we do not comprehend 
 it. If it be trickery, it is splendid trickery. The jugglers of the East 
 astound you, but they prepare all the machinery — here you are allowed 
 to prepare the subject to your own satisfaction. In regard to the pre- 
 sumption that arises in the mind, as soon as we are convinced that she 
 cannot see with her eyes, that there is some series of cunningly devised 
 and secret signs by which communications are made to the young lady, 
 we have to say, that watches and papers were given to her that no eye 
 saw but our own, and yet she told as usual. 
 
 " Our stubborn skepticism prompts us to say, that though witnessing 
 such bewildering tests a thousand times, we would believe we were a 
 thousand times deceived, before we would grant that she saw with her 
 brain, up through her skull." 
 
SUPERSTITIONS. 165 
 
 / 
 
 Lady. I think there is evidence enough on the sub- 
 ject of fascination to convince the most incredulous, and 
 were the matter of our conversation published, no one 
 would rise from its perusal without being a thorough 
 believer. 
 
 Doctor. In advancing the various arguments, I have 
 merely reviewed the substance of the conclusions that 
 have convinced myself. Some curious phenomena 
 accidentally observed, led me to examine the matter 
 closely, and the result has been, not only an entire con- 
 viction of its truth, but an equal conviction that that 
 truth may be made so plain as to appeal to the common 
 sense of all. 
 
 My knowledge of the subject has given me a ; s lue to 
 unravel much of the history of superstition in this 
 world. I have found fascination to be a most terrible 
 agent of imposture in all ages, as we have before seen 
 Jehovah punished its practice among the Jew r s with 
 death ; that is, its practice as regarded the production 
 of spiritual clairvoyance for purposes of divination : in 
 other respects it was extensively known and practised 
 as a curative agent. Witness the case of David, etc. 
 
 In our own day, Robert Cochrans, Joseph Smiths, 
 Swedenborgs, etc., etc., are in turn gaining hosts of fol- 
 lowers, and all through ignorance on this subject. 
 Fascination, however, will most assuredly crush them, 
 and so well is this fact known, that, perceiving its 
 onwaid progress, many of them are even now endeav- 
 oring to wrest its phenomena to support their own 
 views. Professor Bush says that the "Clairvoyance 
 of Swedenborg was not induced by human agency." 
 Granted. " That, unlike the magnetic seers, who are 
 in a state of internal, but not at the same time of exter~ 
 
1G3 swedenborg's supporters. 
 
 nal consciousness, Swedenborg was in boih at once. 
 His prerogative was the opening of a spiritual sight, 
 which left him still in the enjoyment of his natural 
 sight. Hence he could know and distinctly describe in 
 Ills state of external consciousness, what he saw with 
 his spiritual eyes, and could know with perfect accu- 
 racy, free from all illusion, what was going on around 
 him in the natural world, at the same time that he per- 
 ceived what was transpiring in the spiritual world ; and 
 so perfectly was he in the possession of external con- 
 sciousness while in the exercise of his spiritual per- 
 ceptions, that on one occasion, when moving in a 
 funeral procession, he was actually engaged in con- 
 versation with the spirit of the person whose body he 
 was following to the grave." 
 
 If such be the case, and Swedenborg's supernatural 
 claims rest on the fact of his seeing and holding com- 
 munication with both worlds at once, then must a sin- 
 gle well-authenticated fact, like that of the boy who 
 possessed a similar power mentioned some pages back, 
 overthrow all such claims, or indefinitely extend them ; 
 'and this, too, without considering that Swedenborg's 
 revelations were a natural sequence to his former philo- 
 sophical speculations, and but confirmed them. How- 
 ever, as my object in these conversations was more to 
 suggest thought than enter into detail, we will now end 
 them. 
 
 Lady. Will you be kind enough to give me some 
 directions with regard to the best manner of fasci- 
 nating ? As you think ladies as well as gentlemen can 
 practise it, I would like to be able if ever called upon. 
 
 Doctor. With pleasure ; and I do it the more readily 
 because I know your motives in such cases w T ouJd be 
 
MODE OF OPERATING. 167 
 
 proper ones. It is certainly one of the most remarka- 
 ble facts in the whole matter, that the moral feelings 
 exercise an extraordinary influence. Philippe the First 
 of France has not been the only one who lost the 
 power by ill conduct ; for the evil disposed often 
 become curbed and shorn of their strength in a sur- 
 prising' manner. 
 
 Both patient and operator should be comfortably 
 seated, so that neither will experience uneasiness in con- 
 sequence of position. The seat of the operator should 
 be higher than that of the patient — the apartment 
 neither too hot nor too cold, and as few witnesses as 
 possible, but one person always present. Never begin 
 the process if agitated, but wait until perfectly calm and 
 self-collected. When all is ready, seat yourself oppo- 
 site the patient, iliclining sidew 7 ays, and taking his hands 
 so that the inside of the thumbs of each press against 
 the other, the hands resting on a knee of each ; keep 
 them in that position a few minutes, until an equal 
 warmth is felt, gazing, after the first minute, steadily, 
 but not with an effort, into his eyes. Still gazing, 
 release his hands, and unite your own with the palms 
 touching each other ; then separate them to the right 
 and left transversely, (remembering that while commu- 
 nicating the influence, the hands, when passing from the 
 patient, must always have the back turned to him, and 
 the reverse when taking him out of the state,) raise them 
 to the head, let them rest on it a few moments, slowly 
 carry them down the side and lower part of the head to 
 the shoulders ; allow them to rest a few moments there 
 also, and then gradually pass down the arms to the end 
 of the fingers which should be resting on the knees ; all 
 this time only the extremity of your own fingers should 
 
168 FEEL NO ALARM. 
 
 touch, and that very gently ; at the end of each pass 
 slightly shake your fingers, as if to throw something 
 from them. You had better continue the passes, as a 
 general rule, until the eyes of the patient close. Then 
 allow your hands to rest two or three minutes on the 
 head, and keeping your fingers in a crooked position, so 
 as to directly point to but not touch the parts you 
 traverse, pass slowly over the eyes and chest to the 
 stomach, where the thumbs had better remain about 
 twice as long as they did on the head, the fingers rest- 
 ing on the sides ; thence carry them down to the hips, 
 knees, and feet. Do this a few times, and then confine 
 your passes to the arms and body, without the head. 
 
 The sitting may continue from half an hour to two 
 hours ; but forty minutes I have found a good average 
 time. Of course, it depends, in a great measure, on the 
 impressibility of the patient, and the degree of relief 
 given. When it is desirous to terminate it, make two 
 or three passes from the knees to the feet ; then several 
 transverse passes before the face and chest in a brisk 
 manner. 
 
 Make up your mind, beforehand, not to be alarmed at 
 any strange and unexpected symptoms that present 
 themselves during the operation ; and whatever does 
 occur, keep perfectly cool, and betray no agitation of 
 manner; if you let any signs of alarm escape you, your 
 patient is almost certain to go off into convulsions. 
 Mrs. W. came into my house, one day, in extreme pain, 
 arising from a wrist that had bee^ twice sprained ; at 
 times her agony was dreadful, nd opiates, etc., entirely 
 failed to relieve her. A few passes down the arm and 
 wrist gave ease, and finally, by continuing the process, 
 the pain ceased ; at the end of twenty-four hours it re- 
 
KEEP PERFECTLY CALM. 100 
 
 turned, and the same results followed the operation 
 The third time, I proposed putting her to sleep ; after a 
 while her eyes closed ; she made a violent effort to 
 open them, and, failing, became much frightened, and 
 a cold perspiration broke out over her. I instantly 
 reversed the passes ; but it was some time, after awa- 
 king, before she became calm. She was afterward 
 courageous enough, went to sleep without trouble, and 
 became finally cured. 
 
 One of the first cases upon whom I ever operated 
 was a Miss L. After a lapse of some ten minutes, she 
 declared herself incapable of breathing, and I could not 
 discern the pulse at the wrist. Her agitation became 
 extreme ; she said death would surely ensue, and wished 
 her cousin, who was present, to call her mother. The 
 cousin, equally with herself, was frightened ; so much 
 so, indeed, that she was incapable of obeying her re- 
 quest, though making great efforts to do so, seeming 
 like a person with the nightmare. Though dreadfully 
 agitated, I continued the passes, directing them alto- 
 gether from the knees to the feet, and making some in 
 in a transverse direction over the chest. She soon 
 breathed and the heart beat ; but, ere both actions were 
 regularly established, she was insensible. I have rarely 
 seen a person more benefited by the effects of fascination. 
 
 When you can be guided to the seat of pain, keep 
 your fingers over the spot, and make the passes in that 
 direction. Toothache, headache, sore-throat, rheumat- 
 ism, etc., will vanish under such manipulation, often 
 with a rapidity that equally astonishes the operator and 
 the patient. 
 
 In operating, husband your strength as much as pos- 
 sible ; use no more exertion than just enough to give 
 15 
 
170 TRY NO EXPERIMENTS. 
 
 the requisite motion to the hands and arms. You will 
 lose enough by imparting the nervous fluid, without un- 
 necessarily increasing the debility. This is a common 
 fault with young fascinators. 
 
 . If the operator succeeds in giving relief from pain, 
 he has produced the only phenomena he ought to ex- 
 pect. Do not allow the skepticism of those about you 
 to rashly involve you in the mazes of experimenting on 
 your patients. Point the unbeliever to the results ; if 
 he attributes them to imagination or anything else, 
 don't dispute the matter — let him have his own way, 
 without your interference. Have patience — bide your 
 time — and your turn will come, and, when it does, will 
 richly recompense the delay, and satisfy your curiosity. 
 So great are the marvels, that our minds must be grad- 
 ually prepared to receive them, or we could not bear 
 the communication with safety. 
 
 Newnham remarks, that the most important and fun- 
 damental characteristic of a good operator is, on his 
 part, the possession of sound thought and firm will ; he 
 must not employ his processes in a thoughtless or care- 
 less manner, or they will be unsuccessful ; but he must 
 really throw his mind into the duty — must be attentive 
 to what he is about — must wish to do good — not allow- 
 ing himself to wander into distant or discrepant scenes, 
 but concentrating his will upon the object before him. 
 He should be free from impertinent curiosity — a capital 
 moral blemish in ordinary life, but still more so in 
 magnetic pursuits — because the good of the patient is 
 forgotten, the attention of the operator distracted, and 
 fixed upon any object rather than his patient's health; 
 in such cases, no satisfactory results can be expected. 
 Deleuze speaks of a process that may be employed 
 
SOMa AMBULISM. 171 
 
 with great, advantage in local pains ; this is, to place a 
 piece of linen several times folded, or a fragment of 
 woollen or cotton cloth upon the suffering part ; apply 
 the mouth above it and breathe through it : it excites a 
 lively sensation of heat, and the breath, which is 
 charged with the nervous fluid, introduces it into the 
 system. Then expel the pain by passes. 
 
 Somnambulism (says Deleuze) demonstrates the two- 
 fold existence of the external and internal man in a 
 single individual. It offers a direct proof of the spiritu- 
 ality of the soul, and an answer to all objections made 
 against its immortality. It makes evident the truth, 
 known to the ancient sages, that man is an intelligence, 
 served by organs. Never seek to produce it ; but when 
 it comes naturally, profit by it as much as possible. It 
 is dangerous to try to produce this state by directing 
 passes to the head ; make them equally over the body. 
 If nature is disposed to this crisis, the fluid will, of 
 itself, be carried to the brain, and the tendency be man- 
 ifested by the extreme tranquility of the patient. Then, 
 after passing your fingers, five or six times, at a short 
 distance before his eyes, ask him whether he sleeps, 
 and if he answers in the affirmative, you may ask him 
 regarding the treatment. Don't press questions, if he 
 shows no disposition to speak : let him alone — it is of 
 no consequence ; it is not your object to render him a 
 sleep-waker, but to cure him. If such a state were 
 necessary, it Would spontaneously develop itself. 
 
 In conclusion, I would remark, that the only 
 object of the operator should be to cure his pa- 
 tient; this cannot be too strongly insisted upon. 
 Try no experiments ; wait patiently, and follow 
 the teachings of nature. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 COMMUNICATION FROM REV. MR. BEECHER, ON MAGNETISM. 
 
 "In October, 1842, on my way to the synod of Genesee, I spent the 
 
 Ight at the house of Mr. Hall, at Byron. In the evening I called on 
 
 dev. Mr. Childs. On entering the room, I found his son, an intelligent 
 
 boy aged ten years, then in a cataleptic fit, sitting in his father's arms, 
 
 and his feet in warm water. 
 
 " In a few moments he recovered. He frequently had from three to 
 six fits a day — had received the best medical attendance in the region: 
 was no better — daily worse. He had lost entirely the power of speech, 
 for several days. Great fears were felt that he would never recover 
 There was a sore place on the back corner of his head, and on the spine, 
 occasioned by a fall, some months previous. When the fits passed off 
 he became hungry, and not at all drowsy ; and during the interval ap- 
 peared preternaturally bright, and engaged in sports with companions, as 
 usual. 
 
 " After I had conversed a few minutes, I said, ' I would have him 
 magnetized ;' to which his father replied, ' I don't believe in it at all/ 
 and the mother added, ' If you'll put me to sleep, I'll believe, and not 
 without.' I replied, ' I would try it : it may do good, and can do no 
 harm.' During this conversation, I made a few passes in front of the 
 child, chiefly with one hand, and without any particular concentration of 
 the mind or will, and mostly with my face toward the mother. In less 
 than a minute the father said, ' He is in another fit! No, he isn't, I de- 
 clare : I believe he is asleep.' Much surprised, (for I had never mag- 
 netized one,) I said, ' It surely cannot be what I have done; but if so I 
 can awaken him.' Then, with a few reversed passes, he awoke. ' Well, 
 this is strange,' said I; ' but I can put him asleep again, if it is real. 1 I 
 then seriously repeated the passes, with both hands, for one or two 
 minutes, and placed him in the perfect mesmeric sleep. I then fixed my 
 eyes on a lady on the opposite side of the room, the boy not yet having 
 spoken for three days, and said, 'Henry, what do you see?' in a full, 
 decided voice. He replied, ' Azubah.' I then looked his mother in the 
 face, saying, * What do you see?' He gave a name unknown to me: 
 I looked to his father, who replied, ' It is her maiden name. 1 I then took 
 vinegar into my mouth, and said, ' What do you taste ?' ' Vinegar 1 speak- 
 ing with great tartness, and at the same time making many contortions 
 
LETTER FROM REV. MR. JJEECHER. 173 
 
 of the face. The mother now whispered to one of the children, who 
 left her seat, and I said, • Henry, what is she going for?' ' Sugar, and I 
 love it,' he answered. She went to the closet, and brought the sugar. I 
 put some into my mouth, which seemed to give him the same pleasure as 
 if I had put it in his own. I then said, * What kind of sugar is hV 
 * Muscovado.' 'What is its color?' 'Well, sir, a kind of light brown/ 
 A small glass jar, with a large cork, was now placed in my hand, when 
 immediately I observed the olfactory nerves affected, and the muscles 
 about the nose contracted at the same moment. I said to the girl, ' What 
 is it?' to which the boy answered, ' Hartshorn.' ' How do you know?' 
 ' I smell it.' I myself neither knew nor smelt. I then took out the cork 
 and applied it to my own nose, when he instantly placed his fingers on 
 that part of the nose next the forehead, and said, ' I feel it here,' — just 
 where I myself experienced the burning sensation. 
 
 " During all these experiments he sat on his father's knee, with his 
 head down on his breast, and reclining against his father. 
 
 "I now asked him, 'What is the matter with you?' ' My brain is 
 sore.' ' Where'V ' At the bottom of it.' ' Where it joins the spinal 
 marrow,' (medulla oblongata? ) 'Yes.' ' What occasioned it ?' ' I fell 
 from the great beam in the barn.' His mother here asked him, ' Why 
 did you not tell us before ?' 'I feared you would not let me play there.' 
 
 ' Can Doct. A cure you V l No. 1 ' Why not ?' ' He don't know 
 
 anything about it,' (very decidedly.) 'Can Doct. C ?' 'No.' 
 
 'Why'?' 'He don't understand it.' 'Will the medicine you now use 
 do you good?' 'No' ' Of what is it composed ' 'There is turpentine 
 in it.' ' Does the Doctor give it you for tape-worm?' 'Yes.' 'Have 
 you any ?' ' No.' ' Would you like to walk V ' Yes.' ' Well, walk.' 
 He arose promptly, stepped between the chairs, and said, ' Well, sir, 
 where shall I go?' 'From the wall to the door, and back.' This he 
 did, avoiding every obstruction; and, at my direction, returned and sat 
 again with his father. I now, without notice to any one, placed my fin- 
 fier on the organ of Benevolence, thinking at the moment it performed 
 the office of Veneration, and said, ' Would you like to pray ?' With some 
 lightness, he said ' No.' Some questions were asked, by his mother and 
 myself, about the Bible, etc. ; but no Veneration appeared. I then recol- 
 lected the true office of the organ, and said, ' Have you anything in your 
 pocket V He took out a knife. 'Give it to me for my little boy,' — 
 which he did promptly. I removed my hand. ' Have you anything 
 else?' 'I have a pencil.' ' Will you give me that for my other boy?' 
 'It has no head?' 'Never mind; give it — won't you?' 'I shouldn't 
 like to. 'Well, but you will !' 'I couldn't come it!' (with peculiar 
 emphasis.) Azubah said, ' Ask him where the head of the pencil is.' 
 Where is it, Henry?' ' Well, sir, in the parlor.' 'Where?' 'On the 
 window.' Azubah said, ' Why, I picked it up and put it there to-day V 
 file certainty did not know this.) I then said, ' Henry, can you get it ? 
 
 15* 
 
174 ON MAGNETISM. 
 
 He arose, and went into the parlor in the dark, and took the head of the 
 pencil-case from the window, to the very great surprise of us all. In- 
 deed, we were all so astonished, that it seemed a dream. During these 
 and subsequent proceedings, he spoke with a promptness, boldness, 
 and propriety, in advance of his years, and beyond himself in his natural 
 state ; and so perfectly evident was it that he was in a somnambulic state, 
 that no skeptic, I verily believe, could have doubted. 
 
 " At my request he returned to his seat. I touched Benevolence, and 
 instantly he handed me the pencil-case. 'For my boy?' ' Yes, sir.' I 
 then silently, and without any willing, and with a feeling of curiosity to 
 see and test the matter, touched Reverence. His countenance at once 
 assumed a softened and solemn aspect. * Henry, would you like to pray V 
 ' Yes, sir.' ' You may.' He then commenced praying inaudibly. * You 
 may pray aloud.' He then prayed in a low, audible voice. On touching 
 Tune, he sang a tune, though not in the habit of singing. On touching 
 Combativeness and Destructiveness, he raised his clenched fist to strike 
 me. He was ignorant of Phrenology, and also of my intention to touch 
 any particular organ ; nor did I, in any case, will the activity of the organ. 
 I now took out my watch, and holding the dial towards myself, and above 
 the line of his vision, his eyes being closed, and his head bowed forward, 
 and my hand also being between him and the watch, I asked him, 
 ' Henry, what time is it?' ' Eight o'clock, sir,' — which was exactly the 
 time by the watch, though by the clock in the room it was fifteen minutes 
 faster. ' Henry, how long ought you to sleep V ' Well, sir, I must sleep 
 two hours and five minutes. 7 ' Will you then awake V 'Yes, sir.' ' Very 
 well.' This I did for the purpose of testing his knowledge of time, as 
 stated by Townshend, an English clergyman, whose work on this sub- 
 ject I had read. 
 
 " I then said, ' Will you go with me to Mr. Hall's V ' Yes.' ' Well, 
 now we are there — now we are in the parlor: who is here V ' Mr. and 
 Mrs. Hall; Mr. and Mrs. Bard well.' 'Who else?' He did not give 
 their names, but intimated that they were strangers. He described the 
 room and position of things, all of which I found correct, on going to the 
 house shortly after. These persons were not in the habit of being there 
 in the evening, but company having come in, they were all together at 
 that moment. As this was in his own town, I did not deem it proof., and 
 so said, ' Will you go to Batavia ?' ' Yes.* « Well, now we are there — 
 now we are at my house — now we will go into my room : what do you 
 see V l 1 see a large table covered with black cloth, an£ with books and 
 papers scattered over it.' ' How large is it V * It is about five feet long/ 
 ' How many book-cases?' 'Three, sir.* 'What sort of a stove?' He 
 could not or did not describe this, for it wa« so queer a thing as not to be 
 easily described. Nor did I press him, for all his answers had been per- 
 fectly correct, and I was sufficiently astonished ; for he had never seen 
 my study ; and no other minister, I am sure, has such a table, (five feet 
 
LETTER FROM. REV. MR. BEECHER. 175 
 
 by three and a half,) or has left it in such confusion as mine was at that 
 moment. 
 
 " I may here say that, during the whole period of his sleep, he could 
 hear the questions of others put to him, and would answer them, if I 
 were willing; but if I willed otherwise, or forbade him to speak, as I 
 often did, he then would answer no one but myself, not even father or 
 mother; nor could he hear their conversation with me, nor with each 
 other. 
 
 " I now left him for an hour, and went back to Mr. Hall's, giving him 
 leave to converse only with his father. On my return, I found him in 
 the same state. He utterly refused to speak to any one but his father, 
 and told him that he should not have another fit till the following Sab- 
 bath, (this was Monday evening,) which proved true ; but when that day 
 came, he had several, 
 
 " At nine o'clock and three minutes, holding my watch as before, and 
 standing eight or nine feet from him, I asked the time. He gave ' nine 
 o'clock and five minutes.' * Look sharp,' said I. 'Oh! three minutes, 7 
 said he. We were now curious to see if he would awake himself at the 
 two hours and five minutes, and as he did not awake when the clock in 
 the room reached that time, I said, ' Henry, did you mean by my watch, 
 or by the clock ?' ' By your watch, sir.' ' Very well.' At the exact 
 moment he opened his eyes and looked around, and this without any act 
 or willing of mine ; and what was very affecting and convincing, he could 
 no longer speak at all, and was unconscious of all that he had said or 
 done. 
 
 " I have said that he had no return of fits till the following Sabbath. 
 One day after that Sabbath, he came in to his mother, much agitated, and 
 apparently going into a fit; and making the passes, he solicited his 
 mother to do it, — who, merely to pacify him, passed her fingers over him; 
 and soou he fell into the mesmeric sleep, and escaped the fit. After this, 
 he was so highly charged by his sister, that when she was in the next 
 room, in the closet, he would instantly taste anything she tasted, eat what 
 she ate, etc. 
 
 " In ten days I returned, and magnetized him again, and went through 
 several of the above experiments. He always, while in the mesmeric 
 state, declared that it benefited him, relieved all pain, and would cure 
 him. 
 
 " After I left, at my suggestion, he was daily magnetized : his fits left 
 him, his voice returned, the sore spots on his head and back were 
 removed, and he recovered rapidly, till the family could no longer mes- 
 merize him. A man in the village was found, who could and daily did, 
 till he appeared entirely well. On omitting it he had a fit or two, and it 
 was resumed ; and when I last saw the father, he informed me that they 
 considered the child cured. 
 
 " I may add, I have since cured toothache, greatly relieved tic doloreux 
 
17ft ON MAGNETISM. 
 
 and removed other pains and swellings, as well as headache. I am not, 
 however, a full believer in all which is affirmed of clairvoyants — what I 
 see and know, I believe. In respect to many well-authenticated facts, I 
 neither affirm nor deny. That there are many cases of gross deception 
 an3 imposition, I fully believe. On such a subject, it can hardly be 
 otherwise. This, however, is a reason why men of character and intelli 
 gence should investigate it, rather than otherwise. ' But it is deception.* 
 Well, then, let us expose it by a fair trial. ' But it is the work of the 
 devil !' How do you know ? What is the evidence 1 What harm has 
 it done 1 i Oh, bad men have used it for bad ends !' And what is there 
 in the world that has not been so used ? If it is the work of the devil, 
 then we are not to be ignorant of his devices, and should make the exami- 
 nation for one's self; for ignorant and bad men will not expose his de- 
 vices. From experiment and observation, I have ho doubt that, as a 
 remedial agent, mesmerism is yet to accomplish much good ; and no 
 harm can result from it, except, like all other blessings, it be abused. 
 
 "WILLIAM H. BEECHER. 
 " Boston, June 28. 1843." 
 
 [Fowlers and Wells' American Phrenological Journal 
 

 
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