EXTRAORDINARY CASE OF MESMERISM.

Globe, Volume V, Issue 578, 26 April 1876, Page 3

EXTRAORDINARY CASE OF MESMERISM.

Much excitement and not alittle ind ignation was occasioned in Govan recently (writes the North British Mail) by the conduct of a mesmerist, and there is some talk of a civil action being raised against him for injuries inflicted on a respectable young married man residing in Burndyko street, who was allowed to lie on the cold, damp ground in Naoier street for about twenty in a state of mesmerism, and had to be conveyed on a barrow to the police station, and the services of a medical man obtained before he was brought to his senses. The mesmerist gave an entertainment in the burgh on the previous evening, and the young man, who is a fitter in one of the shipbuilding yards, was mesmerised along with several others, and while in that state the mesmerist commanded him to come to the corner of the above street at a quarter to eight o’clock on the following day, and share with him the half of his dinner. The fitter went to his work in the morning all aight ; but just as he was in the act of taking his dinner, he suddenly left the table, carrying a little jug full of bioth, and made his way down Govan road in an excited manner to the place where the “professor” waste meet him. A large crowd soon collected around the poor fellow, who was as if pinned to the wall, holding on tenaciously to his little jug, containing the broth. He eventually slid d >wn upon the cold ground, however, and lay there for about 20 minutes. The excited crowd expected the mesmerist to keep his appoint

ment, and relieve the poor fellow from his position, but he did not put in an appearance. The police arrived on the scene, and the man was conveyed to the office in a barrow. His limbs were by this time perfectly stiff, and with the exception of a slight movement of the heart and pulse, the body showed very little signs of life. Dr Burras was sent for. and after considerable difficulty, succeeded in bringing the young fellow out of his mesmeric sleep, after his wife and brothers, who had come to the office, had been greatly alarmed about his condition. The man’s health must have suffered considerably by the exposure, as he shivered like an aspen leaf upon awakening, and had to bs taken home in a cab.