MESMERISM.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume I, Issue I, 10 December 1842, Page 160

MESMERISM.

The science of Mesmerism has for the last few years occupied much of the attention of the public, and particularly that of the medical profession. Little additional information has, however, been gained of the laws which govern the phenomena, although an increased number of experiments has shown that it can be most beneficially employed in the cure of many distressing diseases. The following interesting particulars are taken from a publication named The Union, and are from the pen of Mr. J. Dixon. After some introductory remarks, he observes : — • We regard the subject of Mesmerism not merely, as many, who are more clear-sighted or candid than those just spoken of, seem dis- j posed to do, namely, as very curious and highly interesting : we regard it as a subject of the most absorbing value. What is called Mesmeric treatment, ensures a remedy for a very large amount of, to the present time, comparatively irremediable, distressing disorders. If this were the solitary advantage of the study and practice of it, it claims, and will have from every wellconstituted mind, the moßt respectful and devoted attention. Apart from this, however, it . appears to us to offer an intelligible and sensible means of eventually reconciling much that is now conflicting and opposed in the views of physiologists and psychologists. But this merely in passing. We may enlarge upon this view of the subject hereafter. On the present occasion we shall be satisfied to use the space allotted to us, in demonstrating its value as a curative means ; and this, we think, cannot be better done than by reciting a case, from notes taken at the time, which came under the immediate notice of the writer. It is about three years ago that the writer was attending a patient in a very intelligent family, and on one of his visits his opinion was asked of Mesmerism. He said he had no opinion to offer, as he had not had an opportunity of seeing a case of it, but that all he had heard of it seemed to him somewhat marvellous and incredible ; at the same time it was very clear, by the adhesion to it of some of the best men in the profession, that there must be something in it. " I think so, too," was the reply of the father of my patient ; " and (if what a friend of mine has reported to me is correct, and I have no reason to doubt him) there must be a great deal in it. My friend has a daughter under the treatment of Dr. Eliotson, and I am invited to witness for myself some of the wonderful phenomena of the case, and shall be very glad if you will accompany me." Glad of so favourable an opportunity of forming a correct opinion, we agreed, and, at a time appointed, went in company with him. On arriving at the house, we found that Dr. Eliotson had not yet come. In the interim, the mother of the patient was kind enough, at our request, to communicate the history of the case. The main points were these : -*-Her daughter, sixteen years of age, had always been delicate and nervous. In the month of November previously, she had been seized with severe pains in the head, for which the medical'attendant of the family was called in. The treatment he prescribed did not seem to be successful. After a short time she became epileptic ; the fits were of the severest and most distressing character, and of progressively increasing frequency. She, at length, had as many as seventy fits in the course of twenty-four hours, and in the short intervals between these dreadful fits she was in a state of delirium. In the mean time, two eminent practitioners had been consulted, and prescribed in vain for the patient ; and, finally, Dr. Spurgin gave a certificate of her labouring under hysterical mania, in order to her being placed under proper restraint. The idea, however, of treating the unfortunate patient as a maniac was necessarily very revolting to the family, and, while endeavouring to reconcile themselves to it, the father heard of an extreme case of epilepsy then under the successful treatment of Dr. Eliotson, by Mesmerism, not far from his own residence. Having ascertained the facts of the case to his own satisfaction, and that of his family, it was finally decided by them that, before they acted upon Dr. Spurgin's certificate, she should have the ■" chance " of recovery by Mesmerism. * So far the preliminary facts of the case, before Dr. Eliotson was consulted. The mother continued : — It was in February, three months after the commencement of her illness, that Dr. Eliotson was requested to undertake the case, at which time the unfortunate patient was having Beventyfive fits in twenty-four hours. The doctor attempted two successive days in vain to bring on Mesmeric sleep, but did not succeed until the third day. It was not till some days had expired that any beneficial effect appeared, hut in less than a week the fits began to diminish in force and frequency. At the end of the third week the fits had diminished to such an amount that the most sanguine hopes were entertained that they would shortly entirely disappear, when, unfortunately, during one of her attacks of delirium, through being startled and alarmed by a violent and sudden noise in the adjoining house, the epileptic fits returned in all their former force and frequency. Dr. Eliotson then decided upon putting her in a state of Mesmeric sleep, and retaining her in it for three weeks. Such were the particulars imparted to me by the mother. It was on the occasion of Dr. Eliotson coming to restore the patient to the ordinary waking state that we were present; and, t)*£. prepared with the particulars of the case, w* vjmt up stain, and were shortly ioined r

by the family medical attendant; Mr. Simpson, the advocate, of Edinburgh ; and Mr. Grattan, the author of " Highways and Byways." The latter gentleman had watched the case from the time of its coming under the care of Dr. Eliotson. On entering the patient's room, we found several ladies, inquiring visitors like ourselves (the celebrated Mrs. Trollope, a frequent visitor, was expected, but did not come on the present occasion). Dr. Eliotson, having arrived, entered into conversation with his patient, and while so conversing one of the most wondrous phenomena attendant upon the particular state of the nervous system under notice, and which Dr. Eliotson denominated an extatic fit, presented itself. Whether this sort of fit exhibits the same characteristics in all cases I know not, this being the only case I have seen. The poet or the painter could scarcely represent adequately the patient in this state : in prose it might be faintly attempted to be desribed thus : — After a short and slight convulsive agitation, the patient came suddenly upright into the Bitting posture, her eyes open, and her features exhibiting the abstractedness and rapt expression which is somewhat approached in the celebrated picture of St. Cecilia, and in some other Romish paintings, embodying the feelings of hope, wonder, veneration, and other exalted emotion, which, in my astonishment, I failed to note accurately, far transcending the finest executed conceptions of the sculptor or the painter. The change from the manifestation of one 'feeling to that of another occupied several seconds, and each manifestation as many more. These astonishing and beautiful phenomena having ceased, the patient fell back again in the same previous somnolent and semi-animate condition. After a little time Dr. Eliotson proceeded to bring the patient into the ordinary waking state. While speaking during the Mesmeric sleep, her voice was clear, her breathing firm, and her countenance serene ; now she spoke in a whisper, her breathing was hurried and faint, and her countenance was anxious and worn, as that of one who was suffering from a prostrating and exhausting malady. From this time the epileptic fits diminished in number during the three following weeks progressively. The last fit was of such unparalleled severity and duration, that the family thought that it must have terminated in death, but it terminated in profound sleep. From this, time she went on gradually regaining health and strength, still requiring to be occasionally Mesmerised to subdue periodical spasmodic attacks, followed by sleepwalking, for some months after. A few days ago the writer had to pass her father's house, and took the opportunity of making inquiries as to how the young lady remained : he had the satisfaction of seeing her, now nineteen years of age, well-grown, robust, and, as her mother said she had been for the last two years, in possession of the most perfect health. On the ground of this case alone, were it indeed the only one, the subject of Mesmerism cannot fail of demanding, from all who are earnest in inquiring into the organic attributes of the human nature, the deepest attention, if not the most diligent study. And maugre' all petty and inept opposition, the devotion of Dr. Eliotson to this highest, yet at present enigmatical, branch of physiological science, will ev,entuallg secure to him the highest admiration and respect. The following is an amusing conclusion to the above :—: — The Rev. Hugh M'Neile on Mesmerism. — The Liverpool Standard contains a curious article under the above head, from which we learn that " the eloquent minister of St. Jude's" has been threatening to denounce poor M. Lafontaine as a sorcerer — in league with the enemy of mankind — unless he comply with the modest request of the reverend orator, and, " put forth a scientific statement of the laws" by which the mesmeric phenomena are produced. It appears from the report in the Standard, that Mr. M'Neile feels so deep an interest in the subject of animal magnetism, as to have actually delivered a lecture on it last Sunday, which " occupied an hour and twenty minutes, and was listened to with profound attention." In this discourse, after proceeding to show " that such a power as Satanic influence over the bodies of* men is abroad in the world, and that we are liable to be assailed by it," he quoted from Chambers' a Edinburgh Journal, and other publications, a number of highly interesting particulars relating to mesmerism, and wound up the whole by cautioning " his hearers against occult science. Science (said he), if open and above board, I would examine — it courts examination ; but apt so long as it is kept secret — so long as it is a .passing of the thumb, and a movement with the fingers, and signs, and talismanic tokens — without any intelligible law laid down — without stating some property in matter, and how it acts — the nature of its action upon human flesh — how it stops the circulation of human blood — how it arrests the sensibility of the human frame — how it prevents the delicate touch being felt in the cutaneous veins. Let them put forth a scientific statement with regard to the nature of the operation of matter upon human flesh — the laws by which it operates ; and, if it be in nature, it will act uniformly, and not capriciously. If it operate capriciously, there is some mischievous agent at work, and we are not ignorant of the devices of the devil." As to now far the reverend gentleman has a right to boast of knowing " the devices of the devil " in natural magic, we shall not attempt to determine. We rather think the " eloquent minister of St. Jude's" would act as prudently to leave the profane sciences to other men. His essays on political -economy last summer were not very much to his credit, and.it does not appear that he is a whit more at home in animal magnetism. — Manchester Guardian.