A VICTIM OF MESMERISM.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 111, 29 August 1876, Page 2

A VICTIM OF MESMERISM.

Much excitement, and not a little indignation were occasioned in Goran 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 Burndykestreet, who was allowed to lie on the cold damp ground in Napier-street, for about twenty nrnutes in a state of mesmerism, and had to be conveyed on a Harrow 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 litter in one of the shipbuilding yards, was mesmerised along with several others. While in that state the mesmerist commanded him to come to the corner of the above street at a quarter to two o'clock 011 the following day, and share with him the half of his dinner. The fitter went to his work in the morning all right; but just as he was in the act of taking his dinner, he suddenly left the table carrying a little jug full of broth, and made his way down Govan Road in an excited manner to the place where the professor " was to meet him. A large crowd soon collected around the poor fellow, who was as if pinned to the wall,

holding on tenaciously to the little jug containing tlie broth. He eventually slid down upon the cold ground, however, and lay there for about twenty minutes. The excited crowd expected the mesmerist to keep his appointment, 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 on 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. Barras was sent for, and after considerable difficulty, succeeded in bringing the young fellow out of his mesmeric sleep, aft >r his wife and brothers, who had come to the office, had been greatly alarmed about his condition. The man's health must lifive suffered considerably by the exposure, as he shivered like an aspen leaf on awakening, and had to be taken home in a cab."