EXTRAORDINARY CASE OF MESMERISM IN SCOTLAND.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 172, 14 July 1876, Page 9

EXTRAORDINARY CASE OF MESMERISM IN SCOTLAND.

++ Much excitement, and not a little indignation were occasioned in Govan, recently, 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 Burndyke street, who was allowed to lie on the cold, damp ground in Napier street, for about twenty minutes, 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 younsr man, who is a fitter in one of the shipbuilding yards, was mesmerized 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 two o'clock on the follow- [ ing 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 Grovan 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 his little jug containing the 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 life. Dr. Barras was sent for, and, after considerable difficulty, succeeded inbringingtheyoung 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 on awakening, and had to be taken home in a cab. — ' North British Mail.'