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TUE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.— SUPPLEMENT. 



them temporarily mute, by bidding them " tie 

 their tongue." Here was a man skilled in a 

 branch of physical science, but of eager tempera- 

 ment, and with a rage for novelty, lending him- 

 self indiscreetly to certain popular delusions 

 which had originated in the crazed fancy of a 

 charlatan. Mesmeric experiments of this sort 

 were for a time a favorite amusement. They re- 

 minded us of the superstition in the old legends, 

 in which " glamour " is said to have been cast 

 over weak-minded individuals. This ancient 

 glamour consisted in producing, by looks and gest- 

 ures, a negation of self-assertion. The operator 

 threw the patient into a kind of spellbound or 

 dreamy condition without any power of correct 

 reasoning. It was the conquest of the strong 

 and resolute will over the weak and irresolute, 

 through the effects of a kind of jugglery. 



Mesmeric sleep, as it is called, is ordinarily 

 produced by seemingly mystic passes of the 

 hands, and an intense concentration of looks on 

 the eyes of the person operated upon. In it 

 there is nothing marvelous. Dr. Carpenter ex- 

 plains that it " corresponds precisely in character 

 with what is known in medicine as ' hysteric 

 coma ; ' the insensibility being as profound while 

 it lasts as in the coma of narcotic poisoning, or 

 pressure on the brain, but coming on and passing 

 off with such suddenness as to show that it is 

 dependent upon some transient condition of the 

 sensorium, which, with our present knowledge, 

 we can pretty certainly assign to a reduction in 

 the supply of blood, caused by a sort of spas- 

 modic contraction of the bloodvessels." This 

 explanation, on a physiological basis, considera- 

 bly reduces the mystic character of those mes- 

 meric marvels in which the late Dr. Elliotson in- 

 dulged at his public seances in Conduit Street. 

 It does notj however, as we imagine, detract from 

 the medical value that may be attached to the 

 calming of the nervous system by what is spoken 

 of as mesmeric sleep. Mr. Braid, a practising 

 surgeon in Manchester, ingeniously fell on the de- 

 vice of producing a profound mesmeric slumber 

 by simply causing individuals to fix their gaze de- 

 terminedly at a cork stuck at the top of their 

 nose. It was not surprising that people should 

 have been lulled by being subjected to this species 

 of hypnotism. Ordinary sleep may in most in- 

 stances be induced by keeping the lower extrem- 

 ities perfectly still, and determinedly fixing atten- 

 tion on the act of breathing through the nostrils. 

 Speaking from experience, we offer this as a hint 

 to the habitually sleepless. 



In the amusing book before us, the author 



shows how clairvoyants have imposed on public 

 assemblies by tricks which could be seen through 

 by skeptical observers. Miss Martineau, as is 

 well known, had a profound belief in the marvels 



of mesmerism. This lady had a servant, J , to 



whom were imputed wonderful powers of clairvoy- 

 ance. On one occasion, while in the mesmeric 

 sleep, she gave " the particulars of the wreck of a 

 vessel, of which her cousin was one of the crew ; 

 as also of the previous loss of a boy overboard ; 

 with which particulars, it was positively affirmed 

 by Miss Martineau, and believed by many on her 

 authority, that the girl could not have been pre- 

 viously informed, as her aunt had only brought 

 the account to the house when the seance was 

 nearly terminated. On being asked, says Miss 

 Martineau, two evenings afterward, when again in 

 sleep, 'whether she knew what she related by 



hearing her aunt telling the people below,' J 



replied: 'No; I saw the place and the people 

 themselves — like a vision.' And Miss Martineau 

 believed her." After all, the girl was proved to 

 be an impostor. A medical friend, on making a 

 rigorous investigation, discovered " unequivocally 



that J 's aunt had told the whole story to 



her sister, in whose house Miss Martineau was 

 residing, about three hours before (he seance; 



and that, though J was not then in the 



room, the circumstances were fully discussed in 

 her presence before she was summoned to the 

 mesmeric performance. Thus not or.ly was 



J completely discredited as a seer, but 



the value of all testimony to such marvels was 

 seriously lowered when so intelligent a witness as 

 Harriet Martineau could be so completely led 

 astray by her prepossessions as to put forth state- 

 ments as facts, which were at once upset by the 

 careful inquiry which she ought to have made 

 before committing herself to them." 



A preconceived determination or proneness 

 to believe in the reality of any seeming marvel 

 without any other evidence than the senses, goes 

 a great way to explain the stories that are fondly 

 cherished by the dupes of spiritualism. The er- 

 ror lies in taking things for granted. At one 

 time people were all agog as to the wonders of 

 table-turning, and it is amusing to remember how 

 the wonder was speedily exploded by the appli- 

 ances suggested by Faraday. He conclusively 

 showed that the operators, however honest, un- 

 consciously exerted a muscular action, causing 

 the table to turn in the direction previously con- 

 ceived. The whole thing was a curious piece of 

 self-deception. Dupes of spiritualistic manipu- 

 lators are similarly self-deceived. They go to se- 



