MESMERISM, ODYLISM, TABLE-TURNING, ETC. 23 



in the ordinary way, and " hypnotized " by Mr. Braid's process, that 

 there was no other difference between the two states than that arising 

 from the special rapport between the mesmerizer and his subject ; and 

 that this was clearly explicable by the " expectancy " under which the 

 " subject " passed into the state of second consciousness. For Mr. 

 Braid found himself able, by assuring his " subjects " during the in- 

 duction of the coma, that they would hear the voice of one particular 

 person and no other, to establish this rapport with any person he 

 might choose ; the case being strictly analogous to the awaking of the 

 telegraph-clerk by the clicking of his needles, of the doctor by his 

 night-bell, or of the mother by her infant's cry, though all would sleep 

 soundly through far louder noises to which they felt no call to attend. 

 And thus, as was pointed out long since by Dr. Noble and myself, 

 not only may the general reality of the mesmeric somnambulism be 

 fully admitted, but a scientific rationale may be found for its supposed 

 distinctive peculiarities, without the assumption of any special "mag- 

 netic " or " mesmeric " agency. 



It is affirmed, however, that proof of this agency is furnished by 

 the power of the "silent will" of the mesmerizer to induce the sleep 

 in " subjects " who are not in the least aware that it is being exerted; 

 and, further, to direct from a distance the actions of the somnambule. 

 Doubtless, if satisfactory proof of this assertion could be furnished, it 

 would go far to establish the claim. But nothing is more difficult 

 than to eliminate all sources of fallacy in this matter. For while it is 

 admitted by mesmerizers that the belief that the influence is being ex- 

 erted is quite sufficient in habitual somnambules to induce the result, 

 it is equally certain that such " sensitives " are raarvelously quick at 

 guessing from slight intimations what is expected to happen. And it 

 has been repeatedly found that mesmerizers who had no hesitation in 

 asserting that they could send particular " subjects " to sleep, or could 

 affect them in other ways, by an effort of silent will, have utterly failed 

 to do so when these subjects were carefully kept from any suspicion 

 that such will was being exerted. Thus, Dr. Noble has recorded the 

 case of a friend of his own, who, believing himself able thus to influence 

 a female servant whom he had repeatedly mesmerized, accepted with 

 the full assurance of confident faith a proposal to make this experi- 

 ment in Dr. Noble's house instead of his own. The girl, having been 

 sent thither with a note, was told to sit down in Dr. Noble's consult- 

 ing-room while the answer was being written ; her chair being close 

 to a partially-open door, on the other side of which her master, whom 

 she supposed to be elsewhere, had previously taken up his position. 

 Although this gentleman had usually found two or three minutes suf- 

 ficient to send the gii'l to sleep when he was in his own drawing-room 

 and she was in the kitchen, the two being separated by intervening 

 walls and flooring, yet when he put forth his whole force for a quarter 

 of an hour within two feet of her, with only a partially-closed door 



