206 THE WONDERFUL CENTURY. CHAP. xvn. 



Such a man would at once lose all claim to be considered 

 an authority on any subject, and his future writings 

 would be treated with deserved neglect. It is because, 

 during the greater part of the century, this most impor- 

 tant and most interesting enquiry has been treated in so 

 unworthy a manner by men of reputation in other de- 

 partments of research, that we are compelled to class the 

 opposition to the phenomena of mesmerism, and espe- 

 cially to the reality of clairvoyance, as constituting one 

 of the exceptions to the steady march of most branches 

 of science throughout the century. 



We now come to the consideration of a practical ap- 

 plication of. animal magnetism, the opposition to which 

 was even more virulent and more unjustifiable than that 

 just described. The subject of Mesmerism, as it began 

 to be termed, was first introduced into this country by 

 Mr. Richard Chenevix, a Fellow of the Royal Society, 

 who published a series of papers in the London Medical 

 and Physical Journal in 1829. He also exhibited the 

 phenomena to numerous medical men, among others to 

 Dr. Elliotson, who afterward became one of the chief 

 teachers of the science. The Professor of Physiology 

 at King's College (Dr. Mayo) also upheld and wrote upon 

 it in the medical journels. Baron Dupotet came to Lon- 

 don and again demonstrated the main facts, as did num- 

 bers of public lecturers, affording ample opportunities 

 for experiment and observation. 



In 1829 M. Cloquet, one of the most eminent sur- 

 geons of Paris, amputated a cancerous breast during the 

 mesmeric sleep, the patient being entirely insensible to 

 pain, although able to converse. Teeth were extracted, 

 and many other operations, some very serious, such as 



