208 THE WONDERFUL CENTURY. CHAP. XVIL 



would not have believed the facts had he witnessed 

 them! Then the great men of the profession spoke. 

 Dr. Marshall Hall, the investigator of reflex-action, de- 

 clared that it was a case of imposition, because the sound 

 leg should have contracted when the diseased leg was 

 cut. The case, therefore, contradicted itself. Sir 

 Benjamin Brodie believed that the man must have been 

 naturally insusceptible of pain. He also agreed with 

 Dr. Marshall Hall that the other leg ought to have 

 moved, and he was quite satisfied with the two French 

 reports against mesmerism. Mr. Liston and Mr. 

 Bransby Cooper made fun of the subject; but Dr. Mayo 

 declared it was a paper of great importance, and should 

 not be ridiculed. Mr. Wood, who had assisted at the 

 amputation, vouched for the complete accuracy of the 

 whole account, and pointed out that before the operation 

 the patient had suffered intense pain, and that during 

 the operation he not only showed no sign of pain, but no 

 sign of resistance to the expression of pain. Dr. Elliot- 

 son also pointed out the illogical nature of the objection; 

 but the opponents, who were all completely ignorant of 

 the subject, at the next meeting refused confirmation of 

 the minutes, which were therefore expunged! 



Here we have extreme ignorance in high places, deny- 

 ing facts which had been observed again and again by 

 men as honest and trustworthy as themselves. It was 

 these men, and others equally ignorant, who accused the 

 operators of bribing their patients not to exhibit pain; 

 who accused Dr. Elliotson of " polluting the temple of 

 science "; and who ejected this eminent physician from 

 his professorship in the University of London, because 

 he persisted in studying the phenomena of mesmerism 



