CHAPTER XXVIII 



MY FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES — DR. PURLAND, 

 MR. SAMUEL BUTLER, PROFESSOR HAUGHTON 



One of the most interesting, amusing, and eccentric men I 

 became acquainted with during my residence in London, and 

 with whom I soon became quite intimate, was Dr. T. Purland, 

 a dentist, living in Mortimer Street, Cavendish Square. He 

 was a stout, dark, middle-aged man, with somewhat Jewish 

 features, and of immense energy and vitality — one of those 

 men whose words pour out in a torrent, and who have always 

 something wise or witty to say. He had been a great coin- 

 collector, and had many anecdotes to tell of rarities hit upon 

 accidentally. He had an unbounded admiration for Greek 

 coins as works of art, and would dilate upon their beauties as 

 compared with the poor and inartistic works of our day. 

 He was something of an Egyptologist, and had many odds 

 and ends of antiquities, including teeth from mummies and 

 dentists' instruments found in the old tombs and sarcophagi. 

 He was a widower with three growing-up children, and had 

 been obliged to part with all the more valuable parts of his 

 collection to educate them. 



He was a very powerful mesmerist, and helped, with Dr. 

 Elliotson and others, in establishing the mesmeric hospital 

 then in existence, and could succeed in sending patients into 

 the mesmeric trance when other operators failed. He was one 

 of the few men at that time who had been up in a balloon 

 (with Green, the celebrated aeronaut, I think), and one evening 

 at our house in St. Mark's Crescent, when Huxley and Tyndall 

 were present, he made some remarks which interested 

 Tyndall, who thereupon asked him many questions as to 

 his sensations, the general appearance of the earth, clouds, etc., 



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