688 MESMERISM. 



them would be an inestimable blessing in the case of a surgical 

 operation, which I am positive might have been performed without 

 the slightest sensation on some of the female patients, exactly 

 as took place at the Hotel-Dieu, where a cancerous breast was 

 removed in mesmeric coma from a poor woman without her 

 knowledge. I have no doubt that I shall in time see all the 

 established phenomena of sleep-waking, writing, reading, and 

 doing endless things even better than in the waking state. But, 

 before I see, I cannot believe more. I cannot believe that even 

 those strange phenomena are produced by it which some de- 

 clare to occur occasionally in plain sleep-waking, because I must 

 see such sleep-waking before I believe it. Yet I will continue a 

 little longer with docility to inquire and learn, for of Baron 

 Dupotet'A perfect good faith I entertain no doubt, however cre- 

 dulous he may be. 



The observations of the late French commission agree with 

 mine ; but they go farther. Sometimes there was no effect ; 

 sometimes but slight effects ; sometimes decided effects, as sleep, 

 extreme insensibility, and muscular movements on the direction 

 of the fingers of the mesmeriser, though sometimes none, and 

 sometimes with scarcely uniformity enough for any one to assert 

 that the movements resulted from it ; sometimes insensibility of 

 a particular sense dissipated, so that perfect coma was exchanged 

 for sleep-waking, or the whole coma dissipated at the pleasure of 

 the mesmeriser by transverse movements. 



They saw a large variety of the more wonderful, but established 

 phenomena of sleep-waking, such as appeared in many of the 

 cases, related by me, unconnected with mesmerism : but which 

 the shortness of time only has prevented me from witnessing. 

 They, however, believed that they witnessed more than this. They 

 declare they witnessed the production of sleep-waking by mes- 

 merism practised in the next room to that in which the patient 

 was ; that they witnessed clairvoyance, reading and perfect re- 

 cognition of objects of sight, &c. amounting to the ability of 

 playing games of cards, &c. in coma, with the eyes completely 

 closed ; accurate prophesying of the day of occurrence of dis- 

 tant epileptic attacks and of other events of the case ; great 

 diminution of epilepsy ; rapid cure of hemiplegia ; true de- 

 clarations of the seat and nature of the diseases of strangers 



