622 THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 



old doctor at the same time, equally amused, was liable to do less harm, for all his smiles 

 and laughter, however excessive, were produced by the curious machinery of his face, 

 and never extended further down than the chin or clavicles. The little patient, how- 

 ever, was seen in a few minutes to be going to sleep, and at length fell back in the chair, 

 in the desired state of somnambulism. The operator then, by mesmeric influences, 

 opened her eyes, without touching them and without waking her, and by the same in- 

 fluence closed them again. In the same way he caused her hand to close, and none of 

 us could open it. Here our doctor, who tried it, was quite at a stand. He saw the fin- 

 gers of the operator pass several times in front of it, and its muscles relaxed — it opened 

 of itself. He then brought, by the same influence, her left arm to her breast, and then 

 the right, and challenged the strength of any one in the room to unbend them. This 

 was tried by several of us, but in vain; and when his fingers were passed a few times 

 lightly over them, they were relaxed and returned to their former positions. By this 

 time the Indian women, with their hands over their mouths, began to groan, and soon 

 left the room in great distress of mind. The chiefs, however, and the doctor and Jim 

 remained until the experiments were all tried, and with unaccountable success. The 

 operator then, by passing his fingers a few times over the forehead of his patient, brought 

 her gradually to her senses, and the exhibition ended. The convulsions of Jim's broad 

 sides were now all tempered down into cool quiet, and the knowing smiles of the old 

 doctor had all run entirely off from and out of the farrows of his face, and a sort of pain- 

 ful study seemed to be contracting the rigid muscles that were gathering over them. 



The chiefs pronounced the unaccountable operation to be the greatest of medicine, and 

 themselves quite satisfied, as they retired; but the old doctor, not yet quite sure, and 

 most likely thinking it a good thing for his adoption among the mysteries of his profes- 

 sion in his own country, was disposed to remain with his untiring companion Jim until 

 some clue could be got to this mystery of mysteries. With this view he had the curios- 

 ity of feeling the little girl's pulse, of examining and smelling the operator's fingers, &c, 

 and of inquiring whether this thing could be done by any others but himself; to which 

 I replied that it was now being done by hundreds all through the country and was no 

 secret. The charm had then fled — it had lost all its value to the old doctor. The deep 

 thoughts ceased to plough his wrinkled face, and his self-sufficient, happy smiles were 

 again playing upon his front. His views were evidently changed. Jim caught the 

 current of his feelings, and amusement was their next theme. 



JIM MESMEEISED. 



The old doctor "thought that Jim could be easily frightened, " and would be a good 

 subject. 



It was proposed that Jim should therefore take the chair, and it was soon announced 

 to the squaws, and amongst them to his wife, that Jim had gone to sleep, and was mer- 

 merised. They all flew to the room, which upset the gravity of his broad mouth, and, 

 with its movements, as a matter of course, the whole bearing of his face; and the oper- 

 ator's fingers being withdrawn from his nose, he left the chair amidst a roar of laughter. 

 It was then proposed that the old doctor should sit down and be tried, but he resisted 

 the invitation, on the grounds of the dignity of his profession, which he got me to ex- 

 plain to the medical man, whom he was now evidently disposed to treat rather sarcas- 

 tically, and his wonderful performance as a piece of extraordinary juggling, or, at least, 

 as divested of its supposed greatest interest, that of novelty. He told him "that there 

 was nothing new or very wonderful in the operation, that he could discover; it was no 

 more than the charm with which the snakes used to catch birds; and the more frightful 

 and ugly a man's face was, the better he could succeed in it. He had no doubt but many 

 ill-looking men amongst white people would use it as a mode of catching pretty girls, 

 which they could not otherwise do, and therefore it would be cabled amongst white peo- 

 ple a very useful thing." 



