234 



MY LIFE 



[Chap. 



boy, and then say to him, " Now, you can't touch that shilling." 

 He would at once move his hand towards it, but when half- 

 way it would seem to stick fast, and all his efforts could not 

 bring it nearer, though he was promised the shilling if he 

 could take it. 



Every phenomenon of suggestion I had seen at the lecture, 

 and many others, I could produce with this boy. Giving him 

 a glass of water and telling him it was wine or brandy, he 

 would drink it, and soon show all the signs of intoxication, 

 while if I told him his shirt was on fire he would instantly 

 strip himself naked to get it off. I also found that he had 

 community of sensation with myself when in the trance. If 

 I held his hand he tasted whatever I put in my mouth, and 

 the same thing occurred if one or two persons intervened 

 between him and myself ; and if another person put sub- 

 stances at random into my mouth, or pinched or pricked me 

 in various parts of the body, however secretly, he instantly 

 felt the same sensation, would describe it, and put his hand 

 to the spot where he felt the pain. 



In like manner any sense could be temporarily paralyzed 

 so that a light could be flashed on his eyes or a pistol fired 

 behind his head without his showing the slightest sign of 

 having seen or heard anything. More curious still was the 

 taking away the memory so completely that he could not tell 

 his own name, and would adopt any name that was suggested 

 to him, and perhaps remark how stupid he was to have for- 

 gotten it ; and this might be repeated several times with 

 different names, all of which he would implicitly accept. 

 Then, on saying to him, " Now you remember your own 

 name again ; what is it ? " an inimitable look of relief would 



pass over his countenance, and he would say, * Why, P , 



of course," in a way that carried complete conviction. 



But perhaps the most interesting group of phenomena to 

 me were those termed phreno-mesmerism. I had read, when 

 with my brother, George Combe's " Constitution of Man," with 

 which I had been greatly interested, and afterwards one of 

 the writer's works on Phrenology, and at the lecture I had 



