scirrhus Testes extirpated in; Cataract operated on in; Malignant Disease of Testes extirpated in; unhealthy Sore pared in; hypertrophied Prepuce cut off in; Pain extinguished by; Return on Awaking; Amputation of Penis in; unhealthy Sores pared in; Two Operations for Hydrocele in.Mesmerism alike favourable to the Operator and the Patient

CHAPTER VIII.

Page 189

Hypertrophy of the Scrotum; different Causes of.-Elephantiasis endemic in Bengal and Lower Egypt; probable Causes of.—Example of Malarious Fever.-True Elephantiasis of the Scrotum.-Hypertrophy from Hydrocele; from Syphilis; Condition of the Organs involved: Mode of operating; Mismanagement by the Native Doctors; Number of Operations for six Years previous to April, 1845; in the Mesmeric Trance, for Eight Months.-First Case. Some Cause for the late Increase of Cases.-Operations in the Mesmeric Trance

CHAPTER IX.

210

Curiosities of Mesmerism.-Unsatisfactory Nature of Public Exhibitions.-Apology for giving one.-Account of it by a Visiter. -The modes in which the Mesmeric Fluid can be transmitted. -It acts at great Distances.-Is absorbed by Water.-Can pass through a Wall.-Final Experiments

APPENDIX

229

247

MESMERISM IN INDIA.

CHAPTER I.

Aversion of the old Schools and the Public to new Ideas.— Some old Notions must be suspended in fairly considering Mesmerism.-Irrational Incredulity.Mesmerism to be tried by the usual Laws of Evidence.-Medical Men not entitled to decide the Matter for the Public.-The Public invited to judge of the Matter of Fact.-Medical Men in this Country favourably placed.-Personal Labour necessary. All easy afterwards.-Qualifications of a Mesmeriser. The Mesmeric Power very general.-The Sick the proper Subjects for Experiment.-The Natives of Bengal very susceptible of the Mesmeric Influence.-Nature the School of the true Physician.—Mesmerism a natural Power of Man.-Instincts of Animals.—Mesmerism known and practised in India.-Trial of Skill with an Eastern Magician.-Dangers of Mesmerism no Reason for rejecting it.-No need to interfere with the Mind in Bodily Disease. My Patients bad Subjects for the Mental Phenomena.-The Public invited to judge the Question practically and fairly.

On the first broaching of any new branch of knowledge, there is ever a great commotion and combination: among the old-established schools, which have thriven on the wisdom of their ancestors, and desire

nothing more than "stare super vias antiquas," satisfied with things as they are, and content to "let well alone;" and there is also a general dislike in society to have its mind unsettled, and to be called upon to think again about matters supposed to have been set at rest long ago. We have the same affection for old familiar ideas that we entertain for old coats, shoes, and hats, because they humour the peculiarities of our constitutions.

But I hope the time has at last come for the public, and the medical profession, to listen patiently to a medical man, while he relates facts that have fallen under his observation regarding Mesmerism, and for the truth of which he pledges his private and professional character, as I hereby do.

Under such circumstances, a writer has a right to expect that his statements shall be believed till they are disproved, or till dishonesty in any of the parties concerned shall be detected.

In considering a subject so new and wonderful, it will be necessary to clear away many thorns and thistles which have grown up in the mental soil, exhausting its strength, and unfitting it for receiving the seeds of truth, however freely and carefully sown. At present it will be sufficient, if, as a preliminary, the reader will dismiss the respectable old notion, that the vital powers of our bodies are confined within their own limits, and cannot be transferred to and act upon others. On the contrary, there is good reason to believe that the vital fluid of one person can be poured into the system of another, upon which it

has various effects, according to constitutional peculiarities, the demand for it as a remedy, and the manner and extent to which it is exhibited in order to answer different purposes. Man is not, as commonly supposed, shut up in that pent-house, his body, isolated, and impotent to affect his fellow-creatures beneficially by a benevolent will, and his own innate resources. A merciful God has ingrafted a communicable, life-giving, curative power in the human body, in order that when two individuals are found together, deprived of the aids of art, the one in health may often be able to soothe and relieve his sick companion, by imparting to him a portion of his vitality. To believe that we possess such a power is, surely, a proud and exalting idea, which I hope the public will entertain with pleasure; and I trust to be able to prove to the satisfaction of all dispassionate and reflecting minds, that this is no fond delusion of an excited brain, but a substantial blessing, daily at work for good, extending immeasurably man's individual power of doing good by his unaided natural powers, and bringing healing and comfort to suffering humanity, all over the world.

Such is the force of habit, and aversion to a new train of thought, that this proposed extension of man's power has been received with as much distaste, as if it had been intended to deprive him of a limb, or one of his senses, and has been subjected to an irrational incredulity which nothing can satisfy. Nothing is more common than to hear persons boast, "that they will not believe it till they see it ;"-some go a step farther

in smothering their reason, and declare, that "they would not believe it, if they saw it;"-and I have known others, not only refuse the evidence of their senses, but deny their own deeds, because they had declared the thing to be "impossible!" It is a common and ludicrous error to see people mistaking obstinacy for strength of mind, and self-sufficiency for knowledge; and aiding the delusion, by calling themselves "Sceptics," that name having once been respectable in philosophy;-whereas, they have never had any doubt about the matter, and will never condescend to hear the subject mentioned without emphatic expressions of contempt and disgust. These are the "enfuns perdus" of knowledge, and must be left to the free indulgence of their passions and prejudices; for a man who never doubts, will never learn: he may grow older, but not wiser.

Few, in the solution of their doubts, can be privileged to the extent of St. Thomas; and the horizon of human knowledge would be miserably circumscribed, if we rejected all that we did not understand, and refused to believe facts, except on the evidence of our own senses. There is absolutely no merit in believing what we have seen and handled; this is no exercise of the judgment, and is level to the understanding of a savage: but it is the privilege of reason to be able to believe in the most surprising statements of others, if properly supported by evidence, and to adopt their conclusions, although the facts may have been observed, and the deductions drawn, by our antipodes. One such rational conversion is worth a thousand pro