were thrown; and when the fore-arm was bent upon the humerus, and then let go, it fell upwards, or downwards, instantly. But on placing my united fingers over the ends of his, the arm remained fixed at a right angle in the air, and swayed to and fro, according to my movements. The insensibility of the iris was also tested, and proved.

6 o'clock, A. M. Still sleeps; most complete relaxation of all the limbs now exists. The legs and arms can be tossed about in every direction, and where they fall there they lie. Being curious to ascertain the effect of the artificial state on the natural process of inflammation, I did not awake him, but saw that the part was as flaccid as when the water was just withdrawn.

April 12th. He awoke at 12 o'clock last night, spontaneously. Recollects nothing after going to sleep; sees the water is gone, knows not how; supposes the Doctor Sahib did it. The testicle is considerably enlarged to-day; there is little pain, and it did not swell till after he awoke. He has had chronic diarrhoea for some time; four and five motions a day, but has had none since yesterday forenoon till this morning. Natural, artificial, and diseased actions have therefore been all equally arrested for the last thirteen hours; a

practical fact of the utmost importance, which will not be lost sight of by myself, or others, I hope. What a blessed prospect this opens to sufferers who may be sensible to the Mesmeric influence! In time we may hope to discover who they are, by detecting the laws which regulate this power of Nature, and thereby save ourselves much trouble and disappointment. In the mean time let us accumulate facts, as the seed for a correct theory hereafter. Although I should never succeed again, I will in future think, speak, and write of Mesmerism as being as much a reality as the principle of gravitation, or the properties of opium. For, under all the circumstances, I cannot but consider these to be unexceptionable facts; and if I should not again be able to elicit them, it would not shake my belief in the existence of Mesmerism; I should only conclude that the failure arose from my ignorance of the conditions required by Nature, or from some personal disqualification. The rarity of the occurrence would not make it less a reality; and to deny a fact because it has been seldom witnessed, would be as reasonable as to doubt the existence of comets because they are rare appearances.

Great weight is very justly attached to first

experiments in any new subject of investigation, for these are often a voluntary and unexpected evolution of the powers of nature; and when the results surprise the experimenter even, we feel confident that he only relates what he actually saw, and that he is not seduced, by previous theory and prepossession of mind, to interpret appearances in support of a foregone conclusion. In making these experiments, I was in the situation of a chemist, who has heard that a new elementary substance had been discovered by a certain process, and who thereupon sets his apparatus to work in the way prescribed, and is rewarded by obtaining the same results as the first discoverer.

Besides the general results, I noted in this case the following particulars as facts, which determined the course of my future proceedings.

I was sure that there could be no imagination at work in the matter.

That there was no consent between the parties.
No mental sympathy.

That the patient's eyes need not be open.

I therefore came to the conclusion, that in this instance, the influence must have been of a purely physical description, and on this supposition I conducted my subsequent experiments; with what success will be shortly seen.

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CHAP. III.

Mesmerism the same in India and in Europe. — Examples of Mesmeric Sleep.- Sealing of the Eyes.—Altered Sensibility.- Temporary Paralysis.— Muscular Rigidity,Insensibility to Pain.-Exaltation of particular Organs.— Convulsions. Delirium. -Injustice done to the Memory of the first Mesmerists. — Every available Evidence here given. Imposture morally and physically impossible.Mode of Proceeding. Mesmeric and Non-Mesmeric Physiological Demonstration of

Operations contrasted.

the Impossibility of Imposture.

HAVING, by the experiments described in the last chapter, satisfied myself of the existence of the Mesmeric power, I lost no time in applying it to practical purposes. The effects produced were nearly as various as the different persons acted upon, and corresponded perfectly with the appearances observed in Europe; and when the public see the same effects following like causes on the banks of the Thames, and the Seine, the Rhine, and the Hooghly; I presume it will conclude, that the same agent is at work, provided the same evidence, in support of matters of fact, is received for hot and cold climates, and it is not

supposed that the truth is affected by degrees of latitude. In a late No. of the "British and Foreign Medical Review," the reviewer gives a summary of the Mesmeric symptoms as known to himself, and recorded by various writers on Mesmerism, and acknowledges a perfect accord in all the accounts of the bodily phenomena. The following extract will place these appearances succinctly before my readers, and I beg them to compare my account of Mesmerism in Bengal with this statement of its effects in Europe, and then say whether the identity of the thing in the east and west is not established:

"Sometimes, however, there is said to supervene a state of coma; at others, exaltation, depression, or some anomalous modification of sensibility; and occasionally, a state somewhat approaching to that of reverie, wherein the individual, although conscious, feels incapable of independent exertion, and spell-bound, as it were, to a particular train of thought or feeling. occurrence of convulsive action, and of muscular rigidity, is described as taking place in some cases to a greater or less extent. These results are said to constitute the simpler phenomena of Mesmerism. We shall illustrate them by some extracts from accredited writers upon the subject.

The