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I beg to state, for the satisfaction of those who have not yet a practical knowledge of the subject, that I have seen no bad consequences whatever arise from persons being operated on when in the mesmeric trance. Cases have occurred in which no pain has been felt subsequent to the operation even; the wounds healing in a few days by the first intention; and in the rest, I have seen no indications of any injury being done to the constitution. On the contrary, it appears to me to have been saved, and that less constitutional disturbance has followed than under ordinary circumstances. There has not been a death among the cases operated on. In my early operations, I availed myself of the first fit of insensibility, not knowing whether I could command it back again at pleasure.

But if the trance is not profound the first time, the surgeon may safely calculate on its being deeper the next, and when operating in public, it will be prudent to take the security of one or two preliminary trances.. Flexibility of the limbs till moved, and their remaining rigid in any position we put them in, are characteristic of the trance: but there are exceptions, and these are equally diagnostic, and to be depended upon. It sometimes happens, that the limbs become rigid as they lie, and on bending them they have always a disposition to return to a state of spasmodic extension. At other times, there is a complete relaxation of the whole muscular system, and the limbs can be tossed about like those of a person just dead.

The eyes are usually closed, but the eyelids are sometimes seen a little separated, or half-open and tremulous, and the eye is even occasionally wide open, fixed, and insensible to the light. On one occasion, having ordered a man to be entranced, I returned after two hours, and was told by my assistant that the man was not affected. I went to see, and found him with half-open eyes, quivering eyelids, and

trembling hands. I immediately said that he was ready, and, without further testing his condition, performed a most severe operation upon him, without his knowing any thing about it.

I also wish to remark that I have seen no symptom of congestion of blood on the brain; the circulation in the trance being usually quite natural, like that of a sleeping person. My patients appear to escape the stimulating stage of the mesmeric influence altogether, and to pass at once from life to temporary death. This I am disposed to attribute to the concentrated uninterrupted manner in which the power is applied. As soon as it is felt, there is no time given to the system to rally from the first impression, and it succumbs without a struggle to the constraining power.

Some patients, when suddenly awakened, say that their vision is hazy, and their heads light; but I take this to arise from the imperfectly recovered sensibility of the brain and the organs of sense, which are not at once roused up into the full possession of their waking powers, just as is seen in persons suddenly aroused from profound natural sleep.

That the mesmeric torpor of the brain and nerves does not arise from sanguine congestion, is often beautifully seen in the first actions of persons awaking from the trance.

They open their eyes, and at the same moment recover all their faculties; but it is seen that the pupil is insensible to the light this they also become aware of; they know that their eyes are open, and that they ought to see, but do not. The thought fills them with horror, and with a fearful cry they bury their faces in their hands, like persons struck blind by lightning; but this soon passes off, and the retina recovers its sensibility by a little rubbing of the eye. The dreadful shock given to the mind under such circumstances, or when a somnambulist awakes and finds himself standing in some strange attitude naked, in the midst of strangers

(an experiment I have often made), is a trial of the nerves which it would be very imprudent, and even dangerous, to make with any but such singularly impassive subjects as my patients.

This, and the inconveniences of inducing the mesmeric disease (spontaneous mesmeric action in the system) by doing more than is necessary for the cure of disease, appear to me to be the real dangers to be avoided in the use of Mesmerism as a remedy.

I am now able to say from experience, that debility of the nervous system predisposes to the easy reception of the mesmeric influence, and I augur well of a patient's powers of submission, when I recognise in him the listless dejected air, "l'air abattu," that usually accompanies functional debility of the nerves.

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