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MESMERIC TEACHERS. Somnolism and Psychef...
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Meredith's P Oems. Poems. By Geoi'ge Mer...
Nature never teaches distrust of tender love-tales , What can have 'aught her distrust of all my vows ? No , she does nut doubt me ! on a de ^ y eve-tide Whispering together beneath the listening moon , I pray'd fill her cheek flush'd , implored till she faltered—Fluttered to my bosom —ah ! to fly away so soon " When her mother tends her before the laughing mirror . Tying up her laces , looping up her hair , Often she thinks—were this wild thing wedded , I should have " more love , and much less care . When h'r mother tenHs her before the bashful mirror .
Loosening »»* t lace * , combing down her curls , Of r en she thinks — were this wild thing redded , I should lose but one for so many boys and girls . " Deckar , in one of his chaotic plays , uses the quaint but truthful simile , * ' untameable as flies ;" the same observation of Nature is implied in Mr . Meredith ' s—
" Then Winter , he who tamed the fly ! But the verse is rather quaint than poetic , inasmuch as it is throwing Winter into insignificance to select fly-taming as the characteris ic of its power . We noticed other examples of this same tendency ; but the whole volume is too obviously a collection of trifles to demand close criticism . We notice it because the workmanship of these trifles is elegant and fanciful .
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Mesmeric Teachers. Somnolism And Psychef...
MESMERIC TEACHERS . Somnolism and Psychefsm ; or the Science of the Soul and the Phenomena of JV ' ervatiov as r ^ pea ' eii by Vital -Magnetism , or Mesmerism , consideted Physiologically and Philo'Ojjhically . By Jos pn VV . Haddock M . D . Second Kdition J . S . Hoilsmi . Our readers know that the Facts of Mesmerism meet with little scepticism from us , and that the theories with which men seek to establish a science —prematurely , indeed , but nevertheless , honestly — are respectfully listened to . There are many facts in Mesmerism , and those cardinal , which we find it impossible to doubt ; but there are many facts reported which we find it as impossible to believe upon any evidence yet offered ; indeed , we must say , that a writer wh <> can consent to publish such narratives as some of the Mesmeric teachers
insolently throw down before the world , with a behevethis-or-be-accounted-a- bigot-and-opponent-of truth air , ought not to be surprised if they are laughed at and held as impostors . These men are the real obstrucrors to the pi ogress of their science . It is they who brin ;* discredit upon it . The grand phrases about the martyrs of science have almost ceased to have significance . Men are avid of novelty ; but they hate pretension now as of old . They are willing enough to accept . facts upon acceptable evidence ; hut are pr perly sceptical of astounding novelties when the intellectual condition of the reporter is such as to throw suspicion on his statements .
It is easy to talk of Galileo and Harvey . livery man who invents a brass candlestick , or improved shaving-strop , which people refuse to employ , rails at the " biifotry of the age , " exclaiming . E pur si muove ! Every unread poet is neglected , " like Milton" ; every bad musician recalls the fate of Beethoven . But all this railing is ineffective ; the world t ; oes its own way , sweeps majestic through its orbit , quite undisturbed by these apostrophes Give us facts and experiments in Mesmerism , not such as may be vouched by " highly respectable , "
perfectly credulous , and stupid witnesses , but such as carry with them a weight of evidence proportionate ' to the demand made upon belief—throw your doors open wide to impartial investigationseek to get at the real truth , and do not patch up CUHeH—allow sceptics to place their own conditions—and then we will vouch for there being no inordinate scepticism on the part of the public . But , if instead of doing thin . Mesmerists confine themselves to private performances , money-making exhibitions and writing foolish books , then public
scepticism 18 a virtue . Dr . Gregory's Letters to a Candid Inquirer , recently reviewed by us , ifl a book to advance the subject ; throughout you feel an unfeigned respect for the author , and this gives weight to his opinions , even when your own conviction most widely separates from them . It is quite clear that Dr . Gregory wishes , ^ o ^ tayhe truth ; there jh no trace of the cttai * aift » na'iliiTttMMt ; and oven when he reports ^^^ mf ^ i ^ " l ""» aside in disgust , hut * t « f ' ^ l ^ mjg ^ y " ™*' »« v « been preserfHo bnK % »& $ m < fM' > fvM y was that has ho Hhap ^' ft # WiW ^ ' < wNf ^ O Dr . ila ^^ c li' ^ '^^^^^ ' ^ ai ^ r *" ' ' 18 lls class . ! Jel ^ a ^^ t 1 j ^ r ^|^^ fl ^^ piB t'Se . saii » K writer , '* ¦ ¦ t | i' r Vn 4 'f ' tfL , ^¦^ u . \ .-A r
! I It may be literary prejudice , but we cannot help I suspecting the statements of a man who writes such I a style as Dr . Haddock writes ; not simply because it is a flaccid style , without life as without colour , but because such loose writing implies inaccurate thinking . A man of science is not bound to write with the felicity of phrase which we demand in literature ; but if he writes in a commonplace and I slipshod style , it is because he thinks in that style . I We may explain ourselves , perhaps , by saying that ! Dr . Gregory ' s book made us feel cautious about I our scepticism ; Dr . Haddock ' s made us cautious I about our belief . Dr . Gregory will make converts ; I Dr . Haddock will make just opponents . All that relates to the history and philosophy of Mesmerism in this volume is feeble . To give you I a sample of his philosophy we quote this—I EXPLANATION OF CLAIRVOYANCE . " B'lt opacity is no barrier to the perceptions of int < rnal sight ; — that is , when this int < rnal faculty is | fully developed , and its subject in a proper state . Objects to which the mind may be directed , either designedly or spontaneously , will be equally visible through doors and walls , » s if placed dinctly bi fore the face . Nay more , speaking from experience , to ihe higher stages of clairvoyance there seems , com ( iiritively speaking , no bounds ; for , whether the object sought be in the same house , or t- > wn , or country , or across the broai atlantic or pacific oceans , it appears to be found and seen with equal facility , and to be equally near to the internal perception of t'le truly clairvoyant individual . The human body is seen as clearly , and its living actions described as plainly , as if the external ami internal parts were alike as transparent as glass , and this , at times , without any bodily connection , sui h as by bringing the clairvoyant and the person to be examined together , but when many miles have intervened between them .
" But her-e a marked difference between external ann internal sight may be pointed out : external sight is essentially of a passive character ; internal sight as essentiall y active . It is true , a certain degree of attention ia n > cessary in order to our distinctly seeing objects , inasmuch as an object may be directly before us , and 5 'et not observed . But the image of the object is imprinted on the retina , although , fiom the concentration of the mind , on s > me < . ther subject , the sensation i * not perceived . When , however , the mind is unoccupied , we cannot help seeing such objects as are within the range of vision , the impves-ion is made , and the sensation i- » experienced . Both the light and the impiessiou come from without , wholly independant of our volition , and the object may be said
to come to the eye . But in internal vision , the sight , ; ts it were , goes to the object . The light , or ihat which to the clairvoyant is analogous to light , is projected f om within ; an active exercise of voli-ion take-, place ; as the spark flies from the excited electric machine , so the perception seems , as it were , to seek the corresponding sensation . This active character of internal vision I have repeatedly noticed , and the clairvojante in whom I perceived it , has also said that , to her percepii > n , light issued from the brain ; at other times , that sill things seemed light , but that the light did no' appear like either day light , or artificial light , but something bri-hter and more intense . This , of course , when the faculty was at its fullest state of development , "
For the sake of bringing this expl > nation within the accepted theories of Mesmerism , and of presenting the reader with a compendious statement of the actual condition of the science , we have drawn up the following : — There is in nature a universally diffused fluid or forte , called Ody le . It is a bluish light ; and is intcllii / ent , if not omniscient . ( Vide Leader , No . GO . ) When the brain is in its normal condition , this odyle comes from external objects , and communicates to the brain certain truths relating to those objects ; but if by chance the brain is in an abnormal condition , then the odyle passes from the brain to the objects ( no matter how many thousand
miles removed in point of space , nor how many hundred years in point of time ) , and having once reached the objects , returns again to the brain and communicates the results of its inquiries . The sailors who accompany Sir John Franklin see him : the odyle pusses fro : n him to them ; but " Ktnma , " at Bolton , flees Sir John Franklin in the polar regions : the odyle passes from her to him . That is all the difference . Major Buckley ' s friend sees-a ring , the ody le passes from it to his brain ; but the mesmerized patient Ht : c » the ring , and ihvn the odyle passes from her to the ring , and backward through the centuries till it alight upon Mary Queen of Scots , and David llizzio !
Now , when u * " party "—to use Dr . Haddock ' s favourite vulgarism -nets forth a philosophy like that in a style like Dr . Haddock's , who can wonder if other " parlies" regard this " party" as perhaps oa the whole an obstacle to the progress of
mesmeric science ? Who can wonder if ' * facts' * are received with suspicion when they are of this kind : — " Once , a gentleman asked me unexpectedl y , in neighbour ' s house , several doors from mine , to ' mes - merise him ; I tritd , but did not succeed . On returning home , I found Emma in the mesmeric state " and , upon inquiry , discovered that she had gone into that state while engaged with needle-work , and at the time I was endeavouring to mesmerise the gen tle man . "
On another occasion , Dr . Haddock , while visiting a patient who was suffering from delirium tre ~ metis , tried the soothing influence of mesmerism and on his return home found " Emma" had gone into the mesmeric state at the very moment he was operating on his patient . He has no misgivings . The possibility of deceit or of coincidence never strikes him . His own power of mesmerism does it all . Distance is nothing to him ; cannot the od le travel faster than lightning ? Yet Dr Haddock , so credulous of his own facts , is somewhat severe upon poor Cahagnet , whom we reviewed last week : —
" Having repeatedly been asked for my opinion , I now very biiefly advert to another work , quite the opposite to that just referred to ; I mean Ca / iagnet ' $ Celestial Telegraph ; or , the Secrets of the Other Life unveiled , $ c . It Miss Martineau and her coadjutor are deficient in faith , Cahagnet certainly is not ; but with him faith degenerates into credulity . In the absence of , all personal knowledge it would be wrong to asse » t any want of honesty , or intention to deceive . But I have very great douht as to the dependence which can be placed upon Cahagnet and his coadjutors as careful and trustworthy observers . The
tendency to the marvellous s so evident , that even their soberest relations must be received with great caution . When , in the second volume , we find him sneaking of material substances , such as lost jewels , boxes , & c , being brought from a distance and transported with the velociiy of ligh . ning through space , at the potent command , or spell , of certain mesmeric or magic , individnals ; and again of showers of stones descending through impossible places , or in the way of miracle , we may reasonably question the judgment , if not the hone-ty , of a writer , who could gravely narrate such things . "
Really we do not see where Dr . Haddock "draws the line . " That material substances should be brought from a distance with the velocity of lightning , by mere volition of a mesmerized patient , is certainly not on the face of it a very credible story ; but we do not see why the judgment and honesty of the narrator should be doubted by a man who narrates such stories as Dr . Haddock narrates in this volume . If he imagines that his stories are much more credible , or related in a more authoritative style , we feel it a kindness to undeceive him . The best are too long for extract , but this will serve
our turn : — " The following experiment was interesting , as affording some clue to the mode by which distant objects were perceived , and clearly showing the possibility of a clairvoyant ' s being able to perceive the active sentiments or ideas of the mind of a distant individual . I hud directed Emma ' s attention to a female relative in London ; she speedily found her , and began to describe her residence , & c . ; butsuddenly her attention ceased , to be directed to my relative , and she became engrossed with the description of a magnificent residence , with its elegant and costl y furniture ; a lady lying in a superb bed ; a beautifully
dressed baby ; well dressed ladies in and about the room , and another room in which were older children , also beautifully dressed , and attended by ladies . From many replies to my inquiiies , I considered that the only pluce 10 which her impassioned descriptions could refer was Buckingham Palaee , for the accouchincnt of the Queen hud then recently occurred I therefore said , with the view of ascertaining the correctness of my conjecture , Do you see any soldiers there ? ' ' Yen , ' sho replied , ' there are . soldiers at the door . ' I then saw that rny conjecture might be correct ; but why she should have spontaneously gone there , without any request or desire on my pair , the moat
or remote idea of making royalty the sunjoct of experiment , was a mystery . But after I had informed my relative of the occurrence , I obtained the clue to this seemingly mysterious transition from one subject to another ; for I was informed that she had been thinking of the , interesting circumstances in which th' j Queen was then placed , and also of tho curious ( acuity of my IJolton clairvoyante , and felt desirous to know whether Emma had the power to visit and describe the interior of the palace at that time . Tho cause , therefore , of Eimnu ' ti unexpected visit to royalty was thi * : my relutive had wished her to go tlieie ; when brought into mesmeric connection wirh her , the active sentiment of her mind was communicated to Emma ' s
innid , and by this means her attention was uncoa-Hcimsly directed to the . royal residence . Hut there was further confirmation that this , wu » the true cause ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 5, 1851, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_05071851/page/16/
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