MUTAT TERRA VICES. 'Tis sweet to lie on grassy vale, To any thoughts to yield, List to the music of the pail As milkmaids hie a-field. 'Tis sweet to gather primrose pale, 'Tis sweet, these silver months now passed, 'Tis hardly sweet, 'tis sad as sweet, To see the smiling fruit trees rent, 'Tis sad to see the red leaves fall Cuffed by the careless blast, Young Winter slowly master all, And rule himself at last. 5. CONCERNING MESMERISM. μάγον τοιόνδε μηχανορράφον, δόλιον ἀγύρτην, ὅστις ἐν τοῖς κέρδεσιν IN another part of our Magazine some of the peculiarities of this enlightened century have been ably handled; but these are but single drops in the vast ocean of peculiarities, but isolated leaves in the boundless forest of innovating eccentricities. It is pardonable therefore to select another subject from such a number. One of these, and perhaps one of the most impressive, is what is ordinarily called Mesmerism, and it is with a view to remove some vulgar superstitions which obtain on this subject that the present article is written. It may be well at the outset to make a clear distinction between Mesmerism and Electro-Biology. The first is the genus, the second a species of that genus; and let it be rightly understood that I treat here only on this species. Mesmerism, though expressing that which is generally understood by the term, is also applied to the last stat which the patient undergoes, when, soothed by the charmer's irresistible and soporific influence, he becomes unconsciously his (or her) unresisting slave, compelled, will he nill he, to obey all his behests, be they reasonable or unreasonable. And since in this state all consciousness deserts him, it can never be our lot to be made aware of the reason of this strange behaviour, enforced, as it appears, solely by the will of one whose rank in society whether literary or polite is in many cases of an order by no means exalted. How this effect is produced it is perhaps not expedient to inquire, but its peculiarity all will be ready to admit. That a man of stern and imperturbable character, possessing that "solid base of temperament" of which the poet sings, strengthened moreover by a liberal education, and sharpened by his intercourse with the world, should in any degree yield his will to the will of such a one as this, is sufficiently extraordinary; but that he should so utterly yield it as to commit what, in his sober senses, he would denounce as only befitting the crouching submission of a docile creature of the brute creation, is startling indeed. Yet this is no uncommon case, and one that all of us who have completed the first decade of life cannot fail to have witnessed, probably more than once. Such a patient appears a very Proteus, with this difference between himself and the wily god, that the one assumes all his various contortions to further his own ends, the other to further those of another; the one to make another the fool of his illusive shapes, the other to be made the fool and sport of others by a forced assumption of shapes alien to himself. Thus much for a subject on which a great deal has been written, serving only the more to mystify and confuse. Electro-biology is in its nature distinct from this. Here the patient is so far an independent agent, inasmuch as it rests with him to comply with or refuse the primary demands of the mesmerist, and thus far it differs not from mesmerism; but in this it differs, that in the one case you are helpless and senseless, in the other you retain your full strength of both body and mind. I will briefly describe my own case, and honestly declare my feelings under such a treatment; and let it be understood that mine was an extreme, or what is called a very successful case. Some dozen of us, members of the University, were seated round a room in this college, and the fair mesmerist (for she was of the gentler sex) put into the palms of our hands two discs of different metals, copper and zinc, the combination of which acts upon the nerves as a miniature galvanic battery.* To take my own case, after gazing intently into my loaded palm for some ten minutes (for such were the directions given) it began to assume an unnaturally livid and ghastly hue, I was shaken by a perceptible tremor, and a feeling of nervous helplessness came over me. This, let it be remembered, was the result of no personal influence. The lady visited us in turn, and with a commanding sweep removed the plates from their callous resting-places, bidding us at the same time close our eyes. This, I need hardly add, was perfectly voluntary. Then came "the charm of woven paces and of waving hands" for a sufficiently long period, *It has been objected by one learned in magnetic lore that these can have no such effect; I confess I cannot account for it otherwise. and with a sufficiently close proximity to the face; then a defiance to allow your eyelids to exercise the other of their wonted offices, the one of which they had already performed at the lady's request. For myself I may say that hitherto only the irresistible chain of Morpheus had been able to exercise such a tyrannizing usurpation of rights over these members of my face, and that the present case proved no exception to the rule. Unoffendingly I looked my would-be tyrant in the face, yet with a commendable adaptation to circumstances, almost instantaneous with the defiance, and before my muscles, helplessly weak as above declared, could acquire strength to fulfil their wonted offices, by means of a thrice repeated retonating palm, and the while a tiny puff of scented breath, (for alas! the fair enchantress had been unable to resist the enticements of a certain most palatable yet odoriferous bulb) I was pronounced released. This then was mere trickery, and so far none of the feeling has been excited by the mere willing power of another. Some two or three of us only were pronounced successful subjects, myself the most so; of one of those that were pronounced unsuccessful, I may perhaps be allowed to introduce an anecdote. He was short sighted, but happily assisted by Art to overcome the deficiencies of Nature; in fact he wore spectacles. It was objected to him by the lady that even her searching eye was all too weak to pierce through such an impenetrable barrier of non-conducting material. The gentleman answered this objection by proving that the excellent conducting material of the frame would amply counterbalance the non-conducting tendencies of the glass. The proof was allowed, and all her powers were tried, but the result was a failure. Then the barriers were removed, and an unprotected front exposed to the enemy's cannonade; but alas! his natural infirmity proved, though in another way, an equally formidable obstacle, for he could not behold the cannon's mouth, and how then could he be expected to be shattered by the cannon's rolling balls? No, this was an incontrovertible argument against it, and therefore he was pronounced invulnerable! I in particular was made the scape-goat to bear the defaults of all the unsuccessful subjects, and passed through a series of muscular grimaces which seemed to afford no little amusement to the spectators. And here it may be objected that, unless I had been fully in the power of the lady mesmerist, I should not have consented to such a course of action. But I hope to be able satisfactorily to remove this objection. First, it rested entirely with myself, as already stated, to refuse or comply with the first request. Again, all the effects produced were through the medium of the muscles, and an attempt to produce it without the aid of this medium was a complete failure. Moreover I was predisposed to be mesmerised, and facilitated the effect by my own ready acquiescence in all directions given. I will instance one of my performances, one that brings into play every muscle of the body, painful alike to head, heart, and foot; known colloquially as the dance of the Perfect Cure. It is unnecessary to describe it. I complied with the first request to dance, and with future reiterated calls for an increase of speed. I did my best to go mad for the time, and I think, succeeded tolerably well. I felt the blood rush wildly into my head at a single moment, (I was told afterwards that my face was purple) and after that, I did not know where I was or what I was doing until I fell from sheer exhaustion. Now all this time I had not heard a word of my instructress's directions, and I am perfectly convinced that, (always remembering my previous condition towards the excitement of which the lady had had no share,) had I chosen, I could have produced precisely the same effect upon myself, or (allowing myself to follow his instructions) any other person could, and weariness alone would have concluded my convulsive exertions. The failure that I alluded to was the following: I was placed in a chair in the centre of the room, and long and carefully was "the charm of woven paces and of waving hands" resorted to, and then as before came the defiance, this time to walk to the door. Unfortunately my conscience would not allow me to practise the deceit, and I was fain to convince my Vivien, as in the similar case first mentioned, of her inability to bind my will. Twice and thrice were the magic paces repeated, and with the same sad result. I hope it is clear from these instances given that in ElectroBiology the patient's will remains his own, and is not a slave at the beck of any one whose only necessary qualifications for becoming a tyrant are a shameless tongue and confident air of superiority. But when this is not so, we cannot but think that in one so easily led there is either a very slender supply of brains, or a large superfluity of those qualities which induce him thoughtlessly to deceive for the sheer love of deception, or that his name may be bandied about as of one whose will may be conquered and thoughts easily read by any vagabond juggler at a village wake. And yet, it may be |