The _New York World_ publishes a narrative of psychic experiments by
its correspondent at Washington which may interest those who have not
witnessed anything like it. They are just such as have been on
exhibition publicly in this country for more than forty years, but
owing to conservative prejudice have not received their due attention
from the press. But as newspaper correspondents and reporters are a
privileged class, they can bring before the public marvellous
phenomena which would not be welcomed from other sources. The
following is the letter from Washington:
"You know what an excitement there has been about mesmerism in
Paris this summer? A lion tamer, who was also a mesmerist, took
into his cages a young lady whom he had mesmerized, and made his
dentate pets jump over her on the floor. There was great
excitement about it, and a law was passed in the French
Congress, I believe, forbidding such exhibitions, even where the
consent of the subject had been obtained previously to losing
consciousness.
"This letter will be in the nature of a confession. Last spring,
discovering by accident that I could mesmerize, I took up
mesmerism as a diversion for the amusement of myself and
friends. I had long believed in it entirely and carefully
watched its processes, but I wished to study its philosophy and
find out, if I could, the cause and the limits of its mysterious
phenomena.
"I first found that I could, by placing my hand on the forehead
of a young acquaintance and accompanying the slight pressure
with an imperative command, close his eyes and keep them firmly
closed against all efforts of his will. I could compel him to
dance or keep him from moving from his tracks; could prevent his
rising from his chair; prevent his striking his hands together,
and, at last, could prevent him from speaking. In fact, I
absolutely controlled his voluntary muscles in every respect,
and could compel him to do anything that he was physically
capable of doing.
"Extending the experiments, I obtained the same control over
others, both men and women, till I had quite a class of
sensitives so responsive that I could control them with ease. Up
to this time they were all perfectly conscious and without any
hallucinations; they knew who they were, where they were and
what they were doing, and they laughed as heartily at the absurd
results obtained as any spectator. Up to this time, too, I had
no means of ascertaining whether the apparent results were
genuine. I might be the dupe of cunning people who were
conspiring to fool me, for, in these early stages, there seems
to be no way of scientifically proving it.
"It was some time before I was able to carry the experiments
further and get control of the consciousness and senses of my
class. At last success came. I made them see and hear mosquitoes
and fight the tormentors with great energy. At this point they
became dazed, and it was easy to command their senses in other
respects. At a suggestion they heard music, the noises of a
riot, a thunderstorm, the roaring of lions, a speech by Col.
Ingersoll, and they gradually came to see vividly anything to
which I directed their attention. In this world of hallucination
they lost consciousness--or, rather, they abandoned their real
existence and assumed an abnormal existence, as one does in a
dream.
"I am not yet certain whether this strange condition is imposed
on them by my will, or whether it is self-imposed, subjective,
and the result of expectation on their part. I am inclined to
believe the latter theory is true, because, when I direct their
attention to a horse, for instance, each one sees a different
sort of horse, and his head is in different directions.
"By a few additional passes I can induce a cataleptic state, in
which the sensitive becomes perfectly rigid and can be laid out
between two chairs, his head on one and his heels on another,
like a log. They can also be easily made insensible to pain, so
that pins are stuck through their hands, teeth drawn, and
painful but harmless acids put in the eye, without extorting a
sign of feeling. In this way, and others even more conclusive, I
have demonstrated the good faith of my class.
"I have given several receptions for the entertainment of my
friends, and record here some results for the benefit of those
in other cities who choose to try similar experiments.
"The available class now consists of eight--four gentlemen and
four ladies, from seventeen to forty years of age. Two of these
(both ladies) I have never been able to take into the region of
hallucinations. I can control them physically, can prevent their
unclasping their hands, or laying down a fan, or rising from
their chairs, or pronouncing their own names; but here my
influence stops. I cannot make them think that the room is hot
or cold, or that mosquitoes are prevalent, or disturb the
testimony of their senses in any way.
"The other six are lost to the realities of life the instant I
touch them. One of them I can put into a sound sleep in a
second, and he will sleep until I awaken him.
"It should be stated here that these sensitives are above the
average of intelligence and mental activity. Three of them are
clerks in the departments, one, who took the valedictory in
college, being an artist in the Smithsonian. Two are in business
for themselves; one of them, a shrewd, sagacious and
level-headed man as one would meet anywhere, with a sharp
commercial turn of mind. This man differs from the others in
being keenly incredulous--sceptical of his hallucinations when
they seem unreasonable.
"For instance, at a reception the other evening, at which the
members of the Cabinet were present with their families, I
introduced to my sensitives a learned pig.
"'See here!' I said, when they were all in the mesmeric trance;
'here you are in my dime museum. Let me show you my educated
pig.'
"They all wanted to see it, and I whistled, snapped my fingers,
and called their attention to the fine animal before them. They
evidently saw it.
"'A lovely little white pig!' said a young lady.
"'Only it isn't little and it isn't white,' said the
silversmith; 'it is a big black fellow,' and he appealed to the
others.
"I explained that it was a scarlet pig, and told them it could
read and sing.
"'Sing! Oh yes, we hear you!' said the incredulous man
sarcastically.
"I snapped my fingers. 'There he goes!' said the artist,
'singing 'Wait till the Clouds Roll By.''
"'I hear singing,' said Incredulous, turning to me.
''Titwillow,' isn't it? How do you work him--the machinery, I
mean?'
"The others laughed at him. 'Why, the pig sings,' said the young
lady; 'can't you hear him sing? can't you see him sing?'
"'He looks as if he sang. I see his jaws move, and he sounds as
if he sang,' persisted Incredulous; 'but he doesn't sing. Pigs
don't sing.'
"'Very well, what is it, then?' asked one of the clerks,
triumphantly.
"'A tube and a hole in the floor, may be; it's well done,
though,' said the doubter.
"'Suppose you go and find the tube,' suggested the artist.
"He went and kicked around where he supposed it to be, tore up a
piece of the carpet and looked nonplussed.
"'Yonder's the pig over by the entrance, singing 'A Warrior
Bold,'' said the artist, amid laughter.
"The scoffer came back to his seat and said,
"'It's probably ventriloquism.'
"'Aw!' said the silversmith derisively, 'you can't throw the
voice any such distance nor make it sound clear and sweet like
that. I've made a study of ventriloquism.'
"'Well, I've made a study of pig,' said Incredulous obstinately.
"Then I changed the illusion by making the pig's ear grow out
three feet long, and then turning him into an elephant with one
leg and four tails.
"Sometimes I turn my class into infants and have them 'play
school,' with infinite fun; sometimes I transport them over the
seas to Africa or Japan on my enchanted carpet, where for a
brief space they enjoy all the delights of travel; sometimes we
participate in battles, sometimes visit famous picture
galleries, sometimes the artist enjoys a quiet talk with
Socrates, or Moses or Confucius, providing both questions and
answers in a curious dual action of the mind highly entertaining
to the audience.
"The other evening I transformed my artist into President
Cleveland. He assumed the character with quiet dignity, but said
he had had a hard day's work and was tired.
"'Queen Victoria will visit you this evening, you know,' I said.
"'No!' he exclaimed with surprise. 'I didn't know she was in
this country. When did she come?'
"'Yesterday, on the Aurania; here she comes, now.'
"He straightened up as I spoke and received her imaginary
Majesty with real dignity and tact. After bowing and shaking
hands he said:
"'I have heard with unfeigned pleasure of your Majesty's
approach to the capital of the republic, and it is my agreeable
privilege to extend to you the freedom of this city and country
in behalf of sixty millions of people. Dan, get the lady a
chair!'
"As she seemed to seat herself he listened a moment, smiled and
said: 'I reciprocate those feelings, as do all Americans, and I
trust that the amicable relations so long preserved between this
republic and the mighty realm of which you are the honored and
beloved ruler may never be broken.'
"'Where can the lady hang her crown?' I asked him. 'It must have
a peck of diamonds in it. Can't I take it?'
"He looked scornfully at me and I added: 'Can't the boys manage
to get it away from her Majesty when she goes down stairs?'
"'You are a disgrace to this administration, Dan, and have got to
be fired out!' the President exclaimed angrily to me, and then
he humbly apologized to the Queen.
"He casually added that the fisheries dispute might lead to
trouble, and she would be prudent to let our boys get bait along
shore where it seemed handiest.
"I know of no other thing in which there is so much
entertainment as mesmerism. For the benefit of those who desire
to experiment I append certain conclusions from my own
experiments here:
"1. About one person in ten can be mesmerized.
"2. The proportion of people who have the 'power' to mesmerize,
if it be a power, I do not know.
"3. Mesmerism is a trance and seems to me almost identical with
somnambulism.
"4. It is as harmless as sleep. My sensitives occasionally come
to me in the daytime to be put to sleep for the purpose of
obtaining rest.
"5. Hallucinations that take place under mesmerism are seldom
remembered in a subsequent waking state, but are generally
recalled with vividness in a subsequent mesmeric state.
"6. Mesmerized subjects do not see the objects or people in the
room, or hear any noise whatever except the voice of the
operator.
"7. My sensitives could have an arm or a leg amputated, I have
no doubt, without suffering any pain.
"8. Some of my sensitives are able to tell what goes on behind
them and where they cannot see it, by some occult sense of which
I am ignorant. I am at present pursuing study along this line.
"Others here are now experimenting, and I think mesmerism is the
coming fashionable 'fad.'
"W. A. CROFFUT."
ANIMAL MAGNETISM.--Methinks that if some of our eminent (?) scientists
were to investigate this much abused subject (as all of them might)
they would soon find themselves _hors de combat_ in relation to their
premises that all manifestations of mind are nothing but products of
matter. Huxley, for instance, that the "mind is a voltaic pile giving
shocks of thought," and many other quotations equally as absurd by
other materialistic philosophers (?) who claim prominence as such.
As long ago as 1843 I was induced to investigate and try this
phenomenon mainly for a hygienic purpose and afterwards led on by
curiosity. I had no teacher, consulted no works on the subject, but
derived all I learned in relation thereto by my own individual
experiments, and in parenthesis say that what I learned I hold as
above all price in settling in my mind the vexed question, "to be or
not to be."
In 1847 I was in Wisconsin, and for the satisfaction of others I was
induced to a renewal of experiments in magnetism. I was located with
several other families with a view of forming a co-operative colony,
so that excepting myself the rest had their residences closely
together, whilst mine was half a mile from the rest. The subject at
one time was brought up for discussion, and an earnest desire on the
part of many to see something of it resulted in my finding a subject
to experiment with at once, and fortunately he proved to be an
extraordinary one. The finding of property through him in a mesmeric
condition was a thing of common occurrence, and in some instances he
seemed to be conscious of the mental conditions under which the
property was lost. I found that he could take cognizance of what was
occurring out of his sight, by pre-arrangements to test him.
One evening I mesmerized him, and in imagination took him to England,
and prepared as I was to accept the marvellous, I was considerably
surprised at the probabilities of some statements from a letter
received afterwards. Telling of this to my neighbors, they suggested
the institution of a series of experiments to thoroughly test the
matter. The course pursued was this: His brother would magnetize him,
distant from me one-half a mile, and in the evening, according to
arrangements, my family were to be engaged at anything suggested to
our minds at the time, something for instance somewhat out of the
ordinary routine of family occupation, to make it more apparent, and
by comparing notes it was evident that through some mysterious law or
power of mind he was with us taking cognizance of our actions. This
was so thoroughly demonstrated that the parties concerned would have
subscribed and sworn to the same before any officer qualified to
administer an oath.--A. LANSDELL, _in Golden Gate_.
GOOD CLAIRVOYANCE.--Dr. E. S. Packard, of Corunna, Me., in the
_Eastern Star_, states that Mr. David Prescott, of South Sangerville,
over ninety years of age, "wandered away into the woods, and not
returning, a crowd of over a hundred men hunted for him nearly two
days; the mill pond near his house was drained. Search was made in
every direction but to no success.
"A gentleman of that place decided to call in the aid of Mrs. Stevens;
she told him somebody was lost, and not being able to visit the place
she drew a map or chart of the locality, giving directions, by which,
on his return he was immediately found alive, but died the next day.
The day following I was at South Sangerville, and stopping at this
gentleman's house, examined the map, which was perfect in every
respect. The house and shed were correctly drawn, the mill and pond
near the house were marked, the field and woods, two fences over which
Mr. Prescott must climb, even to the swinging of the road by the house
was definitely given.
"The spot where she said he was, was shown by a large black mark, and
he was found exactly in that place. When we consider that Mrs. Stevens
never saw this place in her normal condition, it is to me a wonderful
test of spirit power."
HYPNOTISM IN INSANITY.--We learn from the German periodical, _Sphinx_,
that hypnotism has been used in an insane asylum near Zurich since
March, 1887, in 41 cases, a report of which has been made by Dr.
Forel. In fourteen cases there was a failure, but in twenty-seven
there was a degree of success without any unfavorable results
afterwards. In four of the cases due to intemperance a cure was
effected and the patients joined the temperance society. A morphine
eater was cured in the same manner in six weeks and dismissed from the
asylum.