fluence of the magnetism was alledged to have died away. In the experiment now before us the sovereign had been slightly and guardedly warmed, aud she was requested to take it up. She did so, and walked away with it, when her hand became fired, as the spectators watched for an effect, and the arm turned upwards behind her back, with the clenched fist placed between the shoulders. In this state she walked about the room, and on being asked what had become of her hand, she said that she did not know. After the hand was loosened she was requested to retire. Experiment 13.-A sovereign which had long been untouched was knocked from the table with a stick, on to the floor, thoroughly unmesmerised. She was again called in, and requested to pick it up. She did so. She was immediately fixed, while her hand was a few inches above the floor. On letting the metal drop she was again requested to raise it, and, on complying, a second time became fixed, with her hand a few inches higher from the floor. Having again let it fall, she was requested to pick it up a third time. She did so, and, for a third time, became fixed by the unmesmerised sovereign. After this exhibition, and those which had preceded it, Mr. Wakley considered that it was quite unnecessary to perform another experiment with gold. Every person present concurred in opinion with him. Experiment 14.-The girl was placed on a chair, and the pasteboard was held before her face. Mr. Wakley then took two flattened bullets, one in each hand, and rubbed them alternately on each hand of the same patient, Jane O'Key, six or seven times. No effect was produced. Experiment 15. The eyes were then carefully covered with a thick bandage of silk, and the lead was rubbed several times along the inside of both lips. No effect was produced. Experiment 16.-A piece of mesmerised nickel was now applied to the insides of both lips. No effect was produced. Experiments 17, 18, 19.-This experiment was repeated three times more, with the same result. Experiments 20, 21, 22. The magnetised nickel was now rubbed freely along the backs and the palms of the hands, unseen by the patient, three times, with the same result. It was now agreed by all the gentlemen present, that it would be useless, and even ridiculous, to subject the alleged magnetic powers of Jane O'Key to a single additional test. The analysis was complete, and the conclusions were self-evident. Elizabeth O'Key. Experiment 23. - Six glasses of water were placed on the table, with all the precautions that were used in the case of Jane O'Key. Not a single glass was now mesmerised. Elizabeth O'Key was now called in, and requested to drink from each glass. She did so. She became fixed on restoring the fourth glass to the table. She then retired. Experiment 24. The same water and glasses were allowed to remain; but the fourth glass, which had just stupified her, was removed to the place of the second, and the second to the place of the fourth. She was again called in, and drank from the whole of the six glasses. No effect was produced by either glass, and she again retired. Experiment 25. The same six glasses remaining as in the last experiment, the patient was again called in, the whole of the water being unmesmerised. She drank from each. No effect was produced, and she retired. Experiment 26. The glasses and water again remained exactly in the same state as in the last experiment. No person had approached or touched either of them during the girl's absence from the room. She was again called in. On drinking from the fifth glass she became fixed for a few seconds, with her finger touching her forehead. On recovering from this state she retired. Experiment 27.—The same six glasses, and the same water, unmesmerised, as in the last experiment, were again used. No one had approached them. It was, however, agreed that Mr Wakley and Dr. Green should stand, for a few seconds, near to the corner of the table on which the third and fourth glasses were placed, and then hastily quit that spot, so that on her coming into the room she might see them leave it. On drinking from the third unmesmerised glass, she apparently became firmly fixed, with the glass in her hand, and after a few seconds fell backwards, as if dead, on the floor. Experiment 28. The same six glasses were again employed, with unmesmerised water, and she was again called in, and drank from them all. No effect was produced, and she retired. Experiment 29. Fresh water, at a temperature of 80 degrees, was now put into the six glasses, and the water in all the six was strongly mesmerised by fingers long held in the glasses, and by breathing on the water. She was again immediately called in, and voluntarily drank nearly the whole of the water, leaving only about an ounce in the last glass. She was neither «fixed,» nor «stupified,» nor sent to "sleep" by the act, but on reaching the fifth glass she complained of sickness, by no means an improbable result, considering that in this experiment alone, she had swallowed altogether hardly less than a pint of warm water. The girls had now been under experiment from nearly nine A. M. till late in the evening; and as Elizabeth O'Key was evidently suffering from a sensation of sickness, and as there did not exist amongst the spectators two opinions as to the character and causes of the symptoms which had been observed, the experiments ceased, and the girls left Bedford Square for the hospital. After the girls had departed, Mr. Wakley made a few remarks on what had been witnessed, and declared that, in his opinion, the effects which were said to arise from what had been denominated animal magnetism, » constituted one of the completest delusions that the human mind ever entertained, The accuracy of the description of the experiments herein recorded, has been confirmed by all the gentlemen present, three of whom, Mr. George Mills, Dr. Green, and Mr. Farr, took notes of them at the time of their performance, and from whose notes the above report has been prepared by two of them. (THE LANCET.) THE TREASURE-CONVOY; A PASSAGE IN THE EARLY CAREER OF THE IMPECINADO. Amongst the various incidents which console the private soldier on active service for frequent bad quarters, and short commons, one of the most agreeable perhaps in his eyes is, the occasional chance of a little fair plunder, when it can be obtained without too great a contravention of the rules of discipline. Thus the sack of a town may be reckoned as a set-off against a month or two of half-rations and rainy bivouacs; a score of gold pieces found in the girdle of a fallen enemy, would help to efface the disagreeable recollection of a prolonged absence of the wine-flask, and consequent ingurgitation of spring water—a beverage, by the way, to which soldiers of most nations are singularly averse; whilst a few days of free quarters in the house of a snug priest, possessed of a well-stored cellar, and a couple of good-looking hand-maidens, might be considered no inadequate compensation for the weariness of forced marches, and frequently-recurring picket duty. Perhaps few armies ever availed themselves more unsparingly of the invader's privilege of plunder and pillage, than those that Napoleon sent into Spain, during the peninsular war. Not unfrequently however, the soldiers who had enriched themselves in this manner were either slain or taken by the enemy, or else compelled to abandon their too bulky spoils, in order to lighten themselves, for the rapid march, or hasty retreat. In the latter circumstances, many of the French buried their treasure at the foot of some tree, or near some huge stone, or other land-mark, which might enable them to recover their prize at a future period. This was especially the case before the battle of Vittoria, so disastrous to the French arms; and many rich deposits were on that occasion confided to the fertile plains of Alava. The scampering retreat of the French towards Pampeluna and their own frontier, of course prevented the recovery of these valuables; but when the overthrow of Napoleon had restored peace to Europe, more than one sunburnt veteran recrossed the Pyrenees, in the novel character of a treasure-seeker. In many instances however, the search was fruitless: the land-marks had been removed; the plough or the mountain torrent had laid bare the golden store, which had become the prize of the passer-by. But this was not always the case; and the Basque peasants witnessed with surprise and envy the disinterment of treasures, comprising every variety of ornament and denomination of coin-from the weighty gold candlestick snatched from the altar, to the jewelled ear-rings and brooches of the Castilian ladies; from the massive onza to the diminutive durito, those charming little miniatures of Spanish kings, which replace so agreeably the cumbrous silver dollar. Whilst the French rifled indiscriminately the church and the palace, the sacristy and the boudoir, the Spaniards did not allow any opportunity of retaliation to escape. They kept a sharp look-out for the convoys of money and stores which were constantly arriving from France for the use of the armies under Napoleon's lieutenants; and woe betide the luckless escort which was encountered by a body of guerillas sufficiently numerous to attack it! Animated by the double hope of plunder and revenge, the Spaniards fought like devils, and when once all resistance was overcome, and the coveted treasure in their power, the knife or the cord speedily relieved them from the encumbrance of prisoners. At the commencement of the war, these surprises were of frequent occurrence; the overweening conceit of the French generals, and their misplaced contempt for the irregular warfare of VOL. I. 30 |