in cases apparently so hopeless, is very important to the humane inquirer.

CASES XVI. AND XVII.-STAMMERING, &c.

When stammering is the result of imitation or sympathy, nothing is more easy than to remove it by the same law. The same may be said of the abnormal action or inaction of any organ, or class of organs, not accompanied by an absolute loss of vital power. As we can make others yawn with us by sympathy, so we may, in many cases, make them walk and talk like us, until the mode is established in them by force of habit. It is owing to the operation of this principle that boys playing with, or young children being nursed by, those who stammer or squint, frequently "catch" and retain the same habit-the only difference between this result and mesmerism being, that in one case the effects are produced without, as in the other they may be produced with, a specific intention. Finding in my experiments that when people had once become susceptible to me, I could in proportion to that susceptibility regulate in them the action of those vital forces which in ordinary operate as an agency between the will and the muscles, so as to cause and remove all such derangements as bear the name of St. Vitus's dance, spasmodic contortion, paralysis, agitans, strabismus, staggering or tottering in the gait, stammering, &c., it struck me that the use of this power would be to correct those derangements where they had occurred by nature or accident. For it follows as a matter of course, that if you can make a man imitate you in stammering, it is just as easy to make him imitate you in talking properly, until in one case as in the other the habit becomes settled. Of this, in the course of my public lectures, I have had opportunities of giving some hundreds of illustrations; and it is often accomplished without inducing sleep or any tendency to it, by merely taking

the patient's hand, looking him in the face, and inducing him to repeat whatever words I may utter ; after this to repeat the same or other words with me simultaneously, and then at length let him proceed by himself. In some cases this will have to be repeated, perhaps frequently; but cases have not been rare in which the cure was almost instantaneous, and if no foolish experiments were afterwards tried, I have seldom heard of any relapse. The following case is quoted as an example from the Sheffield Independent. The paragraph refers to two courses of lectures given in that town in October and November, 1843:

"On account of many people not being able to get into the Theatre on the previous Friday evening, Mr. Hall, early this week, announced three more lectures for the evenings of Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. The audiences have again been numerous and respectable. On each evening Mr. Hall exhibited specimens of what he believed to be the causes and cures of stammering. At the close of the lecture on Friday evening week, a youth climbed the stage from the pit, and walked up to Mr. Hall, requested to know (but could scarcely make himself understood from excessive stammering) whether he could cure him. Mr. Hall told him that he believed he could, but requested, as it was getting late, that he would call upon him the next day. The evening of Wednesday last Mr. Hall introduced this youth to the audience; but, previous to saying any thing about him himself, called on Mr. Bromley, shoe-manufacturer, Fruit Market, requesting him to say what he knew about the case. Mr. Bromley, in reply, stated that the young man's name was George Langstaff; that he had worked for him about twelve months; that he had seen and conversed with him, on an average, several times every week; and that all the time he had been a most inveterate stammerer, so much so that it was difficult for him to make himself understood, and painful for others to listen to him. Mr. Bromley further stated, that he was himself present at the previous Thursday

evening's lecture, and that, during the performance of the experiments, he was in great doubt as to their truth: they appeared too big for belief. However, with a view to test the matter, he determined to try to get this young man forward, which he was the means of doing the night following. Mr. Bromley further said, that he had conversed with the young man that day, and that he appeared, and he believed was, perfectly cured. Mr. Hall then asked the young man the following questions, and requested him to answer him aloud so that all the audience could hear him:-When did you first see and know me? On last Friday evening.'-Did it not require at least half a minute for you to utter the first word in answering me a question? It did.'-How long have you stammered? Seventeen years.'-Have you during all those years, to your knowledge, spoken or read one single sentence without stammering? Never.' -Can you stammer now, in my presence, if you try?

6

He tried, and could not.-Mr. Hall then put a book into the young man's hand, when he read a long passage without the least faltering in speech.-Mr. Ĥall next requested to know of the audience whether any of them witnessed the young man's coming upon the stage last Friday evening, and whether he did not stammer very bad? Several voices replied in the affirmative.— He next requested the audience to say, whether there had been the least appearance of stammering in the young man that night? The answer was a general 'No.' The young man publicly and finally expressed his thankfulness for what had been done for him."

The force and pathos of the following letter from a young gentleman of excellent character, with whom I met on my late northern tour, would only be marred by any comment I could make upon it. From the deep interest he took in Sunday school teaching, his stammering was as serious a drawback on his own usefulness as on the happiness of his numerous friends:

"DEAR MR. HALL,

“Trinity Buildings, Carlisle, "August 10, 1844.

"According to your wish, I here give you a brief account of the particulars of my case. I learned to stammer before I had completed my fourth year. It was by imitating a female who stammered very much. Since that time my affliction has slowly, though constantly gathered strength-so much so that, until lately, I have been obliged to write down any thing of importance I had to communicate: this has been the case more especially when it became necessary to make a purchase. The many unsuccessful attempts I have made to speak, at length caused a severe pain across my breast, and I had nearly given up all hopes of being cured until I heard of your successful attempts to cure stammering. On being advised by a person who heard me stammer (Mr. Holbrook, whom I shall never forget,) to try what you could accomplish in my case, I did so, and the result has been (in less than a fortnight) an almost complete cure!

"I cannot write in the strain my full heart would dictate; but often whilst thinking of what has been done for me, I catch myself with tearful eyes. The simple but efficient mode of curing stammering which you have adopted, is doing its work upon me most evidently. Many and fervent are the expressions of wonder and pleasure that come from my friends on hearing me speak; and my father has been heard to say, that he understands more of what I say now in an hour or two, than he did before in ten years. The pain across my breast is completely gone: Istammer scarcely at all, and that only when very much flurried, and even then an instantaneous observance of the rules you gave me, enables me to meet almost any emergency. I have about me a sense of liberty to which, previous to my visiting you, I had been all my life a stranger; and it seems as though I had now a right to speak. A very marked improve

ment has also taken place in my general health since

you mesmerised me.

*

"I remain,

"Your obliged and grateful friend,

"JAMES MILLIGAN."

CASE XVIII.-" NATURAL MESMERISM."

On my way from Carlisle to Glasgow and Edinburgh, I lectured at Dumfries, where a young man of the name of JOHN MURRAY, came to me complaining of having been for about three years subject to "Natural Mesmerism." At first I was inclined to smile at him, and asked him for an explanation, upon which he informed me that whenever affected with grief or vexation, his mind would become concentrated on the cause of it, his eye would be fixed, and total insensibility would follow and continue for twenty, or from that to thirty minutes, but that the application of cold water to the forehead would restore him. On his recovery he had no remembrance of the state he had been in, but if instead of being restored by the water he were left to recover entirely by himself, he felt very sore throughout the body for several days afterwards. He was quite sure that from what he heard me say in one of my lectures on mesmeric analogies, that the state he went into naturally, was only what was often represented in a mesmeric crisis, and he had some belief that I could do him good. In the presence of General Pitman and Mr. Biggar, of Maryholm, I mesmerised him at the time, and again in the evening. Next morning he came to me and said he felt stronger, lighter, and altogether better than usual.

CASE XIX.-CURE OF GENERAL DEBILITY.

WILLIAM JOHNSTON, tailor, of Maxwelltown, Dum