person who questions it try if by mere guess he would be as often right as Alexis was admitted to be. The mistakes are obviously those which would be made by a person who perceived imperfectly, not by a mere guesser at truth.

On this occasion many experiments were tried upon the alleged power of naming words in books at a point touched. Some of these failed; but others succeeded, and one of them in a remarkable

manner.

On this occasion he failed also to read some papers inclosed in boxes.

But these are no proofs of a fraud. All who have seen mesmerism are aware that its powers vary vastly, not only at different seasons, but almost from moment to moment, and the perceptions are sometimes as dull as they are at other times acute. Enough of its rationale is not known to enable us to ascertain the conditions under which it operates, and therefore to judge it fairly. Any number of failures do not affect its truth, provided any one of its phenomena be real, and it is by what it does, and not by what it fails to do, that the science, if we may so term it, is to be tried. Dr. Forbes fairly admits this in his concluding comments.

"In several cases, both on the present and former occasions, his guesses (if such they were), even when not correct, came curiously near the truth,as, for instance, when he named the exact number of letters in the word in the envelope. The failures and blunders, however, were so egregious, and so unaccountable, on the hypothesis of the existence of a through-seeing faculty, that they must stagger the most credulous when fairly examined. Still, as was observed on the former occasion, the results being only negative, prove nothing more than that nothing was proved. It only remains for the mesmerists to adduce one or two positive unequivocal proofs, to put aside all our negative ones. Such proof however, is, I believe, yet to be exhibited; and until it is exhibited unequivocally,—that is, under similar guards and precautions as the failures now recorded took place,-I, for one, must still remain a doubter at the very least.”

The number of the Lancet containing Dr. Forbes's attack was advertized in all the papers as distinguished for this article, and the editor boldly told the world it was "a complete exposure of M. M. Marcillet and Alexis," and that their two exhibitions which it reported had put them to flight.

This was perfect untruth. The youth was overworked by M. Marcillet, and his health so impaired that he was losing his clairvoyance, and there was no chance for him unless taken back to France without delay.

If Dr. Forbes had no share in this false announcement, it would have been to his credit to tell the world as soon as he saw it, either that there was no truth in it or that he had no share in it. For his comfort, and that of his allies, we have the pleasure to inform Dr. Forbes, that Alexis will be here again in the spring.

Postscript by Dr. Elliotson to the Account of the late Amputation at Leicester, described at p. 390.

Sir,

TO THE EDITOR OF THE ZOIST.

Conduit Street, Sept. 18. Since I sent you the account of the amputation lately performed in the mesmeric state, two of the medical eye-witnesses have endeavoured to throw doubts upon the reality of the mesmeric insensibility.

Dr. Shaw has published a letter, stating that the poor girl" exhibited strong marks of sensibility to pain during the operation; in fact," he continues, "I do not consider that it was borne with more fortitude than is frequently displayed under equally trying circumstances and without any adventitious aid. At the same time it is only justice to say, that the eyes were closed during the whole time, and the features scarcely disturbed; and we have the solemn assurance of the girl that she felt no pain during the operationno suffering during the last half-hour."

Now as the girl said she felt nothing, I ask why is she not to be believed? Every virtue shines as strongly in the humble as in the rich. I have always found the same general amount of truth, and of integrity, and of charity, in the humble classes as in the middling and the higher. I would believe this poor afflicted young creature as implicitly as a peeress. And what object could she have to deceive? As she declared she felt nothing, she deserved and coveted no praise. If she had acknowledged suffering, but made light of it, it might have been contended that she told an untruth from vanity. But with perfect simplicity she said she had felt nothing. In my pamphlet,* I remarked that the poor countryman whose leg was amputated in Nottinghamshire "made no boast that the pain had been nothing -a very trifle to bear; but declared he had felt no pain at all, for he had not known that the operation was performing." (p. 18.) Yet his exposed and cut sciatic nerve had been poked with the points of a forceps; and up to the moment of the mesmeric state he had shown himself a very bad hand at bearing pain.

Dr. Shaw gives no reason for our believing that the poor girl exerted a strong resolution. When pain is felt and braved, some sign of determination must always be notic

Numerous Cases of Surgical Operations without Pain in the Mesmeric State. Baillière, 219, Regent Street.

able. The signs of indifference,-of insensibility, to pain are passiveness; the signs of fortitude during pain are those of an effort. I beg to quote my pamphlet again (p. 15).

"Another young surgeon, named ALCOCK, followed in the same line of argument; not thinking that the absence of pain ever admitted of evidence, and discrediting the reality of the case because he had often seen persons in an ordinary state bear severe operations without manifesting the slightest pain. Now I do not believe it. No doubt Mr. Alcock thinks he witnessed such self-command; but I do not believe he observed with sufficient minuteness. I, during a period equal to three years, while a student at the two hospitals of St. Thomas and Guy, saw a very large number of operations, as these were both great establishments and close to the river and in a very crowded district, as operations were then far more frequently resorted to than at present, and as Sir Astley Cooper was surgeon to one of them and his glory was to operate, and I do not know that I was absent from a single operation. Yet I never witnessed such a prodigy as apparent total indifference to pain. I recollect a sailor astonishing Sir Astley Cooper by not uttering the faintest sound while his leg was taken off: but the man folded his arms firmly together and his lips were firmly compressed. No one will doubt the high courage of the Marquess of Anglesey. While his leg was amputated he uttered not a sound. A bystander might have supposed that he felt no pain. But the brother officer, whose hand he held all the time, told a clergyman, a friend of nine, that he never had such a squeeze in his life. Some who have uttered no sound have held their own thigh during an amputation of the leg but then they could give silent vent to their sufferings by squeezing the limb. Some, when under the surgeon's hand, keep their jaws or lips firmly closed, some sing, whistle, chatter, laugh, or smoke, all the time, and thus find relief. I knew an old clergyman who had senile gangrene of a toe, to which Sir Astley Cooper frequently applied nitric acid, and he told me that, not liking to cry out and not being able to swear, he always relieved himself in his agony by spouting a sentence of the Philippics, âvdges 'Abnvaïoi, &c. Savages, criminals, and martyrs in different causes, have in all ages borne torture bravely, defying pain. But then they have laughed, prayed, sung, talked, or performed some other muscular motion: or, although silent and still, would, I have no doubt, betrayed to a good observer some sign of suffering or determination in their breathing, lips, closed jaws, or fixed look,-in acting strongly with some part of their body. If a man has held his hand in the fire, he has held it firmly. Dr. Barnes, of Tavistock Place, who was acting surgeon at Macquarie Harbour during 1826 and 1827, for nineteen months, informs me that he saw in all 17,000 lashes given in that penal settlement. The whip had a wooden handle a foot in length, and nine lashes, each composed of two layers of whip-cord about a yard and a quarter long, with nine post-boy's knots towards the end, and about two inches apart; the extreme point of each lash was made firm with waxed thread. The culprit was bound arms and legs to a post, and the number of each stroke called out by the chief constable before the lash fell, and about three per minute were given, so that a hundred lashes occupied a considerable time. Dr. Barnes assures me of what every rational man would anticipate,—that no good ever resulted from these disgusting, disgraceful barbarities. The spirit of the tortured person was broken, and he was rendered reckless for ever. As it is a point of reputation with the convicts to appear to despise the torture, and numbers of them are the most daring, determined, and courageous of men, he continually witnessed the absence of all exclamation: but in every instance something was noticeable which disclosed suffering or determination,-the shoulders were generally kept raised, showing the strong action of the surrounding muscles,-or perhaps a bullet in the mouth was found afterwards flattened out to the thinness of a wafer by the action of the jaw.

"In an account which Dr. Barnes has kindly written for me of some of

these cases, he remarks: Although those men, by a species of false pride, would endeavour to shew what they termed a manly spirit, and bear unflinchingly that most dreadful torture, without calling out or making any demonstration of bodily suffering by the writhing of the trunk, limbs, or muscles of the countenance,-yet in every instance when punishment was inflicted, the culprit evidently prepared himself to bear up against it, by placing himself in a particular position; for instance, the hands grasped firmly the halberts, the back was curved and the shoulders were raised, the chest was emptied and the abdomen was drawn inwards, the breathing was short and the pulse quickened."

Dr. Shaw does not mention a single sign of the exertion of fortitude on the part of the patient.

If medical men would make a few experiments themselves, they would soon know that insensibility to mechanical injury is one of the most common and elementary effects of mesmerism. They know that this condition occurs in a disease under the name of anaesthesia; and those who have practised mesmerism know that this state-this anesthesia-may be frequently induced artificially by the processes called mes

meric.

Mr. Paget, a surgeon, has also sent a letter to the same Leicester Chronicle, in which he affirms that "during the operation there was considerable groaning, writhing, and an approach to screaming ;" and that but for her assertion that she had felt no pain, he should have concluded that she "exerted no unusual fortitude." Like Dr. Shaw, however, he gives no sign of the exertion of fortitude; and as to the groaning, &c., we happily have letters in both the Leicester Chronicle and the Leicestershire Mercury from Mr. Hollings and Mr. Tosswill which throw full light upon the truth. These I forward to you, and trust you will insert them at full length. I leave England on a tour to-morrow, and on my return will send you whatever may have been published on the case in my absence.

I am, yours faithfully,

JOHN ELLIOTSON.

"THE LATE SURGICAL OPERATION UNDER
MESMERISM.

"To the Editor of the Leicestershire Mercury.

"On the 30th of July last, I was informed by my friend, Mr. Tosswill, with whom I had frequently, on previous occasions, conversed upon the subject of mesmerism, and the possibility of its beneficial application as a therapeutic agent, that he had been for some time in attendance upon a young person labouring under a malignant disease of the knee-joint, of so serious a character, as to

render an early amputation of the limb affected, the only remaining chance of preserving her life. He at the same time expressed a wish that mesmerism should in this instance be tried, with a view to mitigating, if not of wholly counteracting, the pain and apprehension necessarily attendant upon so formidable an operation. To his further request, that I would lend my assistance personally towards ensuring this desirable result, I very readily acceded. I had long been convinced, both by observation and numerous experiments, conducted privately, and under circumstances in which neither motive nor opportunity for deception could exist, that the phenomena classed under the conventional title of animal magnetism were real; and although I had for some time ceased to give particular attention to the subject, I felt that I could not, on this occasion, consistently with common humanity, withhold any efforts on my part which might be conducive, in whatever degree, to the relief of acute and unavoidable suffering. Accordingly, on the following day, I accompanied him to the house at which his patient, a girl of the name of Mary Anne Lakin, about 23 years of age, was, at the time, residing with her parents. I found her seated upon the sofa, from which, on account of the enormous size and weight of her diseased leg, she scarcely ever arose during the day, evidently much reduced in strength, as well as wasted in person, and with a pale and emaciated countenance, wearing the peculiar expressiou of distress and anxiety attendant upon severe and long-continued disease. Upon entering into conversation with her, she appeared to me of quiet and unobtrusive manners, and possessed of a degree of intelligence, which shewed that she had not been without the advantages of a somewhat better than ordinary education. She stated that she had, for the last four years, been subject to paroxysms of the most intense agony from a rapidly-increasing tumour which had, by this time, attained such a size, as to measure at least 33 inches in circumference, (the swelling extending a considerable distance both above and below the knee,) and for which she had some time since been received as a patient into the Leicester Infirmary, although without receiving any permanent benefit from the treatment pursued in her case at that institution. She had been made aware by Mr. Tosswill of the object of my visit, and, as I afterwards found, had expressed considerable unwillingness to submit to the new method of treatment proposed, since she had received, some years before, so severe a shock from a Leyden jar, at the Leicester Exhibition, as to render her hand useless for several days; and having heard only some general and indefinite accounts of animal magnetism, in which she had never witnessed a single experiment, she had conceived the idea that it would be necessary to make use of some kind of electrical or galvanic apparatus for the purpose of producing its effects. She now, however, expressed herself willing to submit to any plan that might be proposed by her medical attendant for her benefit, and her parents having, at the same time, given their full and unqualified assent, I proceeded to adopt the usual means for inducing the mesmeric coma, according to the method recommended by De Luz.