striking quotations from early writers: and the Isis Revelata" abounds with information that every Mesmerist will peruse with pleasure.*

No. III.

LIGHTNESS OF BODY, ETC.

WHEN the sceptic shows his contempt for the wonders of Mesmerism, and for the credulity of Mesmerists, we reply that no phenomenon has ever yet developed itself under magnetic treatment, for which we cannot find something correspondent, or similar in the spontaneous workings of nature. Some things, however, are recorded of natural ecstatics, and sleepwakers, for which I have not yet met with any thing parallel in Mesmerism ; and of such are the statements in the Seventh Chapter, relating to Martha Brossier being lifted up above the heads of several strong men, who were pulling her downwards ; to Maria Morl, the Tyrolese, miraculously resting on the tips of her feet, when unequal to any effort; and to John Evans demoniacally resting the whole weight of his body on the point of his toes; now can such things be true? Dr. Arnold gives us a useful caution, before we positively reject them.

"Being wholly ignorant of the nature and object of wonders, and being ignorant of a great many natural laws, by which they may be produced; the question of their credibility resolves itself into little more than a question as to the credibility of the witnesses. A man may appear ridiculous if he expresses his belief in any story of this sort, and yet, to say that all such wonders are false, would be an extravagant boldness of assertion. The accounts of wonders, then, from Livy's prodigies downwards, I should receive, according to Herodotus's expression when speaking of one of them, o❞Te ἀπιστέων, οὔτε πιστεύων τι λιήν: sometimes considering of what fact they were an exaggerated or corrupted representation, at other times trying to remember whether any, and how many other notices occur of the same thing, and whether they are of force

* I have made no allusion to the transcendental views of Mrs. Crowe in her "Night-side of Nature," touching a Mesmeric rapport, &c., with the spiritual world; though my attention has been called to her statements by more than one party. I have advanced nothing in this work relating to Mesmerism, which has not been based on my own personal observation, and for which I have not seen something analogous, or the same, though perhaps differing in degree. With Mrs. Crowe's far loftier theories I have no experience whatever.

enough to lead us to search for some law, hitherto undiscovered, to which they may all be referred, and become hereafter the foundation of a new science."*

Are there, then, according to Arnold's canon, any "other notices" of such incredible facts as these related of Martha Brossier, and Maria Morl, occurring in any other writer?

Glanvill, in his "Saducismus Triumphatus," gives an account of a boy, named Richard Jones, "who, more than once, was found in a room by himself, his hands flat against a beam that traversed the ceiling, and his body suspended in such a manner, that his feet were about a yard from the ground. At such times, he was in a profound stupor, and would hang there as if held on by a magnetic force, to the beam, a quarter of an hour together. Nine people at a time saw the boy so strangely hanging by a beam." (125.) This boy, says Glanvill, was bewitched by Jane Brookes, who was executed for it, in Somersetshire.

In Pitaval's Causes Célèbres, vol. xii., there is a report from four Bishops, and four Doctors, assisted by M. Morel, a physician of Châlons-sur-Saone, respecting eighteen Religieuses, of the town of Auxonne, who were troubled by an evil spirit. Among the phenomena developed, according to the report, were knowledge of the thoughts of others, knowledge of languages, insensibility, rigidity, &c., and that of holding their bodies almost in the air, only the ends of their toes touching the ground. M. Morel and the Bishops appeared to have examined the symptoms with attention, and to have had no doubt as to the facts, only pronouncing them demoniacal.

In Mr. Heaton's "Dæmon," published in 1822, in addition to the case of John Evans, is an account of a child of Mr. Kennard's, of Loddeswell, near Kingsbridge (Devon), aged eleven, who "ran up the side of the room to the ceiling, impossible as it may seem, where she remained immovable on her feet for several minutes, her clothes being unaltered in their usual position, as if, by some supernatural law, she had the power of changing the centre of gravity." (p. 22.) This was witnessed by numerous spectators.

Mr. Heaton then quotes from " a narrative of some extraordinary things that happened to Mr. Lawford's children, Bristol, supposed to be the effect of witchcraft," and which was published at Bristol, in 1800. Among other things, "these children were pulled towards the ceiling with great force, that they were all tired with holding them, though above a dozen were there. Sometimes they seemed suspended in the air. They were convinced that nothing but a præternatural power could pull with such force against so many. Four stout men could scarcely hold a child from being pulled away."

• Arnold's Lectures, p. 129.

Ward, in his "History of the Hindoos," speaking of the phenomena, which the half-famished ecstatic would develop in his trance, says, that "the body of the Yogee, who meditates, will become light as wood, and able to walk on the fluid element, and able to ascend into the air." (203.)

Salverte, in his "Occult Sciences," mentions a sorcerer who, in his sleep, performed various movements, and struck out even as though he were on the wing.

re

Now, as to all these facts, the question (as Arnold observes) solves itself into the credibility of the witnesses," though at times I feel with Hume that no testimony could satisfy me as to the reality of such improbable occurrences; but the coincidence between these various statements must not be thus dismissed, especially when it is remembered, that the different parties are not likely to have heard of the corresponding performances of their ecstatic brethren and sisters. What, also, gives interest to the inquiry, is the fact that at this moment, in the Tyrol, the elevation of Maria Morl on the tips of her toes, is regarded as a proof of miraculous intervention.

Baron Feuchterleben, in his work on Medical Psychology, says, "The obscure ideal images which exert their influence, even in ordinary dreams, have evidently become so vivid in the somnambulist, under repressed spontaneity, that they become invested with a motor power, and consequently take the place of spontaneity altogether, so that we might here certainly apply to the effect produced, the familiar expression of a "reversion of the poles." Thus the walking on the roofs of houses, &c., &c., which it would be impossible for a man to accomplish in a state of waking, may be, in a degree, explained." (p. 203.)

Do the above observations of the learned Baron go any way to→ wards assisting us in our belief? Perhaps we may say, with Arnold, that these different statements are 66 an exaggerated or corrupted representation" of a real fact.

No. IV.

SPEAKING STRANGE LANGUAGES, ETC.

In the History of Martha Brossier, I have mentioned that one of the phenomena in her case, was the power of speaking foreign languages (Greek and English), of which, when she was awake, she knew nothing.

This is another point, in the ecstatic condition, respecting which more curious evidence can be adduced than may be generally suspected.

If we analyse the different statements, the faculty would appear to fall under three very different heads, though they are apt to be confounded together; viz.

1. Imitation of the voice of another in a most surprising degree. 2. Understanding the thoughts of another when addressed in a foreign tongue.

3. The actual speaking in a foreign tongue, of which the party, when awake, is said to be ignorant.

I. In regard to the faculty of "Imitation," instances are very numerous in the Mesmeric world: perhaps one of the most surprising cases is that of the imitation of Jenny Lind's voice, by one of Mr. Braid's patients at Manchester. The narrative will be found in the "Medical Times" for September, 1847.

A patient of Mr. Braid, "though ignorant of the grammar of her own language when awake, when asleep would prove herself ccmpetent to accompany any one in the room in singing songs in any language, giving both notes and words correctly: a feat which she was quite incompetent to perform in the waking condition." A "Mr. Schwabe played and sang a German song, in which she accompanied him correctly, giving both notes and words simultaneously." The same was done in Swedish with another gentleman. The somnambulist next accompanied Jenny Lind "in the most perfect manner, both as regarded words and music. Jenny now seemed resolved to test the powers of the somnambulist to the utmost by a continued strain of the most difficult roulades and cadenzas, for which she is so famous, including some of her extraordinary sostenuto notes, with all their inflections, from pianissimo to forte crescendo, and again diminish to thread-like pianissimo; but in all these fantastic tricks and displays of genius, by the Swedish nightingale, even to the shake, she was so closely and accurately tracked by the somnambulist, that several in the room occasionally could not have told, merely by hearing, that there were two individuals singing so instantaneously did she catch the notes, and so perfectly did their voices blend and accord. Next, Jenny having been told by Mr. Braid that she might be tested in some other language, this charming songstress commenced Casta Diva,' and the Alla Bella,' in which the fidelity of the somnambulist's performance, both in words and music, was most perfect, and fully justified all Mr. Braid had alleged regarding her powers: she was also tested by Mlle. Lind in merely imitating language, when she gave most exact imitations;

and Mr. Schwabe also tried her by some difficult combinations of sound, which he said he knew no one was capable of imitating correctly without much practice, but the somnambulist imitated them correctly at once."

In the Critic (No. 145.), is a further account from Mr. Braid himself of the same patient imitating Greek and Celtic, — and of another patient singing songs in Latin, Italian, and French, after her mistress, with the utmost accuracy.

Mr. Howitt has also given a similar account of a patient of Mr. Spencer Hall's. "His faculty of imitation being tested, he threw back any sound issuing from the company as the most perfect echo would do. He was addressed in various languages, and threw back every sentence with the most perfect pronunciation, and generally without the omission of a single syllable."*

An

Dr. Esdaile has made his Hindoo patients speak Greek. East India paper says, that Dr. Esdaile uttered words and sentences in the learned languages, which were repeated with wonderful exactness by the poor ignorant Bengalee.†

In the third volume of the Zoist (p. 222.), is a letter from Mr. Jago of Bodmin, describing a similar scene with a lady in the Mesmeric state, when her organs of imitation and language were influenced.

Mesmeric experience could produce sundry instances of the same

kind.

II. We next come to a higher phenomenon, where the patient not only repeats and mimics foreign languages, but even understands them, and often understands them, without having the faculty of repeating or imitating them. This power, I should say, was only transference of thought appearing under a different guise.

Mr. Jago's patient above mentioned is one instance of this power. Miss Martineau's patient is another. Parties spoke to her in German, Italian, and French, and she understood them. Miss M. observes, that, "provided the ideas conveyed to the girl were within her scope, it mattered nothing in what language they were uttered.” (Appendix.)

Some of the Ursulines of Loudun understood any orders given to them in Latin, provided that they were in a state of somnambulism. In the Démomanie de Loudun we are told that M. de Bouillé, who had resided in America, bore testimony that he spoke to the nuns the language of certain savages of that country, and that they

* Spencer Hall's Mesmeric Experiences, p. 31.

† See also Dr. Esdaile's India, p. 113. for another case.