Alexandria Gazette

From the Richmond Enquirer, August 30.

MESMERISM—Mr. French's Experiments.

Mr. J. A. French, a member of the bar, has delivered a few lectures in Petersburg, (where he now resides,) and in Norfolk. As we stated in our last paper, he had arrived in Richmond, and proposed to give a lecture at the Exchange Hotel, on Friday night.

On Friday, at 12 o'clock, we witnessed some experiments in his own room at the Exchange—in the presence of Drs. Carmichael, Haxall, Patterson and Dove, and of Messrs. James E. Heath, Richard Adams, and William Crump.

The experiments were made on a little black girl from Southampton, and a negro boy, from 16 to 18 years of age. The girl was thrown into the mesmeric sleep by Mr. French within about 20 feet from her. She exhibited the appearance of the Somnambulist. She appeared to be attracted by Mr. French, eagerly seizing his hand, when if any other person touched her, she started back with a sudden and singular species of repulsion. Dr. Carmichael being placed in connection with her (en rapport, as the French say,) she seemed to swallow, as he swallowed, water or wine—distinguishing the first very readily, and pronounced the other to be bounce. A pin was stuck through her ear, without the slightest apparent sensation. She seemed perfectly insensible to any noise or voice, any other than that of Mr. French and Dr. C. The boy (Allen) was then partly mesmerized—by a few passes being communicated to both of his arms, which assumed more than the rigidity of death. Indeed, his arms and his fingers appeared to be almost as stiff as iron—and they continued in the horizontal position, until they were disenchanted, as it were, by a few counter motions on the part of the Mesmerizer. But, on the whole, we had not received that decided impression about the whole phenomenon, which might have been felt by a less incredulous sceptic.

The Lecture on Friday night in the Ball room of the Exchange was happily delivered to a very respectable, and even brilliant audience of ladies and gentlemen. It was attended by many of the Faculty. The girl and the boy were again exhibited—and one or two new but incomplete experiments were made upon the girl. That of the stiff arm was made upon the boy. Mr. Pepper also, a young gentleman of about 25 years of age, a resident of Petersburg, was brought upon the platform—and mesmerized by Mr. French. But owing to previous fatigue, or incomplete sleep, or some other circumstance, he was unable to tell the time upon the watch by feeling the hands—as we understood from a very intelligent gentleman of the bar of Norfolk. He had been able to do at the exhibition at that place, though the hands of the watch had been changed from the true time. Upon the whole, the experiments were very curious, but they were not very decisive. In fact there was too much noise and confusion to bring out the full force of the phenomena.

On Saturday, Mr. French was polite enough to visit us at our own house, and brought with him the boy and the girl. We had prepared ourselves for experiment—and we were determined to subject the great and curious law of community of sensation to the severest analysis. The experiments we now made were conducted with every advantage—in perfect quiet—and in the presence of our own family alone. Mr. French himself was more of a spectator than an actor. He requested that one of the young ladies should attempt to mesmerize the girl. Having seen the experiment made four years ago, in Philadelphia, by the inquisitive and enlightened Dr. Mitchell, in the presence of Bishop Moore, she was somewhat familiar with the process, although she had never practised it. The little mesmerizee was amused by the attempt, but very quietly submitted to the operation. In a few minutes the girl yielded to the influence, which was exerted over her by the rubbing and passes of the katherinexpert operator. Her eyes were closed, as if 'touched by Mercury's wand of slumberous witchery;' her hands rubbed by those of the operator, twitched in a singular manner, and followed the lifted hand of the female mesmerizer, like a bit of paper attracted by the rubbed sealing wax. After about 10 minutes, she proposed to the girl to walk—and she readily arose, following the operator into another room. When she obtained possession of M's hand, she would not relinquish it—and repelled every other hand, even Mr. French's—except that of the younger sister of M. when put into communication by M. at the music stool. The experiment was thus left under the control of the young lady—and it resulted in establishing, beyond the possibility of doubt, the great law of a community of sensation. For instance:

The sense of Taste—The eyes were closed, and closely bandaged by a handkerchief. Different substances were presented to M. so carefully, that it was impossible for the mesmerizee to see them or present them to the cognizance of any of her senses. Then as M. drank and swallowed, so did the girl—distinguishing water from wine. M. chewed, and swallowed cake—And the girl being asked by M., what she (the girl) was eating promptly replied cake. Grapes were then put into M.'s mouth—and the girl first said she was eating an apple—but upon her attention being again awakened by M., immediately replied, she believed it was grapes. On a repetition of the experiment, the Claret wine was poured into M.'s mouth so rapidly that in swallowing, she felt the sensation of strangling, and coughed. The girl immediately imitated all these muscular motions—swallowing and then coughing, as if under the influence of the most intense sympathy, and as it were, identity of feelings and motions.

Smell.—M. had snuff applied to the nose. The muscles of the girl's nose immediately contracted, as if she were smelling—and upon being asked, what she was smelling, at once replied, with some little disgust, 'snuff' So also with the smell of flowers. One of these, the ambrosia, she said was sweet—Another, the African Marigold, (the largest species of the flower,) she pronounced to be disagreeable.

Hearing.—She seemed to hear nothing, except through the mesmerizer. Her voice alone was accessible to her sensorium. The sound of the piano was lost upon her, except when the mesmerizer put her hand upon the shoulder of the performer—or when M. became the musician herself—and then she recognised the tune that was played. On being requested by M., she struck up a song herself and this fact was noticed, that as she sang, the mesmerizer put a flower to her own nose, when Annie, (the girl,) without stopping her song, imitated the motion of smelling. A bell was rung suddenly at her ear, without her starting or appearing to hear its tones. But the moment M. rung it, the mesmerizee seemed sensible of its presence.

Touch.—M.'s hair was pulled with some force and pain, and the girl then complained of her hair.

Seeing.—The phenomena exhibited in vision were the most surprising. With her eyelids closed and bandaged, she was able, with considerable accuracy, to describe the dresses not only of the mesmerizer, but that of several other ladies, except one in black, that did not seem to make such an impression upon the sensorium, as to be distinct enough for expression. She described the collar around M.'s neck; and upon being asked whether she saw a breastpin in the bosom, and what was on it, replied that the pin was dark, and had on it, she believed, a deer—the pin was of Mosaic, representing a grey hound—but so proposing side ways and upwards, as not to be made out readily by the natural eye. The girl, upon being asked again, and her attention awakened to it, corrected herself, by saying that she believed it was a dog. In like manner, she distinguished a handkerchief on the lap of a lady, sitting a few feet from her, and occasionally a flower in the hand of one near her, or a fan in that of another. There was no collusion, and it appeared to us all no illusion.

We venture to assert, that no person in Richmond, in full possession of all his faculties, and expecting to be tricked, but with his eyes bound up, could have discriminated all the substances that were tasted or smelt by M. herself, and the mere fact, when they were presented to her senses, with the same accuracy and promptitude as these two uninformed mesmerizees—with such care, and so noiselessly, were these simple experiments conducted. Of course, we scarcely expect any one to believe us, who has not seen it as we saw it. Of course, too, we are prepared to be laughed at for our pains; but, in this case, ridicule is not the test of truth. We take it for granted, that many tricks have been played upon the public—many extravagant doctrines have been put forth—many pretended mesmerizers, with their colleagues, have been impostors—but all this cannot shake the strength of our impressions—nor of the five persons whose whole attention was concentrated for nearly two hours upon every phenomenon as it was presented. The phenomena of Vision are still certainly the most difficult to be made, the most subtle in themselves the most surprising in the result, and the hardest to be believed. The natural eye was in the case before us, shut out from its ordinary communication with the external world. The lid was closed, as if hermetically sealed—and was thoroughly bandaged. On one occasion, the girl said, she could not see, because her eyes were sore. On being told to rub them, she applied her hands to two points on each side of the chin—and subsequently being asked where her eyes were, she applied her hands to the chin, and apparently directing up the chin to the object she was directed to see. The girl sang a long and plaintive ditty—and was after some time disenchanted by the counter passes of M. She rose as naturally as one would do from a profound sleep, and declared, with an air of the most perfect sincerity, that she had no recollection of any of the scenes which had passed,—her eating, smelling, singing, &c.

The boy (Allen) was next mesmerized entirely by Mr. French, without any contact with him—at the distance of several feet. His different limbs, (arms, legs,) were made rigid by certain passes—and continued so, until they were successively disenchanted. The experiments on tasting were made with the utmost care and success. On Mr. F.'s taking the snuff, the boy exhibited no little disgust—and 'ever and anon,' as Shakspeare would say, 'would apply (not the pouncet box, but his hand,) to his nose'—until he was dismesmerized, and even afterwards, until he left the house. (We understand that Mr. Edmund Ruffin of Petersburg (once a sceptic, and now a convert,) was once making experiments—and suiting the action to the word, gave Mr. French cayenne pepper to taste whilst he was in communication with Mr. F. Mr. R. manifested the most violent distress—and upon being awakened, complained of Mr. F.'s giving him pepper to taste, and seemed still to taste its pepperish heat for a quarter of an hour—washing his mouth with water, using his tooth-brush, &c., to clear his mouth of the taste.)—Allen concluded his exhibition by singing and dancing a humorous jig—and upon being awakened soon after, exhibited the usual appearances of a return to consciousness—and declared that he had no recollection of dancing, &c. &c.

The impression made by the whole scene upon the mind of every spectator was conclusive. None of us could doubt for one moment what we had seen. It was, we repeat, one of the most astonishing phenomena we had ever witnessed—yet the mesmeric influence (whatever it be, whether it be of magnetism, galvanism, electricity, or some new element of nervous influence,) appears to us now to be as much one of the established laws of Nature; as the laws of gravitation or of light.

We will not philosophise upon what we have seen, nor are we prepared to believe the other phenomena, about which we have heard, such as Clairvoyance, or such as Phrenological mesmerism—on the contrary, we play the sceptic until we have satisfied our own mind, by the actual phenomena. Thus far only we think it safe to go.

We will neither believe all the other phenomena, which have been attributed to mesmerism, until we have received better evidence than we have obtained—nor is it philosophical to interpose any new link in the series of phenomena, such as magnetism, nor attempt to explain by a theory, what there is not a sufficient number of verified phenomena to establish. Vidi, ergo Credo, is the extent of our philosophy upon this subject. I believe, because I have seen clearly—I will not believe more, in so new, so strange a series of phenomena, so different from any which we had previously witnessed. And I believe, too, because the mesmerizee can taste, smell, feel more, under similar circumstances, than the most sagacious person can, with all his faculties awake, except his eyes being closed up.

The whole subject is of itself sufficiently strange and mysterious—though well entitled to serious consideration. It seems to open up a new field of discovery in the theory of the senses, and in the metaphysics of the human mind. It seems especially to call upon the medical faculty to study it—as it may be used to tranquilize the senses, and to arm the patient against pain, in the operations of surgery—witness the case of persons, who have had teeth extracted, in apparent unconsciousness—and the still more remarkable case, of the Lady in Paris, whose cancerous breast was cut off by the celebrated Cloquet without consciousness or complaint—and who is said to have been left in the mesmeric sleep 48 hours after the operation. But we still repeat with Hamlet—

'There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in our philosophy.'

P.S.—Yesterday, M. without any expectation of accomplishing it, mesmerized in about 10 minutes an artless and very healthy white female, of about 18 years of age. No one else present during the operation. She had never heard of mesmerism before Saturday, and had never seen any experiments made. The sleep seemed to be very sweet and profound. But we will not bore our readers further with this subject—The fact is, that the phenomenon seems to be more easily and generally excitable than is commonly supposed. The wonder is, indeed, that it was not much earlier discovered. The sleep first showed itself by her hands following (as if attracted) those of the mesmerizer.