Part 30
“Then let not piety be put to flight, To please the taste of glutton appetite; But suffer innate souls secure to dwell, Lest from their seats your parents you expel: With rabid hunger feed upon your kind, Or from a beast dislodge a brother’s mind.”
Think you this injunction will be obeyed, in the face of the “Almanac des Gourmands?”
IDA. Evelyn is severe. May I tell him that, among the records of the East, he will find incidents blended with this idea which may almost consecrate the creed of a Pagan. As the honey is hung close to the poisoned sting of the bee, there may be a bright spot to illuminate the gloomy annals of superstition. The very belief in _transmigration_ may impart an atom of mercy, even to an infidel; and where superstition, shorn of the light of Christianity, _must_ prevail, it were better sure to foster that notion which may, even in one little sentiment, half humanize the heart.
Listen to this contrast, between some orient sects, along the eastern shores of Hindostan. The daughters of Guzzerat fold their infants to their bosoms drugged with opium; and when the babe is thus poisoned, the Hindu girl will answer with a languid and seeming innocent smile, “It is not difficult to blast a flower-bud.”
Then the Kurrada Brahmins (as we read in the “Rudhiradhyaya”), believing themselves the agents of Vishara Boot, the spirit of poison, sacrifice the pundits to their vampire goddess, Maha-Lackshmi.
Equally blind, yet more happy in the _nature_ of their superstition, are the Shravuch Banians, or the proselytes of Jena. The Yati, or officiating priest of _this_ order, in purifying the temples, sweeps the floor with the Raju-hurrun, a broom of cotton-threads, lest hapless one little insect may be destroyed. And this we may believe, from the creed of transmigration being influential among these people. Sir Paul Rycaut also, in his oriental history, informs us of parallel incidents among the devout Mahomedans, who, believing that in the body of a brute may reside the soul of a departed relative, ransom, with their gold, many a bird that would otherwise flutter away its captivity in a cage.
CAST. I will not flout your praises, Ida; but, in our own island, this illusion has rather led _to_ captivity. I remember the story of a lady, living in Worcestershire, who, under the innocent delusion that her daughters were changed into singing-birds, hung her pew in the cathedral with cages of goldfinches and linnets. And Lord Orford, in his “Reminiscences,” thus records the monomania of the Duchess of Kendal:
“In a tender mood, he (King George) promised the duchess that if she survived him, and it were possible for the departed to return to this world, he would make her a visit. The duchess, on his death, so _much expected_ the accomplishment of that engagement, that a large raven, or some black fowl, flying into one of the windows of her villa, at Isleworth, she was persuaded it was the soul of her departed monarch so accoutred, and received and treated it with all the respect and tenderness of duty, till the royal bird, or she, took the last flight.”
ASTR. You spoke of the absolute _senselessness_ of trance; and yet there were some hints of the awakening power of fear. Is this consistent?
EV. I expected your objection. In the cases of perfect catalepsy, the brain is not conscious of its mind, or if the mind be active, there is no _assurance of its activity_. But, as its faculties are awakened, it usually begins to work exactly where it left off;—one of the most imposing proofs, both of a separate existence during life, and of our bodies’ _unconsciousness_ of this transient disunion.
ASTR. I may own, Evelyn, that your illustrations of our questions, in despite of some _straining_ at explanation, carry, on _many_ points, conviction to my own mind, but not on _all_. There is another question equally interesting with the former. _How is vitality preserved during this protracted abstinence?_
EV. Remember, dear Astrophel, my confession, that there _are_ inexplicable mysteries. But, to the point of your last question. We are aware of the long period during which the body may fast after shipwreck, or beneath a fallen cliff, or even on the incarceration of animals for the purpose of experiment. Thus Captain Bligh, and seventeen persons, sailed four thousand miles in an open boat, with a small bird occasionally for the food of all. The Juno’s crew, wrecked off Aracan, existed twenty-three days without food; and the wreck of the Medusa is fresh in our memories. Here the body _feeds on its own fat, shrinking_ until that supply is lost, and then it dies.
I might relate to you the very impressive stories of Anne Moore, of Tutbury; of Janet M’Cleod, told by Dr. Mackenzie; and many strange facts related by Dr. Willan, Sir William Hamilton, and others.
I might refer you to legends, of which I can scarcely press for your belief. As the strange but authenticated story of Anna Garbero, of Racconiggi, forty miles from Turin, who existed without nutrition for two years, becoming like a shrivelled mummy. And that of Eve Hergen, who existed thirteen years upon the odour of flowers! But even with that incredulous frown of Astrophel’s, and that faint smile of thine, fair Castaly, let me at once to my explanations.
In _natural_ sleep the functions of the body are impeded. One of these is digestion. As there is little waste of the system there is little necessity for repletion, and life can be supported by a _very slight_ action of the heart, a minute current of blood; like the slender vitality of infants, who, even in a state of health, seem frequently scarcely to breathe. The circulation is materially influenced in sleep, the pulse being slower and more feeble than during waking; the relaxation of the _cutaneous_ vessels inducing frequent perspiration, especially in debilitated systems, and in the last stages of _adynamic_ fevers.
The body of the cataleptic patient descends to the condition of less complex animal life, in which there appears a much greater simplicity of organization; and we well know, as we descend in the scale of creation, towards the cold-blooded single-hearted animals, and especially if we reach the _zoophyte_, in how exact a proportion to this simplicity of structure is the tenacity of life increased. “Fish,” says Sir John Franklin, “were taken out of the nets frozen, and became a solid mass of ice, being by a blow of a hatchet easily split open; they, however, recovered their vitality on being thawed.”
A course of _systematic_ abstinence will enable us, if we wished it, to endure extreme privations, which a high feeder would soon sink under; and this is probably the discipline adopted by the fakirs of India, who fast so long under the influence of superstitious devotion.
Vaillant’s spider lived without food nearly one year; John Hunter’s toad fourteen months; land tortoises eighteen months; a beetle three years; and two serpents, according to Shaw, five years; an antelope has survived twenty days without food; some dogs forty days; an eagle 23 days.
Now all animals fall asleep at certain temperatures, which they cannot resist, but the common effect of _extreme_ cold is death. Dr. Solander was yielding to the influence of intense cold in _Terra del Fuego_, but was saved by the firmness of Sir Joseph Banks. Richmond, the black, lay down on the snow to sleep, and died.
There is a close analogy between this state and the _hybernation_ of animals, although the causes are not similar. _Animalculæ_ often become torpid for lack of moisture, and, even after the lapse of twenty-seven years, have been revivified by water. The small _furcularia anastobea_ will repeatedly become animated and lively by a single drop of water, its previous condition being completely quiescent. The snail, the alligator, indeed most of the _ophidian_ and _saurian_ reptiles, assume the torpid state in a period of extreme drought; and Humboldt states this also of the _centenes solosus_, a Madagascar hedgehog.
This hybernation of animals, as of the marmot and the dormouse, resembles the deep sleep arising from cold of a _certain_ degree; for if this be _intense_, they will sometimes be momentarily roused from it. They may be constantly kept awake by heat and powerful light.
Thus hybernation and the _sleep of plants_ take place from the withdrawal of _stimuli_; _heat_ being the _animal_—_light_ the _vegetable_ stimulus.
CAST. The sleep of plants? a fiction surely!
EV. Nay, a truth. The _irritability_ of plants is excited by their peculiar stimulus; when this is withdrawn, they fall to sleep. Most of the _discous_ flowers turn to the sun in his course, as the sun-flower, the _helianthus_, and the _croton_. The acacia leaves at noon point towards the zenith. The tamarind, the _oxalis_, and the trefoil, fold their leaves on the exclusion of light. The evening primrose shuts its blossom at sunset, while that minion of the moon, the night-blowing _cactus, then only_ begins to bloom; perhaps like the owl, and goat-sucker, and bat, who find _the sun too powerful an excitant_.
Vegetables may be put asleep by the withdrawal of proper stimulus,—the exclusion of this light. But this is a law of nature, and ordained for a special purpose. It is chiefly _during fructification_; the leaves at night folding round the flowers and seed-vessels, to protect them from the chilling blight of the night cold, which would congeal their juices. In this condition of the plant its irritability ceases, but the circulation of its sap-vessels is not suspended. Its vitality continues, but if the exercise of its _peculiar phenomena_ be long discontinued, it will fade and die. Now the _vis insita_ of the muscle resembles vegetable irritability; and, as this is lost and sensibility suspended, the body is indeed in a condition of vegetable sleep; for vegetables have not of course sensation, although the Darwinian romance would endow the _dionæa_, the _hedysarum_, and the _mimosa_ with sensibility, and all the blossom-beauties of Flora with the fervour of sexual passion. Trance then is caused by _the removal of a stimulus_. As somnambulism may result from a _redundancy_ of nervous energy, trance and catalepsy, as well as _incubus_, seem to arise from an _inefficient_ secretion or supply of this quality, in whatever it may consist, or an impediment to its transmission from the _sensorium_ or brain to the expansion of a nerve. Thus the motive power of a muscle is in these diseases _suspended_, which in _paralysis_ may be _permanently_ impaired or destroyed.
To describe this state, I must abound in negatives. The brain is not conscious: there is no sensation. Even the marrow by its _reflex faculty_ does not excite a muscle: there is no action: the mind has no cognizance: the body is for a time paralyzed. What is there then which may be termed life? merely involuntary circulation and gentle breathing. In this condition also there is a congestion of dark blood about the brain and in the right side of the heart; the circulation being reduced to an extreme _lentor_ or sluggishness, while in real _asphyxia_ there is a total stagnation.
I have done with minute pathology: as there are however two diseases, _epilepsy_ and _insanity_, which may be the _result_ of catalepsy, I may offer a precept on the point. The propensity to trance cannot suddenly be averted, but the state of the body and mind are important studies for our treatment. Melancholy and apathy are the features of the mind of the cataleptic, and languor and faulty secretions the symptoms of the body. Cheerful society, sympathy with suffering, but firmness in resisting sloth and erroneous fancies, and the direction of the patient’s mind to moral recreations, comprehend the sum of our _mental_ treatment.
It is equally essential to ensure regulation of the secretions, especially those of the liver. We should employ _cupping_ from the nape of the neck, if there be pain, or heat, or fulness of the head, and constant but gentle exercise. The head should not be low during sleep, nor should food be taken within two hours of retiring to rest. I believe obedience to these slight precepts will frequently mitigate, perhaps in the end avert the attacks, especially if they have arisen from diseased conditions of the body, or gloomy or depraved studies, and deep contemplation.
The most simple or unconnected form of catalepsy, is that most likely to end in madness. Perhaps, too, in deep and gloomy subjects, which begin by absorbing mind and sense, the end is thus; so that cataleptic abstraction is but the reverie or foretaste of mania.
As to suspected cases of still existing vitality: where there is _plethora_, I would employ bleeding, or cupping, _insufflation_, _Galvanism_; and I should not in extreme cases fear _acupuncture of the heart_, and galvanic shocks then transmitted through the needle. Beclard, in “La Pitié,” in Paris, allows the needle to remain three or four minutes and then withdraws it, and I have learned from my oriental friends, that the Chinese practice this mode extensively.
MESMERISM.
“Thus smiling, as some fly had tickled slumber, Not as Death’s dart, being laugh’d at.” CYMBELINE.
“By some illusion see thou bring her here, I’ll charm his eyes against she doth appear.”
“Such tricks hath strong imagination.” MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM.
IDA. You are very formidable creatures, Evelyn, if you can touch and wound the heart of a sensitive girl so easily; we must be wary, dear Castaly. It must be a desperate case that justifies so desperate a remedy; yet, with all this danger, the magi of our day will, as I have heard, induce by their art this very state of trance.
ASTR. Magnetic sleep. If the phenomena of this animal magnetism be not a _mystery_, it is at least a curiosity. And yet Evelyn will tell us that they, too, obey the _common_ laws of our nature. I believe, however, there are stories of most strange and _novel_ interest, beyond the scope even of _his_ philosophy.
EV. The hand of a magnetiser _seems_, I confess, to effect a wonder; but your challenge will be fatal to you, Astrophel. In this same question of animal magnetism we may discover _the spring of all your mysteries_. The close analogies between the _natural_ and _imparted_ phenomena of trance and magnetic sleep and somnambulism, and somnambulic blindness, and magnetic ecstacy; even the frauds of lucid vision and clairvoyance, and the vaunted gift of prophetic divination, with the explanation of some, and the refutation of others, will dispel the most subtle arguments in proof of divine influence; seeing that the process is conducted by men of mortal mould, who claim no merit even for the possession of occult learning.
CAST. Mercy, dearest Evelyn, mercy. No more philosophy to-night. The smile of yon planet Venus, that was twinkling from out its cerulean blue, is veiled in a cloud; for our cold discourse is treason to its influence. Be ready with your stories, Astrophel.
EV. The history of Mesmerism is a romance in itself, dear Castaly. If I invade not the province of Astrophel, I will, as some apology for my dull prosing, sketch its progress by way of episode.
You must know, then, that it was Maximilian Holl who first, from the influence of his magnets on the body, imparted the practical idea of animal _magnetism_ to Mesmer, who had already written his inaugural thesis, at Vienna, on “Planetary Influence,” and had laid down this unblushing aphorism: “There is one health, one disease, one remedy, and one physician, and that physician am I.” His immediate proselytes were Deslon at Paris, and Gmelin at Heilbronne, and Reicke at Stutgard, and Klugé at Berlin. Encouraged by the Swedenborgian tenets, this magic brought immense revenue into the purses of Mainanduc in England, and the rest of its revivers; so that one hundred guineas were given for a course of lectures and experiments, and fifteen guineas for a consultation and the imparting of its influence.
In after times Miss Prescott, among others, gained great fame in the art: but De Lauterbourg was one of its most popular professors. Three thousand patients, it is said, were often waiting for the magnetic influence about his house at Hammersmith.
In 1784 an ordonnance of the French king confirmed Mesmer in his working of these apparent miracles. By tractions on the body, either with the hand or by substances magnetized with his “imponderable fluid,” by _champooing_, and the accompaniment of sweet music, a state of enchantment of the senses was induced. Convulsions and mania were often excited in the “Hall of Crisis,” which was lined by soft cushions to protect the convulsionaries. These paroxysms and tempests of the brain Mesmer seemed to control, like a second Prospero, with his wand of enchantment, gliding, in robes of silk, among the multitude of devotees, whom novelty and voluptuousness had attracted to his shrine.
To study and report on these mysteries, commissioners were appointed by the “Faculty of Medicine,” by the “Academy of Sciences,” and by the “Royal Society of Medicine.” These _savans_ referred all to the influence of imagination, or of emotion in sensitive systems; and that there must be this sensitive predisposition is often proved, for idiots, and those who have been blindfold, and unconscious children, _remain uninfluenced_, although it is declared by one that he magnetized an _idiot baby_!
I must observe, that before the commissions in Paris, especially that of which Franklin was a member, not the slightest influence was observed; and the experiments of Monsieur Berner, who was the chief manipulator, were a perfect failure, especially in regard to the _clairvoyance_.
Astrophel reminds me by his frown——
ASTR. That magnetic power is not granted to all; that all possess not the essential qualities of mind and body. It was affirmed that the operator must have his mind abstracted, and teeming with affection and benevolence towards his patients; must believe himself a very _magnet_, and feel a desire of benefiting mankind. Thus a sympathy, or incorporation of atmospheres, was induced, by which disease was influenced; and even in persons distant from each other, by an intensity of thought the patient tasted, smelt, or heard, the flavours, odours, or sounds which at that moment affected the senses of the _operator_. The magnetizer must thus be confident that, by his will, he can pass his whole nervous energy into his patient. It is essential, also, that the _mind of the patient_ should have a corresponding willingness _to be_ magnetized.
EV. And this congenial platonism is sometimes so intense, that offers of _magnetic marriage_ are made by the ecstatic ladies to their magnetizers, even though it may not be _leap-year_, on the plea that the loneliness of magnetic widowhood distressed them, and that the possession of a _sleeping_ partner was better than _sleeping_ alone.
Under this interesting disposition for magnetic union, the eyes of the maiden being fixed on the magnetizer intensely, _his_ hands were passed before her body, his fingers thus forming natural conductors, by which the magnetic fluid was conveyed from the positive to the negative magnetic body. Then came the wonders of this influence. The patient was warmed by the benevolence of the magnetizer, who felt an _aura_ or tingling in the part corresponding to any painful part of the patient’s body which was relieved or cured. Indeed, Bertrand assures us that many told him they saw a _blue fluid streaming from his fingers_ when he magnetized them.
The secret of this is closely analogous to the effect of brooding over sorrow: the mind of the patient is _concentrated_ on the spot to which the passes are directed; and, as we know that _disease_ can be excited thus by imagination (especially in the hypochondriac), so it is a truth that this concentration may _remove_ disease and pain, especially by the superaddition of faith.
ASTR. But the magnetizer, as they said, was not always _in a state_ to operate, and required a certain _training_. So it was observed that Casper Hauser’s _cat_ did not follow him after he had eaten meat; his magnetic and somnambulant qualities were destroyed by animal food, although they were so abundant in his _wilder_ state,—as his history will thus illustrate to those who believe it:
“As I came into the room, and the door of the deceased person was opened, which I did not know, I felt a sudden dragging on both sides of my breast, as if any one wished to pull me into the room. As I went on and proceeded towards the sick person, a very strong breath blew on me from behind, and the pulling which I felt before in my breast I now felt in my shoulders. I went towards the window; the sick person followed me. At the time that I wished to ask a question of Mr. Von Gutter, I felt a trembling in my left foot, and it became unwell. She went back again, and that trembling left me. She seated herself under the canopy and said, ‘Will not the gentleman sit down?’ Hereupon Mr. Professor Hensler said to her, she should see me. So as she drew nigh to me, within two or three steps, I was still more unwell than before, and I felt pains in all my limbs. Mr. Professor Hensler told her that I was the man who had been wounded (that is, by the attempt which had been made to assassinate him); at the same time she noticed my scar, and pointed towards it; then came the air strong upon my forehead, and I felt pain in it, also my left foot began to tremble greatly. The sick person seated herself under the canopy, and said that she was ill; and I also said that I was so unwell that I must sit down. I sat down in the other room: now the other foot began to twitter. Although Mr. Von Gutter held my knees, I could not keep them still. Now a violent beating of my heart came on me, and there was a heat in all my body: that beating of the heart left me afterwards; and I had a twittering in my left arm, which ceased after some minutes, and I was again something better. This condition lasted until the next morning, then I had a headache again and a twittering in all my limbs, still not so violent. In the afternoon, about three o’clock, it came again something less, and left me earlier: then I was quite well again.”
“The Somnambulist was greatly affected by the _presence_ of Hauser. I heard that, afterwards, when she was asleep, she had said these words,—‘That was a hard struggle for me.’ She felt indisposition from this process even on the next day.”
EV. The first sensation from magnetism is usually that of slight _vertigo_,—a state of musing or reverie succeeding, the mind being lulled into abstraction, as it is by the rippling of water, the busy hum of bees, or the murmuring of the Æolian-harp. I would explain this feeling by the term, _confusion of the senses_; for a certain period must elapse ere an external object make an impression on the mind. When, therefore, objects or sounds become _extremely rapid_, the perception is confused, and the mind, left as it were to itself, cannot follow the impressions _so as to associate them_, and thus the magnetic ecstacy ensues.
ASTR. But Monsieur de Paysegur, who first excited _magnetic somnambulism_, magnetized trees and ropes, by which he converted those who clung to them into sleep-walkers. Dr. Elliotson, also, mesmerized a _sovereign_, by _merely looking on it_; and a girl, who intuitively _selected_ it from a heap of others, was instantly struck with _coma_.