All the following stories come from the United Kingdom in the middle of the 19th century. They were drawn from the journal The Zoist founded by John Elliotson aka Dr. Goodenough. The treatment of the chronically insane was little more than hygienic and moral until the 20th century. Lunatic asylums, even when staffed with physicians [called insanity doctors], were barely boarding houses. Positive conditions which might aid in patient recovery were often wholly absent. John Elliotson knew that medical treatment including bleeding, blisters and drugs of the day were of little avail. Early in his writings, he noted that magnetic treatments had been proven in four of his patients. He was persuaded that they could calm and improve many, and even cure others. The following report is from one – an early case. Treatment
of Insanity
From The Zoist, V. II, 1843 The first was under the care of Dr. Wilson, in the Middlesex Hospital, in June, 1838; but I witnessed the case. William Rumsey, aged 31, laboured under extreme depression of spirits, which rendered him unable to sleep; he walked the room all night in distraction; could do no work, nor apply himself in the slightest way to anything. His despondency led him frequently to contemplate suicide. He occasionally had headache and giddiness, and at length he hesitated in his speech. During the three last years he had a pain in his right side extending to his loins, for which he had as a matter of course been said to have a liver complaint. He had been no less than twenty months altogether, at various times during that period, on the sick-list of his benefit club. Dr. Wilson resolved to treat him with mesmerism, – and very striking sensible effects were produced. The man always remained wide awake, not being even sleepy; but such phenomena took place as we continually observe in the mesmeric sleep-waking. After longitudinal passes had been made before him three or four minutes, he began to tremble all over and to have twitches: his arms and legs, and even his fingers, extended, and became more or less rigid, as if, to use his own words, this was “caused by some one successively, but lightly touching the ends of his fingers, and gently but tremblingly drawing them apart.” All resistance to these changes he found fruitless. His arms extended backwards as far as the chair would permit them. The force of extension he felt to increase and decrease as the operator’s hands approached or receded from him. By movements of the operator’s hand, as if to draw him,— by tractive passes, without contact,— he was drawn immediately to one side or the other, forwards or backwards, as he sat with his arms and legs rigid and extended in the air; or his arms and hands could be drawn firmly together or separated, or made to clasp his knees, notwithstanding lie would, for experiment, make every effort to resist the influence. Dr. Wilson could produce these effects at the distance of fourteen feet. He turned in spite of himself towards the mesmeriser, wherever the latter might place himself, so as to be turned on his hip in his chair and be brought sometimes nearly off the chair, notwithstanding great struggling to retain his proper position. If Dr. Wilson went into the next room, so that merely the points of his fingers could be seen, the effects still ensued. When a 70 lbs. weight was attached to one arm, he could raise it if assisted by tractive passes made at a distance above the arm, though in his natural state he could not raise more than 56 lbs. while sitting. When in his natural state he could not raise with his leg a weight of 28 lbs., through the ring of which his foot was passed; but under the influence of mesmerism his leg rose with the weight by the tractive passes of the mesmeriser…. These effects were greater the nearer the operator’s hands were to him in performing the traction. So great was the force of traction, that he could actually drawn off his chair on to the floor while his arms and legs were rigid and extended, if no one held him firmly in it. His susceptibility so increased, that at last Dr. Wilson affected him at the distance of 112 feet. The whole of this account is an abstract from the man’s own notes of his case; but I will give his own words on this point. “After this I was placed at a distance of 112 feet from Dr. Wilson, and in less than five minutes I was so much affected as to cause me to extend my arms; and my legs would likewise have extended, had I not been in a standing position, supported at the back by a wall. During the time Dr. Wilson was acting upon me at this great distance, a friend of his that was present, stepped between us at a distance of about six feet from me. His doing so appeared to deter the power of magnetism for a few seconds; but when standing there for a few seconds, it appeared to return with its full strength, so much so that I was compelled to request the doctor to cease. Note: When I was asked to go to the distance of 112 feet from the operator, I laughed at the idea, thinking it impossible to be affected at this great distance.” … After being mesmerised, he was always weak, tremulous, and gapish for a short time, though not at all sleepy; but this wore off completely in about two hours, and he slept soundly at night. The very first night, after having been mesmerised in the day, he slept much better; and the pain in his right side and back, which no doubt was a neuralgic pain, like those of the right or left side in so many young females, and called, as it generally is in them, a proof of liver diseases, was lessened. After the second time he was mesmerised, he slept soundly all night, and his pain was much better. After having been mesmerised thirteen times, he was perfectly well. It was begun on the 15th of June, and he was discharged cured on the 2nd of August, and went to his occupation: and up to the time Dr. Wilson saw him again, — a period of eight months, he remained quite well, never having lost a day’s work, though during the three years before his admission he had lost twenty months from his illness. The late Lord Monson, who witnessed the case, was so interested with the man that he took him into his service as a joiner at Gatton Park. I saw him a few days ago, and found that, from having lost his situation by the death of Lord Monson, he had fallen into melancholy again; but Dr. Wilson mesmerised him in my presence, and at once produced all the original effects, though he had not been mesmerised for five years. He may be cured in a week. Treatment
of Asthma
From The Zoist, V. III, No. 10 To H.S. Thompson, Esq. You are aware that I have been for many years in a very delicate state of health, marked by great debility, and constant attacks of spasmodic asthma. For the two years previous to my use of mesmerism, I had been apparently growing worse and worse, — the attacks of asthma were very frequent, — nearly every month or six weeks, — and lasting for two, or three, or more days, leaving me also in a very weak and uncomfortable state. I gradually became so very susceptible of cold, and so liable to “take cold” upon exposure to the weather, that I was recommended by my medical adviser to confine myself entirely to the house during the autumn and winter of 1843 and 1844. This I did, although at the expence of much discomfort, and extreme sensitiveness to the slightest breath of air. As the spring of 1844 advanced, I found myself still unable to venture out without catching cold, except on very fine and warm days; and I was equal to very little exertion out of doors, and had occasional returns of asthma as before. Indeed I may say, that np to the period of my trying mesmerism, I was scarcely able to venture out, — and this was at the beginning of July, — at least, I only went out in fear and trembling, — having usually much chilliness after any little extra exposure; and being almost afraid of taking any exercise except on foot. During all this period I was trying tonics, or sponging, or shower-bathing, &c., but none of them appeared to suit me so far as to induce me to persevere in their use, and very frequently I seemed to suffer from them. I have now arrived at that period of my history, or case, when, through your kind offer, I was led to avail myself of the use of mesmerism. You know that I have never been a very sound sleeper under the process, — a very soothing, comfortable doze, has been what I have usually experienced, — although occasionally I have been sound asleep, — and the effect produced from the first has been of a refreshing and invigorating character. The second time after you demesmerised me, I rode several miles, and paid one or two visits, — a thing I had not done, I believe for two years previous. I continued to use horse-exercise after that time, got out by degrees more and more, and that daily, except when the weather was very rainy, — and although I had one or two returns of asthma during the early part of last autumn, they were much slighter. Once in particular, a rather severe spasm was effectually removed by mesmerism , — and from that date, which was the 25th September, up to the present time, — the latter part of January, — I have had but one day’s asthma, and that by no means severe, either during the paroxysm, or in its after effects. I should also observe, that during the slight asthma which I had after I had begun the use of mesmerism, I was still able to go out with it, which was quite different from the course I was formerly obliged to pursue. I have continued out-of-door exercise throughout the autumn and winter, and have scarcely abstained from this even on the coldest days,— and have ridden several miles on horseback on days which I should not have dared to go out upon for a considerable time before. I am much more equal to exertion, — have been able to engage in some of the duties of my ministerial profession, from which I had been quite laid aside, and have found myself less nervous, and better, and stronger in every respect. I ought to mention, that during the last six weeks or two months, I have scarcely been mesmerised at all, and yet I have been able to bear the weather, and have been free from asthma, so that the benefit resulting from mesmerism does not appear, in my case, to be transient. I will only add, that while I am fully persuaded as regards my own case, of the inefficiency of common medical remedies, I have the strongest conviction of the remarkable adaptation of mesmerism to the relief of a disorder like my own. –– Anonymous Clergyman Cure of Fits with Mesmerism From The Zoist, V. 3, No. 12 Joseph Shafter had been living in my service as hind or farm bailiff for several years, during which time he had been afflicted with fits closely resembling epilepsy, occurring at first very rarely, but becoming more frequent and severe, until he became quite disabled, and compelled to relinquish his occupation. He had during the last two years been repeatedly under the surgeon’s hands, who procured temporary relief by the usual depleting remedies, and a large issue kept continually open on the back of the neck. His case was considered to be spinal or cerebral irritation, which deranged the whole system, causing the most intense burning pains in the stomach and chest, and neuralgia, to such an extent that he could scarcely endure the pressure of his clothes. The fits were preceded by an aggravation of these symptoms, and came upon him suddenly with all the appearances of epilepsy, recurring at shorter intervals, and with greater severity, until he was for several days wholly confined to his bed, requiring several persons to control his struggles. On the day on which I first tried mesmerism his spasms had recurred almost every hour. During a short interval of consciousness I prevailed upon him to fix his eyes, and made the usual passes over the head and chest. In about two minutes he was in a deep sleep; the usual period passed with out the slightest spasm, and he lay in so deep a trance that his wife became alarmed, and begged me to awaken him. A few upward passes completely restored consciousness. He had several hours natural sleep during the night, which he passed, as also the next day, without a spasm, and improving in every respect. At night I mesmerised him again, — he scarcely raised his eyes when he fell asleep, and lay in a deep trance for several hours…. He awoke naturally soon after, and so he was much better, and his wife strongly objected to another siesta as a dark thirty that next time might do harm, I did not again repeat it. He slept soundly next night, and in a few days was well enough to travel outside the coach to Exeter for change of air to complete his care. His neuralgia and other symptoms wore rapidly off; within a few weeks he was in robust health, and continued so for about three months. Circumstances of a peculiarly exciting nature then so completely overcame him, that he fell suddenly to the ground convulsed as frightfully as during the worst attacks, — the fit recurring every two minutes, leaving him totally unconscious during the intervals, — he was carried into the farm and laid upon some straw. I commenced the passes without his being in the slightest degree conscious. He lay motionless. A slight tremor only occurred at the usual intervals, which soon subsided, and he slept for nearly three hours, when I awakened him by the upward passes. He complained of head ache, having lain low upon the floor. I placed him in a chair, and a few passes threw him again into a deep sleep for two hours. He then walked home quite well! I mesmerised him at night, and he has since remained in perfect health. Edward Vivian. Woodfield, Torquay, Dec., 1845. Treatment of young woman with chronic abdominal ills From The Zoist, v. IV, no. 13 Sophia Jones, 32 years of age, dark brown hair, grey eyes, short stature, pale complexion, a dress-maker, was for two years subject to copious discharges of blood from the bowels. Sometimes the quantity amounted to a pint; occasionally there was mixed with the blood an amount of pus. There was a sense of constriction across the abdomen, and a soreness and pain increased on pressure in the right hypochondrium. This patient knew when she was to expect a loss of blood by an unusual tightness of the integuments of the head, and sometimes on these occasions her sight would fail her. She complained of great thirst and want of appetite. Her bowels were relaxed, the motions were very dark; the catamenia regular, but scanty in quantity and lasting only one day. She was much emaciated; coughed and expectorated matter, sometimes tinged with blood. She had a small thready pulse of 120…. She had been for eleven months an in-patient of the Middlesex Hospital, under the care of Dr. Wilson, and very nearly two years under various treatment at that establishment. The first time I saw her was on an occasion of my accompanying Dr. Wilson from the wards through the hospital passages, when he asked her how she was. She looked very cadaverous, and was much exhausted from the blood she had lost on that day. From the striking effects which mesmerism had produced in menorrhagia, I felt much disposed to try its efficiency in this case. Dr. Wilson was desirous too of the trials, and I appointed the next day at my own house for the experiment. At nine in the morning of the 20th of June, 1844, Sophia Jones first came to me. Under the operation of the fingers pointed to her eyes and of slow passes, she fell asleep in three minutes, and continued in a calm deep slumber for an hour and a quarter. The next day, three minutes sufficed to put her again into a tranquil sleep, which lasted upwards of two hours. She felt much disposed to lie down, and chose the hearth rug as the most convenient place for her repose. Here she soon began to chuckle and laugh, talked and got up to walk about the room. I gave her a glass of mesmerised water, and while I was mesmerising it, she exclaimed, “What beautiful bright-coloured spangles!” “Of what colour are they, and whence do they proceed?” she was asked. Her reply was, that “they were all the colours of the rainbow, and proceeded from my finger-ends to the surface of the water, which shone with a beautiful light. Oh, how delightful!” “Tell me,” I said, “what colours do you distinguish?” “There are red and yellow spangles among them, but most of them are blue and violet.” She drank the water, and was evidently much exhilarated by it. I made long passes from her head to her feet and she became very quiet, said that the room was so full of light she could not see anybody, she was so dazzled by the light. Shortly she put herself down on the hearth rug, and with the exception of a little fit of laughter now and then, continued the rest of her time in a calm sleep. In the course of a week, sleeping daily on her favorite rug and covered over with a horse blanket, her head resting on a cushion while I attended to other matters, her health was strikingly improved; and at the same time, she exhibited symptoms of progress in clairvoyance…. Sophia Jones had been mesmerised for more than three months daily; had, upon an average, slept for two hours each time. She lost her cough and expectoration; was very seldom troubled with discharges of blood from her bowels, and when the occurrence did take place it resulted in consequence of some error in diet, and was insignificant in quantity. She gained flesh, had colour in her cheeks, and was more cheerful in spirits…. John Ashburner, M.D. Three Cures of Epilepsy From The Zoist, v. IV, no. 16 27 Brock Street, Bath. December, 1846. Case I. — Charlotte Pearson, 23 years of age, residing at 33, Milk Street, Bath, was sent to me in March, 1845, by General White, a gentleman who takes great interest in mesmerism. The account I received from her mother was, that she had suffered from fits for the last three or four years, — that they occurred as frequently as five or six times a week, sometimes as often as to this amount in one day, and so violently that she required two or three persons to hold her; and that she had frequently injured herself during the attacks by falling suddenly against the wall, down the stairs, or into the fire-place. Up to the very time of my seeing her, she had continued to have these fits. The last was a most severe one, and her fall greatly bruised her face and temple. She had been under the care of a great many medical men; amongst others, the late Dr. Barlow, who pronounced her case incurable, and so extreme did I regard it, that I told her friends I could only hope to relieve. From this period I mesmerised her daily for three weeks, and afterwards three times a week for the same time, together about six weeks. The results have been as follow. During the first fortnight the fits were as frequent as previously, but not so severe. After the first fortnight they gradually diminished in number and became much less violent. This state of improvement continued until the end of the month. Since that period she has had no return, now above a year and a half. Her general health is much improved, bodily and intellectually; for she was becoming fatuitous. The contrast in her daily pursuits is striking and gratifying. Her mother is a charwoman, and was frequently obliged to give up two or three days a week to attend on her. The mother has since become infirm, and the daughter is now able to go out and earn her own living, and to assist towards the support of her mother. In the treatment of this case, simple sleep only was produced or sought for. She would remain for a long time quite passive, but could easily be aroused. The only marked sensible effect in her case, was the state of sleep or quiescence which followed during the day. She has been seen here by several parties who have kindly interested themselves in her behalf, and the results in all respects have afforded the most satisfactory evidence of the good accomplished. II. — Master Chapman, aged 13, was brought to me by his mother, residing at Primrose Hill, Bath, February 5, 1846, She stated that he had suffered from fits (apparently epileptic), more or less, for the last three years; that the attacks had sometimes continued for many months together, and sometimes returned with little intermission during a whole day, though not so frequently at present, but still he generally had three or four attacks daily; and that he had been under the care of several medical men of Bath, amongst others the late Dr, Barlow, by whom and at well as by the rest, his case had been pronounced hopeless. Previously to his being brought to me, he had been seen by Dr. Carter of Bath, who adopted mesmerism in his case for about three weeks; but as that gentleman soon afterwards left the place, the treatment was given up. Just before my being consulted, I was informed that he had several fits, though not quite so severe. I mesmerised him daily for the first fortnight, then three times a week for about two months, and then only twice a week for a month. He continued to improve rapidly; and has had no return whatever of his fits. During the excessive heat of this summer, he complained of faintness, but this feeling was soon removed by mesmerising him; and I occasionally mesmerised him during the warm weather. There were some peculiarities in this youth's case. At first, when mesmerised, he was quite taciturn; after a short period he became so loquacious that it was with difficulty he could be restrained. He was at times perfectly insensible to pain, so much so, that he had a tooth extracted without sensation …; at other times he was so highly sensitive as to be impressible by every external circumstance. He was also at times perfectly clairvoyant. His case was witnessed by a great number of individuals here, and, after the most rigid testing, they have been perfectly satisfied with the reality of the phenomena…. The most important point in the case, however, is the complete cessation of the fits, and the general improvement, bodily and intellectually, which has taken place. So great is this improvement, that he has resumed his school studies, which for three years had been completely interrupted. III. — As a sequel to these cases, I will now add the outlines of one, which, for the good accomplished, ought to rivet the attention of every conscientious practitioner. A respectable mechanic, a printer, was seized with epileptic fits about three years since. They continued so long and violently as to compel him to leave his occupation; and himself, his wife, and three children, were obliged to live on three shillings a week received from the Bristol Union. About this period, Mr. Lundie, a lecturer on mesmerism, sought out some extreme cases, and amongst others found that of this poor man, and mesmerised him for about a month. The patient was afterwards occasionally mesmerised by a volunteer, and by myself; and the effects were most striking. For the last eighteen months he has had no return whatever of his fits; and, instead of being the recipient of three shillings a week from the Union, he has been enabled to earn for the last eighteen months eighteen shillings a week in an iron factory. I should not report this case, as the patient was not my own, but that I can vouch for every particular. Yours obediently, Henry Stokes, M.D. Cure of Blindness by Miss Wallace From The Zoist, vol. 7, no. 26 ALEXANDER MASON, aged 8, was brought to me Dec. 5, 1846, by his mother – Mrs. Child, the wife of tailor in Curtain Road. She stated that his eyes did not, according to her nurse, appear at all diseased at his birth, but that some hours after, observing he did not open them, she raised the lids. Inflammation ensued, followed by a discharge of matter. Three weeks after her confinement, she took the child to Mr. Alexander, the oculist in Cork Street. After examination, father and son agreed that the sight of the right eye was entirely lost, but that the other might be materially improved, and that this was the utmost that could be expected; adding, that even of this Mrs. C. should feel very thankful. A course of treatment under the Messrs. Alexander was then commenced, and it was ascertained that the child could distinguish colours, &c., when held quite close to the left eye. Finding the improvement not progressive, Mrs. C. took her son to various hospitals and medical practitioners without any great results, and all were of opinion that one eye was gone beyond redemption. The child was finally received into the Ophthalmic Hospital, King William Street, Strand, where he underwent the most horrible torments termed surgical operations, and the gentlemen by whom they were performed were doubtless of the opinion of that portion of medical practitioners who, like Dr. Copland, consider pain a wise provision of nature and beneficial accompaniment of their practice, for no means were taken to render the unhappy child insensible to the horrors of being strapped down to a table surrounded by a number of students, and where he felt as if his eyes were turned out on his cheeks and a burning liquid poured into the sockets. This operation was repeated different times: he was then put to bed, his eyes bandaged up, the nostrils being open for respiration. After the lapse, I think, of three months, one of the nurses told his mother that she believed the sight was totally destroyed, but if it was not it would be, and cautioned her to remove him without compromising her, as she gave the advice from motives of humanity at the risk of losing her place. The child was removed and found to be “stone blind.” After a time, partial sight of the left eye was recovered, so that if a bright object was held close it could be dimly distinguished and one colour known from another. Mrs. Child having heard from her brother-in-law, who lived servant with us, of the various cures he had seen me perform on blind persons, brought her over to me on the 5th of December, 1846. He was led into the room, the front of his cap being broken as he had knocked his head against a lamp-post or tree. After my mesmerising him a few minutes he went into the mesmeric sleep, and was found to be insensible to the usual tests of pricking with a pin, tickling, &c. I rendered his arm rigid, and it remained extended during about an hour and a half. At the end of that time I roused him, when he exclaimed that he saw! I desired him to describe what he saw. He said he saw his uncle with his hands in his pockets, described the dress of a lady present, said her mitts were the colour of her hands (they were flesh coloured). Several things were shown him, of which he did not know the names. A silver fork he called a spoon, &c. A large bible lay on the table, and to the astonishment of all he named most of the letters in the holy bible. I found from his mother that at the infant school at Shoreditch he had learned some of the letters by feeling, as the blind are taught. A sensation of awe and wonder pervaded all present: his mother burst into tears, and expressed the most heartfelt thankfulness to God for this apparent miracle. The next morning I took the child to Dr. Elliotson. During the drive, I asked if he could distinguish any objects in the shop windows, but he could see nothing but what he called a white board in a well, (it was a round tin bathing tub.) I think that Dr. Elliotson said there was a cataract of one eye and opacity of the cornea in the other. Before I mesmerised him at Dr. Elliotson's house, he could not distinguish distant objects, and only saw those held close to his eyes. When roused, he described Dr. E.'s large dog without knowing at first what it was, and on returning to Kensington I found he could distinguish everything in the shop windows, describe all the carriages that passed, whether there were figures on them, colour of the horses, &c. From this time forward his sight continued gradually to improve, and in a few days he described the impression on a seal as a head, but not a head like ours – a stag’s head, and saw the letters on the inside of a watch…. Being anxious to know what Mr. Alexander would say to the cure effected, I took the boy to his house, and found he recollected him. On my telling him his sight was restored, he looked at his eves, and said he could not see much with the right eye, – the one with which he did see and which others pronounced incurably blind. Alick abruptly declared he saw much better with that eye than the other; which fact he announced very soon after his sight was restored. Mr. A. then enquired by what means sight had been restored. When I replied by mesmerism, he immediately denounced The Zoist as an atheistical publication which he never read, and said mesmerism was a d — d humbug, and if it was anything it came from the devil; pronounced all the reports of Dr. Esdaile’s cases as imposition, &c. &c. When I enquired by what agency he supposed Alick’s sight had been restored after only an hour and half's mesmeric sleep, he replied “by an effort of nature.” I have not heard anything of Alick since about six months after the cure was effected. I then heard his sight continued to improve, and that he was to learn the watch-making business from an uncle. Cure of Paralysis by Mr. WAGSTAFF, Surgeon, Leighton Buzzard. From The Zoist vol. 9, No. 34 I WAS called to see Mrs. Odell on the 17th of Nov. 1850. I found her suffering from paralysis of the whole voluntary muscular system to extent, but more especially of the right upper and lower extremities. She was quite conscious, but unable to move or to open her eyes, or even to speak except in a whisper. She complained of a great deal of pain in her back: and from the symptoms I considered she was suffering from some affection of the spinal cord. On consulting Mrs. Wagstaff on the case, she told me that there was paralysis of the muscular system of nerves, from want of tone or sudden cessation of tone in the parts of the chord that supplied the motor power to the muscles of the trunk and extremities: that the brain was not affected: and that it was not from inflammatory action. I attended her for about six weeks, up to Jan. 1, 1851, without apparent benefit, beyond restoring the power of speech. She went from my care to the Union medical man, Mr. Williams, I believe, who I am informed saw her once and sent his assistant once. Mr. Williams saw her, I heard, about Jan. 28, 1851, and his assistant about Feb. 18, 1851. I did not see her again until Feb. 26. On that day the husband requested me to see her once more to satisfy her. I had not at this time thought of mesmerising her, as I considered the case quite hopeless. When I saw her this time she had crawled to her sister, a distance of some fifteen or twenty yards. She then had complete paralysis of the right arm and hand: the limb being contracted and held across her chest: she could only use the right leg by drawing it after her along the ground, being quite unable to raise it or support herself on it. She managed to move by means of a stick and an assistant, but was otherwise quite helpless. She had, moreover, constant shaking of the right leg and foot. I tried to mesmerise her on this day by making passes down the spine: but without producing any perceptible change. I saw her again on the 29th (Saturday) and endeavoured to put her to sleep; and, after some twenty-five or thirty minutes, I found her in a deep sleep and quite unconscious. I let her sleep some little time and then awoke her; and found considerable difficulty in so doing. When she awoke she complained that we had been doing something to her arm; that it felt, as she called it, ”all pins and needles.” However, she could feel with the arm and hand and could move it a little. I mesmerised her to sleep every second day until the following Saturday or Sunday: at the end of the fourth sleep (I sometimes left her asleep for four or five hours) she could use the right arm as well as the left, and the jerking of the leg had quite subsided. She cut some bread and butter with the right arm and hand after the second sleep. The lameness was nearly gone after the seventh or eighth sleep, after which time I did not see her for three weeks. She had not improved at all during these three weeks: but had rather retrograded. I recommenced the sleep, and she improved again: so that she became, and now is, quite well. About ten days since, in consequence of getting cold she had severe lumbago, so that she neither slept nor even lay down for several days. When sent for to see her, I could scarcely get her to bed. I put her into the sleep and left her: and, when she awoke she was free from pain, and is this day quite well. During all this time she took no medicine, except a little oxymel for her cough, and only a few doses of that. I think, taking all the circumstances of the case into consideration, that Mrs. Wagstaff's opinion is quite borne out in the case. Deafness from childhood by Mr. Saunders, Bristol From The Zoist volume 8, no. 29 In May, 1846, Charles Chiffinch of Combe Down, near Bath, a lad about 14 years of age, was sent to me for the purpose of being mesmerised for a severe deafness of both ears from childhood. His parents being poor, he earned his livelihood by breaking stones upon the parish road, but some of his relations told me that, if I could restore his hearing, they would endeavour to apprentice him to some trade. I accordingly tried to send him into the sleep; but, finding no susceptibility, I (as I usually do) at once attacked the disease by breathing into the ears, not as is frequently done through a glass tube – a mode which I think from experience bas but little effect – but with the open mouth, as close as possible to the ear, and in such a manner as to prevent the external air from penetrating the passage. I made, also, many passes from the ear to the shoulder; and, after treating him in this manner every other day for about six weeks, his hearing became perfectly restored. His friends apprenticed him to a shoemaker near Castle Cary, and last September some parties from Combe Down called upon me to inform me (having themselves received great benefit from mesmerism) that Charles Chiffinch had lately been on a visit to them, was getting on very well with his trade, and had no return of his deafness since I mesmerised him four years ago. During the time I was mesmerising this lad, a somewhat singular occurrence took place. Mrs. Saunders was sitting one day behind my patient, and, being very susceptible, went into the mesmeric sleep with one of her feet resting upon the rung of his chair. When I had finished the sitting, be left me, stating that his hearing was more improved that day than any other on which I had operated upon him. I then woke up Mrs. Saunders, and to my astonishment found she was completely deaf in both ears. I, however, by making reverse passes, and blowing strongly into the ears, succeeded, in a few minutes, in completely restoring her hearing. I merely mention this latter fact to shew the necessity of very susceptible persons not going too near or touching parties who are being mesmerised for any particular disease. |