Benefit in a wound and in an abscess. 35 friend's house in the evening of the 18th of April, 1854, and finding it rather cold put his hands in his pockets and made an effort to run. Before he had gone many paces, he fell on his face, and was so stunned that he knew not how he got up or found his way home. His face was covered with blood, which being washed off, he recovered his consciousness, but was in such agony that he lost not a moment in coming to my house accompanied by a friend. On examining him, I found he had received a cut (probably from a flint-stone) at the root of the nose, through the skin to the bone, and extending towards each eye. There were several small abrasions on the forehead, and a considerable extravasation of blood around the eyes. As the wound had been cleaned, I applied a piece of gold-beater's skin to it, and began to mesmerise the part. In less than two minutes Mr. J— exclaimed that the effect was perfectly wonderful; that, having been in an agony of pain, he was now perfectly free from it. He was mesmerised daily for a week, when there was not a vestige left of the injury he had received. X. Chronic Abscess. Edward Coleman, aged 11 years, of the parish of St. Olave, Exeter, had always been a healthy boy, till September 1852, when he cut his foot whilst bathing, and soon afterwards abscesses began to form in the upper part of the thigh and groin. These became so troublesome and intractable that his friends procured his admittance into the Devon and Exeter Hospital on the 10th of February, 1853. There he remained for seventeen weeks, when he was made an out-patient, and he continued his occasional attendance at the hospital till August 17th, when he was discharged as cured. Within a few days after this, another deep-seated abscess burst in the groin. At the end of August, at the request of the Rev. Douglas Boutflower, assistant curate of the parish, I called to see him, and found the lad with seven sores in the upper part of the thigh and groin, from most of which there was a constant and copious discharge. Not many days elapsed before another abscess burst. I had him mesmerised daily, and at the end of six weeks there was no discharge from any of the sores, his general health was much improved, he was able to take long walks in the country. He remains quite well to this date. Exeter, December 2nd, 1854. JOHN BATTISHILL PARKER. III. An account of Native Mesmerism in India, by a resident.* Communicated by William Neilan, Esq., Corresponding Secretary of the Edinburgh Mesmeric Curative Association. "Even among uncivilized nations foreknowledge and divination exist; for an Indian, named Calanus, when about to die and ascending the burning pile, exclaimed, O what a glorious removal from this world; for, as in the case of Hercules, my mind will pass into life when my mortal body is burnt.' On Alexander desiring him to say what he wished, Excellent Sir,' he replied, 'I shall see you shortly again.' And so it turned out, for Alexander died at Babylon a few days afterwards."- -Cicero on Divination, part i.† THE city of Madura, situated in southern India, is celebrated for being the most ancient seat of Brahminical learning in Hindostan. It is still revered by the natives as a place of no ordinary sanctity; and the Brahmins connected with the four principal pagodas still existing there are looked npon as the literati of their class, being well versed in Sanscrit literature, which, as is well known in Europe, is chiefly of a moral and legislative nature, and they are on this account appealed to on all occasions of dispute among the lower classes. They are also venerated as being adepts in all the mystical arts and ancient sciences of the East. Among the most practically useful of these, on account of the large revenue derived from it, is astrology, which is in universal application among Hindoos of all orders. The Brahmins of Madura practise divination in all its most occult forms, and there is nothing more certain than that mesmerism with all its modern improvements and discoveries has been known and practised by this very race of Brahmins from the most remote ages. They are, however, so extremely jealous of Europeans, and so averse to the dissemination of their sacred knowledge, which they say was given to their race by Brahma himself, that it is only those who have for years been favourably situated for observing their habits and acquirements and who have sought for information on this particular subject, that can gain any insight into their mysteries; and thus it is that so little is really * The gentleman is known to one of the Editors. But, as the memoir is published without his knowledge, it is not felt right to mention his name.—Zoist. "Est profecto quiddam etiam in barbaris gentibus præsentiens atque divinans, si quidem ad mortem proficiscens Calanus Indus, quum adscenderet in rogum ardentem, 'O præclarum discessum,' inquit, e vita! quum ut Herculi contigit, mortali corpore cremato, in lucem animus excesserit.' Quumque Alexander eum rogaret, si quid vellet, ut diceret, Optime,' inquit, propediem te videbo.' Quod ita contigit; nam Babylone paucis post diebus Alexander est mortuus."-De Divinatione, l. i., 23. Indian belief of the power of the will. 37 known of the present state of learning among the high castes of India. One of their most fixed and popular opinions is, that, at the creation of this world, Brahma endowed mankind with a portion of his power: he breathed into their nostrils the breath of life, and acquainted them with the power they possessed of imparting a portion of that life to others by means of the will simply, but more particularly by the power of the eyes, and the motion of the hand. They were also taught to do wondrous things by the "force of the mind," as they call it. A number of them were told to meet together and to concentrate their prayers for the accomplishment of any particular object, willing at the same time powerfully that it should be done. Many important historical events are attributed to these meetings, and at the present day it is asserted by the Brahmius themselves that this is one of their most important and wonderful privileges. I have been told that the ceremony is performed in the following manner when it is simply confined to one pagoda, which is generally the case except in popular movements. Three Brahmins, being seated round a stone in front of their idol, cross hands in such a manner as to form a triangle. Still retaining their hold of each other, they elevate their hands until these are level with their heads, and lowering them suddenly, and as often raising them again, they commence their invocations with the sacred word "Ōme," and concentrate the whole energy of their minds upon what they are intent upon accomplishing. They sometimes all three go off into a state of trance, at least such is the only meaning of the explanation given to me; and the way they account for this peculiar state is by the belief they entertain and express that a man has two distinct sets of perceptive faculties, viz., an internal and external one, and that, when they concentrate their minds intently upon any particular abstract idea, the latter becomes closed, and the interior sense opens and is then capable of viewing things immaterial and spiritual. This seems to be analogous to the lucidity of modern mesmerism. In that state the Brahmins assert that they can travel mentally to any distance, see through stone walls, and, in fact, from the simplicity of their food and their highly sensitive physical and mental structure, they seem to be clairvoyants of a high order. It is an indisputable fact that the news of the disasters in Affghanistan in 1840 and 1841, and more particularly the defeat of some of our troops at Ali Musjeed in the Kyber Pass, was known and spoken of in the bazars of Southern India before the news had reached Calcutta, 38 Influence of the eyes. They have numerous ceremonies of the same kind, all proving the fixed and inborn belief that there is a peculiar mental power inherent in man, acting upon other bodies in an unseen manner, and causing effects corresponding with the force and energy of will employed. Thus in every garden in India where there is anything growing under native cultivation, singular-looking clay pots, painted white, and often spotted, are to be observed. On enquiring of a Madura Brahmin what was the use of those pots, he explained that that from every man's eyes there issued a peculiar emanation, -"avee;" literally white vapour, which flows in streams according to the direction of the visual rays, as they may justly be called in this case; and, as this influence in some people is very malignant and injurious to the growth of plants, the pots are elevated on poles a little above what is growing, in order that the attention of the person looking may be taken off from the plants below to the singular-looking object immediately above them. Their idea thus seems to be that the former are protected from injury, much in the same manner as a house is protected from lightning by means of the interposition of some better conducting substance, which absorbs and carries away the destructive fluid. The emanation, or "avee," from the eye of man, and also from the eye of a peculiar kind of rock snake, which, by means of intense gazing, fascinates its prey, is nowhere doubted in the East. Reverting again to the clairvoyant state so commonly spoken of in India: it is very interesting to know that what Mr. Braid, of Manchester, calls hypnotism, has for ages been known and practised throughout the length and breadth of this land. It is done in this manner: when any particular information is desired regarding stolen property, &c.: a person sits down and gazes steadily for half an hour or more upon a shining mixture of cocoa-nut oil and charcoal, which is of an intense and beautiful black. In probably half the time alluded to, the person's external sense is dormant, and the windows of the inner mind are opened to see sights beyond the power of mortal vision. There is still wanting something however to direct the internal perception to what is needed at the time, and accordingly another person waives his hands behind the entranced one's back, and suggests the visions which he is to see on the surface of the charcoal. The same party then slowly puts his questions, making passes at the same time. The following is a type of this peculiar method, which happened within my own knowledge. A native in Palamcottah being anxious for the safety of They induce Clairvoyance. 39 his brother, who had left some days previously for Madras, through a country in which cholera was raging with fearful virulence, demanded a sitting of a friend of his over the oil and charcoal, and caused the following questions to be put to him while in the oblivious state. Q. Where is my brother?" A. "Sitting under a tamarind-tree, near a tank.” A. "Yes; there is a large village and a pagoda." A. "Why do you ask me such a question: what does a name mean ?" Q. "Do you see my brother clearly?" A. "Yes." Q. "What is he doing?" A. "Going to eat his rice." Q. "What kind of turban has he on ?" At this juncture the man broke off questioning, as he declared that his brother never had on a red turban in his life. A letter however came shortly afterwards from his brother, dated from Madura, in which he stated, that at a certain place on the road, which we all well knew, he had bought a red turban for six rupees, and hoped that his brother would overlook the extravagance, as he needed something to cheer him on such a gloomy and dangerous path. There is a large tamarind-tree close by a tank at the place alluded to, which I have myself slept under in my palanquin, and I have therefore no doubt of the vision being genuine as far as it goes. Stolen goods are continually being recovered in this manner. It is a very well known fact now in England, that many of the Hindoo fakeers have the power of throwing themselves into a state of spontaneous catalepsy, as our doctors are fain to call it, in the absence of a better name, but which is in reality a mesmeric state, induced in many susceptible individuals by intense gazing, and also by a peculiar power of abstraction, which seems to be inherent in some constitutions among the inhabitants of Eastern climes, and which is referred to repeatedly by many of the old Hindoo and Persian authors, and is also to be found spoken of in the records of Ancient Egypt, as well as in the traditions of Armenia, all of which countries, in the primitive ages, abounded with mystical knowledge, much of which is lost at the present day from the influx of more sordid and worldly ideas, consequent upon |