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    Nature never teaches distrust of tender love-tales , What < Mn hare 'aught her distru > t of all my vows ? No , she does not doubt me ! on a dewy eve-tide Whispering together beneath the listening moon , I piay'd till her cheek flush'd , implored till she faltered—< Fluttered to my bosom— ah ! to fly away so soon " When her mother tends her before the laughing mirror , Tying up her laces , looping up her hair , Often she thinks—were this wild thing wedded , I should have more love , and much less care . . When hpr mother tends her before the bashful mirror ,

    Loosening her laces , combing down her curls , Often she thinks—were this wild thing wedded , I should lose but one for so many boys and girls . " Deckar , in one of his chaotic plays , uses the quaint but truthful simile , " untameabie as flies ; the same observation of Nature is implied in Mr . Meredith ' s" Then Winter , he who tamed the fly !" But the verse is rather quaint than poetic , inasmuch as it is throwing Winter into insignificance to select fly-taming as the characteristic of its power . We noticed other examples of this same tendency ; but the whole volume is too obviously a collection of trifles to demand close criticism . We notice it because the workmanship of these trifles is elegant and fanciful .

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    MESMERIC TEACHERS . Somnolism and Psycheism ; or the Science of the Soul and the Phenomena of Nervation , as revealed by Vital Magnetism , or Mesmerism , considered Physiologically and Philosophically . By Joseph W . Haddock , M . D . Second Edition . J . S . Hodson . Our readers know that the Facts of Mesmerism meet with little scepticism from us , and that the theories with which men seek to establish a science —prematurely , indeed , but nevertheless , honestlyare respectfully listened to . There are many facts in Mesmerism , and those cardinal , which we find it impossible to doubt ; but there are many facts reported which we find it as impossible to believe upon any evidence yet offered ; indeed , we must say , that a writer who can consent to publish such narratives as some of the Mesmeric teachers insolently throw down before the world , with a believethis - or - be - accounted - a - bigot - and - opponent- oftruth air , ought not to be surprised if they are laughed at . and held as impostors . These men are the real obstructors to the progress of their science . It is they who bring discredit upon it . The grand phrases about the martyrs of science have almost ceased to have significance . Men are avid of novelty j but they hate pretension now as of old . They are willing enough to accept facts upon acceptable evidence ; but are properly sceptical of astounding novelties when the intellectual condition of the reporter is such as to throw suspicion on hi . s statements .

    It is easy to talk of Galileo and Harvey . Every man who invents a brass candlestick , or improved shaving-strop , which people refuse to employ , rails at the " bigotry of the age , " exclaiming , E pur si muove J Every unread poet is neglected , " like Milton "; every bad musician recalls the fate of Beethoven . But all this railing is ineffective ; the world goes its own way , sweeps majestic through its orbit , quite undisturbed by these apostrophes . Give us facts and experiments in Mesmerism , not such as may be vouched by " highly respectable , "

    perfectly credulous , and stupid witnesses , hut such as cany with them a weight of evidence proportionate to the demand made upon belief—throw your doors open wide to impartial investigation—« eek to get at the real truth , and do not patch up cases—allow sceptics to place their own conditions— 'and then we will vouch for there being no inordinate scepticism on the part of the public . 15 ut , if instead of doing thin . Mesmerists confine themselves to private performances , money-making exhibitions , and writing foolish hooks , then public

    scepticism ih a virtue . Dr . Gregory ' s Letters to a Candid Inquirer , recently reviewed by us , is a bqok to advance the Hubjccf ;; throughout you fuel an unfeigned respect for the author , and Una given weight to his opinions , even when your own conviction most widely separates from them . It ' in quite clear that Dr . Gregory wishes to get at the truth ; them i . n no trace of the charlatan in Inn book ; and even when he reports astounding facts , you do not turn aside in disgust , but wish that you could yourself haw been present to have seen what it really wan that has ho shaped itnelf in hia miiuL Dr , Haddock ' s book ia by no means of this class . He ia altogether an unprepossessing writer .

    I It may be literary prejudice , but we cannot help suspecting the statements of a man who writes such a style as Dr . Haddock writes ; not simply because it is a flaccid style , without life as without colour , but because such loose writing implies inaccurate thinking . A man of science is not bound to write with the felicity of phrase which we demand in literature ; but if he writes in a commonplace and slipshod style , it is because be thinks in that style . We may explain ourselves , perhaps , by saying that Dr . Gregory ' s book made us feel cautious about our scepticism ; Dr . Haddock ' s made us cautious about our belief . Dr . Gregory will make converts ; Dr . Haddock will make just opponents . All that relates to the history and philosophy of Mesmerism in this volume is feeble . To give you a sample of his philosophy we quote this—EXPl ^ ANATION OP CLAIRVOYANCE . " But opacity is no barrier to the perceptions of internal sight ;—that is , when this internal faculty is fully developed , and its subject in a proper state . Objects to which the mind may be directed , either designedly or spontaneously , will be equally visible through doors and walls , as if placed directly before the face . Nay more , speaking from experience , to the higher stages of clairvoyance there seems , comparatively speaking , no bounds ; for , whether the object sought be in the same house , or town , or country , or across the broad atlantic or pacific oceans , it appears to be found and seen with equal facility , and to be equally near to the internal perception of the truly clairvoyant individual . The human body is seen as clearly , and its living actions described as plainly , as if the external and internal parts were alike as transparent as glass , and this , at times , without any bodily connection , such as by bringing the clairvoyant and the person to be examined together , but when many miles have intervened between them .

    <( But here a marked difference between external and internal sight may be pointed out : external sight is essentially of a passive character ; internal sight as essentially active . It is true , a certain degree of attention is necessary in order to our distinctly seeing objects , inasmuch as an object maybe directly before us , and yet not observed . But the image of the object is imprinted on the retina , although , from the concentration of the mind on some other subject , the sensation is not perceived . When , however , the mind is unoccupied , we cannot help seeing such objects as are within therange ' of vision , the impression is made , and the sensation is experienced . Both the light and the impiession come from without , wholly independant of our volition , and the object may be said

    t . ) come to the eye . But in internal vision , the sight , as it were , goes to the object . The light , or that which to the clairvoyant is analogous to light , is projected from within ; an active exercise of volition takes place ; as the spark flit's from the excited electric machine , so the perception seems , as it were , to seek the corresponding sensation . This active character of internal vision I have repeatedly noticed , and the elairvoyante in whom I perceived it , hns also said that , to her perception , light issued from the brain ; at other times , that all things seemed light , but that the light did not appear like either day light , or artificial light , but something brighter and more intense . This , of course , when the faculty was at its fullest state of development . "

    For the sake of bringing this expl mation within the accepted theories of Mesmerism , and of presenting the reader with a compendious statement of the actual condition of the science , we have drawn up the following : — There is in nature a universally diffused fluid or force , called Odyle . It is a bluish light ; and is intelligent , if not omniscient . ( Vide Leader , No . ( iO . ) When the brain is in ita normal condition , this odyle comes from external objects , and communicates to the brain certain truths relating to those objects ; but if by chance the brain is in un abnormal condition , then the odyle passes from the brain to the objects ( no matter how many thousand

    miles removed in point of space , nor how many hundred years in point of time ) . and having once reached the objects , returns again to the brain and communicates tho results of its inquiries . The sailors who accompany Sir John Franklin see him : the odylo passes from him to them ; but " Emma , " at Hoi ton , soon Sir John Franklin in the polar regions : the odyle pannes from her to him . That is all the difference-. Major Buckley ' s friend seen a ring , the odyle passes from it to Iuk brain ; but the mesmerized patient wees tho ring , und then the odyle pauses from her to tho ring , and ' backward thrf ffjg h the eonturicH till it alight upon Mary Queen of Scots , and David Rizzio I Now , when a *¦ party "—to use Dr . Haddock ' m favourite vulgarism .- — ncba forth u philosophy like that in a style liko Dr . Huddpck ' a , who can wonder if other " parties" regmd thia " party" un perhaps on tb « whole an oV » taclo to the progress of

    mesmeric science ? Who can wonder if " fac T * » are received with suspicion when they are of th ' kind : — dls Once , a gentleman asked me unexpectedly j n neighbour ' s house , several doors from mine , to m a meriae him ; I tried , but did not succeed . ' r S * turning home , I found Emma in the mesmeric 8 tat " and , upon inquiry , discovered that she had gone inf ' that state while engaged with needle-work , and ? the time I was endeavouring to mesmerise the ' gentl HI £ 111 On another occasion , Dr . Haddock , while visit . ing a patient who was suffering from delirium

    tremetis , tried the soothing influence of mesmerism and on his return home found " Emma" had gone into the mesmeric state at the very moment he was operating on his patient . He has no misgivings The possibility of deceit or of coincidence never strikes him . His own power of mesmerism does it all . Distance is nothing to him ; cannot the od y le travel faster than lightning ? Yet Dr . Haddock , so credulous of his own facts is somewhat severe upon poor Cahagnet , whom we reviewed last week : —

    " Having repeatedly been asked for my opinion , I now very briefly advert to another work , quite the opposite to that just referred to ; I mean Cahag net ' t Celestial Telegraph ; or , ihe Secrets of the Oilier Life unveiled , # c . If Miss Martineau and her coadjutor are deficient in faith , Oahagnet certainly is not ; but with him faith degenerates into credulity . In the absence of all personal knowledge it would be wrong to assert any want of honesty , or intention to deceive . But I have very great doubt as to the dependence which can be placed upon Cahagnet and his coadjutors as careful and trustworthy observers . The

    tendency to the marvellous is so evident , that even their soberest relations must be received with great caution . When , in the second volume , we find him speaking of material substances , such as lost jewels , boxes , &c , being brought from a distance and transported with the velocity of lightning through space , at the potent command , or spell , of certain mesmeric or magic individnals ; and again of showers of stones descending through impossible places , or in the way of miracle , we may reasonably question the judgment , if not the honesty , of a writer , who could gravely narrate such , things . "

    Really we do not see where Dr . Haddock draws the line . " That material substances should be brought from a distance with the velocity of lightning , by mere volition of a mesmerized patient , is certainly not on the face of ita very credible story ; but we do not see why the judgment and honesty of the narrator should be doubted by a man who narrates such stories as Dr . Haddock narrates in this volume . If he imagines that his stories are much more credible , or related in a more authoritative style , we feel it a kindness to undeceive him . The best are too long for extract , but this will 6 erve our turn : —

    " The following experiment was interesting , as affording some clue to the mode by which distant objects were perceived , a ? id clearly showing the possibility of a clairvoyant ' s being able to perceive the active sentiments or ideas of the mind of a distant individual . I had directed Emma's attention to a female relative in London ; she speedily found her , and began to describe her residence , &e . ; butsuddenly her attention ceaned to be directed to my relative , and she became engrossed with- the description of a magnificent residence , with its elegant und costly furniture ; a lady lying in a superb bed ; a beautifully

    dresHed baby ; well dressed ladies in und about the room , and another room in which were older children , also beautifully dressed , and attended by ladies . From many replies to my inquiries , I considered that the only pluco to which her impassioned descriptions could refer was Buckingham Palace , for the aecouchinent of tho Queen hud then recently occurred I therefore mud , with the view of ascertaining tho correctness of my conjecture , ' Do you nee any soldiers there ? ' ' Yes , ' > -he replied , ' there arc . soldiers ut the door . ' I then wnv that my conjecture might he correct ; but why she nhould have spontaneously gonr there , without any request or desire on mypi " ! or the most remote idea of making royalty the Miojuct of l

    experiment , was a myHteiy . J 5 ut after I » * informed my relative of the occunenee , I obtained the clue , to Urn seemingly mysterious transition from one subject to another ; for J was informed that she had been thinking of the interesting circumstances tit which t / m Queen was then placed , and aluo of the t : iui <>' faculty of my Bolton cluii voynnte , and felt desirotm to know whether Emma had the power to visit and describe the interior of the palace at thut time . The cause , therefore , of 1 ' jinnm ' n unexpected visit to royalty wrh this : my relative had wished her to go there ; when brought into muHinerio connection with her , the active sentiment of her mind wan coinmumcntud to EminiiH mind , and by thiu moans her attention w »» uneonociouuly directed ( , o tho royal residence . But t" « wuh further confirmation that thia was tho true c » u « c ,

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    636 file H $ fl ) in [ Saturday ,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), July 5, 1851, page 636, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1890/page/16/