Popular Superstitions, and the Truths Contained Therein: With an Account of MesmerismMayo, Herbert
History
Popular Superstitions, and the Truths Contained Therein: With an Account of Mesmerism
Mayo, Herbert
Mesmerism; Parapsychology and medicine; Superstition
I have preferred giving additional and unpublished evidence of the
wonderful control which can thus be “suggestively” exercised over the
belief of a person in trance-umbra, to quoting Professor Gregory’s
most interesting cases, for which the reader must consult his recent
valuable work. In the sixth letter in the present volume, (that on
Somnambulism,) I have exemplified the manifestation of the same
phenomena in the case of the sleep-walker Negretti. As a large number
of persons can be thrown easily into the state of trance-umbra; and
as then they are totally in the power of the operator, it is surely
most desirable that this and the parallel easily induced conditions
of the frame should be made subjects of careful observation and study
by many competent persons, in order that the conditions necessary to
their induction may be exactly ascertained, and made public, for the
protection of society.
Of equal interest is the discovery that clairvoyance may be manifested
in the state of trance-umbra. Major Buckley is spoken of by Professor
Gregory as a gentleman possessing mesmerising force of a remarkable
quality and degree. It appears that he had been long in the habit of
producing magnetic sleep, and clairvoyance in the sleep, before he
discovered that, in his subjects, the sleep might be dispensed with.
Dr. Gregory gives the following account of his present method:—
“Major B. first ascertains whether his subjects are susceptible, by
making, with his hand, passes above and below their hands, from the
wrist downwards. If certain sensations, such as tingling, numbness,
&c., are strongly felt, he knows that he will be able to produce the
magnetic sleep. But to ascertain whether he can obtain conscious
clairvoyance, he makes slow passes from his own forehead to his own
chest. If this produce a blue light in his face, strongly visible, the
subject will probably acquire conscious clairvoyance. If not, or if
the light be pale, the subject will only become clairvoyant in the
sleep, (that is, when in perfect trance.) Taking those subjects who see
a very deep blue light, he continues to make passes over his own face,
and also over the object—a box or a nut, for instance—in which written
or printed words are enclosed, which the clairvoyante is to read. Some
subjects only require a pass or two to be made: others require many.
They describe the blue light as rendering the box or nut transparent,
so that they can read what is inside. This reminds us of the curious
fact mentioned by Von Reichenbach, that bars of iron or steel, seen
by conscious sensitives, without any passes, shining in the dark with
the Od glow, appeared to them transparent like glass. If too many
passes are made by Major B., the blue light becomes so deep that they
cannot read, and some reverse passes must be made to render the colour
of the light less deep. Major Buckley has thus produced conscious
clairvoyance in eighty-nine persons, forty-four of whom have been able
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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