Detective and mystery stories; English fiction -- 19th century
His medical adviser also, though himself professing belief in
mesmerism, gave a similar opinion, while at the same time he obviated
the difficulty respecting the mesmeric treatment of Mrs. Anderton, by
offering an introduction to "one of the most powerful mesmerists in
Europe," who had recently arrived in London, and who eventually proved
to be the so-styled Baron R**.
This introduction appears to have finally decided Mr. Anderton
against the Dresden expedition; and, after a brief experience of
his manipulations, Mrs. Anderton herself seems to have derived, in
imagination at least, more benefit from them than even from those of
her late attendant. So thoroughly were they both impressed with the
beneficial results of the Baron's "passes," &c., that Mr. Anderton, who
had now resolved to settle in London for the autumn and winter, went so
far as to take a ready-furnished house at Notting Hill, for the express
purpose of having his new professor in his immediate neighbourhood.
Here the _séances_ were continued often twice or three times a day,
and though, of course, no one in his senses could really attribute
such a result to the exercises of the Baron, it is certain that, from
some cause or other, the health of Mrs. Anderton continued steadily to
improve.
Matters had continued in this position for some weeks, when objections
were raised by some of Mr. Anderton's relations to what they not
unnaturally considered the very questionable propriety of the
proceeding. There seems to have been a good deal of discussion on this
point in which, however, Mr. Anderton's constitutional susceptibility
finally carried the day against his newly conceived predilections
with respect to, a practice so obviously calculated to expose him to
unpleasant comment. The Baron, however, was not disposed so easily
to relinquish a patient from whom he derived such large and regular
profits. On being made acquainted with the decision respecting the
cessation of his visits, he at once declared that his own direct
manipulations were unnecessary, and that, if considered improper
for one of the opposite sex, they could easily be made available at
second-hand.
Having once swallowed the original imposition, any additional absurdity
was of course easily disposed of, and it was now determined to
avoid all occasion for offence; Mrs. Anderton should henceforth be
operated upon through the medium of a certain Mademoiselle Rosalie, a
_clairvoyante_ in the employment of the Baron, who, after being placed
"_en rapport_" with the patient, was to convey to her the benefit of
the manipulations to which she was herself subjected by the operator.
Into the precise _modus operandi_ I need not now enter, but will
only remark upon the fresh instance of the extraordinary powers
of imagination displayed in the still more rapid improvement of
Mrs. Anderton under this new form of treatment, and the marvellous
"sympathy" so rapidly induced between her and the Baron's "medium."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account