“You know what an excitement there has been about mesmerism in Paris this summer? A lion tamer, who was also a mesmerist, took into his cages a young lady whom he had mesmerized, and made his dentate pets jump over her on the floor. There was great excitement about it, and a law was passed in the French Congress, I believe, forbidding such exhibitions, even where the consent of the subject had been obtained previously to losing consciousness.
“This letter will be in the nature of a confession. Last spring, discovering by accident that I could mesmerize, I took up mesmerism as a diversion for the amusement of myself and friends. I had long believed in it entirely and carefully watched its processes, but I wished to study its philosophy and find out, if I could, the cause and the limits of its mysterious phenomena.
“I first found that I could, by placing my hand on the forehead of a young acquaintance and accompanying the slight pressure with an imperative command, close his eyes and keep them firmly closed against all efforts of his will. I could compel him to dance or keep him from moving from his tracks; could prevent his rising from his chair; prevent his striking his hands together, and, at last, could prevent him from speaking. In fact, I absolutely controlled his voluntary muscles in every respect, and could compel him to do anything that he was physically capable of doing.
“Extending the experiments, I obtained the same control over others, both men and women, till I had quite a class of sensitives so responsive that I could control them with ease. Up to this time they were all perfectly conscious and without any hallucinations; they knew who they were, where they were and what they were doing, and they laughed as heartily at the absurd results obtained as any spectator. Up to this time, too, I had no means of ascertaining whether the apparent results were genuine. I might be the dupe of cunning people who were conspiring to fool me, for, in these early stages, there seems to be no way of scientifically proving it.“It was some time before I was able to carry the experiments further and get control of the consciousness and senses of my class. At last success came. I made them see and hear mosquitoes and fight the tormentors with great energy. At this point they became dazed, and it was easy to command their senses in other respects. At a suggestion they heard music, the noises of a riot, a thunderstorm, the roaring of lions, a speech by Col. Ingersoll, and they gradually came to see vividly anything to which I directed their attention. In this world of hallucination they lost consciousness—or, rather, they abandoned their real existence and assumed an abnormal existence, as one does in a dream.
“I am not yet certain whether this strange condition is imposed on them by my will, or whether it is self-imposed, subjective, and the result of expectation on their part. I am inclined to believe the latter theory is true, because, when I direct their attention to a horse, for instance, each one sees a different sort of horse, and his head is in different directions.
“By a few additional passes I can induce a cataleptic state, in which the sensitive becomes perfectly rigid and can be laid out between two chairs, his head on one and his heels on another, like a log. They can also be easily made insensible to pain, so that pins are stuck through their hands, teeth drawn, and painful but harmless acids put in the eye, without extorting a sign of feeling. In this way, and others even more conclusive, I have demonstrated the good faith of my class.
“I have given several receptions for the entertainment of my friends, and record here some results for the benefit of those in other cities who choose to try similar experiments.
“The available class now consists of eight—four gentlemen and four ladies, from seventeen to forty years of age. Two of these (both ladies) I have never been able to take into the region of hallucinations. I can control them physically, can prevent their unclasping their hands, or laying down a fan, or rising from their chairs, or pronouncing their own names; but here my influence stops. I cannot make them think that the room is hot or cold, or that mosquitoes are prevalent, or disturb the testimony of their senses in any way.
“The other six are lost to the realities of life the instant I touch them. One of them I can put into a sound sleep in a second, and he will sleep until I awaken him.
“It should be stated here that these sensitives are above the average of intelligence and mental activity. Three of them are clerks in the departments, one, who took the valedictory in college, being an artist in the Smithsonian. Two are in business for themselves; one of them, a shrewd, sagacious and level-headed man as one would meet anywhere, with a sharp commercial turn of mind. This man differs from the others in being keenly incredulous—sceptical of his hallucinations when they seem unreasonable.
“For instance, at a reception the other evening, at which the members of the Cabinet were present with their families, I introduced to my sensitives a learned pig.“‘See here!’ I said, when they were all in the mesmeric trance; ‘here you are in my dime museum. Let me show you my educated pig.’
“They all wanted to see it, and I whistled, snapped my fingers, and called their attention to the fine animal before them. They evidently saw it.
“‘A lovely little white pig!’ said a young lady.
“‘Only it isn’t little and it isn’t white,’ said the silversmith; ‘it is a big black fellow,’ and he appealed to the others.
“I explained that it was a scarlet pig, and told them it could read and sing.
“‘Sing! Oh yes, we hear you!’ said the incredulous man sarcastically.
“I snapped my fingers. ‘There he goes!’ said the artist, ‘singing ‘Wait till the Clouds Roll By.’’
“‘I hear singing,’ said Incredulous, turning to me. ‘‘Titwillow,’ isn’t it? How do you work him—the machinery, I mean?’
“The others laughed at him. ‘Why, the pig sings,’ said the young lady; ‘can’t you hear him sing? can’t you see him sing?’
“‘He looks as if he sang. I see his jaws move, and he sounds as if he sang,’ persisted Incredulous; ‘but he doesn’t sing. Pigs don’t sing.’
“‘Very well, what is it, then?’ asked one of the clerks, triumphantly.
“‘A tube and a hole in the floor, may be; it’s well done, though,’ said the doubter.
“‘Suppose you go and find the tube,’ suggested the artist.
“He went and kicked around where he supposed it to be, tore up a piece of the carpet and looked nonplussed.
“‘Yonder’s the pig over by the entrance, singing ‘A Warrior Bold,’’ said the artist, amid laughter.
“The scoffer came back to his seat and said,
“‘It’s probably ventriloquism.’
“‘Aw!’ said the silversmith derisively, ‘you can’t throw the voice any such distance nor make it sound clear and sweet like that. I’ve made a study of ventriloquism.’
“‘Well, I’ve made a study of pig,’ said Incredulous obstinately.
“Then I changed the illusion by making the pig’s ear grow out three feet long, and then turning him into an elephant with one leg and four tails.
“Sometimes I turn my class into infants and have them ‘play school,’ with infinite fun; sometimes I transport them over the seas to Africa or Japan on my enchanted carpet, where for a brief space they enjoy all the delights of travel; sometimes we participate in battles, sometimes visit famous picture galleries, sometimes the artist enjoys a quiet talk with Socrates, or Moses or Confucius, providing both questions and answers in a curious dual action of the mind highly entertaining to the audience.
“The other evening I transformed my artist into President Cleveland. He assumed the character with quiet dignity, but said he had had a hard day’s work and was tired.“‘Queen Victoria will visit you this evening, you know,’ I said.
“‘No!’ he exclaimed with surprise. ‘I didn’t know she was in this country. When did she come?’
“‘Yesterday, on the Aurania; here she comes, now.’
“He straightened up as I spoke and received her imaginary Majesty with real dignity and tact. After bowing and shaking hands he said:
“‘I have heard with unfeigned pleasure of your Majesty’s approach to the capital of the republic, and it is my agreeable privilege to extend to you the freedom of this city and country in behalf of sixty millions of people. Dan, get the lady a chair!’
“As she seemed to seat herself he listened a moment, smiled and said: ‘I reciprocate those feelings, as do all Americans, and I trust that the amicable relations so long preserved between this republic and the mighty realm of which you are the honored and beloved ruler may never be broken.’
“‘Where can the lady hang her crown?’ I asked him. ‘It must have a peck of diamonds in it. Can’t I take it?’
“He looked scornfully at me and I added: ‘Can’t the boys manage to get it away from her Majesty when she goes down stairs?’
“‘You are a disgrace to this administration, Dan, and have got to be fired out!’ the President exclaimed angrily to me, and then he humbly apologized to the Queen.
“He casually added that the fisheries dispute might lead to trouble, and she would be prudent to let our boys get bait along shore where it seemed handiest.
“I know of no other thing in which there is so much entertainment as mesmerism. For the benefit of those who desire to experiment I append certain conclusions from my own experiments here:
“1. About one person in ten can be mesmerized.
“2. The proportion of people who have the ‘power’ to mesmerize, if it be a power, I do not know.
“3. Mesmerism is a trance and seems to me almost identical with somnambulism.
“4. It is as harmless as sleep. My sensitives occasionally come to me in the daytime to be put to sleep for the purpose of obtaining rest.
“5. Hallucinations that take place under mesmerism are seldom remembered in a subsequent waking state, but are generally recalled with vividness in a subsequent mesmeric state.
“6. Mesmerized subjects do not see the objects or people in the room, or hear any noise whatever except the voice of the operator.
“7. My sensitives could have an arm or a leg amputated, I have no doubt, without suffering any pain.
“8. Some of my sensitives are able to tell what goes on behind them and where they cannot see it, by some occult sense of which I am ignorant. I am at present pursuing study along this line.
“Others here are now experimenting, and I think mesmerism is the coming fashionable ‘fad.’
“W. A. Croffut.”
