tagonistic to that obtained by the other, one set at least must have been produced by some other cause than the application of a stimulus to the seat of the feelings manifested, and both these gentlemen assure us that they do not employ volition, and that their patients were ignorant of Phrenology. Here, then, we see the phenomena ordinarily termed phreno-mesmeric produced in patients ignorant of Phrenology, without the employment of volition, and by some other cause than the application of a stimulus to the seat of the feelings manifested. Let Mr Lowe assign this cause, and then shew us why it is not competent to explain other so-called phrenomesmeric phenomena, upon which he still relies for establishing the reality of the science.

With regard to our not being able to explain the mode of transmission of the exciting influence to the organs, my opinions remain unchanged. The general idea of the phrenomesmerisers as to the mode in which it is effected, is so improbable as to border on the absurd, necessitating, as it does, the supposition that, simultaneously with the practice of Phreno-Mesmerism, there becomes developed in the operator a tact so exquisite, as to enable him to project the exciting influence with just that degree of force requisite to penetrate the skull and integuments, without passing through and going beyond the external surface of the brain. As, however, in my former paper, I suggested a possible channel of transmission, viz., that a sensation might be produced on the scalp, which might be conveyed by the afferent nerves to the nervous centres, and from thence reflected to the organs excited; and, moreover, stated that, a priori, I could see no impossibility in Phreno-Magnetism, I will pass at once from the question of the mode of transmission, as one not essential to the immediate subject under discussion.

In reply to my objection, "that hundreds of individuals have practised Mesmerism during the last fifty years, and thousands of persons been mesmerised on all parts of their bodies, without the peculiar phenomena of the excitation of the cerebral organs once occurring till the operators became phrenologists," Mr Lowe observes, "This objection, I apprehend, may be disposed of in much the same way as a denial of the circulation of the blood, because it was not discovered before the time of Harvey." To my apprehension, however, it cannot be disposed of in any such manner. Mr Lowe's comparison is one of those superficial analogies with which writers so often mystify both themselves and their readers, and quite inapplicable to the case. My query was, not How is it that Phreno-Mesmerism was not discovered before? but, How is it (since I suppose I may assume that

the laws of nature have not changed) that, under similar circumstances, similar phenomena were not produced? We hear now of half a dozen boys being magnetised for the first time on one evening, and all of them displaying the phenomena of the excitation of the organs every time their heads chance to come in contact with any substance whatever. If, seated on a couch, they happen to recline sideways, and the sides of their heads come in contact with the arm, forthwith they start up in a sudden paroxysm of fury from excited Destructiveness, which, if the upper and back part of the head chance to be touched, becomes changed to a laughable exhibition of Self-Esteem, &c. Now, since it would be ridiculous to suppose that out of the thousands of persons who were magnetised before the year 1841, none had their heads supported or touched in any way; and since, besides this, we know very well that numbers had their heads magnetised in positions as various as the seat of the pain sought to be removed, and yet the so-called phreno-mesmeric phenomena never occurred (for we cannot suppose tha such obstreperous and striking exhibitions as those of excited Destructiveness could have taken place without obtruding themselves on the notice of the operator), I argue that their cause cannot be those external circumstances to which they are usually attributed. This is sufficient for my argument; but I will volunteer a step farther, and, seeing results so different, inquire in what particular the recent experiments in Mesmerism attended with phreno-mesmeric phenomena, differ from those made anterior to 1841, and in which they did not occur. The only difference I can discover is, that the former class have been made by individuals whose minds have been imbued with certain peculiar ideas (possibly capable of exciting a suggestive influence on the minds of the patients), to which the operators in the latter class were strangers. Now, when we find a difference in the results obtained by two sets of experimenters, common sense dictates that we should attribute such difference to those circumstances in which the experiments conducted by the two classes differed, and not to those in which they agreed; and the soundness of this general inference is confirmed in the present instance by the known fact, that during the mesmeric trance the powers of sympathy and imagination become exalted to a degree quite extraordinary and preternatural.

Mr Lowe states it to be his opinion, that the circumstances attending the discovery of Phreno-Mesmerism are favourable to its truth; a view of the case I am so far from sharing, that to my eye they have always presented an aspect directly the reverse. Dr Collyer, the first discoverer, had

his mind occupied with the subject of Phrenology at the precise instant when the first supposed phreno-mesmeric phenomena developed themselves. "At a party where Mesmerism was the topic of conversation, he threw into the mesmeric sleep a young lady who had always refused to allow him to examine her cerebral development. He took this opportunity of examining it with his hands, and to his astonishment, as he touched over the organs of Self-Esteem, Combativeness, Wit, &c., the respective faculties went into action." Let us assume, then, having no certain information to guide us, that Self-Esteem, the organ first named, was the organ first examined, how easy to suppose that the freedom Dr Collyer was taking, excited in the young lady feelings which, if she had had the power of speech, she would have expressed by some such phrase as, "How dare you take such a liberty with me, Sir?" accompanied by the natural language of Self-Esteem! In the present case, the gestures being developed, without the words explanatory of their cause, the idea may have flashed across the brain of Dr Collyer, that they were the consequence of the particular locality touched; and, the idea once originated in this manner, the subsequent phenomena may have developed themselves because expected by the operator. Let Combativeness, in place of Self-Esteem, be assumed to have been the first organ touched, and we may surmise a sound box in the ear (intended by the patient as a chastisement for the Doctor's impertinence) to have been on this occasion the stimulus to his suggestive faculties; or if we assume Wit, how common is it with many persons to laugh, whenever anything unusual, or out of the common track, is done to them! Suppose, however, that instead of offering this explanation, I attribute the whole affair to a freak of imagination on the part of the patient, who will venture to set limits to the extent of this power in a susceptible female, and under such circumstances? Be it remembered also, that Dr Collyer, who must necessarily be more intimately acquainted with the exact circumstances which took place than any other person, so far from deeming them conclusive of the truth of Phreno-Mesmerism, has long since deliberately avowed his disbelief in the reality of the science; and if he has since altered this avowal into a statement that his mind is in a state of doubt, it has not been from any reconsideration of the phenomena attending his own discovery, but from fresh facts communicated to him by others.

From the experiments of Dr Collyer, let us now turn to the circumstances attending Mr Atkinson's first experience in Phreno-Mesmerism; because, although not the first disco

verer, yet, as one who obtained certain results prior to having heard of the phenomena elicited by others, his experiments possess for our argument the same interest and value as those of the former gentleman. A striking peculiarity, then, well worthy of attentive notice, characterized the first phreno-mesmeric phenomena obtained by Mr Atkinson, when compared with the results observed by others; the feelings, instead of being excited in the patient by the touch of the operator, became active spontaneously, and had their localities indicated by the patient's own finger moving over, and resting upon, their seats. But can we not find some clue to the peculiarity manifested by his patient compared with other patients, in some peculiar ideas entertained by him, when compared with other operators? "For some years," says he, "I had been labouring to collect facts to enable me to disprove Mr Lockhart's assertion, that we are never aware of the action of any particular portion of the brain, during the manifestation of any special faculty. This assertion I have been able to disprove by curious cases of inward consciousness-by local pains and sensations following the excitement of particular feelings-by the action of the head following the excited part, and the hand pressing upon the organ. The facts which I gathered upon these points are very interesting and important, but time will not allow me to enter upon them on this occasion. I was induced to follow out this inquiry from a peculiarity in my own constitution, that in particular states of ill health I am conscious of the local action of different parts of the brain; my hand involuntarily touches the excited part, and pain is often felt there, which draws my attention to observe the phenomena. I mention this circumstance now to shew how my mind was prepared to seize at once on any similar effects which I might observe in the mesmeric trance, and also from the conviction, that in Mesmerism the patient is greatly influenced by the peculiar condition of the mesmeriser, even where there is no particular or local sympathy whatever." (Medical Times, No. 202, p. 294.) Comment on this curious coincidence would be superfluous; and it happens, most unfortunately for the credit of Phreno-Mesmerism, that the science is built up of facts of an equally suspicious character.

Let Mr Lowe, for instanee, turn his attention for a moment to the commencement of his own phreno-mesmeric experience. At a lecture where Mr Lowe was present, Mr Spencer Hall touched the organ of Colour in one of his patients, who suddenly exclaimed, "It's black, all black;" but on the operator very slightly moving his finger, he said, "No,

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it's blue;" and on the tip of the finger being again slightly moved, and the operator saying interrogatively, "Oh! it's blue, is it?" he replied with a smile, "No; who ever heard talk of a blue rose? It's red, to be sure." So", says Mr Lowe, "with a highly accomplished lady, with whom I was successful in inducing mesmeric sleep and calling forth the cerebral manifestations, on touching the same organ, she exclaimed, What a beautiful rose! oh, what a lovely red!'" Now, granting there to be a separate part of the organ of Colour for perceiving red, and supposing it excited in a patient, I ask Mr Lowe whether objects of a red colour are so extremely scarce, as to render it probable that both patients should pitch upon the same, if they derived no suggestion from the mind of the operator? To me it really is most extraordinary, how such cases as the preceding can occur, and yet no suspicion as to their true cause be excited.

Let us now turn to the experiments of Mr Mansfield, who must be regarded as the discoverer of the science in this country, inasmuch as he was the first to make known the result of his observations. This gentleman, then, be it observed, excited the organs by blowing on them, and arrested their action by touching them with his finger; thus stimulating them by the same means used by others to paralyse them, and the converse. Assuredly, if additional proof is wanted how entirely the phenomena displayed are dependent upon the ideas and intention of the operator, and how little upon the external manipulations employed, most abundantly is it furnished by the experiments of Mr Mansfield.

Mr Lowe demurs to my proposition, that "cases in which both operators and spectators are non-phrenologists are rendered worthless as evidence, by the presence of any phrenologist during the experiment," more especially in those instances where the patient is only able to hear the voice of the operator, and where the touch of a spectator does not elicit the phreno-mesmeric manifestations. "What an anomaly have we here!" exclaims Mr Lowe. "Strange that the silent volition of a spectator, unconsciously exerted, and without contact, should accomplish that which the same volitions, audibly expressed, and aided by contact, were unable to produce." "One such case as the above," continues he, "where the patient is evidently not in mental relationship with any but the operator, and that operator a non-phrenologist, seems conclusive, as far as it goes, in establishing Phreno-Mesmerism." The anomaly, however, exists only in Mr Lowe's apprehension; and so far is it from being evident that the patient had no community of perception with others besides