Genre:

Essay, Polemic

Subjects:

Mesmerism, Animal Magnetism, Morality, Class, Government, Crime, Ethics

    Responds to news that a 'professor of mesmerism' tried to defend his brother from charges of theft by claiming that he 'committed the felony when in a state of "mesmeric coma"'. Thinks Parliament should establish a committee for enquiring into the latter state and thus prevent wrongful imprisonment and transportation. Expresses concern that the 'man of mesmerism be suffered to tamper with [...] the moral principle', and with the possibility that John Elliotson can turn somebody into an 'unconscious robber', whilst conjurors can plant subversive ideas in the minds of the working-classes. Agrees that mesmerism, 'like poetry is "a true thing"' and is 'mysteriously subtle in its operation', but asks for 'heavy penalties upon those who practise this newest Black Art'. Expatiates further on the 'social danger' posed by the fact that mesmerism removes 'all human responsibility'. (100) However, regards one of mesmerism's key 'advantages' as the possibility of making 'a faithful narrator' of the 'hidden doings' and actions of the people's 'magistrates and rulers' (101).