doubts himself. On the
other hand, if, in conversation, the ordinary look of awakened interest
be prolonged, and the eyes are kept fixed for a longer period than
usual, an embarrassed and somewhat painful feeling is the result; an
indistinct impulse makes it difficult to avert the eye, and at the same
time a consciousness of that impulse is an inducement to avert it. We
lay no undue stress upon these phenomena; but they are phenomena, and
fair subjects for scientific investigation. An explanation of mesmerism
has been sought in the physical effect of the stare alone; thus it is
said that, if a party look intently at a prominent object fixed to his
forehead, he will in time be thrown into mesmeric coma. There is more in
it, we think, than this; there is an influence exerted by that nearest
approach to the intercourse of soul--"the gaze into each other's
eyes"--the extent and _normae_ of which are unknown. The schoolboy's
experiment of staring out of countenance, is not so bad a test of moral
power as it would at first sight be deemed to be.

The second case we shall relate is also one at which we were personally
present, but one in which both mesmeriser and mesmerisee were, if we may
use the term, adepts--the former a gentleman of fortune and education;
the latter a half-educated young man, who had been in service as a
footman. We shall designate them as Mr M---- and G----.

At this "_soiree magnetique_" G. was brought in in the sleep-waking
state, walking, or rather staggering, and holding the arm of Mr M., his
eyes to all appearance perfectly closed, and his gait and gestures those
of a drunken man. After some little time he was detached from the
mesmeriser, and followed him to different parts of the room. When in
proximity Mr M. raised his hand, the patient's hands followed it, his
legs the same, while they receded from the hands and legs of any other
of the party present. Some of these effects were certainly curious, and
not easy of explanation. The mesmeriser would walk or stand behind the
patient, and, waving his hands somewhat after the manner of the cachuca
dancer, the hands of the patient followed his with tolerable but not
unerring precision. We determined to bear in mind these effects when
some other phenomena were exhibiting, and try whether similar results
would ensue when the attention of the parties was devoted to other
subjects. When the attention of every body present was intently strained
upon some exp