not generally accepted?’
‘Well first, it is not my discovery. Elliotson said as much thirty years ago, but he made a circus of his demonstrations and was forced to resign his post. Second, and principally, because we do not know
how
the mind influences the body; we can speak of electrobiological influence, or ideo-motor force, but these are mere labels applied to a mystery. I can see the improvement; my patients feel the benefit of the treatment, but to a sceptic it is mere spontaneous healing, and I cannot prove otherwise. Until a physical mechanism is discovered, anatomised and dissected, it will never be accepted by the profession.’
‘But won’t the sceptics’ patients all desert them and come to you?’
‘Let me put a question in return: if you had felt out of sorts this morning, and a mesmerist had offered his services, would you have accepted?’
‘Well, no—’
‘Precisely; you would have dismissed him as a charlatan.’
‘But now that I know—’
‘You know only because you have met me; if you were to ask your physician, he would most likely assure you that the whole thing had been discredited years ago. Besides, there are numerous cases where orthodox methods must be applied; you would be most ill-advised to command an inflamed appendix not to burst, rather than removing it on the spot.’
I went on to ask what were doubtless the usual questions about mesmerism, and was assured that no, a person could not be mesmerised against their will, or compelled to do anything they would not consent to do in waking life. In the deepest state of trance, however, a subject could be instructed to see scenes and persons who were not actually present.
‘So if you were to mesmerise me,’ I said, a trifle uneasily, ‘you could suggest to me that Arthur Wilmot’ – I had wanted to say ‘Phoebe’, but feared I might break down – ‘was about to enter this room, and he would then appear – very much as spirit mediums claim to be able to summon the dead.’
I could not help glancing into the shadows beyond the firelight as I spoke.
‘Yes,’ said Magnus, ‘but the man you saw in a state of trance would not be a spirit. He would be an image composed of your memories of him.’
‘But would I be able to talk to him? touch him? hear him speak? Would he appear to me as a living man?’
‘As in a dream, yes; but as with a dream, he would vanish at the instant of waking.’
‘But supposing,’ I persisted, ‘you instructed me to wake from the trance, whilst retaining the facility of seeing—’
‘It could not be done. The facility, as you call it, is as specific to the state of trance as dreaming is to sleep. Supposing you were now in a trance, I could suggest that upon waking you would rise, go to the shelf over there, and bring me a certain volume; and most likely you would do so, and then be puzzled as to why you had done it. But I could not command you to wake and find your friend entering the room; or rather, I could command it, but he would not appear ... I fear the subject is distressing to you.’
I assured him it was not, even as I struggled to subdue the emotion which had threatened to overwhelm me.
‘Tell me,’ he asked after a pause, ‘have you ever attended a séance?’
A spark of firelight caught on the gold signet as he raised his glass.
‘No,’ I said, ‘though I have been tempted. I lost what remained of my faith when Phoebe and Arthur died, and yet I cannot altogether relinquish the feeling that something of us survives beyond the grave. So much depends upon the circumstances. That night I spent sketching atthe Hall, for example ... it would be very easy, there, to believe that ghosts walk.’
‘Indeed,’ said Magnus. ‘As you may have heard, the gallery where my uncle works is supposedly haunted by the ghost of the boy Felix, Thomas Wraxford’s son. Curiously enough—’ he broke off, as if suddenly struck by something.
‘Curiously enough?’ I
‘Well first, it is not my discovery. Elliotson said as much thirty years ago, but he made a circus of his demonstrations and was forced to resign his post. Second, and principally, because we do not know
how
the mind influences the body; we can speak of electrobiological influence, or ideo-motor force, but these are mere labels applied to a mystery. I can see the improvement; my patients feel the benefit of the treatment, but to a sceptic it is mere spontaneous healing, and I cannot prove otherwise. Until a physical mechanism is discovered, anatomised and dissected, it will never be accepted by the profession.’
‘But won’t the sceptics’ patients all desert them and come to you?’
‘Let me put a question in return: if you had felt out of sorts this morning, and a mesmerist had offered his services, would you have accepted?’
‘Well, no—’
‘Precisely; you would have dismissed him as a charlatan.’
‘But now that I know—’
‘You know only because you have met me; if you were to ask your physician, he would most likely assure you that the whole thing had been discredited years ago. Besides, there are numerous cases where orthodox methods must be applied; you would be most ill-advised to command an inflamed appendix not to burst, rather than removing it on the spot.’
I went on to ask what were doubtless the usual questions about mesmerism, and was assured that no, a person could not be mesmerised against their will, or compelled to do anything they would not consent to do in waking life. In the deepest state of trance, however, a subject could be instructed to see scenes and persons who were not actually present.
‘So if you were to mesmerise me,’ I said, a trifle uneasily, ‘you could suggest to me that Arthur Wilmot’ – I had wanted to say ‘Phoebe’, but feared I might break down – ‘was about to enter this room, and he would then appear – very much as spirit mediums claim to be able to summon the dead.’
I could not help glancing into the shadows beyond the firelight as I spoke.
‘Yes,’ said Magnus, ‘but the man you saw in a state of trance would not be a spirit. He would be an image composed of your memories of him.’
‘But would I be able to talk to him? touch him? hear him speak? Would he appear to me as a living man?’
‘As in a dream, yes; but as with a dream, he would vanish at the instant of waking.’
‘But supposing,’ I persisted, ‘you instructed me to wake from the trance, whilst retaining the facility of seeing—’
‘It could not be done. The facility, as you call it, is as specific to the state of trance as dreaming is to sleep. Supposing you were now in a trance, I could suggest that upon waking you would rise, go to the shelf over there, and bring me a certain volume; and most likely you would do so, and then be puzzled as to why you had done it. But I could not command you to wake and find your friend entering the room; or rather, I could command it, but he would not appear ... I fear the subject is distressing to you.’
I assured him it was not, even as I struggled to subdue the emotion which had threatened to overwhelm me.
‘Tell me,’ he asked after a pause, ‘have you ever attended a séance?’
A spark of firelight caught on the gold signet as he raised his glass.
‘No,’ I said, ‘though I have been tempted. I lost what remained of my faith when Phoebe and Arthur died, and yet I cannot altogether relinquish the feeling that something of us survives beyond the grave. So much depends upon the circumstances. That night I spent sketching atthe Hall, for example ... it would be very easy, there, to believe that ghosts walk.’
‘Indeed,’ said Magnus. ‘As you may have heard, the gallery where my uncle works is supposedly haunted by the ghost of the boy Felix, Thomas Wraxford’s son. Curiously enough—’ he broke off, as if suddenly struck by something.
‘Curiously enough?’ I
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