course, was unconscious of what he was doing. The following is the exact language in which this respectable commission describe a portion of the scene. The name of the patient, it is proper to remember, is Petit.

"One of the gentlemen present, M. Raynal, formerly inspector of the university, played a game at piquet with M. Petit, and lost it. The fatter handled his cards with the greatest dexterity, and without making any mistake. We attempted several times in vain to set him at fault, by taking away or changing some of his cards. He counted with surprising facility the points marked upon his adversary's marking card. During all this time, we never ceased to examine the eyes, and to hold a candle near them; and we always found them exactly closed. We remarked, however, that the ball of the eye seemed to move under the eyelids, and to follow the different motions of the hands. Finally, M. Bourdois declared that, according to all human probability, and as far as it was possible to judge by the senses, the eyelids were exactly closed. While M. Petit was engaged in a second game at piquet, M. Dupotet, upon the suggestion of M. Ribes, directed his hand, from behind, towards the patient's elbow, and the contraction previously observed again took place. Afterwards, upon the suggestion of M. Bourdois, he magnetized him from behind, and always at the distance of

and to make him perform a command intimated merely by the will. After his game, the somnambulist rose, walked across the room, putting aside the chairs which he found in his way, and went to sit down apart, in order to take some repose at a distance from the inquisitive experimentalists, who had fatigued him. There, M. Dupotet awakened him at the distance of several feet; but it seemed that he was not completely awake, for some moments afterwards he again fell asleep, and it was necessary to make fresh efforts, in order to rouse him effectually. When awake, he said he had no recollection of any thing that took place during his sleep."

Marvellous and utterly confounding as are these statements, yet they are altogether thrown into the shade by some that are to

follow, and which, we confess, that we can hardly bring our minds to believe. Here are lists who are put to sleep by magnetism are numerous cases related, in which somnambuimmediately endowed, not merely, as in the case of Petit, with a power of seeing through their eyelids, but with an actual gift of prophecy, as well as of superior knowledge, not to be obtained by any natural or ordinary methods. What will the reader think when he is told that the somnambulist in his period of sleep, whatever may have been his previous education, is suddenly invested with the faculty of discovering exactly the nature and character of his own disease, of determining the extent of the period within which he is to suffer, what is to be the issue of his com

that will most certainly cure him, should his disease be at all susceptible of a remedy. Paul Villagraud, a student at law, who was paralysed as to half his body by a stroke of apoplexy in the country, was admitted into La Charité, at Paris, after having been treated in all manner of ways at home for sixteen months. Now, the committee actually went to the bed where this patient lay, in the hospital, and saw the physical marks, as they were strongly indicated, of his disease.

They found that the lower left limb was much thinner than the right, that the right hand was closed much more firmly than the

more than a foot, with the intention of awakening him. The keenness with which the somnambulist engaged in play resisted this action, which, without awakening, seemed to annoy and disconcert him. He carried his hand several times to the back of his head, as if he suf-plaint, and, above all, the sort of treatment fered pain in that part. At length he fell into a state of somnolency, which seemed like a slight natural sleep; and some one having spoken to him when in this state, he awoke as if with a start. A few moments afterwards, M. Dupotet, always placed near him, but at a certain distance, set him again to sleep, and we recommenced our experiments. M. Dupotet being desirous that not the slightest shadow of doubt should remain with regard to the nature of the physical influence exerted at will upon the somnambulist, proposed to place upon M. Petit as many bandages as we might think proper, and to operate upon him while in this state. In fact, we covered his face down to the nostrils with several neckcloths; we stop-left, that the tongue when drawn out of the ped up with gloves the cavity formed by the prominence of the nose, and we covered the whole with a black handkerchief, which descended, in the form of a veil, as far as the neck. The attempts to excite the magnetic susceptibility by operating at a distance in "He recapitulated what related to his treatevery way, were then renewed; and, invaria- ment, and prescribed that, on that same day, bly, the same motions were perceived in the a sinapism should be applied to each of his parts towards which the hand or the foot was legs for an hour and a half; that next day he directed. After these new experiments, M. should take a bath of Bareges; and that, upon Dupotet, having taken the bandages off M. Petit, played a game at écarté with him, in orcoming out of the bath, sinapisms should be der to divert him. He played with the same again applied during twelve hours without infacility as before, and continued successful. terruption, sometimes to one place, and someHe became so eager at his game, that he retimes to another; that, upon the following mained insensible to the influence of M. Bour-day, after having taken a second bath of Badois, who, while he was engaged in play, vainly attempted to operate upon him from behind,

mouth was carried towards the right commissure, and that the right cheek was more convex than the left. Paul was then magnetized, and the result is thus stated in the report:

reges, blood should be drawn from his right arm to the extent of a palette and a half. Fi

dency to discourse of the diseases of those whom she touched during her state of somnambulism, and she always concluded by pointing out, with astonishing accuracy of information and judgment, the remedies best adapted to the complaint. One of the members of the commission, M. Marc, determined upon putting her powers to the test, and announced that he would submit himself to her investigations. The lady was accordingly magnetized, and upon being requested to examine attentively the gentleman's state of health, she proceeded in her inquiries, and literally overwhelmed the spectators in amazement at the perfection of her diagnosis. Another case is likewise given, where she showed the same unaccountable skill and knowledge: the third of the cases cited by the commissioners, in which this somnambulist manifested her power, is exceedingly curious:

nally, he added, that by following this treatment, he would be enabled, upon the 28th, i. e. three days afterwards, to walk without crutches on leaving the sitting, at which, he said, it would still be necessary to magnetize him. The treatment which he had prescribed was followed; and upon the day named, the 28th September, the committee repaired to the Hôpital de la Charité. Paul came, supported on his crutches, into the consultingroom, where he was magnetized as usual, and placed in a state of somnambulism. In this state, he assured us, that he should return to bed without the use of his crutches, without support. Upon awaking, he asked for his crutches, we told him that he had no longer any need of them. In fact, he rose, supported himself on the paralyzed leg, passed through the crowd who followed him, descended the step of the chambre d'experiences, crossed the second court de la Charité, ascended two steps, and when he arrived at the bottom of the stair he sat down. After resting two minutes, he ascended, with the assistance of an arm and the balustrade, the twenty-gorgement) of the glands of the neck, which four steps of stairs which led to the room where he slept, went to bed without support, sat down again for a moment, and then took another walk in the room, to the great astonishment of all the other patients, who, until then, had seen him constantly confined to bed. From this day Paul never resumed his crutches."

But these wonders are nothing compared with the miracles which were subsequently performed by the agency of this patient during somnambulism, particularly in the facility with which he saw through his closed eyelids. Many trials of this power were witnessed by the commissioners, who took every imaginable method within their power to guard against deception.

If our utmost astonishment has been excited by the recital of the prodigies to which hitherto our attention has been confined, what shall be the nature of our feelings when we come to the contemplation of two more cases, the circumstances of which are just as authentic as those of any of the former cases! What will any reader think when he is told that two persons, from the commonest ranks of life, are suddenly inspired, by means of magnetism, with such a degree of supernatural endowments, that they can predict to the instant the period when they themselves shall be seized with fits, or can point out the true seat, nature, and proper treatment of diseases in others! We have just seen an illustration of the first of these cases, and an example of the other will be found in the following most extraordinary narrative:

Miss Celina Sauvage was made the subject of experiment upon eight different occasions, in the presence of the members of the committee. On three of those occasions, it was found that this lady exhibited a strange ten

"Upon an occasion of great delicacy, when very able physicians, several of whom are members of the Academy, had prescribed a mercurial treatment for an obstruction (en

they attributed to a syphilitic taint, the family of the patient under this treatment, alarmed at the appearance of some serious consequences, wished to have the advice of a somnambulist. The reporter was called in to assist at a consultation, and he did not neglect to take advantage of this new opportunity of adding to what the committee had already seen. found the patient to be a young married woman, Madame La C, having the whole right side of the neck deeply obstructed by a great congeries of glands close upon each other. One of them was opened, and emitted a yellowish purulent matter.

He

"Mademoiselle Celine, whom M. Foissac magnetized in presence of the reporter, placed herself in connexion with this patient, and affirmed that the stomach had been attacked by a substance like poison; that there was a slight inflammation of the intestines; that, in the upper part of the neck, on the right side, there was a scrofulous complaint, which ought to have been more considerable than it was at present; that, by following a soothing treatment, which she prescribed, the disease would be mitigated in the course of fifteen days or three weeks. This treatment consisted of some grains of magnesia, eight leeches applied to the pit of the stomach, water gruel, a saline cathartic every week, two clysters each day, one of a decoction of Peruvian bark (kina), and, immediately after, another, of the roots of the marsh-mallow, friction of the limbs with ether, a bath every week; food made of milk (laitage), light meats, and abstinence from wine. This treatment was followed for some time, and there was a perceptible amelioration of the symptoms. But the impatience of the patient, who did not think her recovery prothe family to call another consultation of phyceeding with sufficient rapidity, determined sicians, who decided that she should again be placed under mercurial treatment. From this period the reporter ceased to attend the pa tient; and he learnt that the administration of

the mercury had produced very serious affections of the stomach, which terminated her existence after two months of acute suffering. A proces-verbal upon opening the body, signed by MM. Fouquier, Marjolin, Cruveillier, and Foissac, verified the existence of a scrofulous or tubercular obstruction of the glands of the neck, two small cavities full of pus, proceeding from the tubercles at the top of each of the lungs; the mucous membrane of the great culde-sac of the stomach was almost entirely destroyed. These gentlemen ascertained besides, that there was no indication of the presence of any syphilitic disease, whether old or recent."

ourselves devoted to selfishness, we supinely sink into its withering and inglorious thraldom; when, by encouraging kindly affections, without analyzing their source, we strengthen and fix them in the heart, and find their general influence extending around, contributing to the happiness and well being of others, and reflecting back some portion to ourselves. Byron's heart is running to waste for want of being allowed to expend itself on his fellow-creatures; it is naturally capacious, and teeming with affection; but the worldly wisdom he has acquired has checked its course, and it preys on his own happiness by reminding him continually of the aching void in his breast. With a contemptible opinion of human nature, he requires a perfectibility in the persons to whom he attaches himself, that those who think most highly of it never ex

With respect to the degree of credit to be attached to these statements, we really have nothing to say, but that they are placed before us on as sound a basis as it is possible for human evidence to be put on. Thus, then, we are strongly urged to believe in the exist-pect: he gets easily disgusted, and when ence of facts which are altogether contrary to our experience. Is it possible, one may reasonably ask, if such things can happen? Is it possible that individuals, under any circumstances, can see through their shut eyelids, and can be suddenly endowed, by any ceremony conducted by another person, with knowledge and foresight such as no mortal was ever endowed with before? These are questions which will suggest themselves to every reasoning mind. One admonition, however, is applicable to those who are interested in contemplating such subjects as these. Experience has proved, that the influences which may be exercised over the nervous powers of man, are altogether unlimited both in their extent and in their nature. Hence is it always unwise, and even irrational, for any one to say, on a subject so mysterious, that this fact is impossible, and that that fact could never have taken place. Let us humbly and diigently inquire, but not decide. Vast and beneficial are the uses of deliberation in such natters. We are not at liberty to doubt when evidence is positive; and if only half of what we have read in Mr. Colquhoun's work be ounded in truth, how magnificent is the prosect of utility, in the largest sense of that word, which science, in this particular deartment, affords us.

From the New Monthly Magazine. JOURNAL OF CONVERSATIONS WITH LORD BYRON. BY LADY BLESSINGTON. NO. VIII.

How much has Byron to unlearn ere he can hope for peace! Then he is proud of his false knowledge. I call it false, because it neither makes him better nor happier, and true knowledge ought to do the former, though I admit it cannot the latter. We are not relieved by the certainty that we have an incurable disease; on the contrary, we cease to apply remedies, and so let the evil increase. So it is with human nature: by believing

once the persons fall short of his expectations, his feelings are thrown back on himself, and in their re-action, create new bitterness. I have remarked to Byron that it strikes me as a curious anomaly, that he, who thinks ill of mankind, should require more from it than do those who think well of it en masse; and that each new disappointment at discovery of baseness sends him back to solitude with some of the feelings with which a savage creature would seek its lair; while those who judge it more favourably, instead of feeling bitterness at the disappointments we must all experience, more or less, when we have the weakness to depend wholly on others for happiness, smile at their own delusion, and blot out, as with a sponge, from memory that such things were, and were most sweet while we believed them, and open a fresh account, a new leaf in the ledger of life, always indulging in the hope that it may not be balanced like the last. We should judge others not by self, for that is deceptive, but by their general conduct and character. We rarely do this, because that with le besoin d'aimer, which all ardent minds have, we bestow our affections on the first person that chance throws in our path, and endow them with every good and noble quality, which qualities were unknown to them, and only existed in our imaginations. We discover, when too late, our own want of discrimination; but, instead of blaming ourselves, we throw the whole censure on those whom we had over-rated, and declare war against the whole species because we had chosen ill, and "loved not wisely, but too well." When such disappointments occur,-and, alas! they are so frequent as to enure us to them,-if we were to reflect on all the antecedent conduct and modes of thinking of those in whom we had "garnered up our hearts," we should find that they were in general consistent, and that we had indulged erroneous expectations, from having formed too high an estimate of them, and consequently were disappointed.

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spirit that is overpowered by its own intensity, and whose praise or blame falls equally unregarded on "the dull cold ear of death." They who are in the grave cannot be flatter

the observance of the public eye, are not those who, in the shade of domestic privacy, had opportunities of appreciating them, entitled to one of the few consolations left to survivors that of offering the homage of admiration and praise to virtues that were beyond all praise, and goodness that, while in exist ence, proved a source of happiness, and, in death, a consolation, by the assurance they have given of meeting their reward?

A modern writer has happily observed that "the sourest disappointments are made out of our sweetest hopes, as the most excellent vinegar is made from damaged wine." We have all proved that hope ends but in frustra-ed; and if their qualities were such as escaped tion, but this should only give us a more humble opinion of our own powers of discrimination, instead of making us think ill of human nature: we may believe that there exist goodness, disinterestedness, and affection in the world, although we have not had the good fortune to encounter them in the persons on whom we had lavished our regard. This is the best, because it is the safest and most consolatory philosophy; it prevents our thinking ill of our species, and precludes that corroding of our feelings which is the inevitable result; for as we all belong to the family of human nature, we cannot think ill of it without deteriorating our own. If we have had the misfortune to meet with some persons whose ingratitude and baseness might serve to lower our opinion of our fellow-creatures, have we not encountered others whose nobleness, generosity, and truth might redeem them? A few such examples,-nay, one alone, such as I have had the happiness to know, has taught me to judge favourably of mankind; and Byron, with all his scepticism as to the perfectibility of human nature, allowed that the person to whom I allude was an exception to the rule of the belief he had formed as to selfishness or worldly-mindedness being the spring of action in man.

The grave has closed over him who shook Byron's scepticism in perfect goodness, and established for ever my implicit faith in it; but in the debts of gratitude engraved in deep characters on memory, the impression his virtues have given me of human nature is indelibly registered, an impression of which his conduct was the happiest illustration, as the recollection of it must ever be the antidote to misanthropy. We have need of such examples to reconcile us to the heartless ingratitude that all have, in a greater or less degree, been exposed to, and which is so calculated to disgust us with our species. How, then, must the heart reverence the memory of those who, in life, spread the shield of their goodness between us and sorrow and evil, and, even in death, have left us the hallowed recollection of their virtues, to enable us to think well of our fellow-creatures!

"Of the rich legacies the dying leave, Remembrance of their virtues is the best."

We are as posterity to those who have gone before us-the avant-coureurs on that journey that we must all undertake. It is permitted us to speak of absent friends with the honest warmth of commendatory truth; then surely we may claim that privilege for the dead,privilege that every grateful heart must pant to establish, when the just tribute we pay to departed worth is but as the outpourings of a

-a

Byron said to-day that he had met, in a French writer, an idea that had amused him very much, and that he thought had as much truth as originality in it: he quoted the passage, "La curioseté est suicide de sa nature, et l'amour n'est que la curiosité." He laughed, and rubbed his hands, and repeated, "Yes, the Frenchman is right. Curiosity kills itself; and love is only curiosity, as is proved by its end."

I told Byron that it was in vain that he affected to believe what he repeated, as I thought too well of him to imagine him to be serious.

"At all events," said Byron, "you must admit that, of all passions, love is the most selfish. It begins, continues, and ends in selfishness. Who ever thinks of the happiness of the object apart from his own, or who at tends to it? While the passion continues, the lover wishes the object of his attachment happy, because, were she visibly otherwise, it would detract from his own pleasures. The French writer understood mankind well, who said that they resembled the grand Turk in an opera, who, quitting his sultana for another, replied to her tears, Dissimulez votre peine, et respectez mes plaisirs.' This" continued Byron, "is but too true a satire on men; for when love is over,

A few years older,

Ah! how much colder
He could behold her

For whom he sighed!'

Depend on it my doggrel rhymes have more truth than most that I have written. I have been told that love never exists without jealousy; if this be true, it proves that love must be founded on selfishness, for jealousy surely never proceeds from any other feeling than selfishness. We see that the person we like is pleased and happy in the society of some one else, and we prefer to see her unhappy with us, than to allow her to enjoy it: is not this selfish? Why is it," continued Byron, "that lovers are at first only happy in each other's society? It is that their mutual flattery and egotism gratify their vanity; and not finding this stimulus elsewhere, they become dependent on each other for it. When