Complete Works of Wilkie Collins (2188 page)

We were all very silent just now. The children were getting weary, and consequently quiet; and considerable expectation was excited among their elders by the chance now afforded them of seeing how the magnetic influence acted upon a man. The first interruption to the stillness prevailing among us was of a very merry nature — the patient began to laugh. This was attributed, naturally enough, to his sense of the curious position in which he was placed, and to the apparently odd gestures of the magnetizer. His laughter was infectious; everybody joined it, until it gradually became so loud, harsh, and incessant, as to awaken a general suspicion that “something must be wrong.” The next moment it grew frightfully shrill and vehement; and the next, rose to piercing hysterical screams. This was an example of the power of the magnetic influence which nobody had anticipated, and which caused considerable terror among the young ladies, who had been all laughing heartily but a minute before. The Count ordered the window to be opened immediately; and, making the passes necessary to relieve the patient, ordered him, in a firm voice, to be quiet.

The effect was nearly instantaneous; his screams sank to a few low, inarticulate sounds; and he soon became perfectly tranquil. His face, during the attack, was flushed to a deep red, almost turning towards purple: it seemed more than probable that in another minute or so, the hysterics

would have ended in convulsions but for the presence of mind and experience which enabled the magnetizer at once to hit on the right process for restoring the agitated nervous system to its proper tone.

The Count’s explanation of the scene which had just taken place was, that it had been produced by a too exclusive direction of the magnetic influence to the region of the head — an error into which he had fallen from ignorance of the peculiarities of temperament in the person whom he was magnetizing. The patient’s own account of the sensations he had experienced during the attack, fully bore out this theory. He described his condition as that of a man feeling a painful sensation of heat in the head — a red-hot air pouring, as it were, into his brain from the Count’s hands. Throughout the rest of the evening he suffered from a sense of oppression in his head, and occasionally felt a disposition to burst into tears, which it was not very easy to control.

No attempt was made to continue this experiment, and to produce (by magnetizing the patient, away from his head) the sleep which had just been interrupted by the hysterical attack. It was growing late in the evening, and we were obliged to separate. Compared with the cases which I have mentioned in former letters, the two cases here described contain, I am well aware, little that is remarkable in themselves. But they are, I think, of some importance in their bearing on the general subject; for they tend to prove, by the fairest possible test, the actual existence of such a phenomenon as the magnetic influence. Here were two persons selected for experiment who had never before been magnetized. One of these persons — in three minutes, and in the midst of incessant interruption and confusion — is thrown into a sleep which entirely alters the natural expression of her face, and from which no noise whatever can possibly awaken her. The other (a man, be it remembered) is affected with a fit of hysterics — a species of attack from which he had never suffered on any previous occasion. These, assuredly, are real tangible effects — effects produced by one person standing opposite to another, steadily regarding him, steadily making certain gestures with the hand, and steadily exercising the whole time a strong effort of will. If there be no such thing as the magnetic influence, what produced the phenomena which I have just been describing?

In my next letter, I shall return to V — , and shall have to relate some new experiments that were tried upon her — experiments in
clairvoyance
.

W. W. C.

(To be continued.)

Letter 4
—
The Leader
28 February 1852

LETTER IV. — TO G. H. LEWES

WHEN I entered the house of Count P — , on the evening, appointed for our experiment in
clairvoyance
, one of the first objects which attracted my attention in the drawing-room, was a piece of wood that lay on the table, shaped like a hand-mirror. On taking it up, I observed a highly-polished oval piece of coal attached to one side of the wood, instead of the ordinary looking-glass, which I had expected to find there. The history of this strange mirror was as follows: —

An old friend of the Count’s preserved, among his other curiosities the celebrated “wishing-stone,” formerly possessed by Dr. Dee. Convinced that the old Doctor’s evil reputation among his contemporaries as a sorcerer had been solely derived from his knowledge and practice of animal magnetism, in days when new sciences of all kinds were fathered upon the devil, as a matter of course, our host conceived the idea of procuring as good an imitation of this “wishing-stone” as could be obtained, and of rivalling the magic achievements of Dr. Dee, by applying to it the magnetic process necessary to produce the phenomenon of
clairvoyance
. A piece of “Cannel coal” was procured, as the nearest available approach to the mysterious “wishing-stone:” it was polished and fixed to the wood by an ordinary artisan. Placed in the hands of V — , when she was magnetized, it proved quite as fertile a source of marvels as the Doctor’s original instrument of sorcery, — in other words, it was found to be a very useful aid to experiments in
clairvoyance
.

This coal-mirror was now placed on the table, in case we wished it to be used as a matter of curiosity. The experiment on which we were about to enter could be carried on just as easily without it. V — would see the perfect stranger to herself whom we might wish her to see, if a vacant chair were placed before her, on which she might behold the absent person; or if that person’s visiting-card were put into her hand. But if, as a matter of antiquarian amusement, we desired that the vision should appear to her in the “wishing-stone,” there it was, ready for use, just as Dr. Dee might have used it in the olden time.

We chose the “wishing-stone” by general acclamation. It was already magnetized; so that V would be thrown into the sleep by merely taking it in her hand, and looking at it. She was placed by her own desire with her back to the table, and with the candles put behind her. By this arrangement the coal-mirror was thrown into complete shadow, when she took it up and held it before her. As soon as she was comfortably seated, I was asked to indicate the person whom I wished her to see. I wrote on a sheet of paper (keeping well behind her, at the further end of the table) “my brother;” knowing him to be then in London, some hundred and thirty miles away from us, and to be perfectly unknown to V — , the Count, and, indeed, to everybody present except one gentleman, a mere spectator like myself and quite as determined as I was that the proceedings of the evening should be subjected to the severest possible test. The Count looked at the two words I had written down, (they were never, from first to last, even whispered by any of us,) and simply said to V — , “I desire that you will see and describe the person whom that gentleman has indicated to me.” She nodded her head as a sign of acquiescence, and, in about ten minutes after, her eyes were fast closed in.the magnetic sleep.

She held the mirror before her, at the distance from her face that she would have held a book — keeping it in the same position (heavy as it was) for the whole two hours during which she was in the magnetic state. The first thing she did was to take out her handkerchief, and wipe the surface of the coal, over and over again, very carefully, and with a very anxious, searching expression of countenance. Then she changed her position in the chair several times, shifting the mirror from side to side, and occasionally holding it quite close to her face, as if to see more clearly, though — as I took care to satisfy myself, by the closest inspection — her eyelids were tightly closed. All this time, she yawned incessantly; an unaccountable peculiarity which we were told she invariably displayed on all similar occasions. The next action that we saw her perform was very suggestive: she dropped the handkerchief into her lap and began slowly and anxiously to trace shapes with her forefinger on the surface of the mirror.

This was the signal for beginning to interrogate her. I must premise, that all the questions were not asked by the Count: some of the most important were put by me; others by my friend. I took down in writing, at the time, everything that was said; and can be quite certain that my report of our proceedings is perfectly correct.

Question
. What do you see?
Answer
. Something round in the middle of the mirror.
Q
. What more?
A
. Something under the round shape, which prolongs itself. (She saw other forms, which she could not describe but which she followed carefully with her forefinger. Then she pointed steadily to one particular place; and the moment after, with an anxious, impatient expression, wiped the mirror once more with her handkerchief. Still, she said she saw nothing but vague shapes, and complained of headache and pain in the brows. She was relieved by magnetic passes, and then questioned again.)

Q
. Do you see anything more?
A
. The shapes begin to form themselves: I see a hand and an arm — the right arm (to me) as I look at it. I see a leg now — the right leg. (Here the painful expression which had hitherto appeared on her face entirely left it; and she began to laugh.)
Q.
Why do you laugh?
A
. It is so ridiculous to see an arm and leg, and nothing else! (Wiped the mirror again.)
Q
. Why do you wipe the mirror?
A
. Because there is a mist over it that makes it dull.
Q
. What are you laughing about again?
A.
At the other arm and leg. (Complained of headache; removed as before.)
Q
. What is it that you are still unable to see?
A.
The body and head. I only see two arms, hands, legs, and feet; the rest is hidden by mist. It is a horribly ugly sight to see nothing but legs and arms.
Q
. Why can’t you see the head?
A
. It takes a long time to see the head.
Q.
Can you explain exactly what you see now?
A.
I see everything now but the head. I see the body perfect, up to the neck. Seen so it looks hideous. On the neck is the round shape that I saw at first in the mirror — a dim, formless thing on a perfect body, from the feet to the neck.
Q.
Can you see nothing about the head yet?
A.
Yes; it shapes itself! It
was
like a ball; it is getting like a head; but the mist is over it still.

Here she began again to trace with her finger on the mirror; then laughed and said: I see one side of the face — the right side; now I see the ear quite clearly. (She shifted the mirror obliquely.)
Q.
Why do you shift the mirror?
A.
To see the other side of the face. Stop! — now I see it; I see all; but the mist of the figure has not gone yet. I cannot see clearly enough to describe from.
Q.
Tell us when you see more clearly.
A.
Now I see more clearly; I see him looking at me.
Q.
Why do you say
him
?
A.
Because I see a man. (She laughed excessively.)
Q
. What are you laughing about?
A.
The man in the mirror laughs at seeing me.
Q.
Does he know you?
A
. No.
Q.
Can you go on with the description?
A.
Give me time; I see him a long way off just yet. Now he gets bigger; but I see him in miniature still.
Q
. Must I command you to see him at his natural size?
A
. No; I see him better already. His arms are long (
this was right
); his hand is small for a man’s hand (
right
); his feet, too, are small; and he is of middling stature, neither tall nor short, (
right
.)

Q
. How old is he?
A.
He is young; but I don’t know him; he is a perfect stranger to me. I see his face very well; it is what one would call a long-shaped face (
right
); his expression, I should say, was generally serious (
right
); his forehead is high, and not at all hidden by his hair, (
right
.) Stop! — something curious occurs to me about his face; surely I ought to know him by his face; and yet I am certain that he is a perfect stranger to me.
Q
. Can’t you find out something more about him?
A.
Wait; I am trying to make out what is the colour of his hair.

(Circumstances made this last answer — given, you will perceive, without any question that led to it — somewhat remarkable. One of the most striking peculiarities about the person chosen to test V — ’s powers of
clairvoyance
, consisted precisely, as my friend and I alone knew, in the colour of his hair.)