EDITOR'S PREFACE.

...were visible. Because she showed no signs of discomfort original: "No uneasiness being manifested", I was now certain that the mesmeric sleep A state of deep trance or hypnosis, named after Franz Mesmer was fully induced. I proceeded to test its depth original: "intensity" by loudly calling out and clapping my hands close to the sleeper's face. Not a single feature moved; and the perfectly peaceful expression original: "exquisitely placid countenance" of my entranced friend will stay in my memory for a long time.

Because she was lying on a sofa in the dining room, I could not allow her to remain there without staying up all night to watch her, or having my servants do so. Since this was not practical original: "Circumstances rendering this inconvenient", I proceeded, at 11 o'clock, to wake her original: "demesmerise". This proved to be a work of the greatest difficulty; for half an hour I used all the techniques used by mesmerists, but with hardly any success. Being determined, however, to wake her from her sleep original: "break in upon her repose", I applied the strongest smelling salts smelling salts Chemical compounds, usually ammonium carbonate, used to rouse an unconscious person to her nostrils, threw cold water on her face, and blew upon it with a pair of bellows bellows A tool used to blow air into a fire; here used to create a strong draft of air to startle the subject. This rough treatment woke her slightly; but even after I got her to sit up, she fell helplessly into my arms, and if left alone, she would have instantly been as fast asleep as ever.

On asking her about it the next morning, she could give no account of what had happened. She only remembered that she lay down and that I soon made her very sleepy. She admitted original: "acknowledged" that I might have done anything I chose with her, and expressed her conviction that if I had cut off a limb original: "amputated a limb", she would have been unconscious of the operation. What a power, then, is this for evil as well as for good! How foolish it is for people to expose themselves to the plots original: "machinations" of the wicked by treating Mesmerism as a fraud or a delusion! It is a fact, proven by undeniable original: "incontestable" evidence, and it is capable of being applied to the relief of suffering humanity, or misused original: "perverted" so as to accomplish the designs of villainy original: "villany". As a clergyman A minister or priest, I shall be happy to