pointed out to me a letter from Paris in the _Daily
Telegraph_, giving an account of certain proceedings at the
Salpetriere Hospital, and in the same paper there was a long leading
article upon the subject. The report of the experiments was to me so
amazing that at first I could not bring my mind to believe in it. As
you will, I am sure, feel some incredulity, I have cut out the
paragraph, and here it is pasted at the bottom of this page:--

'The chief French surgeons and medical professors have, for some
time, been carefully studying the effect of mesmerism on the female
patients of the Salpetriere Hospital, and M. Marini, a clinical
surgeon of that establishment, has just effected a series of
experiments, the results of which would seem to open up a new field
for medical science. M. Marini tried to prove that certain hysterical
symptoms could be transferred by the aid of the magnet from one
patient to another. He took two subjects: one a dumb woman afflicted
with hysteria, and the other a female who was in a state of hypnotic
trance. A screen was placed between the two, and the hysterical woman
was then put under the influence of a strong magnet. After a few
moments she was rendered dumb, while speech was suddenly restored to
the other. Luckily for his healthier patients, however, their
borrowed pains and symptoms did not last long.'

And Mivart was able to give me some more extraordinary instances of
the transmission of hysterical seizures from one patient to
another--instances where permanent cures were effected. [Footnote]
Naturally I asked Mivart what befell the new victims of the seizures.

[Footnote: The transmissions here alluded to were mostly effected by
M. Babinski of the Salpetriere. They excited great attention in
Paris.]

'That depends,' said Mivart, 'upon three circumstances--the acuteness
of the seizure, the strength of the recipient's nervous system, and
the kind of imagination she has. In all Marini's experiments the new
patient has quickly recovered, and the original patient has remained
entirely cured and often entirely unconscious that she has ever
suffered from the paroxysms at all.'

Mivart went on to say that the case of Miss Wynne was so severe a one
that if the new patient's imagination were very strong the risk to
her would be exceptionally great.

At the end of this discussion Mivart directed my attention to Sinfi
Lovell. She sat as though listening to some voice. Her head was bent