she felt sleepy,
but nothing more, which was not extraordinary, as it was now getting
late. When questioned as to what means he had used, the mesmeriser said
he had done nothing but stare steadily at the patients, making them also
look fixedly at him, and move his hands slowly and in uniform
directions, his instructor in these manoeuvres having been Tyrone
Power in the farce of _His Last Legs_. He stated that soon after the
commencement of the experiment, he felt an almost irresistible tendency
to go on with it; but whether this resulted from a conviction that he
was exercising some unknown influence, or from mere experimental
curiosity, he would not undertake to say--"this only was the witchcraft
he had used."

The result was to all present conclusive as to the production of some
effect inexplicable upon received theories. The second case defied
simulation, and we believe it was equally removed from hysteria. The
patient was a strong-minded person, of a temperament neither nervous nor
hysterical, to all appearance perfectly calm, except when overcome by a
sense of the ridiculous, and before the experiment obstinately
incredulous. It was certainly a strong case. Any hypothesis to account
for it would be hasty; but one point suggests itself to us as arising
from the remark made by the mesmeriser, viz. that the only influence he
was conscious of using was that of a fixed determined stare. This may
possibly afford some key to a more philosophical examination of these
curious phenomena.

The fabled effects of the basilisk, the serpent, and the evil eye, have
probably all some facts for their foundation. The effect of the human
eye in arresting the attacks of savage animals is better authenticated,
and its influence upon domestic animals may be more easily made the
subject of experimental proof. Let any one gaze steadily at a dog half
dozing at the fireside--the animal will, after a short time, become
restless, and if the stare be continued, will quit his resting-place,
and either shrink into a corner, or come forward and caress the person
staring. How much of this may be due to the habitual fixed look of stern
command with which censure or punishment is accompanied, it may be
difficult to say; but the fact undoubtedly is, that some influence,
either innate or induced, is exercised. Again, those who, in society,
habitually converse with an averted glance, we generally consider
wanting in moral force. We doubt the man who