wing it into a profound sleep by the mere
exercise of the will, quite ignorant that he was thus using, though in
one of its simplest forms, a power at which he laughed heartily when
displayed around him in some of its more hidden ramifications. We give
the following in his own words:--

I shall now relate a circumstance, proving that the natives of India
apply mesmeric power to the removal of diseases with the utmost
success. I had in my establishment at Lucknow a _chuprassie_,[2] who
was a martyr to the most deplorable chronic rheumatism. His hands,
wrists, knees, and all his joints, were so greatly enlarged, and in a
state so painful, that his duties had gradually become merely nominal.
One day, he hobbled up, and begged my permission to remain at home for
a few days, for the purpose of being cured of his agonising disease. I
said: 'Certainly; get cured of your complaint, and let me see you when
you return.' In a very few days, perhaps in four or five, to my great
astonishment he returned, smiling and joyous, with his limbs as pliant
and supple as my own.

'What!' said I, 'are you come back already?'

'Yes, sir, by your favour, I am perfectly cured.'

'What! entirely cured?'

'Yes, sir; perfectly cured.'

'Well, then, tell me what medicine you took.'

'I took no medicine; I called in two women, _zadoo walees_ (dealers in
magic) from the bazaar, and gave them four pice apiece (about twopence
each), and they cured me.'

'But how--what did they do?'

'They put me on a _charpaee_ (a low bed), and one sat at each side of
me, and both passed their hands over my body so (describing long
mesmeric passes), and thus they set me to sleep, and I slept soundly:
when I awoke, I was free from rheumatism, and am now perfectly well.'

The master made no investigation of the matter; the man was laughed
at, and told to return to his duties, which he continued thenceforth
to perform with all his former zeal. Now, this was not regarded by the
patient or the other servants as a strange thing, for they took it
quite as a matter of course; and there is indeed no reason to doubt,
that the natives of India frequently have recourse to _jhar phoonk_,
or mesmerism, for the cure of rheumatism; but many interesting things
arc carefully concealed from the English, because we invariably
ridicule or sneer at native customs--a mode of treatment peculiarly
distasteful to the inhabitants of the East.

But though willing to make use of these