Complete Works of Wilkie Collins (2190 page)

All these answers, to the astonishing correctness of which Mr. S — ’s memory bore witness, were given by V — without hesitation! She sat erect in the chair, holding head upright in its usual position, twisting the card about incessantly in her lap, but never raising it towards her face. It was only when the next question was asked that she appeared to hesitate and become confused.

Q
. What were the ages of the two unmarried ladies?
A
. I can’t tell exactly; one, perhaps, might be eighteen or nineteen the other twenty-two or twenty-three.
Q.
You have made a mistake. If you tried again, could you not tell me their ages more correctly?
A
. (
after a pause.
) Yes. I was wrong. Why did you say
unmarried ladies
? Surely, they are still
little girls
! I should say that one was thirteen years old and the other eight. (One, as Mr. S — informed us afterwards,
was
thirteen; the age of the other was six years.)
Q
. Was the husband of the married lady with her at the breakfast?
A
. I think not. (Mr. S — signed to us that this was wrong, by shaking his head. He then waited a minute or so without asking another question. During this short delay, V — corrected herself, and said, of her own accord, “the husband of the married lady was with her at the breakfast.”)

Q
. (continued.) At what part of the table were the husband and wife sitting?
A
. I cannot tell you.
Q
. Why not?
A
. Because the breakfast table was a round table, (
right
.) How can I describe people’s positions at a
round
table? Q. Can you describe the room? Can you tell us whether it was at all like the room we are now in?
A
. It was so unlike that I can’t compare it. Supposing I were sitting by the fireplace in the French room, as I am sitting here, the door would be in that position (pointing to the place she meant; and indicating it, as Mr. S — said, quite correctly).

After this answer, a general wish was expressed to hear her describe the positions of the guests at the breakfast-table. The great difficulty was (as V — had herself told us) to distinguish in any clear and certain manner, the places occupied by seven people at a round table. This was, however; completely obviated by a suggestion of the Count’s, that a china basin standing on the sideboard should be placed in V — ’s lap, that she should be told to consider the basin as representing the round table; and to be occupying Mr. S — ’s place at the breakfast, she should describe the positions of the guests, exactly as they were ranged on either side of him. Our host’s plan was adopted. At first V — laughed excessively at the substitute for the real round table, which was deposited on her lap. She then became silent and thoughtful for a few moments; and after that, began very readily to give the required description, addressing it to Mr. S — , who sat close by her.

First, assuming to Mr. S — , as she had been bidden, that she was occupying his place at the breakfast-table, and keeping her left hand on that supposed place, she touched the rim of the basin all round with her right forefinger at certain distinct intervals, mentioning, at each touch, the sex of the person whose position she was thus representing. In this manner she described, without a single error, the manner in which the married lady and the two little girls, present at the breakfast party, were distributed among the four gentlemen; the different places occupied by the husband and wife; and in short, the whole arrangement of the guests at the table, exactly as Mr V — remembered it to have been organized! My friend was quite certain that none of his recollections on this point were in the slightest degree doubtful; for the breakfast party in question took place on the day before his departure from Paris. It was the last social gathering in the French capital at which he “assisted:” it was a more than usually pleasant meeting of friends; and he had, in consequence, the most vivid recollection of all the circumstances connected with it.

This remarkable experiment was, unfortunately, not carried any further, after V — had concluded her description of the manner in which the breakfast party were assembled round the table. It was decided, in order to suit the convenience of one member of the company present, who could not attend on any subsequent occasion, that we should proceed at once to our next experiment; instead of deferring it to a future evening. Accordingly, after allowing V — an interval of repose, it was secretly agreed that we should make trial of her powers of
clairvoyance
in quite a new manner, by requiring that she should behold and describe the late Sir Robert Peel. The name was written down, and she was briefly desired to exert her faculty, as usual; an empty chair having been previously magnetized, and placed before her.

At first, she saw the chair covered by the same mist which had covered the mirror on the former evening. Gradually, this mist faded, and she beheld a human form, seated in the chair. On being asked what this figure was like, she replied, to the unmeasured astonishment of every one present, that it was the figure of a young lady! No comment was made on this very unexpected result of our experiment. She was questioned in the usual manner about the person who had appeared before her. Her answers comprised the most minute description of the young lady; of her features, her complexion, her age, her dress, and even of her slightest peculiarities of physiognomy. On being asked to mention her name, V — at once replied, “ Miss S — ,” the sister of the Mr. S — who was present that evening. She also informed us, that she had only once met the young lady out of doors, crossing the road, with her veil down, so that it was impossible to distinguish any of her features. The next question was the important one, and was thus expressed: — ”We wished you to see the late Sir Robert Peel; why did you see, instead, the sister of Mr. S?” She replied directly: — ”Because Mr. S — has been sitting immediately behind the empty chair which you placed before me. (
This was the case
.) Mr. S — has some influence over me, in that position, close to the chair, which I cannot explain — an influence which made me think of somebody, and see somebody whom he is often accustomed to think of. I can’t tell you anything more about it, except that I saw Miss S — . because her brother influenced me, sitting where he now sits.”

Is this answer a confirmation of the opinion I have ventured to express at the beginning of my letter? Or does it only add one more mystery to the other unfathomable mysteries of
clairvoyance
?

W. W. C.

(To be continued.)

Letter 6
—
The Leader
13 March 1852

MAGNETIC EVENINGS AT HOME. — (
Concluded
.)

LETTER VI. — TO G. H. LEWES

ON looking over my notes, I find that I have hitherto omitted to mention some of our experiments, which, though perhaps of minor importance in themselves, are nevertheless not ill-calculated to assist in developing the widely-extended range of the magnetic influence in its action on the human subject. The experiments to which I refer, tended to show the power of Animal Magnetism in immensely increasing the muscular energy; in suspending the organic functions of persons in a perfectly wakeful state; and in aiding the painter or sculptor, by a special exertion of its influence in the studio, to work from the “living model.”

The proof of the increase of muscular energy, to be produced at will by the application of magnetism, was thus displayed: — While V — was in the magnetic state, the Count desired me to give her my hand, asserting at the same time, that he would make her clasp it with the grasp of a vice, — with a grasp from which he alone could free me. The appearance of V — ’s hand, which had evidently never been exercised in any harder work than needlework, rendered this assertion very difficult to credit; but the event soon proved, in anything but an agreeable manner to
me
— or, as it seemed, to
her
— that the power of the magnetic influence had, in this instance, not been one whit overrated. The magnetizer made one “pass” over V — ’s hand, when she took mine; and immediately after, I felt it beginning to close — tighter, tighter, tighter! — until her arm quivered all up to the shoulder; and the pain I felt from her grasp grew so intense that — ”setting my manhood aside” — I fairly begged to be released from a sensation which most men consider to be a remarkably agreeable one — the squeeze of a young lady’s hand! Two deep red impressions of that squeeze left in my skin, and a coldness and distortion of my fingers, which lasted full a quarter of an hour, were tolerably fair guarantees to the spectators of this experiment that I had certainly not “cried out before I was hurt.”

The Count assured my friends who were present, that, if the practical illustration of his assertion which they had just witnessed, were not sufficient for them, he would be quite willing to experiment on the stoutest boatman they could call into the house from the beach outside, just as he had experimented on me. And he laughingly offered, at the same time, to lay a wager with anybody, pledging him — by merely placing one of V — ’s hands on this said boatman’s chest, and the other against his shoulder blade — to make her inflict such a pressure on the man, as should, in the most literal acceptation of the phrase, reduce him to “roar for mercy.” It is hardly necessary to say that, after what the company had already seen, nobody was willing to take up the Count’s bet!

The capabilities of the magnetic influence in suspending the exercise of particular organs were very curiously exemplified in reference to the organ of speech. While we were all standing one night, talking round the fire, after the experiments of the evening were over, and V — had been awakened out of the magnetic sleep, the Count suddenly made a few “passes” close before her lips. Immediately afterwards, her articulation thickened; then ceased to be comprehensible: she could murmur; but could not pronounce a single word. In order to verify this experiment by our eye, as well as by our ears, I asked her to open her mouth; and found her tongue reduced to less than its natural length, swollen to considerably more than its natural thickness, and presenting a curiously twisted, convulsed appearance. On touching it afterwards with the finger, it felt quite hard. Fairly judged by the tests of hearing, seeing, and touching, she was at that moment perfectly and palpably “tongue-tied.”

The third experiment at which I have hinted, as tending to prove that Animal Magnetism might render real practical assistance to those who cultivate the fine arts, requires a word or two of preface, addressed to readers who may never have witnessed the progress of a picture on the easel, or the gradual construction of the clay model from which the marble statue is afterwards formed. Persons in this position, who only become acquainted with works of art in their finished state, have, very naturally, hardly an idea of the technical difficulties which at all stages beset the production of a picture or a statue, whatever the genius, however long the practice, of the producer may be. Among these technical difficulties, one that ranks as chief, is the difficulty of working from the living model, of painting or modelling from the life. In the first place, it is physically impossible, under any ordinary condition, for any human being to keep in the same position even for five minutes together, without insensibly moving a little, so as to embarrass the artist; to whom changes of this sort, so slight as to be inappreciable to the ordinary spectator, are always visible. In the second place, the effort on the part of the model to “sit” as still as possible, produces a constant sense of fatigue. Perhaps at the very moment when the painter or sculptor is working his best, the sitter discovers that he or she can sit no longer, and must absolutely take a rest; and the unfortunate artist finds his labour interrupted exactly at the point where his own interests demand that it should be continued. The more difficult the position of the model, the more frequent these minor miseries of the studio become. Sometimes when, for instance, the sitter’s arm is long kept in an outstretched direction (most probably by tying it to a support), positive injury is sustained by cramps and stiffness, which often affect the limb that has been maintained too continuously in one arduous position. Some years since, a serious accident of this kind happened at the Royal Academy. A model in the “life school” had been standing for a considerable time, with one of his arms (artificially supported) extended, in the action of holding a bow. He was told to put his arm down, and rest. “I’m afraid, gentlemen,” was the reply, “that I can’t rest, for I can’t put my arm down.” It was found that the limb had stiffened in the socket, and the assistance of a surgeon was obliged to be called in to restore the arm of the unfortunate model to its natural position by his side.

Such accidents as these, such difficulties in the artist’s way as those above-mentioned, Count P — assured us could be entirely obviated by magnetizing the “ model,” and then using the magnetic influence to fix him (or her) with the stillness of a statue, in the same position — no matter how difficult — for any number of hours required; and this, as all experience proved, without the slightest sensation of stiffness being felt by, or the smallest injury accruing to the health of, persons so treated, on their being restored to the waking state. He practically illustrated the assertion, while we were discussing the subject during a morning visit at his house.