Of course I shall not pretend to consider it any matter for wonder, that
the extraordinary case of M. Valdemar has excited discussion. It would
have been a miracle had it not -- especially under the circumstances.
Through the desire of all parties concerned, to keep the affair from the
public, at least for the present, or until we had farther opportunities
for investigation -- through our endeavors to effect this -- a garbled or
exaggerated account made its way into society, and became the source of
many unpleasant misrepresentations; and, very naturally, of a great deal
of disbelief.
It is now rendered necessary that I give the facts -- as far as I
comprehend them myself. They are, succinctly, these:
My attention, for the last three years, had been repeatedly drawn to
the subject of Mesmerism; and, about nine months ago, it occurred to me,
quite suddenly, that in the series of experiments made hitherto, there had
been a very remarkable and most unaccountable omission: no person had as
yet been mesmerized in articulo mortis. It remained to be seen, first,
whether, in such condition, there existed in the patient any
susceptibility to the magnetic influence; secondly, whether, if any
existed, it was impaired or increased by the condition; thirdly, to what
extent, or for how long a period, the encroachments of Death might be
arrested by the process. There were other points to be ascertained, but
these most excited my curiosity -- the last in especial, from the
immensely important character of its consequences.
In looking around me for some subject by whose means I might test
these particulars, I was brought to think of my friend, M. Ernest
Valdemar, the well-known compiler of the "Bibliotheca Forensica," and
author (under the nom de plume of Issachar Marx) of the Polish versions of
"Wallenstein" and "Gargantua." M. Valdemar, who has resided principally at
Harlem, N. Y., since the year 1839, is (or was) particularly noticeable
for the extreme spareness of his person -- his lower limbs much resembling
those of John Randolph; and, also, for the whiteness of his whiskers, in
violent contrast to the blackness of his hair -- the latter, in
consequence, being very generally mistaken for a wig. His temperament was
markedly nervous, and rendered him a good subject for mesmeric experiment.
On two or three occasions I had put him to sleep with little difficulty,
but was disappointed in other results which his peculiar constitution had
naturally led me to anticipate. His will was at no period positively, or
thoroughly, under my control, and in regard to clairvoyance, I could
accomplish with him nothing to be relied upon. I always attributed my
failure at these points to the disordered state of his health. For some
months previous to my becoming acquainted with him, his physicians had
declared him in a confirmed phthisis. It was his custom, indeed, to speak
calmly of his approaching dissolution, as of a matter neither to be
avoided nor regretted.
When the ideas to which I have alluded first occurred to me, it was of
course very natural that I should think of M. Valdemar. I knew the steady
philosophy of the man too well to apprehend any scruples from him; and he
had no relatives in America who would be likely to interfere. I spoke to
him frankly upon the subject; and, to my surprise, his interest seemed
vividly excited. I say to my surprise; for, although he had always yielded
his person freely to my experiments, he had never before given me any
tokens of sympathy with what I did. His disease was of that character
which would admit of exact calculation in respect to the epoch of its
termination in death; and it was finally arranged between us that he would
send for me about twenty-four hours before the period announced by his
physicians as that of his decease.
It is now rather more than seven months since I received, from M.
Valdemar himself, the subjoined note:
"MY DEAR P___,
You may as well come now. D___ and F___ are agreed that I cannot hold
out beyond to-morrow midnight; and I think they have hit the time very
nearly.
VALDEMAR."
I received this note within half an hour after it was written, and in
fifteen minutes more I was in the dying man's chamber. I had not seen him
for ten days, and was appalled by the fearful alteration which the brief
interval had wrought in him. His face wore a leaden hue; the eyes were
utterly lustreless; and the emaciation was so extreme, that the skin had
been broken through by the cheek-bones. His expectoration was excessive.
The pulse was barely perceptible. He retained, nevertheless, in a very
remarkable manner, both his mental power and a certain degree of physical
strength. He spoke with distinctness -- took some palliative medicines
without aid -- and, when I entered the room, was occupied in penciling
memoranda in a pocket-book. He was propped up in the bed by pillows.
Doctors D___ and F___ were in attendance.
After pressing Valdemar's hand, I took these gentlemen aside, and
obtained from them a minute account of the patient's condition. The left
lung had been for eighteen months in a semi-osseous or cartilaginous
state, and was, of course, entirely useless for all purposes of vitality.
The right, in its upper portion, was also partially, if not thoroughly,
ossified, while the lower region was merely a mass of purulent tubercles,
running one into another. Several extensive perforations existed; and, at
one point, permanent adhesion to the ribs had taken place. These
appearances in the right lobe were of comparatively recent date. The
ossification had proceeded with very unusual rapidity; no sign of it had
discovered a month before, and the adhesion had only been observed during
the three previous days. Independently of the phthisis, the patient was
suspected of aneurism of the aorta; but on this point the osseous symptoms
rendered an exact diagnosis impossible. It was the opinion of both
physicians that M. Valdemar would die about midnight on the morrow
(Sunday.) It was then seven o'clock on Saturday evening.
On quitting the invalid's bed-side to hold conversation with myself,
Doctors D___ and F___ had bidden him a final farewell. It had not been
their intention to return; but, at my request, they agreed to look in upon
the patient about ten the next night.
When they had gone, I spoke freely with M. Valdemar on the subject of
his approaching dissolution, as well as, more particularly, of the
experiment proposed. He still professed himself quite willing and even
anxious to have it made, and urged me to commence it at once. A male and a
female nurse were in attendance; but I did not feel myself altogether at
liberty to engage in a task of this character with no more reliable
witnesses than these people, in case of sudden accident, might prove. I
therefore postponed operations until about eight the next night, when the
arrival of a medical student, with whom I had some acquaintance, (Mr.
Theodore L___l,) relieved me from farther embarrassment. It had been my
design, originally, to wait for the physicians; but I was induced to
proceed, first, by the urgent entreaties of M. Valdemar, and secondly, by
my conviction that I had not a moment to lose, as he was evidently sinking
fast.
Mr. L___l was so kind as to accede to my desire that he would take
notes of all that occurred; and it is from his memoranda that what I now
have to relate is, for the most part, either condensed or copied verbatim.
It wanted about five minutes of eight when, taking the patient's hand,
I begged him to state, as distinctly as he could, to Mr. L___l, whether he
(M. Valdemar,) was entirely willing that I should make the experiment of
mesmerizing him in his then condition.
He replied feebly, yet quite audibly, "Yes, I wish to be mesmerized"
-- adding immediately afterwards, "I fear you have deferred it too long."
While he spoke thus, I commenced the passes which I had already found
most effectual in subduing him. He was evidently influenced with the first
lateral stroke of my hand across his forehead; but although I exerted all
my powers, no farther perceptible effect was induced until some minutes
after ten o'clock, when Doctors D___ and F___ called, according to
appointment. I explained to them, in a few words, what I designed, and as
they opposed no objection, saying that the patient was already in the
death agony, I proceeded without hesitation -- exchanging, however, the
lateral passes for downward ones, and directing my gaze entirely into the
right eye of the sufferer.
By this time his pulse was imperceptible and his breathing was
stertorous, and at intervals of half a minute.
This condition was nearly unaltered for a quarter of an hour. At the
expiration of this period, however, a natural although a very deep sigh
escaped the bosom of the dying man, and the stertorous breathing ceased --
that is to say, its stertorousness was no longer apparent; the intervals
were undiminished. The patient's extremities were of an icy coldness.
At five minutes before eleven, I perceived unequivocal signs of the
mesmeric influence. The glassy roll of the eye was changed for that
expression of uneasy inward examination which is never seen except in
cases of sleep-waking, and which it is quite impossible to mistake. With a
few rapid lateral passes I made the lids quiver, as in incipient sleep,
and with a few more I closed them altogether. I was not satisfied,
however, with this, but continued the manipulations vigorously, and with
the fullest exertion of the will, until I had completely stiffened the
limbs of the slumberer, after placing them in a seemingly easy position.
The legs were at full length; the arms were nearly so, and reposed on the
bed at a moderate distance from the loins. The head was very slightly
elevated.
When I had accomplished this, it was fully midnight, and I requested
the gentlemen present to examine M. Valdemar's condition. After a few
experiments, they admitted him to be in an unusually perfect state of
mesmeric trance. The curiosity of both the physicians was greatly excited.
Dr. D___ resolved at once to remain with the patient all night, while Dr.
F___ took leave with a promise to return at daybreak. Mr. L___l and the
nurses remained.
We left M. Valdemar entirely undisturbed until about three o'clock in
the morning, when I approached him and found him in precisely the same
condition as when Dr. F___ went away -- that is to say, he lay in the same
position; the pulse was imperceptible; the breathing was gentle (scarcely
noticeable, unless through the application of a mirror to the lips;) the
eyes were closed naturally; and the limbs were as rigid and as cold as
marble. Still, the general appearance was certainly not that of death.
As I approached M. Valdemar I made a kind of half effort to influence
his right arm into pursuit of my own, as I passed the latter gently to and
fro above his person. In such experiments with this patient, I had never
perfectly succeeded before, and assuredly I had little thought of
succeeding now; but to my astonishment, his arm very readily, although
feebly, followed every direction I assigned it with mine. I determined to
hazard a few words of conversation.
"M. Valdemar," I said, "are you asleep?" He made no answer, but I
perceived a tremor about the lips, and was thus induced to repeat the
question, again and again. At its third repetition, his whole frame was
agitated by a very slight shivering; the eye-lids unclosed themselves so
far as to display a white line of a ball; the lips moved sluggishly, and
from between them, in a barely audible whisper, issued the words:
"Yes; asleep now. Do not wake me! -- let me die so!"
I here felt the limbs and found them as rigid as ever. The right arm,
as before, obeyed the direction of my hand. I questioned the sleep-waker
again:
"Do you still feel pain in the breast, M. Valdemar?"
The answer now was immediate, but even less audible than before:
"No pain -- I am dying."
I did not think it advisable to disturb him farther just then, and
nothing more was said or done until the arrival of Dr. F___, who came a
little before sunrise, and expressed unbounded astonishment at finding the
patient still alive. After feeling the pulse and applying a mirror to the
lips, he requested me to speak to the sleep-waker again. I did so, saying:
"M. Valdemar, do you still sleep?"
As before, some minutes elapsed ere a reply was made; and during the
interval the dying man seemed to be collecting his energies to speak. At
my fourth repetition of the question, he said very faintly, almost
inaudibly:
"Yes; still asleep -- dying."
It was now the opinion, or rather the wish, of the physicians, that M.
Valdemar should be suffered to remain undisturbed in his present
apparently tranquil condition, until death should supervene -- and this,
it was generally agreed, must now take place within a few minutes. I
concluded, however, to speak to him once more, and merely repeated my
previous question.
While I spoke, there came a marked change over the countenance of the
sleep-waker. The eyes rolled themselves slowly open, the pupils
disappearing upwardly; the skin generally assumed a cadaverous hue,
resembling not so much parchment as white paper; and the circular hectic
spots which, hitherto, had been strongly defined in the centre of each
cheek, went out at once. I use this expression, because the suddenness of
their departure put me in mind of nothing so much as the extinguishment of
a candle by a puff of the breath. The upper lip, at the same time, writhed
itself away from the teeth, which it had previously covered completely;
while the lower jaw fell with an audible jerk, leaving the mouth widely
extended, and disclosing in full view the swollen and blackened tongue. I
presume that no member of the party then present had been unaccustomed to
death-bed horrors; but so hideous beyond conception was the appearance of
M. Valdemar at this moment, that there was a general shrinking back from
the region of the bed.
I now feel that I have reached a point of this narrative at which
every reader will be startled into positive disbelief. It is my business,
however, simply to proceed.
There was no longer the faintest sign of vitality in M. Valdemar; and
concluding him to be dead, we were consigning him to the charge of the
nurses, when a strong vibratory motion was observable in the tongue. This
continued for perhaps a minute. At the expiration of this period, there
issued from the distended and motionless jaws a voice -- such as it would
be madness in me to attempt describing. There are, indeed, two or three
epithets which might be considered as applicable to it in part; I might
say, for example, that the sound was harsh, and broken and hollow; but the
hideous whole is indescribable, for the simple reason that no similar
sounds have ever jarred upon the ear of humanity. There were two
particulars, nevertheless, which I thought then, and still think, might
fairly be stated as characteristic of the intonation -- as well adapted to
convey some idea of its unearthly peculiarity. In the first place, the
voice seemed to reach our ears -- at least mine -- from a vast distance,
or from some deep cavern within the earth. In the second place, it
impressed me (I fear, indeed, that it will be impossible to make myself
comprehended) as gelatinous or glutinous matters impress the sense of
touch.
I have spoken both of "sound" and of "voice." I mean to say that the
sound was one of distinct -- of even wonderfully, thrillingly distinct --
syllabification. M. Valdemar spoke -- obviously in reply to the question I
had propounded to him a few minutes before. I had asked him, it will be
remembered, if he still slept. He now said:
"Yes; -- no; -- I have been sleeping -- and now -- now -- I am dead.
No person present even affected to deny, or attempted to repress, the
unutterable, shuddering horror which these few words, thus uttered, were
so well calculated to convey. Mr. L___l (the student) swooned. The nurses
immediately left the chamber, and could not be induced to return. My own
impressions I would not pretend to render intelligible to the reader. For
nearly an hour, we busied ourselves, silently -- without the utterance of
a word -- in endeavors to revive Mr. L___l. When he came to himself, we
addressed ourselves again to an investigation of M. Valdemar's condition.
It remained in all respects as I have last described it, with the
exception that the mirror no longer afforded evidence of respiration. An
attempt to draw blood from the arm failed. I should mention, too, that
this limb was no farther subject to my will. I endeavored in vain to make
it follow the direction of my hand. The only real indication, indeed, of
the mesmeric influence, was now found in the vibratory movement of the
tongue, whenever I addressed M. Valdemar a question. He seemed to be
making an effort to reply, but had no longer sufficient volition. To
queries put to him by any other person than myself he seemed utterly
insensible -- although I endeavored to place each member of the company in
mesmeric rapport with him. I believe that I have now related all that is
necessary to an understanding of the sleep-waker's state at this epoch.
Other nurses were procured; and at ten o'clock I left the house in company
with the two physicians and Mr. L___l.
In the afternoon we all called again to see the patient. His condition
remained precisely the same. We had now some discussion as to the
propriety and feasibility of awakening him; but we had little difficulty
in agreeing that no good purpose would be served by so doing. It was
evident that, so far, death (or what is usually termed death) had been
arrested by the mesmeric process. It seemed clear to us all that to awaken
M. Valdemar would be merely to insure his instant, or at least his speedy
dissolution.
From this period until the close of last week -- an interval of nearly
seven months -- we continued to make daily calls at M. Valdemar's house,
accompanied, now and then, by medical and other friends. All this time the
sleeper-waker remained exactly as I have last described him. The nurses'
attentions were continual.
It was on Friday last that we finally resolved to make the experiment
of awakening, or attempting to awaken him; and it is the (perhaps)
unfortunate result of this latter experiment which has given rise to so
much discussion in private circles -- to so much of what I cannot help
thinking unwarranted popular feeling.
For the purpose of relieving M. Valdemar from the mesmeric trance, I
made use of the customary passes. These, for a time, were unsuccessful.
The first indication of revival was afforded by a partial descent of the
iris. It was observed, as especially remarkable, that this lowering of the
pupil was accompanied by the profuse out-flowing of a yellowish ichor
(from beneath the lids) of a pungent and highly offensive odor.
It was now suggested that I should attempt to influence the patient's
arm, as heretofore. I made the attempt and failed. Dr. F___ then intimated
a desire to have me put a question. I did so, as follows:
"M. Valdemar, can you explain to us what are your feelings or wishes
now?"
There was an instant return of the hectic circles on the cheeks; the
tongue quivered, or rather rolled violently in the mouth (although the
jaws and lips remained rigid as before;) and at length the same hideous
voice which I have already described, broke forth:
"For God's sake! -- quick! -- quick! -- put me to sleep -- or, quick!
-- waken me! -- quick! -- I say to you that I am dead!"
I was thoroughly unnerved, and for an instant remained undecided what
to do. At first I made an endeavor to re-compose the patient; but, failing
in this through total abeyance of the will, I retraced my steps and as
earnestly struggled to awaken him. In this attempt I soon saw that I
should be successful -- or at least I soon fancied that my success would
be complete -- and I am sure that all in the room were prepared to see the
patient awaken.
For what really occurred, however, it is quite impossible that any
human being could have been prepared.
As I rapidly made the mesmeric passes, amid ejaculations of "dead!
dead!" absolutely bursting from the tongue and not from the lips of the
sufferer, his whole frame at once -- within the space of a single minute,
or even less, shrunk -- crumbled -- absolutely rotted away beneath my
hands. Upon the bed, before that whole company, there lay a nearly liquid
mass of loathsome -- of detestable putridity.
