out by struggles against witchcraft, struggles doubtless very common
amongst early Christians. Indeed, the devils who were cast out must
sometimes have been baffled hypnotists confronted by One who was stronger
than they; the departing into the swine is much more intelligible on this
hypothesis than on Dean Farrar's, of the swine's terror, which suppresses
the "devils'" request.
A story is told of Titus by the rabbis: he heard a gnawing sound at his
brain; it caused him great pain. He heard a blacksmith hammering at his
anvil, and the gnawing ceased. The blacksmith was paid to go on hammering
in Titus' neighbourhood. At the end of a few days the "animal" that
gnawed at his brain got indifferent to the hammering, went on gnawing,
and Titus died. His brain was opened, and an animal as big as a sparrow
with a beak of iron was found in it. The truth of this story would be,
that some magicians, not especially adroit hypnotists, hammered at Titus'
tympanum. His nerves, tried by climatic fever--a great facilitator of
hypnotism--and by debauchery, gave way, and Jerusalem was avenged.
The writer once approached a very eminent Catholic cleric on the subject,
hoping that some Freemason who had been victimised by tricks played by
hypnotists in Italy might have relieved his conscience to the priests;
the writer had been given one clue in the following way.
Two English Freemasons in the writer's presence had briefly mentioned
mesmerism in Italian lodges. One asking a question as to this being true,
the other, who objected to his son becoming a Freemason early, turned the
question off; it is possible that he suspected it was the case, but
preferred holding his tongue.
Now as these scoundrel hypnotists have, unseen but heard, approached
three or four people to the writer's knowledge, under the pretence of
being connected with Freemasonry, it is very possible that they may have
induced some of their victims to enter a lodge, and then or before
tricked them in different ways. Indeed, one of the people attacked
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