The Facts in the Case of M.
Valdemar
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 underthe circumstances. Through the desire
of all parties concerned, tokeep the affair from the public, at
least for the present, or until wehad farther opportunities for
investigation --through our endeavors to effect this --a garbled
or exaggerated account made its way intosociety, 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 tome, quite suddenly, that
in the series of experiments made hitherto,there had been a very
remarkable and most unaccountable omission: --noperson had as yet
been mesmerized in articulo mortis. It remained to be seen,
first, whether, in such condition, there existed in thepatient
any susceptibility to the magnetic influence; secondly,whether,
if any existed, it was impaired or increased by thecondition;
thirdly, to what extent, or for how long a period, the
encroachments of Death might be arrested by the process. There
wereother 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. ErnestValdemar, the well-known
compiler of the "Bibliotheca Forensica,"and author
(under the nom de plume of Issachar Marx) of the Polishversions
of "Wallenstein" and "Gargantua." M.
Valdemar, who hasresided principally at Harlaem, 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 verygenerally 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 wasdisappointed in other
results which his peculiar constitution hadnaturally led me to
anticipate. His will was at no period positively, or thoroughly,
under my control, and in regard toclairvoyance, I could
accomplish with him nothing to be relied upon. Ialways attributed
my failure at these points to the disordered stateof his health.
For some months previous to my becoming acquainted withhim, his
physicians had declared him in a confirmed phthisis. It washis
custom, indeed, to speak calmly of his approaching dissolution,
asof a matter neither to be avoided nor regretted.
When the ideas to which I have
alluded first occurred to me, itwas of course very natural that I
should think of M. Valdemar. I knew the steady philosophy of the
man too well to apprehend anyscruples from him; and he had no
relatives in America who would belikely to interfere. I spoke to
him frankly upon the subject; and, to my surprise, his interest
seemed vividly excited. I say to mysurprise, 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 if that character which would admitof 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
hisphysicians 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 tomorrow midnight;
and I think they have hit the time very nearly. VALDEMAR
I received this note within half
an hour after it was written, andin fifteen minutes more I was in
the dying man's chamber. I had notseen him for ten days, and was
appalled by the fearful alteration which the brief interval had
wrought in him. His face wore a leadenhue; the eyes were utterly
lustreless; and the emaciation was soextreme 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 hismental power
and a certain degree of physical strength. He spokewith
distinctness --took some palliative medicines without aid --and,
when I entered the room, was occupied in penciling memoranda ina
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. Theleft lung had been for
eighteen months in a semi-osseous orcartilaginous state, and was,
of course, entirely useless for allpurposes of vitality. The
right, in its upper portion, was alsopartially, if not
thoroughly, ossified, while the lower region wasmerely a mass of
purulent tubercles, running one into another. Several extensive
perforations existed; and, at one point, permanentadhesion to the
ribs had taken place. These appearances in the rightlobe were of
comparatively recent date. The ossification had proceededwith
very unusual rapidity; no sign of it had discovered a month
before, and the adhesion had only been observed during the
threeprevious days. Independently of the phthisis, the patient
wassuspected of aneurism of the aorta; but on this point the
osseoussymptoms rendered an exact diagnosis impossible. It was
the opinion ofboth physicians that M. Valdemar would die about
midnight on themorrow (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 beentheir intention to return; but, at
my request, they agreed to lookin upon the patient about ten the
next night.
When they had gone, I spoke
freely with M. Valdemar on the subjectof his approaching
dissolution, as well as, more particularly, of the experiment
proposed. He still professed himself quite willingand 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
feelmyself altogether at liberty to engage in a task of this
characterwith no more reliable witnesses than these people, in
case of suddenaccident, might prove. I therefore postponed
operations until abouteight the next night, when the arrival of a
medical student withwhom I had some acquaintance, (Mr. Theodore
L--l,) relieved me fromfarther embarrassment. It had been my
design, originally, to waitfor the physicians; but I was induced
to proceed, first, by the urgententreaties of M. Valdemar, and
secondly, by my conviction that I hadnot 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 Inow have to relate is, for
the most part, either condensed or copied verbatim.
It wanted about five minutes of
eight when, taking the patient'shand, 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 "I fear youhave
mesmerized" --adding immediately afterwards, 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 thepatient 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 theexpiration of this
period, however, a natural although a very deep sigh escaped the
bosom of the dying man, and the stertorousbreathing ceased --that
is to say, its stertorousness was no longerapparent; the
intervals were undiminished. The patient's extremitieswere of an
icy coldness.
At five minutes before eleven I
perceived unequivocal signs of themesmeric influence. The glassy
roll of the eye was changed for thatexpression of uneasy inward
examination which is never seen exceptin cases of sleep-waking,
and which it is quite impossible to mistake.With a few rapid
lateral passes I made the lids quiver, as inincipient sleep, and
with a few more I closed them altogether. I wasnot satisfied,
however, with this, but continued the manipulation svigorously,
and with the fullest exertion of the will, until I hadcompletely
stiffened the limbs of the slumberer, after placing them ina
seemingly easy position. The legs were at full length; the arms
werenearly so, and reposed on the bed at a moderate distance from
theloin. 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 afew experiments, they
admitted him to be an unusually perfect state ofmesmeric trance.
The curiosity of both the physicians was greatlyexcited. Dr. D--
resolved at once to remain with the patient allnight, while Dr.
F-- took leave with a promise to return atdaybreak. Mr. L--l and
the nurses remained.
We left M. Valdemar entirely
undisturbed until about three o'clockin the morning, when I
approached him and found him in precisely thesame 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 amirror
to the lips); the eyes were closed naturally; and the limbswere
as rigid and as cold as marble. Still, the general appearance
wascertainly 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 thispatient 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 eyelids
unclosedthemselves so far as to display a white line of the ball;
the lipsmoved sluggishly, and from between them, in a barely
audiblewhisper, 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 rightarm, 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, andnothing more was said or done
until the arrival of Dr. F--, who came a little before sunrise,
and expressed unbounded astonishment at findingthe patient still
alive. After feeling the pulse and applying a mirrorto 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 hispresent apparently tranquil
condition, until death should supervene--and this, it was
generally agreed, must now take place within afew minutes. I
concluded, however, to speak to him once more, andmerely repeated
my previous question.
While I spoke, there came a
marked change over the countenance ofthe 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 circularhectic spots
which, hitherto, had been strongly defined in thecentre 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 hadpreviously 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-bedhorrors; 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 ofthe nurses, when a strong
vibratory motion was observable in the tongue. This continued for
perhaps a minute. At the expiration of thisperiod, there issued
from the distended and motionless jaws a voice--such as it would
be madness in me to attempt describing. Thereare, indeed, two or
three epithets which might be considered asapplicable 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 haveever jarred upon the
ear of humanity. There were two particulars,nevertheless, which I
thought then, and still think, might fairly bestated as
characteristic of the intonation --as well adapted to conveysome
idea of its unearthly peculiarity. In the first place, thevoice
seemed to reach our ears --at least mine --from a vast distance,
or from some deep cavern within the earth. In the second place,
itimpressed me (I fear, indeed, that it will be impossible to
makemyself 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
thesound was one of distinct --of even wonderfully,
thrillinglydistinct --syllabification. M. Valdemar spoke
--obviously in replyto the question I had propounded to him a few
minutes before. I hadasked 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, thusuttered, were so well calculated to
convey. Mr. L--l (the student)swooned. The nurses immediately
left the chamber, and could not beinduced to return. My own
impressions I would not pretend to renderintelligible to the
reader. For nearly an hour, we busied ourselves, silently
--without the utterance of a word --in endeavors to reviveMr.
L--l. When he came to himself, we addressed ourselves again toan
investigation of M. Valdemar's condition.
It remained in all respects as I
have last described it, with theexception that the mirror no
longer afforded evidence ofrespiration. An attempt to draw blood
from the arm failed. I shouldmention, too, that this limb was no
farther subject to my will. I endeavored in vain to make it
follow the direction of my hand. Theonly real indication, indeed,
of the mesmeric influence, was now foundin 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 anyother person
than myself he seemed utterly insensible --although Iendeavored
to place each member of the company in mesmeric rapportwith him.
I believe that I have now related all that is necessary toan
understanding of the sleep-waker's state at this epoch.
Othernurses 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. Hiscondition remained precisely the
same. We had now some discussion asto the propriety and
feasibility of awakening him; but we had littledifficulty in
agreeing that no good purpose would be served by so doing. It was
evident that, so far, death (or what is usually termeddeath) had
been arrested by the mesmeric process. It seemed clear tous 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 otherfriends. All this time the
sleeper-waker remained exactly as I havelast 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 givenrise 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, Imade use of the
customary passes. These, for a time, were unsuccessful. The first
indication of revival was afforded by apartial descent of the
iris. It was observed, as especiallyremarkable, that this
lowering of the pupil was accompanied by theprofuse out-flowing
of a yellowish ichor (from beneath the lids) ofa 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, asfollows:
"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; thetongue 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 obeyance 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 wereprepared 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 ofthe 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.
-THE END-