Hypnotic Animals - or maybe not? How Animal Mesmerism grew across Britain and Europe

Here Kate Tyte gives us a fascinating overview of Mesmerism, a popular hypnotic process that united all classes and many people believed in through the 18th and 19th centuries.

“There is only one illness,” pronounced Franz Anton Mesmer, “and only one cure.” This cure was animal magnetism, a practice that united eighteenth century society in debate. From royalty to peasants, politicians to revolutionaries, scientists to Freemasons: everyone had an opinion on magnetism. 

Franz Anton Mesmer was born in Germany in 1734. He studied medicine in Vienna, married a wealthy widow and became a fashionable doctor. Not bad for the son of a game keeper. 

In 1774, Mesmer was introduced to patient Francisca Oesterlin. She suffered from ‘constant vomiting, inflammation of the bowels, stoppage of urine, excruciating toothache, earache, melancholy, depression, delirium, fits of frenzy, catalepsy, fainting fits, blindness, breathlessness, and lameness.’ Mesmer tried a novel cure. He gave her a medicine containing iron and applied magnets over her body to create an ‘artificial tide.’ Oesterlin was cured. In fact, she was so well she soon married Mesmer’s step-son. Mesmer now theorized that the whole universe was held together by magnetic fluid, and that disease was caused by blockages in free-flow of this fluid through the body. Animal magnetism was born.

Mesmer developed his cure. He would stare into his patient’s eyes and massage their body, wave a wand at them, or have them put their feet in magnetic water, until they had a ‘crisis’ or a fit and were cured. He was soon hounded out of Vienna as a charlatan and moved to Paris. Once again the medical and scientific authorities were skeptical, but the public loved magnetism so much he had to introduce group cures. His patients would hold onto a tub of magnetized water, a magnetized tree, or simply hold hands.

The authorities felt threatened by Mesmer’s miracle cures and were determined to stamp out animal magnetism. In 1784 the King appointed a Royal Commission of eminent scientists, led by Benjamin Franklin, to investigate. It was rather awkward as they were all members of a masonic lodge that was very keen on magnetism. But their scientific self-interest won the day. They reported that ‘magnetic fluid’ was humbug and that Mesmer’s cures were either fake or a product of the imagination. Mesmer was a staunch materialist and strongly denied that his cures were produced by the mind.

The commission finished Mesmer’s career. He left Paris and drifted around Europe. He was later imprisoned in Vienna as a suspected revolutionary, and died in Germany in 1815.

Magnetism lives on!

Meanwhile, animal magnetism continued to march through Europe and remained as popular as ever. This was hardly surprising. In the late eighteenth century all the medical establishment could offer was blood-letting, vomits and purges. Given the choice between a cure that was painful, dangerous and useless, or one that was pleasant, safe and useless, I would pick the latter option every time.

In 1784, the same year as the Royal Commission, Armand Marie Jacques Chastenet, Marquis of Puysegur, took magnetism in a new direction. He discovered he could induce a new state of consciousness, called ‘artificial somnambulism’ or ‘magnetic sleep.’ This sometimes gave patients occult powers such as clairvoyance and extra-sensory perception. Puysegur’s ‘spiritual’ or psychological version of animal magnetism, became known as ‘mesmerism’, and ensured the continued popularity of the practice.

The British

Mesmerism spread to Britain in the 1780s. The establishment was skeptical. They saw mesmerism as unscientific, and worse, un-English. The Frogs and the Krauts might go in for such effeminate mumbo-jumbo, but John Bull was not going to fall for such nonsense. Despite this, the political classes got quite hysterical about it during the revolutionary wars. They worried that the French were using ‘magnetic spies’ to pry into the minds of the British.

Mesmerism was re-born in Britain during the 1830s and 1840s when several popular books on the subject started a craze dubbed ‘mesmeric mania’. The salons of high society delighted in mesmerism and even Charles Dickens had a dabble. Many people think of mesmerism as an eccentric pursuit by the fringes of Victorian society, but for about 20 years it was all-pervasive and inescapable in every aspect of British life.

The working classes were just as fascinated by mesmerism as the wealthy. Mesmeric showmen toured the country giving demonstrations. Mesmerism’s appeal was obvious. It was exciting, mysterious and wonderfully meritocratic. Anyone could mesmerize. There was no need for expensive training or membership of exclusive professional bodies. Mesmerism was used as a cheap form of medicine for the poor and also a way to explore paranormal phenomena, such as clairvoyance. It could also be deliciously subversive. Men who dropped their aitches could mesmerize duchesses, throwing the whole social order into glorious disarray. And some Socialist groups actually promoted mesmerism as part of a radical political agenda.

The medical profession, though, remained vehemently opposed to mesmerism. John Ellitson, senior physician at University College Hospital and respected medical author, was eager to experiment. He found mesmerism helped many of his patients so he began lecturing on it. This caused a mighty row with the hospital authorities and ended his career. The hospital didn’t care whether mesmerism worked or not. They simply felt that it was disreputable and a threat to their status. Thomas Wakley, editor of The Lancet, said that mesmerists ought to be shunned “more than lepers, or the uncleanest of the unclean.” Wakley had no such qualms about the ludicrous pseudo-science of phrenology.

The medical profession even dismissed mesmerism’s use for surgical anesthesia. Hundreds of operations were carried out using mesmeric pain relief in the 1830s and 40s. At one colonial hospital in India, mesmeric anesthesia caused the death-rate to plummet by 50%. The medical establishment simply ignored this evidence and claimed that all the patients had been faking it! Ellitson asked in despair, “How long will you refuse to spare a single wretched patient the pain of your instruments?”

As it turned out, not long. Mesmerism made the infliction of pain surgery seem like an avoidable trauma, rather than a simple fact of life. Mesmerism inspired surgeons to experiment and by the 1850s ether and chloroform were being used widely. 

The mesmeric craze died out in the 1850s. Chemical anesthesia rendered it redundant in operations and the public had moved on to a new craze for séances, ouija boards and spiritualism. It took many years for mesmerism, or hypnosis as it was later called, to be taken seriously and recognized as tool with great potential for psychological healing. In the meantime the mesmerism craze was practically written out of history as a silly and embarrassing episode. This was unfair, as mesmerism had in fact spared many patients from pain and suffering.

By Kate Tyte. Kate is an archivist, history writer and blogger.  You can follow her on twitter at @KateTyte and find her blog at katetyte.com.

You can also find out more about Mesmerism in Robin Waterfield’s Hidden Depths – The Story of Hypnosis. Available here: Amazon US | Amazon UK

Out from Slavery: Heroes for all Americans and the Lessons from Slavery

Following the release of the film 12 Years a Slave, Jason McKenney reflects on the lessons that the whole of America can learn from slavery. He also argues that from the time of American independence, slavery was in demise in the USA and considers the importance of slavery in US history.

This article is provided by Jason McKenney from http://time-trip.blogspot.com

Simply a Shame?

With the recent release of the film 12 Years a Slave, there has been a gale of new commentary on slavery in the United States. The film is based on the autobiographical account of Solomon Northrup, a black man born free in New York State before being kidnapped and sold down the river where he was to live the life of enforced bondage in Louisiana until his escape.

Most of the reviews of the film are as much about slavery as they are about the movie itself. Based on several reviews posted at RottenTomatoes.com, slavery was a “tragedy of countless thousands of souls beaten down,” an “unrelenting horror” and “our national shame.” Thoughts like this aren’t a surprise when dealing with such an emotional and gut-wrenching subject. No sane person would disagree with these statements, but it almost feels like we’re tilling the same ground over and over here without planting any new seeds. Could there be a more positive lesson to pull out of the awe-inspiring struggle so many black slaves endured to make progress towards freedom? Is there a lesson that keeps the evil aspects of slavery in perspective while also giving us a better understanding why it was so important that black liberation succeeded?

A Ride for Liberty - The Fugitive Slaves. Eastman Johnson, 1862.

Slavery and its relation to the black experience in the United States are frequently thought of in just those terms: the black experience. There are not many lessons that the white population currently take from the long struggle for emancipation beyond the fact that slavery was America’s so-called “national shame” and that whites should treat blacks as equals. Other groups such as Latinos and Asians may feel even further removed from this chapter in US national history. However, there is much more for all Americans to learn from the liberation of black slaves than it simply being the right thing to do.

Fueling the Fire of Liberation

The demise of slavery in the United States began almost the moment the nation declared its independence from Britain.

“But how can that be?” you ask. “Slavery still had decades of massive growth ahead of it after 1776.”

I will concede that point if you also concede that the broader principles, arguments and justifications for ending slavery were making unprecedented leaps and bounds in the 18th century. The philosophical movement known as “The Enlightenment” produced writers and thinkers who argued against slavery on humanitarian grounds because the treatment of slaves was growing more brutal by the moment. While valid in tone, the weakness to this argument is that it makes slavery more acceptable as long as the slave isn’t treated poorly. More complete arguments against human slavery claimed that it violated basic natural rights, including the right to liberty of person. These were ideas that had been virtually unheard of prior to The Enlightenment, and with the US Declaration of Independence, the birth of the first nation founded principally on Enlightenment Ideals was underway.

“But the Constitution made indirect allowances for slavery when it was first ratified!” you say.

“And many of the Founding Fathers owned slaves!” you say.

As the 18th century English writer Samuel Johnson put it, “How is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the drivers of Negroes?” True and true, but as most writers will also say, perfection rarely arrives in the first couple of drafts. It can take years of delicate crafting to go from a small kernel of truth and stretch it out to a full-fledged cultural paradigm. In other words, who cares if Thomas Jefferson owned slaves? The principles of individual rights, human liberty and religious freedom which the agrarian redhead supported helped fertilize the soil out of which the fight for abolition grew.  This was because, at their heart, many of the Founding Fathers knew their ideal of personal freedom from tyranny was incompatible with chattel slavery. They believed it would only be a matter of time before the peculiar institution either phased itself out or resulted in a climactic and violent civil war.

During the eighty-nine years between the Declaration of Independence and the Surrender at Appomattox, many African-Americans, both free and slave, fought with as much heart, courage and fearlessness to free their people as any lieutenant in General Washington’s army. The fight took many forms. Frederick Douglass and William Still gave us words, stories and history. Nat Turner and Denmark Vesey gave us conspiracy and execution of violent slave revolts in the antebellum countryside. Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth showed us that even caught in the brambles of soul-crushing bondage, a woman’s spirit could rise above the situation and show others that a better life was possible.

Each of these people and thousands of others just like them, whether they knew it or not, were acting out natural human impulses codified in America’s Founding Documents. America was built on liberty and independence because the Founding Fathers believed that was the natural state of humankind; to be free and self-governing and not tied down to another power whether it be an English despot or some Southern plantation owner.

An Inspiration for Others

I think that too often, the black struggle for liberation is viewed as an ancillary offshoot of American history and not part of the main course. Most Americans think of US history between the 1770s and the 1860s as basically the Revolution, maybe the War of 1812, the growth of slavery, westward expansion, and then the Civil War where the slaves were freed (with a Second Great Awakening mixed in for good measure). When attention is paid to events like the Underground Railroad, Douglass’ North Star and the early 19th century slave rebellions, they are sometimes viewed as isolated or even minor events that played third fiddle to the larger strains of the American narrative. They will also tend to be viewed as sources of pride exclusively for the African-American population and less so for other ethnicities who claim this nation as home. Instead, these events should be viewed as a vindication of the ideals of the Enlightenment, justification in the founding of the United States and proof that the struggle for the abolishment of black slavery was a more tangible representation of the abstract models fought for by the Founding Fathers.

The examples given by people like Tubman, Still and Northrup to modern Americans of every stripe and color are just as powerful and just as meaningful to the blended DNA of freedom that underlies the United States as any treatise by Jefferson, maneuvers led by Washington or speeches given by Lincoln. These men and women of color fighting for their independence and inspired by the spirit of our Constitution serve as great examples of what it means to be American. Their actions will naturally carry deeper meaning for other African-Americans, but Americans of every ethnic background should take pride in living in a country that has produced such amazing leaders as these.

Jason McKenney was born and raised in Lexington, Kentucky, and now lives in the suburbs of Los Angeles. His education background is in technology and business, but he has a passion for history. His adventure series Time Trip is his attempt to introduce young adult readers to famous historical events in a new and exciting way.

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/timetrip101
• Twitter: @jason_mckenney
• Site: http://time-trip.blogspot.com

Want to find out more about slavery in America? Download issue 2 of our digital magazine History is Now. Click here!

The amazing historical town of Ilha de Mocambique – Image of the week

An image from the fascinating former Portuguese colonial capital in Mozambique is this week’s image of the week.

As you approach Ilha de Mocambique (Island of Mozambique) across a causeway, you are struck by the difference between this small former capital city and the surrounding towns. The town was the capital of Portuguese East Africa for many years, but the capital’s location then changed and the town slowly fell into some sort of decay.

In the image we can see the Misericordia Church bathed in sunlight, a girl walking by the steps of the church, and some ladies washing in the shade. A beautiful scene.

The image comes from Stig Nygaard in 2007 and is available here.

Want to find out about what’s happening with us this year? Click here to join us and find out more!

George Levrier-Jones

Happy New Year! Our image of the week is from 19th century Australia

In order to celebrate the New Year, our image of the week is from a very old party.

Happy New Year!

We thought it only fitting that this week’s image comes from a New Year’s celebration. In fact we’re going all the way back to 19th century Australia.

Our image shows a big party with ladies in beautiful Victorian clothing, horses at work, and children at play – all amid the crowds. It is a scene from George Street, Sydney, near the markets, on New Year’s eve. And the year? All the way from December 31, 1878.

It comes from the Australian Town and Country Journal, 4 January 1879, page 24.

Happy New Year!

Want to find out about what’s happening with us in the New Year? Click here to join us and then find out more!

George Levrier-Jones

Merry Old Santa Claus from the 19th century. Our image of the week

With Christmas only hours away, today’s image of the week is a classic 19th century image of Santa.

The origins of Christmas go very far back. Santa Claus, or Saint Nicholas, first dates to over 1500 years ago. Indeed, Saint Nicholas is a Greek saint from the fourth-century. Later in this Christmas tradition came Sinterklaas in Holland and Father Christmas in the UK.

But various factors caused Santa to become more well-known and more popular. Many people believe that it was Coca-Cola who invented Santa (in fact, a colleague of mine who used to work at Coca-Cola also claimed that), but that is not quite true. There are various images and references to Santa in both the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Our image of the week shows a drawing of Santa from Harper’s Weekly in 1881 entitled ‘Merry Old Santa Claus.’ It was drawn by Thomas Nast and went a long way to showing the Santa we know and love today. Santa is smoking his pipe, has what appears to be mistletoe in his hair, and has hands overflowing with toys and other gifts.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Did you miss last week’s Christmas image on the World War I miracle? Click here to find out more!

George Levrier-Jones

Of Sailors and Kings - 19th century tattoos

The Victorian era was a time of great conservatism and when tattoos were more than taboo for most of society; however that didn’t stop some of the most important members of the British Royal Family obtaining tattoos – including future Kings!

A young Prince of Wales - the future King Edward VII. Some years after this portrait, he was to receive a tattoo! Alas pictures of the tattoo are difficult to come by,

You might think tattoos only became popular in the 20th century in the West. Well, that is far from being true. In fact, Tattoos were popular amongst various military personnel as well as the highest of the high…

In 1862 no lesser person than the Prince of Wales received his first tattoo. The Prince was the son of Queen Victoria and the future King Edward VII. His tattoo was a Jerusalem cross by Francois Souwan, obtained while he visited Jerusalem. He was then around 20 years old, and sent to the East by Victoria who seemed to have not been particularly fond of her dandy son.

While most British ports had had professional tattoo artists in residence since the 18th century, Edward’s tattoo started a fad among the aristocracy. In 1882, Edward’s sons, the Duke of Clarence and the Duke of York (the later George V), were tattooed by the Japanese tattooist Hoti Chiyo. The Duke of York received a tattoo of a dragon on his arm. Later, the prince received more tattoos from Tom Riley and Sutherland Macdonald.

He wrote in a letter, “we have been tattooed by the same old man who tattooed papa, and the same thing too, five crosses. You ask Papa to show you his arm,” although that sentence has been the subject of debate.

All the 19th century dictionaries and encyclopedias suggest that among Europeans, tattooing was confined to seamen, and sometimes soldiers. The first permanent tattoo shop in New York City was set up in 1846 and later began a tradition by tattooing military servicemen from both sides of the civil war. Samuel O’Reilly invented the electric tattooing machine in 1891.

However, in 1861 the French naval surgeon Maurice Berchon published a study on the medical complications of tattooing, and after this, the navy and army made efforts to ban tattooing within their services.

Another aspect of 19th century tattooing was people who claimed to have been unwillingly tattooed. For example, John Rutherford arrived on the exhibition scene in 1827 with a full Maori Moko tattoo on his face. He made quite a profit from telling how he was captured and tattooed by force.

Sadly, none of the British princes seems to have been keen on showing off their royal tattoos in public and to this day photos are rather difficult to come by.

Do let us know if you come across any!

This article is provided by Geerte de Jong from http://19thcentury.wordpress.com.

Enjoy the article? Well, why not read about the British royal family’s civil war in a very different age? Click here.

The United States and King Leopold II's bloody acquisition of the Congo

The Belgian colonization of the Congo was one of the worst examples of exploitative behavior from a European colonial power. Here we look at Belgian King Leopold II and the USA’s role in his acquisition of the West-Central African territory of the Congo.

The story of King Leopold II of Belgium and his obsessive quest for an African colony is a tale of greed, devastation, and woe. It is a journey into the darkness of humankind, with brutality and hypocrisy the sole victors. King Leopold’s Congolese experiment took several decades to develop and implement as this clever but devious King slowly and carefully maneuvered himself to manipulate many, including the people of the Congo, the international community, and even his own subjects. Motivated by desire, greed, envy, his own ego, and several other interested parties, a colony was established which would have tragic and lasting consequences for the native population. 

A young Leopold in 1853. He would later become an ambitious, greedy King.

Leopold was born in Brussels, Belgium in 1835, and he came to power when he became King in 1865. By the time he became King, two things interested him greatly: territory and money - by which I mean financial gain. The combination of these would prove to be of great significance in his later life, along with that of millions of others. He became very jealous of the Great European Powers around him; of their riches, their power, and most importantly, of their colonies. He was very ambitious but equally frustrated. Belgium was too weak for him and his ambitions. Petit pays, petit gens (small country, small people) goes the phrase; however, the country that Belgium had gained independence from in the 1830s, the Netherlands, had a sizeable empire. He wanted such an empire for himself too. The Congo was one of the areas in Africa that was not recognized by all major powers as belonging to a European Power in the 1870s, and it promised many treasures, such as ivory and rubber, ready to be harvested at the cost of the native people there. Nonetheless, before Leopold could stake his claim on the land, he would have to manipulate several European nations to recognize his claim over it. But he also wanted the support of the United States.

And why the USA? After all, in the 1870s the USA was still quite inward-looking and trying to grow internally. The answer is that even at this time, the United States was fast becoming the most powerful and richest nation on earth, and to have its recognition of Leopold’s claim to the Congo would go a long way to convincing his European rivals. It was in that light that Leopold began his great quest.

One of Leopold’s early moves was to contact the United States’ ambassador to Belgium, one General Henry Shelton Sanford. He commissioned Sanford to acquire the services of the famous British-American explorer Henry Morton Stanley. Stanley, like Leopold, was extremely ambitious, and also had an egotistical and ambitious streak about him. By the time Leopold had secured his service, Stanley had already crossed the Congo, and had famously found the British missionary David Livingstone in 1871. In addition, Stanley had written about his escapades in Africa, presenting himself as something of a 19th century hero and celebrity. Acquiring the services of possibly the best explorer in the world was something of a coup for Leopold.

Ambassador Sanford’s involvement would go much further. It now became his responsibility to convince the President of the United States of Leopold’s claim and plans for the Congo. If the US could recognize this claim, Leopold would be in a very powerful position. But what would the US get in return for this recognition? Leopold promised the US that its citizens would be able to buy land in the Congo, and that US goods there would be free of all customs duties. Furthermore, Stanley had been touting himself as ‘born and bred’ in the United States, meaning that an American had not only played a role in discovering the Congo, but that one would continue to play a role in the territory. This was important to the United States as it was growing in stature and being recognized as a significant power in the international community.

Sanford’s own personal motivation was purely financial as he would stand to gain a great deal from this trade. As such, he lobbied the executive branch for recognition, despite Leopold omitting the fact that he had a monopoly on all trade there – and had no intention of giving it up. Although Sanford’s business affairs in the past bordered on poor to sketchy, and he owed his prominence in large part due to his inheritance, he saw this as too good an opportunity to pass away. He reasoned that any failure as a businessperson would be countered by his success as an accomplice of Leopold’s. He had already succeeded in acquiring Stanley’s services, and his involvement led to the United States recognizing the Congo as a colony of Belgium. Sanford even received royal praise from Leopold for his work, something that he actually valued more than the money itself.

Another key person in lobbying the President in favor of Belgium’s claim was Senator John Tyler Morgan. His wish was for the African-American population to return to Africa after the abolition of slavery in the USA. Morgan was very fearful of an African-American uprising, following demands for equality and liberty. He had also quickly seen an opportunity to send the black population back to Africa to work with the Congolese in enhancing trade, and as a place to sell any surplus cotton.

After the President of the United States agreed to recognize the Congo as being under King Leopold’s rule, it helped Leopold in petitioning European Powers to do the same. 

Leopold offered the French droit de preference, first right of refusal, should Leopold go bankrupt in his efforts to colonize the Congo. The French were extremely concerned about Leopold going bankrupt as they felt the colony would then fall into the hands of the British, their closest rivals, in part due to explorer Stanley’s Welsh origins. Because of this, the French were relatively easy to convince. Leopold also promised them the same trade agreement as the USA, but omitted to tell them of the one he had already agreed with the US. The French then recognized Leopold’s claim.

Leopold’s claim to the Congo was more formally agreed in the 1884 Berlin Conference, and the Congo Free State was declared the following year. Leopold and Belgium now had their part of the wider European Scramble for Africa.

The way for Leopold to go forward and colonize the Congo was clear. With recognition from important international powers, King Leopold II of Belgium had successfully manipulated the international community in to giving him permission to acquire the Congo - and fulfil his greedy ambitions. The effects of this recognition were to prove devastating…

By J Parker

Do you agree that the USA had a key role in allowing King Leopold II to capture the Congo? Thoughts below…

You can read about another European attempt at colonizing Africa in our article on the Italian colonization of Libya in issue 1 of our magazine History is Now. Click here to download the app and to subscribe for free for 2 months to the magazine.

The Duke of Wellington’s victory over Napoleon - funny? Our image of the week

This week’s image of the week features one of the greatest British heroes of them all, Prussian von Bluche, and Napoleon Bonaparte.

The cartoon has leaders of two European armies literally putting the lid on another failed European attempt to dominate that continent. After controlling much of Europe just a few short years before, by 1815 Napoleon’s France had been defeated. This cartoon goes some way to commemorating that.

We see Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blucher, who led Prussian forces at the 1815 Battle of Waterloo, alongside his British counter-part, Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington. In the center we see them putting the lid on top of France’s Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon is trying to escape but can’t. His face looks distressed in a comical way. Indeed, Napoleon was exiled to the remote Atlantic island of Saint Helena by the British after the Battle of Waterloo.

There is an article about a very significant battle involving the Duke of Wellington and Napoleon’s France in the new issue of History is Now Magazine. Click here to find out more!

George Levrier-Jones

What would your last words be if you knew you were about to die? Last Words of the Executed

In the article, we tell you about a very interesting book, Last Words of the Executed. The book documents the final words of people killed in America following crimes they committed. We also pick up some last words and stories from the book.

“I killed the president because he was an enemy of the good people—of the working people. I am not sorry for my crime. I’m awfully sorry I could not see my father.”

Leon Frank Czolgosz (aka Leon Frans Czolgosz), convicted of murder, electrocution, New York, October 29, 1901.

Czolgosz assassinated President William McKinley after waiting in line to shake his hand in Buffalo. Czolgosz’s reasons for doing so were not entirely clear, though he did express grievances against the U.S. and claim that the American dream was a lie. Eight weeks after the murder, Czolgosz was electrocuted and his body was dissolved in acid as it was buried.

Leon Frank Czolgosz, the assassin of President William McKinley, behind bars

This book is a fascinating read that I stumbled upon recently. The Last Words of the Executed by Robert K Elder is a great historical document that pulls together the last words of those people who were killed by the state for their crimes in America from the 17th century onwards. It starts by discussing why we would want to know the last words of those who have committed the most heinous crimes possible in society, and briefly looks at the history of the death penalty. For example:

"The ritual recording of last words exists in a largely Christian framework. In early Christian history, the last words were taken as a show of spiritual mercy, a last chance to repent and save one’s soul. From the Fifteenth to the Nineteenth centuries, speeches from the scaffold were mass-produced in pamphlets and prayer books that served as guides to dignified religious dying. The ritual also performed a legal function. In many countries, a “dying declaration” enjoyed a legal precedent as evidence."

The Noose

The book then moves on to look at each major way that people have been killed in America, and records their final words. First up is the noose. Below are the words and the story of the last words of one person who was hung:

“No, I am ready at any time; but do not keep me needlessly waiting.”

John Brown, convicted of treason, hanging, Virginia, December 2, 1859.

Brown, a controversial figure in American history, has been called both a mass murderer and “the man who killed slavery.” Brown, a stalwart abolitionist, was brought to trial for his raid on Harper’s Ferry, a town in what is now West Virginia, then a federal arsenal. His attack resulted in the deaths of five pro-slavery men.

A popular marching tune of the time was set to lyrics, which included the line “John Brown’s body lies a-mouldering in the grave. His soul is marching on!” This song became “John Brown’s Body” and was later adapted into the “Glory, glory Hallelujah” of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic.”

Though these are Brown’s last words (another variation is record as: “No, but don’t keep me waiting longer than necessary.”), he is better remembered for his final speech to the court which sentenced him. Though it contradicts Brown’s own tactics and his advocating of violent insurrection to bring an end to slavery, Ralph Waldo Emerson paired it with the Gettysburg Address and named them the two greatest American speeches. Brown said:

“I have, may it please the court, a few words to say.

In the first place, I deny everything but what I have all along admitted: of a design on my part to free the slaves. I intended certainly to have made a clean thing of that matter, as I did last winter, when I went into Missouri and there took slaves without the snapping of a gun on either side, moving through the country, and finally leaving them in Canada. I designed to have done the same thing on a larger scale. That was all I intended. I never did intend murder, or treason, or the destruction of property, or to excite or incite slaves to rebellion, or to make insurrection.

I have another objection, and that it is unjust that I should suffer such a penalty. Had I interfered in the manner which I admit, and which I admit has been fairly proved—for I admire the truthfulness and candor of the greater portion of the witnesses who have testified in this case—had I so interfered in behalf of the rich, the powerful, the intelligent, the so-called great, or in behalf of any of their friends, whether father, mother, brother, sister, wife or children, or any of that class, and suffered and sacrificed what I have in this interference, it would have been all right. Every man in this Court would have deemed it an act worthy of reward rather than punishment.

This Court acknowledges, too, as I suppose, the validity of the law of God. I see a book kissed, which I suppose to be the Bible, or at least the New Testament, which teaches me that all things whatsoever I would that men should do to me, I should do even to them. It teaches me, further, to remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them. I endeavored to act up to that instruction. I am yet too young to understand that God is any respecter of persons. I believe that to have interfered as I have done, in behalf of his despised poor, I did no wrong, but right. Now, if it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood further with the blood of millions in this slave country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel and unjust enactments, I say, let it be done.”

The Firing Squad

The second method of execution considered is the firing squad. It has most recently been associated with the state of Utah, but that state too recently ended it. Here are a very few more last words:

“So long, fellows.”

Frank Rose, convicted of murder, firing squad, Utah, April 22, 1904

The bravado of Frank Rose was well documented in Utah publications during his trial. On the day of his execution Rose walked with “almost a swagger to the death chair.” Rose shot his wife on Christmas day and left his 2-year-old son in the room with the dead mother for two days without food or water. Rose refused to enter a plea to the court, and when a “not guilty” plea was entered for him, he refused to offer any evidence on his behalf. In a statement released the day before his death, Rose confessed to many murders and burglaries throughout the West. Officials doubted whether he was speaking truthfully.

Electrocution and the Gas Chamber

After the second method of execution is looked at, electrocution and the gas chamber are considered. There were hopes that both would result in more humane deaths, although neither method is used much anymore. One slightly more comical selection of last words comes from this prisoner:

“You can be a king or a street sweeper, but everyone dances with the Grim Reaper.”

Robert Alton Harris, convicted of murder, gas chamber, California, April 21, 1992.

Harris was the first person to receive the death penalty after the state of California reinstated it in 1976. Harris went to the gas chamber for two 1978 murders when he and his brother abducted two 16-year-old boys from a fast food establishment, drove them to a remote location, shot, and killed them. Harris’ brother testified against him, received a six-year sentence and was discharged in 1983. Harris’ last words are paraphrased from the comedic portrayal of the character Death in the 1991 film Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey.

Lethal Injection

The final method of execution considered is lethal injection, the dominant method of execution today. What is interesting is that over time there have been more calls for those on death row to end the death penalty. The book itself tries to steer away from the politics of the death penalty, but the quotes from prisoners inevitably mean that it is briefly discussed in the book. One notable example is this:

“I have news for you—there is not going to be an execution. This is premeditated murder by the state of Texas. I hope in my death I’m that little bitty snowball that starts to bury the death penalty.

 I have committed lots of sin in my life but I am not guilty of this crime. I would like to tell my son, daughter and wife that I love them—Eden, if they want proof, give it to them. Thanks for being my friend.”

Jesse DeWayne Jacobs, convicted of murder, lethal injection, Texas, January 4, 1995

Jacobs and his sister, Bobbie Jean Hogan, were convicted of the shooting death of Etta Ann Urdiales, ex-wife of Hogan’s boyfriend. Jacobs confessed that his sister offered him $500 and a room if he would kill Urdiales, who allegedly was pestering Hogan’s boyfriend about child support and custody. Jacobs later recanted and said Hogan actually pulled the trigger. Hogan was convicted of manslaughter then released.

In conclusion

Just knowing that you are going to die at an appointed hour, something that the vast majority of us are of course unaware of, must lead you to think about what your final words would be and really reflect on life. And that same logic seems to apply to some terrible criminals too. This book provides an insightful collection of such last words.

George Levrier-Jones

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Spooky goings on. Sir William Crookes - Nineteenth Century Physicist and... Ghost Hunter?

Sir William Crookes (1832-1919) was a well-regarded chemist and physicist with numerous awards and recognitions to his credit. Perhaps more intriguingly, he was the first to bring the "scientific method" to bear on the question of psychic powers.

Crookes spent many years testing various aspects of psychic phenomena. Early in his quest to find answers in the sub-culture of psychics and mediums, a culture rife with fraud in the 19th century, Crookes was duped several times.  To fall prey to this avaricious intent significantly irked Crookes, and caused him to refine where his experiments were run.  Crookes had a laboratory in his home which he utilized for all his later experiments, testing the veracity of automatic writing, movement of heavy items with light contact or no contact, percussive sounds, alteration of the weight of objects, levitation of objects and humans, luminous appearances, appearance of hands both luminous and solid, appearance of forms and faces, and many other uncategorized oddities. 

Caricature of Sir William Crookes. Circa 1903. The caption read "ubi Crookes ibi lux", which is roughly translated as, "Where there is Crookes, there is light."

Like many big names of the Victorian era, including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle of Sherlock Holmes fame, Crookes believed in the afterlife. Crookes cites a Professor Morgan when he describes his attitude toward the subject in his ‘Spiritualism viewed by the Light of Modern Science’ (1874):

"I have both seen and heard, in a manner which would make disbelief impossible, things called spiritual, which cannot be taken by a rational being to be capable of explanation by imposture, coincidence, or mistake... The physical explanations I have seen are easy, but miserably insufficient.  The spiritual hypothesis is sufficient, but ponderously difficult."

Crookes's psychical experiments predated the founding of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR) in 1882.  The SPR went on to research the previously mentioned phenomena at an international level.

It is important to remember Crookes was not some common dabbler in science.  A brief list of his research would include, but is not limited to, meteorology, chemistry, economics, spectrometry, radiation, and cathode rays.  The cathode ray term lives on with us today in the truncated form of CRT (cathode ray tube) that many still use to view TV shows or surf the web.

Crookes is probably most famous for his "Crookes Tubes" which he developed during his studies of cathode rays, streams of electrons generated by electrical energy in a low pressure environment.   When these "rays" were found to have traits of particles they were termed corpuscles before receiving their final term of electrons.

Party tricks and spirits

Not all of Crookes’s tubes were for experimentation.  Many were made to entertain the well-heeled attendees of Victorian parties.   One can only imagine the anticipation of the guests as Crookes set up equipment that would make a Steampunk aficionado salivate.  Then, as the arcane machinery came to life with the loud spat of high voltage arcing, the tube would glow.  A darkened room lit by the stroboscopic effect of the spark gap oscillator and a glowing object of art the centerpiece - the perfect warm up for a séance. While it is not known if Crookes demonstrated his tube simultaneously with a séance, it is known that he did attend séances with a multitude of apparatus in tow.

Crooks performed many experiments and tested several spiritual mediums attempting to quantify spiritual power.  He designed many complicated testing mechanisms to record measurable changes in the physical world on paper.  Most of his experiments were carried out in his own laboratory under his terms mitigating the chance of deception.  During one of these "in house" experiments he generated a paper tape readout of Daniel Home (his most "remarkable" subject), changing the weight of an object suspended inside a glass case.

Another of his subjects was Miss Florence Cook who would call forth an entity who called herself Katie.  This was problematic for Crookes as mediums were notoriously finicky, with Miss Cook being no exception, insisting on darkness and seclusion behind a curtain.  However this did not deter Crookes who devised a different form of lighting (phosphorus lamp) and other adaptations to his home to accommodate her while meeting his experimental demands.

Crookes regretfully notes that he arrived in the eleventh hour of Miss Cook's career but he did spend several months working with her.  The crux of this series of tests can be boiled down to a single question: can a woman, barely 20 years old, so hoodwink a man and several hand-picked witnesses in his own home so that she appears to be in two places at once under the guise of low light conditions?  Under the scrutiny of Crookes and three or four other witnesses, Katie, Miss Cook's projection, did many things including shaking hands, exchanging embraces, holding babies, and having her photo taken.  Crookes also took great pains to measure Miss Cook’s and Katie's respective heights and builds, including face shape. Crookes's notes show them to be demonstrably different.  Miss Cook, demonized in the press of the time, was never proven a fraud by Crookes; in fact, he remained impressed by her veracity throughout his life, much to the detriment of his personal reputation.

The accordion

One of Crookes's most spectacular experiments was the testing of Daniel Home "playing" an accordion without touching it, or only lightly touching it.  The accordion was purchased that day and was brand new.  There were several witnesses including a respected fellow physicist, a police sergeant, Crookes's brother, and his chemical assistant.  The mesh cage's largest opening was less than 2 inches by 1 inch and was placed on the floor and under a table with no room for foot or hand at top or bottom.  Home, whom had been watched by Crookes since when he was picked up, sat in an easy chair with his legs athwart the cage.  With Crookes one side and another witness on the other, they each placed a foot on one of his to detect any movement.  The cage was then moved out from the table, the accordion placed inside with its keys down, and Home grasped the accordion's higher end (without the keys) between thumb and forefinger and the cage was pushed back under the table, but not so far as to hide Home's hand, his other hand resting on top of the table.  The instrument moved with no noticeable movement from Home, a few notes were tentatively played, and Home removed his hand from the cage leaving the accordion floating and undulating inside.  Home then reached back in the cage and lightly touched the instrument which obliged him by playing a cheery contemporary tune.

Many people, such as the great early 20th century magician Houdini, have dismissed Crookes and his experimental findings.  Labeled credulous, wishful, a dupe, and many other unflattering terms, they look back and poke holes in his experiments.  One detractor suggests that Crookes must have purchased a self-playing accordion (which were available at the time) or that it was operated by Home with strands of catgut, while he played melodies on a mouth organ hidden in his bushy mustache.  Crookes's notes rebut all of his critics, many who appear to have not read his writings.

"There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy", 

Said the Bard.  Sir William Crookes made one of the firmer efforts to discover what was between heaven and earth, taking it out of philosophy and dragging it into the sunlight of the real world.

Crookes will likely remain an enigma to all those that study his life.

By Kevin O’Neill

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