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 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
