The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Works of Edgar Allan Poe V. 1
Volume 1 of the Raven Edition  #6 in our series by Edgar Allan Poe

The Raven Edition  THE WORKS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE

IN FIVE VOLUMES

VOLUME II  Contents
The Purloined Letter
The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherezade
A Descent into the Maelström
Von Kempelen and his Discovery
Mesmeric Revelation
The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar
The Black Cat
The Fall of the House of Usher
Silence -- a Fable
The Masque of the Red Death
The Cask of Amontillado
The Imp of the Perverse
The Island of the Fay
The Assignation
The Pit and the Pendulum
The Premature Burial
The Domain of Arnheim
Landor's Cottage
William Wilson
The Tell-Tale Heart
Berenice
Eleonora                                       BACK TO MAIN INDEX

MESMERIC REVELATION

     WHATEVER doubt may still envelop the _rationale_ of mesmerism,
its startling _facts_ are now almost universally admitted.  Of these
latter, those who doubt, are your mere doubters by profession - an
unprofitable and disreputable tribe.  There can be no more absolute
waste of time than the attempt to _prove_, at the present day, that
man, by mere exercise of will, can so impress his fellow, as to cast
him into an abnormal condition, of which the phenomena resemble very
closely those of _death_, or at least resemble them more nearly than
they do the phenomena of any other normal condition within our
cognizance ;  that, while in this state, the person so impressed
employs only with effort, and then feebly, the external organs of
sense, yet perceives, with keenly refined perception, and through
channels supposed unknown, matters beyond the scope of the physical
organs ;  that, moreover, his intellectual faculties are wonderfully
exalted and invigorated ;  that his sympathies with the person so
impressing him are profound ;  and, finally, that his susceptibility
to the impression increases with its frequency, while, in the same
proportion, the peculiar phenomena elicited are more extended and
more _pronounced_.

     I say that these - which are the laws of mesmerism in its
general features - it would be supererogation to demonstrate ;  nor
shall I inflict upon my readers so needless a demonstration ;
to-day.  My purpose at present is a very different one indeed.  I am
impelled, even in the teeth of a world of prejudice, to detail
without comment the very remarkable substance of a colloquy,
occurring between a sleep-waker and myself.

     I had been long in the habit of mesmerizing the person in
question, (Mr. Vankirk,) and the usual acute susceptibility and
exaltation of the mesmeric perception had supervened. For many months
he had been laboring under confirmed phthisis, the more distressing
effects of which had been relieved by my manipulations ;  and on the
night of Wednesday, the fifteenth instant, I was summoned to his
bedside.

     The invalid was suffering with acute pain in the region of the
heart, and breathed with great difficulty, having all the ordinary
symptoms of asthma.  In spasms such as these he had usually found
relief from the application of mustard to the nervous centres, but
to-night this had been attempted in vain.

     As I entered his room he greeted me with a cheerful smile, and
although evidently in much bodily pain, appeared to be, mentally,
quite at ease.

     "I sent for you to-night," he said, "not so much to administer
to my bodily ailment, as to satisfy me concerning certain psychal
impressions which, of late, have occasioned me much anxiety and
surprise.  I need not tell you how sceptical I have hitherto been on
the topic of the soul's immortality.  I cannot deny that there has
always existed, as if in that very soul which I have been denying, a
vague half-sentiment of its own existence.  But this half-sentiment
at no time amounted to conviction. With it my reason had nothing to
do.  All attempts at logical inquiry resulted, indeed, in leaving me
more sceptical than before.  I had been advised to study Cousin.  I
studied him in his own works as well as in those of his European and
American echoes.  The 'Charles Elwood' of Mr. Brownson, for example,
was placed in my hands.  I read it with profound attention.
Throughout I found it logical, but the portions which were not
_merely_ logical were unhappily the initial arguments of the
disbelieving hero of the book.  In his summing up it seemed evident
to me that the reasoner had not even succeeded in convincing himself.
 His end had plainly forgotten his beginning, like the government of
Trinculo.  In short, I was not long in perceiving that if man is to
be intellectually convinced of his own immortality, he will never be
so convinced by the mere abstractions which have been so long the
fashion of the moralists of England, of France, and of Germany.
Abstractions may amuse and exercise, but take no hold on the mind.
Here upon earth, at least, philosophy, I am persuaded, will always in
vain call upon us to look upon qualities as things.  The will may
assent - the soul - the intellect, never.

     "I repeat, then, that I only half felt, and never intellectually
believed.  But latterly there has been a certain deepening of the
feeling, until it has come so nearly to resemble the acquiescence of
reason, that I find it difficult to distinguish between the two.  I
am enabled, too, plainly to trace this effect to the mesmeric
influence.  I cannot better explain my meaning than by the hypothesis
that the mesmeric exaltation enables me to perceive a train of
ratiocination which, in my abnormal existence, convinces, but which,
in full accordance with the mesmeric phenomena, does not extend,
except through its _effect_, into my normal condition. In
sleep-waking, the reasoning and its conclusion - the cause and its
effect - are present together.  In my natural state, the cause
vanishing, the effect only, and perhaps only partially, remains.

     "These considerations have led me to think that some good
results might ensue from a series of well-directed questions
propounded to me while mesmerized.  You have often observed the
profound self-cognizance evinced by the sleep-waker - the extensive
knowledge he displays upon all points relating to the mesmeric
condition itself ;  and from this self-cognizance may be deduced
hints for the proper conduct of a catechism."

     I consented of course to make this experiment.  A few passes
threw Mr. Vankirk into the mesmeric sleep.  His breathing became
immediately more easy, and he seemed to suffer no physical
uneasiness. The following conversation then ensued: - V. in the
dialogue representing the patient, and P. myself.

   _  P._ Are you asleep ?

    _ V._ Yes - no   I would rather sleep more soundly.

    _P._  [_After a few more passes._] Do you sleep now ?

    _V._  Yes.

    _P._  How do you think your present illness will result ?

    _V._  [_After a long hesitation and speaking as if with effort_.]
I must die.

    _P._  Does the idea of death afflict you ?

    _V._  [_Very quickly_.] No - no !

    _P._  Are you pleased with the prospect ?

    _V._  If I were awake I should like to die, but now it is no
matter.  The mesmeric condition is so near death as to content me.

    _P._  I wish you would explain yourself, Mr. Vankirk.

    _V._  I am willing to do so, but it requires more effort than I
feel able to make.  You do not question me properly.

    _P._  What then shall I ask ?

    _V._  You must begin at the beginning.

    _P._  The beginning !  but where is the beginning ?

    _V._  You know that the beginning is GOD.  [_This was said in a
low, fluctuating tone, and with every sign of the most profound
veneration_.]

    _P._  What then is God ?

    _V._  [_Hesitating for many minutes._] I cannot tell.

    _P._  Is not God spirit ?

    _V._  While I was awake I knew what you meant by "spirit," but
now it seems only a word - such for instance as truth, beauty - a
quality, I mean.

    _P._  Is not God immaterial ?

    _V._  There is no immateriality - it is a mere word.  That which
is not matter, is not at all - unless qualities are things.

    _P._  Is God, then, material ?

    _V._  No.  [_This reply startled me very much._]

    _P._  What then is he ?

    _V._  [_After a long pause, and mutteringly._] I see - but it is
a thing difficult to tell.  [_Another long pause._] He is not spirit,
for he exists. Nor is he matter, as _you understand it_.  But there
are _gradations_ of matter of which man knows nothing ;  the grosser
impelling the finer, the finer pervading the grosser.  The
atmosphere, for example, impels the electric principle, while the
electric principle permeates the atmosphere.  These gradations of
matter increase in rarity or fineness, until we arrive at a matter
_unparticled_ - without particles - indivisible - _one_ and here the
law of impulsion and permeation is modified.  The ultimate, or
unparticled matter, not only permeates all things but impels all
things - and thus _is_ all things within itself.  This matter is God.
 What men attempt to embody in the word "thought," is this matter in
motion.

    _P._  The metaphysicians maintain that all action is reducible to
motion and thinking, and that the latter is the origin of the former.

    _V._  Yes ;  and I now see the confusion of idea.  Motion is the
action of _mind_ - not of _thinking_.  The unparticled matter, or
God, in quiescence, is (as nearly as we can conceive it) what men
call mind.  And the power of self-movement (equivalent in effect to
human volition) is, in the unparticled matter, the result of its
unity and omniprevalence ;  _how_ I know not, and now clearly see
that I shall never know.  But the unparticled matter, set in motion
by a law, or quality, existing within itself, is thinking.

    _P._  Can you give me no more precise idea of what you term the
unparticled matter ?

    _V._  The matters of which man is cognizant, escape the senses in
gradation. We have, for example, a metal, a piece of wood, a drop of
water, the atmosphere, a gas, caloric, electricity, the luminiferous
ether.  Now we call all these things matter, and embrace all matter
in one general definition ;   but in spite of this, there can be no
two ideas more essentially distinct than that which we attach to a
metal, and that which we attach to the luminiferous ether.  When we
reach the latter, we feel an almost irresistible inclination to class
it with spirit, or with nihility.  The only consideration which
restrains us is our conception of its atomic constitution ;  and
here, even, we have to seek aid from our notion of an atom, as
something possessing in infinite minuteness, solidity, palpability,
weight.  Destroy the idea of the atomic constitution and we should no
longer be able to regard the ether as an entity, or at least as
matter.  For want of a better word we might term it spirit.  Take,
now, a step beyond the luminiferous ether - conceive a matter as much
more rare than the ether, as this ether is more rare than the metal,
and we arrive at once (in spite of all the school dogmas) at a unique
mass - an unparticled matter.  For although we may admit infinite
littleness in the atoms themselves, the infinitude of littleness in
the spaces between them is an absurdity.  There will be a point -
there will be a degree of rarity, at which, if the atoms are
sufficiently numerous, the interspaces must vanish, and the mass
absolutely coalesce.  But the consideration of the atomic
constitution being now taken away, the nature of the mass inevitably
glides into what we conceive of spirit. It is clear, however, that it
is as fully matter as before.  The truth is, it is impossible to
conceive spirit, since it is impossible to imagine what is not.  When
we flatter ourselves that we have formed its conception, we have
merely deceived our understanding by the consideration of infinitely
rarified matter.

    _P._  There seems to me an insurmountable objection to the idea
of absolute coalescence ;  - and that is the very slight resistance
experienced by the heavenly bodies in their revolutions through space
- a resistance now ascertained, it is true, to exist in _some_
degree, but which is, nevertheless, so slight as to have been quite
overlooked by the sagacity even of Newton.  We know that the
resistance of bodies is, chiefly, in proportion to their density.
Absolute coalescence is absolute density.  Where there are no
interspaces, there can be no yielding.  An ether, absolutely dense,
would put an infinitely more effectual stop to the progress of a star
than would an ether of adamant or of iron.

    _V._  Your objection is answered with an ease which is nearly in
the ratio of its apparent unanswerability.  - As regards the progress
of the star, it can make no difference whether the star passes
through the ether _or the ether through it_.  There is no
astronomical error more unaccountable than that which reconciles the
known retardation of the comets with the idea of their passage
through an ether: for, however rare this ether be supposed, it would
put a stop to all sidereal revolution in a very far briefer period
than has been admitted by those astronomers who have endeavored to
slur over a point which they found it impossible to comprehend.  The
retardation actually experienced is, on the other hand, about that
which might be expected from the _friction_ of the ether in the
instantaneous passage through the orb.  In the one case, the
retarding force is momentary and complete within itself - in the
other it is endlessly accumulative.

    _P._  But in all this - in this identification of mere matter
with God - is there nothing of irreverence ?  [_I was forced to
repeat this question before the sleep-waker fully comprehended my
meaning_.]

    _V._  Can you say _why_ matter should be less reverenced than
mind ?  But you forget that the matter of which I speak is, in all
respects, the very "mind" or "spirit" of the schools, so far as
regards its high capacities, and is, moreover, the "matter" of these
schools at the same time.  God, with all the powers attributed to
spirit, is but the perfection of matter.

    _P._  You assert, then, that the unparticled matter, in motion,
is thought ?

    _V._  In general, this motion is the universal thought of the
universal mind.  This thought creates.  All created things are but
the thoughts of God.

    _P._  You say, "in general."

    _V._  Yes.  The universal mind is God.  For new individualities,
_matter_ is necessary.

    _P._  But you now speak of "mind" and "matter" as do the
metaphysicians.

    _V._  Yes - to avoid confusion.  When I say "mind," I mean the
unparticled or ultimate matter ;  by "matter," I intend all else.

    _P._  You were saying that "for new individualities matter is
necessary."

    _V._  Yes ;  for mind, existing unincorporate, is merely God.  To
create individual, thinking beings, it was necessary to incarnate
portions of the divine mind. Thus man is individualized.  Divested of
corporate investiture, he were God.  Now, the particular motion of
the incarnated portions of the unparticled matter is the thought of
man ;  as the motion of the whole is that of God.

    _P._  You say that divested of the body man will be God ?

    _V._  [_After much hesitation._] I could not have said this ;  it
is an absurdity.

    _P._  [_Referring to my notes._] You _did_ say that "divested of
corporate investiture man were God."

    _V._  And this is true.  Man thus divested _would be_ God - would
be unindividualized. But he can never be thus divested - at least
never _will be_ - else we must imagine an action of God returning
upon itself - a purposeless and futile action.  Man is a creature.
Creatures are thoughts of God.  It is the nature of thought to be
irrevocable.

    _P._  I do not comprehend.  You say that man will never put off
the body ?

    _V._  I say that he will never be bodiless.

    _P._  Explain.

    _V._  There are two bodies - the rudimental and the complete ;
corresponding with the two conditions of the worm and the butterfly.
What we call "death," is but the painful metamorphosis.  Our present
incarnation is progressive, preparatory, temporary.  Our future is
perfected, ultimate, immortal.  The ultimate life is the full design.

    _P._  But of the worm's metamorphosis we are palpably cognizant.

    _V._  _We_, certainly - but not the worm.  The matter of which
our rudimental body is composed, is within the ken of the organs of
that body ;  or, more distinctly, our rudimental organs are adapted
to the matter of which is formed the rudimental body ;  but not to
that of which the ultimate is composed. The ultimate body thus
escapes our rudimental senses, and we perceive only the shell which
falls, in decaying, from the inner form ;  not that inner form itself
;  but this inner form, as well as the shell, is appreciable by those
who have already acquired the ultimate life.

    _P._  You have often said that the mesmeric state very nearly
resembles death.  How is this ?

    _V._  When I say that it resembles death, I mean that it
resembles the ultimate life ;  for when I am entranced the senses of
my rudimental life are in abeyance, and I perceive external things
directly, without organs, through a medium which I shall employ in
the ultimate, unorganized life.

    _P._  Unorganized ?

    _V._  Yes ;   organs are contrivances by which the individual is
brought into sensible relation with particular classes and forms of
matter, to the exclusion of other classes and forms.  The organs of
man are adapted to his rudimental condition, and to that only ;   his
ultimate condition, being unorganized, is of unlimited comprehension
in all points but one - the nature of the volition of God - that is
to say, the motion of the unparticled matter. You will have a
distinct idea of the ultimate body by conceiving it to be entire
brain.  This it is _not_ ;   but a conception of this nature will
bring you near a comprehension of what it _is_.  A luminous body
imparts vibration to the luminiferous ether.  The vibrations generate
similar ones within the retina ;  these again communicate similar
ones to the optic nerve.  The nerve conveys similar ones to the brain
;  the brain, also, similar ones to the unparticled matter which
permeates it.  The motion of this latter is thought, of which
perception is the first undulation.  This is the mode by which the
mind of the rudimental life communicates with the external world ;
and this external world is, to the rudimental life, limited, through
the idiosyncrasy of its organs.  But in the ultimate, unorganized
life, the external world reaches the whole body, (which is of a
substance having affinity to brain, as I have said,) with no other
intervention than that of an infinitely rarer ether than even the
luminiferous ;  and to this ether - in unison with it - the whole
body vibrates, setting in motion the unparticled matter which
permeates it.  It is to the absence of idiosyncratic organs,
therefore, that we must attribute the nearly unlimited perception of
the ultimate life.  To rudimental beings, organs are the cages
necessary to confine them until fledged.

    _P._  You speak of rudimental "beings." Are there other
rudimental thinking beings than man ?

    _V._  The multitudinous conglomeration of rare matter into
nebulę, planets, suns, and other bodies which are neither nebulę,
suns, nor planets, is for the sole purpose of supplying _pabulum_ for
the idiosyncrasy of the organs of an infinity of rudimental beings.
But for the necessity of the rudimental, prior to the ultimate life,
there would have been no bodies such as these. Each of these is
tenanted by a distinct variety of organic, rudimental, thinking
creatures.  In all, the organs vary with the features of the place
tenanted.  At death, or metamorphosis, these creatures, enjoying the
ultimate life - immortality - and cognizant of all secrets but _the
one_, act all things and pass everywhere by mere volition: -
indwelling, not the stars, which to us seem the sole palpabilities,
and for the accommodation of which we blindly deem space created -
but that SPACE itself - that infinity of which the truly substantive
vastness swallows up the star-shadows -- blotting them out as
non-entities from the perception of the angels.

    _P._  You say that "but for the _necessity_ of the rudimental
life" there would have been no stars.  But why this necessity ?

    _V._  In the inorganic life, as well as in the inorganic matter
generally, there is nothing to impede the action of one simple
_unique_ law - the Divine Volition.  With the view of producing
impediment, the organic life and matter, (complex, substantial, and
law-encumbered,) were contrived.

    _P._  But again - why need this impediment have been produced ?

    _V._  The result of law inviolate is perfection - right -
negative happiness. The result of law violate is imperfection, wrong,
positive pain.  Through the impediments afforded by the number,
complexity, and substantiality of the laws of organic life and
matter, the violation of law is rendered, to a certain extent,
practicable.  Thus pain, which in the inorganic life is impossible,
is possible in the organic.

    _P._  But to what good end is pain thus rendered possible ?

    _V._  All things are either good or bad by comparison.  A
sufficient analysis will show that pleasure, in all cases, is but the
contrast of pain.  _Positive_ pleasure is a mere idea.  To be happy
at any one point we must have suffered at the same.  Never to suffer
would have been never to have been blessed. But it has been shown
that, in the inorganic life, pain cannot be thus the necessity for
the organic.  The pain of the primitive life of Earth, is the sole
basis of the bliss of the ultimate life in Heaven.

    _P._  Still, there is one of your expressions which I find it
impossible to comprehend - "the truly _substantive_ vastness of
infinity."

    _V._  This, probably, is because you have no sufficiently generic
conception of the term "_substance_" itself.  We must not regard it
as a quality, but as a sentiment: - it is the perception, in thinking
beings, of the adaptation of matter to their organization.  There are
many things on the Earth, which would be nihility to the inhabitants
of Venus - many things visible and tangible in Venus, which we could
not be brought to appreciate as existing at all.  But to the
inorganic beings - to the angels - the whole of the unparticled
matter is substanceethat is to say, the whole of what we term "space"
is to them the truest substantiality ;  - the stars, meantime,
through what we consider their materiality, escaping the angelic
sense, just in proportion as the unparticled matter, through what we
consider its immateriality, eludes the organic.

  As the sleep-waker pronounced these latter words, in a feeble tone,
I observed on his countenance a singular expression, which somewhat
alarmed me, and induced me to awake him at once.  No sooner had I
done this, than, with a bright smile irradiating all his features, he
fell back upon his pillow and expired.  I noticed that in less than a
minute afterward his corpse had all the stern rigidity of stone.  His
brow was of the coldness of ice.  Thus, ordinarily, should it have
appeared, only after long pressure from Azrael's hand.  Had the
sleep-waker, indeed, during the latter portion of his discourse, been
addressing me from out the region of the shadows ?

~~~ End of Text ~~~

======