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in agreeing that no good purpose would be served by so doing. It was
evident that, so far, death (or what is usually termed death) had been
arrested by the mesmeric process. It seemed clear to us 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 other friends. All this time
the sleeper-waker remained exactly as I have last 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 given rise 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, I
made use of the customary passes. These, for a time, were unsuccessful.
The first indication of revival was afforded by a partial descent of the
iris. It was observed, as especially remarkable, that this lowering
of the pupil was accompanied by the profuse out-flowing of a yellowish
ichor (from beneath the lids) of a pungent and highly offensive odor.
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