what shall be the nature of our feelings when we come to the contemplation of two more cases, the circumstances of which are just as authentic as those of any of the former cases! What will any reader think when he is told that two persons, from the commonest ranks of life, are suddenly inspired, by means of magnetism, with such a degree of supernatural endowments, that they can predict to the instant the period when they themselves shall be seized with fits, or can point out the true seat, nature, and proper treatment of diseases in others! We have just seen an illustration of the first of these cases, and an example of the other will be found in the following most extraordinary narrative:

Miss Celina Sauvage was made the subject of experiment upon eight different occasions, in the presence of the members of the committee. On three of those occasions, it was found that this lady exhibited a strange tendency to discourse of the diseases of those whom she touched during her state of somnambulism, and she always concluded by pointing out, with astonishing accuracy of information and judgment, the remedies best adapted to the complaint. One of the members of the commission, M. Marc, determined upon putting her powers to the test, and announced that he would submit himself to her investigations. The lady was accordingly magnetized, and upon being requested to examine attentively the gentleman's state of health, she proceeded in her inquiries, and literally overwhelmed the spectators in amazement at the perfection of her diagnosis. Another case is likewise given, where she showed the same unaccountable skill and knowledge: the third of the cases cited by the commissioners, in which this somnambulist manifested her power, is exceedingly curious:

"Upon an occasion of great dalicacy, when very able physicians, several of whom are members of the Academy, had prescribed a mercurial treatment for an obstruction (engorgement) of the glands of the neck, which they attributed to a syphilitic taint, the family of the patient under this treatment, alarmed at the appearance of some serious consequences, wished to have the advice of a somnambulist. The reporter was called in to assist at a consultation, and he did not neglect to take advantage of this new opportunity of adding to what the committee had already seen. He found the patient to be a young married woman, Madame La C―, having the whole right side of the neck deeply obstructed by a great congeries of glands close upon each other. One of them was opened, and emitted a yellowish purulent matter.

"Mademoiselle Céline, whom M. Foissac magnetized in presence of the reporter, placed herself in connexion with this patient, and affirmed that the stomach had been attacked by a substance like poison; that there was a slight inflammation of the intestines; that, in the upper part of the neck, on the right side, there was a scrofulous complaint, which ought to have been more considerable than it was at present; that, by following a soothing treatment, which she prescribed, the disease would be mitigated in the course of fifteen days or three weeks. This treatment consisted of some grains of magnesia, eight leeches applied to the pit of the stomach, watergruel, a saline cathartic every week, two clysters each day, one of a decoction of Peruvian bark (kina), and, immediately after, another, of the

roots of the marsh-mallow, friction of the limbs with ether, a bath every week; food made of milk (laitage), light meats, and abstinence from wine. This treatment was followed for some time, and there was a perceptible amelioration of the symptoms. But the impatience of the patient, who did not think her recovery proceeding with sufficient rapidity, determined the family to call another consultation of physicians, who decided that she should again be placed under mercurial treatment. From this period the reporter ceased to attend the patient; and he learnt that the administration of the mercury had produced very serious affections of the stomach, which terminated her existence after two months of acute suffering. A procèsverbal upon opening the body, signed by MM. Fouquier, Marjolin, Cruveillier, and Foissac, verified the existence of a scrofulous or tubercular obstruction of the glands of the neck, two small cavities full of pus, proceeding from the tubercles at the top of each of the lungs; the mucous membrane of the great cul-de-sac of the stomach was almost entirely destroyed. These gentlemen ascertained besides, that there was no indication of the presence of any syphilitic disease, whether old or recent.

With respect to the degree of credit to be attached to these statements, we really have nothing to say, but that they are placed before us on as sound a basis as it is possible for human evidence to be put on. Thus, then, we are strongly urged to believe in the existence of facts which are altogether contrary to our experience. Is it possible, one may reasonably ask, if such things can happen? Is it possible that individuals, under any circumstances, can see through their shut eyelids, and can be suddenly endowed, by any ceremony conducted by another person, with ⚫ knowledge and foresight such as no mortal was ever endowed with before? These are questions which will suggest themselves to every reasoning mind. One admonition, however, is applicable to those who are interested in contemplating such subjects as these. Experience has proved, that the influences which may be exercised over the nervous powers of man, are altogether unlimited both in their extent and in their nature. Hence is it always unwise, and even irrational, for any one to say, on a subject so mysterious, that this fact is impossible, and that that fact could never have taken place. Let us humbly and diligently inquire, but not decide. Vast and beneficial are the uses of deliberation in such matters. We are not at liberty to doubt when evidence is positive; and if only half of what we have read in Mr. Colquhoun's work be founded in truth, how magnificent is the prospect of utility, in the largest sense of that word, which science, in this particular department, affords us.

271

NOTICES OF EMINENT INDIVIDUALS
LATELY DECEASED.

[From "The Gentleman's Magazine for April, 1833."]

CAPTAIN LYON, R. N.

Died, Oct. 8, on board his Majesty's packet Emulous, on her passage from Buenos Ayres, aged 37, George Francis Lyon, Esq. a Post Captain in the Royal Navy, and D. C. L., the celebrated traveller and navigator.

Captain Lyon was a native of Chichester, and son of the late Colonel Lyon of that city. He was educated at Dr. Burney's wellknown naval academy at Gosport, and entered on the books of the Royal William flag-ship at Spithead in 1808. He first sailed in the Milford 74, Captain (now Sir Henry William) Bayntun, in August, 1809; and after serving for several months on the French coast, he proceeded to Cadiz in the same ship, then commanded by Captain Edward Kittoe, and destined to receive the flag of ViceAdmiral Sir Richard G. Keats. On the 23d of Nov. 1810, he was engaged in one of the Milford's boats, in an attack on several of the enemy's gun-vessels, near Santa Maria; on which occasion Lieutenants Thomas Worth and John Buckland, of the Royal Marine Artillery, between whom he was sitting at the time, both fell by one unlucky shot.

The enemy had prosecuted the siege of Cadiz with rapidity and vigor; but the incessant labors of the fleet and flotilla checked their advances: still it kept all the officers on the station in a constant series of harassing boat-expeditions.. After the battle of Barosa, the French turned the siege into a blockade, and contented themselves with firing shot and shells into and over Cadiz, from mortars and guns of extraordinary construction. The Milford left Cadiz in the summer of 1811, and joined the fleet off Toulon; and as Sir Richard shifted his flag into the Hibernia, a beautiful firstrate, young Lyon was removed into her as a follower of the Admiral.

Mr. Lyon's next ship was the Caledonia 120, bearing the flag of the late Lord Exmouth, who shortly afterwards appointed him acting Lieutenant of the Berwick 74, Captain Edward Brace, under whom he served at the reduction of Genoa, in April 1814. On the 8th of the same month, he was wounded in an attack made by the boats of the Berwick and Rainbow, upon the enemy's posts near the pass of Rona.

During the war with Murat, in 1815, Lieutenant Lyon was present at the siege of Gaeta. On the last day of that year he was appointed to the Albion 74, the ship of Rear-Admiral (Sir Charles) Penrose, as flag-lieutenant, in which ship he bore part at the battle of Algiers, Aug. 27, 1816.

Whilst the Albion was lying at Malta, in September 1818, Mr. Ritchie, a gentleman of scientific attainments, arrived there with the intention of proceeding under a commission from the British government, to the interior of Africa, whither he was to have been accompanied by Captain Frederick Marryat, R. N. But, at this stage of his preparations, circumstances arose which induced Captain Marryat to relinquish the undertaking; and Lieutenant Lyon, having become acquainted with Mr. Ritchie, immediately offered to supply his place. The latter, without hesitation, accepted this proposal; and, in consequence, Sir Charles Penrose consented to solicit the necessary permission for Lieutenant Lyon's quitting the Albion. A favorable answer being received from the Admiralty on the 19th of November, Lieutenant Lyon immediately followed Mr. Ritchie to Tripoli, where he arrived on the 25th of the same month; and where he was kindly received by Colonel Warington, the Consul-general, and commenced his initiation into Moorish manners. Mr. Ritchie, about a twelvemonth after, paid the usual fatal penalty of African travellers, dying at Mourzuk on the 20th of November, 1819; Mr. Lyon, after almost unparalleled sufferings, narrowly escaped with his life. He assumed the dress and demeanor of a Moslem, keeping his head shaved, allowing his beard to grow, and travelling under the name of Said-ben-Abdallah. Previously to the commencement of his journey, he was instructed in reading Arabic by a fighi (or clerk) of one of the mosques, who also gave him the requisite information respecting the ceremonies used in prayer; which, when he became perfect in them, he taught to Mr. Ritchie. They did not leave Tripoli until towards the end of March, in 1819; they journeyed over the Gharian mountains to Benioleed, and subsequently as far as Mourzuk, the capital of Fezzan, where they arrived on the 39th day. A few days after their arrival at this city, Lieutenant Lyon was attacked with dysentery, which confined him to his bed for twenty-two days; and he was no sooner convalescent, than Mr. Ritchie was attacked, and confined to his bed for no less than fifty-eight days. Belford, their only servant, was also a dreadful sufferer; and thus the year was spent, in constant alternate sickness, during which they suffered extreme poverty and deprivation, with cruel neglect from the local authorities, and vexatious pillage, until the death of Mr. Ritchie occurred as above stated. Unable, from want of friends, not to speak of physical power, to prosecute the objects of his mission, Lyon yet persevered so far as to proceed to Zuela, the principal town east of Mourzuk, in latitude 26 N., and from thence passed the desert to Gatrone and Zegerrey, at which latter place, the southern limit of Fezzan, situated in latitude 24, he arrived on the 2d of January, 1820. On the 8th of March he repassed the northern boundary of the Kingdom of Fezzan, and on the 21st reached the ruins of Leptis Magna, which had been already successfully explored by his friend Captain William Henry Smyth, R. N. (F. R. S. and S. A.) in 1816. After returning to Triopoli, Mr. Lyon

Mr.

remained there until the 19th of May, then sailed for Leghorn, and, passing over land, arrived in London July 29th, 1820. Lyon's African Journal was published in 1821, under the title of "A Narrative of Travels in Northern Africa, accompanied by Geographical Notices of Soudan and the Course of the Niger." It was illustrated with a series of colored plates, from the productions of his own pencil.

In December, 1820, our enterprising traveller was named by Captain Smyth, as a person properly qualified to assist him in completing the investigation of the coast between Tripoli and Egypt. In a letter to Lord Viscount Melville, that scientific officer observed, "From my long acquaintance with him, I make no hesitation in recommending Lieutenant Lyon as singularly eligible for such a mission, from his natural ardor, his attainments, his professional habits, and above all his very complete assumption of the Moorish character."

Instead, however, of being sent back to Tripoli, he was very soon afterwards promoted to the command of the Hecla bombvessel, then fitting out at Deptford, for the purpose of exploring Repulse Bay, &c. in company with, and under the orders of Captain Parry. This expedition sailed from the Nore on the 8th of May 1821, and remained out during the whole of two seasons; after which they returned home in October 1823, their partial success in having made considerable additions to the geographical and scientific history of the North Sea, receiving very warm testimonies of the public approbation. Captain Parry's history of the expedition is well known; in the preface to which he declared his happiness "thus publicly to express the high sense I entertain of the laudable zeal and strenuous exertions uniformly displayed by Captain Lyon," as well as by all his other comrades. Captain Lyon's "Private Journal" was also published, and has been aptly termed "The Sayings and Doings of the Esquimaux." He was rewarded with post rank dated November 13, 1823; and on the 16th of January he was presented with the freedom of his native city of Chichester, and entertained by the Corporation at a public dinner. The freedom was inclosed in an oaken box, turned from a portion of the Hecla, lined with gold, and bearing the following inscription: "Presented January 16, 1824, by the Mayor, Aldermen, and Citizens of Chichester, to George Francis Lyon, Esq. Captain in the Royal Navy, in testimony of their admiration of the zeal, perseverance, and spirit of enterprise, displayed by him in his Travels in Northern Africa, and in the late Voyage to the Polar Sea, in search of a North-West Passage."

A few days before this gratifying occurrence, Captain Lyon had been appointed to the Griper bark, fitting out for another voyage of discovery in the icy regions. This vessel was originally a gun-brig of only 180 tons burthen; but she had been considerably strengthened and raised upon, to enable her to accompany Lieutenant Parry in the expedition of 1819. She sailed from the Nore on the