come down to us as synonymous with honor and wisdom,—­bore their reproaches in meek silence, and left them unanswered to their fate.  There were some others, however, who, believing the public to labor under a delusion, thought it worth while to see whether the charm would be broken by an open trial of its virtue, as compared with that of some less hallowed formula.  It must be remembered that a peculiar value was attached to the Metallic Tractors, as made and patented by Mr. Perkins.  Dr. Haygarth, of Bath, performed various experiments upon patients afflicted with different complaints,—­the patients supposing that the real five-guinea Tractors were employed.  Strange to relate, he obtained equally wonderful effects with Tractors of lead and of wood; with nails, pieces of bone, slate pencil, and tobacco-pipe.  Dr. Alderson employed sham Tractors made of wood, and produced such effects upon five patients that they returned solemn thanks in church for their cures.  A single specimen of these cases may stand for all of them.  Ann Hill had suffered for some months from pain in the right arm and shoulder.  The Tractors (wooden ones) were applied, and in the space of five minutes she expressed herself relieved in the following apostrophe:  “Bless me! why, who could have thought it, that them little things could pull the pain from one.  Well, to be sure, the longer one lives, the more one sees; ah, dear!”

These experiments did not result in the immediate extinction of Perkinism.  Doubtless they were a great comfort to many obstinate unbelievers, and helped to settle some sceptical minds; but for the real Perkinistic enthusiasts, it may be questioned whether they would at that time have changed their opinion though one had risen from the dead to assure them that it was an error.  It perished without violence, by an easy and natural process.  Like the famous toy of Mongolfier, it rose by means of heated air,—­the fevered breath of enthusiastic ignorance,—­and when this grew cool, as it always does in a little while, it collapsed and fell.

And now, on reviewing the whole subject, how shall we account for the extraordinary prevalence of the belief in Perkinism among a portion of what is supposed to be the thinking part of the community?

Could the cures have been real ones, produced by the principle of animal magnetism?  To this it may be answered that the Perkinists ridiculed the idea of approximating Mesmer and the founder of their own doctrine, that nothing like the somnambulic condition seems to have followed the use of the Tractors, and that neither the exertion of the will nor the powers of the individual who operated seem to have been considered of any consequence.  Besides, the absolute neglect into which the Tractors soon declined is good evidence that they were incapable of affording any considerable and permanent relief in the complaints for the cure of which they were applied.

Of course a large number of apparent cures were due solely to nature; which is true under every form of treatment, orthodox or empirical.  Of course many persons experienced at least temporary relief from the strong impression made upon their minds by this novel and marvellous method of treatment.