I mean to say, that between Doctor Templeton and
Bedloe there had grown up, little by little, a very distinct and
strongly marked rapport, or magnetic relation. I am not prepared to
assert, however, that this rapport extended beyond the limits of the
simple sleep-producing power, but this power itself had attained great
intensity. At the first attempt to induce the magnetic somnolency, the
mesmerist entirely failed. In the fifth or sixth he succeeded very
partially, and after long continued effort. Only at the twelfth was
the triumph complete. After this the will of the patient succumbed
rapidly to that of the physician, so that, when I first became
acquainted with the two, sleep was brought about almost
instantaneously by the mere volition of the operator, even when the
invalid was unaware of his presence. It is only now, in the year 1845,
when similar miracles are witnessed daily by thousands, that I dare
venture to record this apparent impossibility as a matter of serious
fact.
The temperature of Bedloe was, in the highest degree sensitive,
excitable, enthusiastic. His imagination was singularly vigorous and
creative; and no doubt it derived additional force from the habitual
use of morphine, which he swallowed in great quantity, and without
which he would have found it impossible to exist.
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