A Defence of the Inquiry into Mesmerism & Phrenology / chiefly in relation to recent events in Lynn

Transcribed from the 1843 J. W. Aikin and J. Thew edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org
WILLIAM ARMES.
LYNN: PUBLISHED BY J. W. AIKIN, AND J. THEW, HIGH STREET.
1843.
In offering this address to the consideration of the candid and sober minded of my fellow Townsmen, I am guided by no desire to prop, by my small influence, any new, and possibly false, theory; or to cry down, without examination, the pretensions of any science (so called) however adverse to my preconceived ideas.
The subject of Mesmerism and of Mesmeric Phrenology has, for some time past, occupied the attention of the inhabitants of Lynn, and the various phenomena exhibited, as might have been expected, have called forth the credulous wonder of one class, the unworthy ridicule of another, and the patient and quiet examination of a third.
Two pamphlets have appeared upon the subject, which it is not my intention to remark upon at any length. The first (written, I have no doubt, with the very best intention) is from the pen of an individual who was associated with a small party, employed in the rigid scrutiny of the exhibitions of the Lecturer; who did not, in the Meetings held for that propose, express his doubt or dissent to much of the most novel and starling phenomena; but, who thought it not inconsistent with his position, to leave his friends in the midst of their unfinished inquiry; and, prejudging the question, to placard the Town, with yellow handbills, after the style of other Pamphleteers, advertizing his proportion. This publication, certainly, in the estimation of most intelligent men, is not remarkable for any thing approaching critical investigation or inquiry; but may, possibly, amuse the children and the vulgar, by the low exhibitions of art, imitating wit, by which the author has adorned it.
The last Pamphlet, by Mr. Cotton, published under the ambiguous title of “Popular delusions applied to Mesmerism,” has just issued from the press; I have read it very carefully, and am perfectly astonished to find how very little Mr. C. to say upon the subject.