The document discusses the case of M. Valdemar, a man who was mesmerized by Edgar Allan Poe while on his deathbed from terminal illness. Poe was interested in whether mesmerism could induce a "suspension of consciousness" and indefinitely extend a person's life until a cure could be found. The experiment went horribly wrong, as Valdemar died while in a mesmeric trance and his body immediately began to decompose.

1. The Facts in the case of M. Valdemar

2. Mesmerism Animal magnetism Trance Hypnosis Altered state Medical fraud Early evidence of PNI

3. Franz Anton Mesmer Austrian Physician (1734-1815)

4. Invisible ‘fluid’ – ‘the force’

5. Invisible ‘fluid’ – ‘the force’

6. The Mesmeric Process Affected by magnets & ‘passes’ Mesmeric tubs & chains

7. Surgery without anaesthetic!

8. Dismissed by Royal Commission (1784) It’s clearly a load of old codswallop!

9. But persists as ‘pseudo-science’

10. What if… There was a Mesmeric fluid?

11. What if… It could induce a ‘suspension’ of consciousness?

12. And what if… You mesmerised a man about to die from terminal illness?

13. Could life be extended indefinitely until a cure could be found?

14. Medical Vocabulary In articulo mortis = ‘at the point of death’ Phthisis = tuberculosis (disease of the lungs – consumption) Semi-osseous = partly ‘fossilised’ Cartilaginous = gristly Aneurism = abnormal enlargement Aorta = heart’s artery

15. ‘amid ejaculations of ‘Dead! Dead! absolutely bursting from the tongue …’ Ejaculation = ‘outburst’