The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 2 Read online

  THE FACTS IN THE CASE OF M. VALDEMAR

  OF course I shall not pretend to consider it any matter for wonder, thatthe extraordinary case of M. Valdemar has excited discussion. It wouldhave been a miracle had it not-especially under the circumstances.Through the desire of all parties concerned, to keep the affair from thepublic, at least for the present, or until we had farther opportunitiesfor investigation--through our endeavors to effect this--a garbled orexaggerated account made its way into society, and became the source ofmany unpleasant misrepresentations, and, very naturally, of a great dealof disbelief.

  It is now rendered necessary that I give the facts--as far as Icomprehend them myself. They are, succinctly, these:

  My attention, for the last three years, had been repeatedly drawn tothe subject of Mesmerism; and, about nine months ago it occurred to me,quite suddenly, that in the series of experiments made hitherto, therehad been a very remarkable and most unaccountable omission:--no personhad as yet been mesmerized in articulo mortis. It remained to be seen,first, whether, in such condition, there existed in the patient anysusceptibility to the magnetic influence; secondly, whether, if anyexisted, it was impaired or increased by the condition; thirdly, to whatextent, or for how long a period, the encroachments of Death might bearrested by the process. There were other points to be ascertained,but these most excited my curiosity--the last in especial, from theimmensely important character of its consequences.

  In looking around me for some subject by whose means I might test theseparticulars, I was brought to think of my friend, M. Ernest Valdemar,the well-known compiler of the "Bibliotheca Forensica," and author(under the nom de plume of Issachar Marx) of the Polish versions of"Wallenstein" and "Gargantua." M. Valdemar, who has resided principallyat Harlaem, N.Y., since the year 1839, is (or was) particularlynoticeable for the extreme spareness of his person--his lower limbs muchresembling those of John Randolph; and, also, for the whiteness of hiswhiskers, in violent contrast to the blackness of his hair--the latter,in consequence, being very generally mistaken for a wig. His temperamentwas markedly nervous, and rendered him a good subject for mesmericexperiment. On two or three occasions I had put him to sleep with littledifficulty, but was disappointed in other results which his peculiarconstitution had naturally led me to anticipate. His will was at noperiod positively, or thoroughly, under my control, and in regard toclairvoyance, I could accomplish with him nothing to be relied upon. Ialways attributed my failure at these points to the disordered state ofhis health. For some months previous to my becoming acquainted withhim, his physicians had declared him in a confirmed phthisis. It was hiscustom, indeed, to speak calmly of his approaching dissolution, as of amatter neither to be avoided nor regretted.

  When the ideas to which I have alluded first occurred to me, it wasof course very natural that I should think of M. Valdemar. I knew thesteady philosophy of the man too well to apprehend any scruplesfrom him; and he had no relatives in America who would be likely tointerfere. I spoke to him frankly upon the subject; and, to my surprise,his interest seemed vividly excited. I say to my surprise, for, althoughhe had always yielded his person freely to my experiments, he had neverbefore given me any tokens of sympathy with what I did. His disease wasof that character which would admit of exact calculation in respectto the epoch of its termination in death; and it was finally arrangedbetween us that he would send for me about twenty-four hours before theperiod announced by his physicians as that of his decease.

  It is now rather more than seven months since I received, from M.Valdemar himself, the subjoined note:

  My DEAR P---,

  You may as well come now. D---- and F---- are agreed that I cannot hold outbeyond to-morrow midnight; and I think they have hit the time verynearly.

  VALDEMAR

  I received this note within half an hour after it was written, and infifteen minutes more I was in the dying man's chamber. I had not seenhim for ten days, and was appalled by the fearful alteration which thebrief interval had wrought in him. His face wore a leaden hue; the eyeswere utterly lustreless; and the emaciation was so extreme that theskin had been broken through by the cheek-bones. His expectoration wasexcessive. The pulse was barely perceptible. He retained, nevertheless,in a very remarkable manner, both his mental power and a certain degreeof physical strength. He spoke with distinctness--took some palliativemedicines without aid--and, when I entered the room, was occupied inpenciling memoranda in a pocket-book. He was propped up in the bed bypillows. Doctors D---- and F---- were in attendance.

  After pressing Valdemar's hand, I took these gentlemen aside, andobtained from them a minute account of the patient's condition. The leftlung had been for eighteen months in a semi-osseous or cartilaginousstate, and was, of course, entirely useless for all purposes ofvitality. The right, in its upper portion, was also partially, ifnot thoroughly, ossified, while the lower region was merely a massof purulent tubercles, running one into another. Several extensiveperforations existed; and, at one point, permanent adhesion to theribs had taken place. These appearances in the right lobe were ofcomparatively recent date. The ossification had proceeded with veryunusual rapidity; no sign of it had been discovered a month before, andthe adhesion had only been observed during the three previous days.Independently of the phthisis, the patient was suspected of aneurismof the aorta; but on this point the osseous symptoms rendered an exactdiagnosis impossible. It was the opinion of both physicians that M.Valdemar would die about midnight on the morrow (Sunday). It was thenseven o'clock on Saturday evening.

  On quitting the invalid's bed-side to hold conversation with myself,Doctors D---- and F---- had bidden him a final farewell. It had not been theirintention to return; but, at my request, they agreed to look in upon thepatient about ten the next night.

  When they had gone, I spoke freely with M. Valdemar on the subjectof his approaching dissolution, as well as, more particularly, of theexperiment proposed. He still professed himself quite willing and evenanxious to have it made, and urged me to commence it at once. A male anda female nurse were in attendance; but I did not feel myself altogetherat liberty to engage in a task of this character with no more reliablewitnesses than these people, in case of sudden accident, might prove.I therefore postponed operations until about eight the next night, whenthe arrival of a medical student with whom I had some acquaintance, (Mr.Theodore L--l,) relieved me from farther embarrassment. It had been mydesign, originally, to wait for the physicians; but I was induced toproceed, first, by the urgent entreaties of M. Valdemar, and secondly,by my conviction that I had not a moment to lose, as he was evidentlysinking fast.

  Mr. L--l was so kind as to accede to my desire that he would take notesof all that occurred, and it is from his memoranda that what I now haveto relate is, for the most part, either condensed or copied verbatim.

  It wanted about five minutes of eight when, taking the patient's hand, Ibegged him to state, as distinctly as he could, to Mr. L--l, whether he(M. Valdemar) was entirely willing that I should make the experiment ofmesmerizing him in his then condition.

  He replied feebly, yet quite audibly, "Yes, I wish to be. I fear youhave mesmerized"--adding immediately afterwards, "deferred it too long."

  While he spoke thus, I commenced the passes which I had already foundmost effectual in subduing him. He was evidently influenced with thefirst lateral stroke of my hand across his forehead; but although Iexerted all my powers, no further perceptible effect was induceduntil some minutes after ten o'clock, when Doctors D-- and F-- called,according to appointment. I explained to them, in a few words, what Idesigned, and as they opposed no objection, saying that the patient wasalready in the death agony, I proceeded without hesitation--exchanging,however, the lateral passes for downward ones, and directing my gazeentirely into the right eye of the sufferer.

  By this time his pulse was imperceptible and his breathing wasstertorous, and at intervals of half a minute.

  This condition was nearly unaltered for a quarter of an hour. At theexpiration of
this period, however, a natural although a very deepsigh escaped the bosom of the dying man, and the stertorous breathingceased--that is to say, its stertorousness was no longer apparent; theintervals were undiminished. The patient's extremities were of an icycoldness.

  At five minutes before eleven I perceived unequivocal signs of themesmeric influence. The glassy roll of the eye was changed for thatexpression of uneasy inward examination which is never seen except incases of sleep-waking, and which it is quite impossible to mistake.With a few rapid lateral passes I made the lids quiver, as in incipientsleep, and with a few more I closed them altogether. I was notsatisfied, however, with this, but continued the manipulationsvigorously, and with the fullest exertion of the will, until I hadcompletely stiffened the limbs of the slumberer, after placing them ina seemingly easy position. The legs were at full length; the arms werenearly so, and reposed on the bed at a moderate distance from the loin.The head was very slightly elevated.

  When I had accomplished this, it was fully midnight, and I requestedthe gentlemen present to examine M. Valdemar's condition. After a fewexperiments, they admitted him to be an unusually perfect state ofmesmeric trance. The curiosity of both the physicians was greatlyexcited. Dr. D---- resolved at once to remain with the patient allnight, while Dr. F---- took leave with a promise to return at daybreak.Mr. L--l and the nurses remained.

  We left M. Valdemar entirely undisturbed until about three o'clock inthe morning, when I approached him and found him in precisely the samecondition as when Dr. F--went away--that is to say, he lay in thesame position; the pulse was imperceptible; the breathing was gentle(scarcely noticeable, unless through the application of a mirror to thelips); the eyes were closed naturally; and the limbs were as rigid andas cold as marble. Still, the general appearance was certainly not thatof death.

  As I approached M. Valdemar I made a kind of half effort to influencehis right arm into pursuit of my own, as I passed the latter gentlyto and fro above his person. In such experiments with this patient hadnever perfectly succeeded before, and assuredly I had little thought ofsucceeding now; but to my astonishment, his arm very readily, althoughfeebly, followed every direction I assigned it with mine. I determinedto hazard a few words of conversation.

  "M. Valdemar," I said, "are you asleep?" He made no answer, but Iperceived a tremor about the lips, and was thus induced to repeat thequestion, again and again. At its third repetition, his whole frame wasagitated by a very slight shivering; the eyelids unclosed themselves sofar as to display a white line of the ball; the lips moved sluggishly,and from between them, in a barely audible whisper, issued the words:

  "Yes;--asleep now. Do not wake me!--let me die so!"

  I here felt the limbs and found them as rigid as ever. The right arm,as before, obeyed the direction of my hand. I questioned the sleep-wakeragain:

  "Do you still feel pain in the breast, M. Valdemar?"

  The answer now was immediate, but even less audible than before: "Nopain--I am dying."

  I did not think it advisable to disturb him farther just then, andnothing more was said or done until the arrival of Dr. F--, who came alittle before sunrise, and expressed unbounded astonishment at findingthe patient still alive. After feeling the pulse and applying a mirrorto the lips, he requested me to speak to the sleep-waker again. I didso, saying:

  "M. Valdemar, do you still sleep?"

  As before, some minutes elapsed ere a reply was made; and during theinterval the dying man seemed to be collecting his energies to speak.At my fourth repetition of the question, he said very faintly, almostinaudibly:

  "Yes; still asleep--dying."

  It was now the opinion, or rather the wish, of the physicians, thatM. Valdemar should be suffered to remain undisturbed in his presentapparently tranquil condition, until death should supervene--and this,it was generally agreed, must now take place within a few minutes. Iconcluded, however, to speak to him once more, and merely repeated myprevious question.

  While I spoke, there came a marked change over the countenance ofthe sleep-waker. The eyes rolled themselves slowly open, the pupilsdisappearing upwardly; the skin generally assumed a cadaverous hue,resembling not so much parchment as white paper; and the circular hecticspots which, hitherto, had been strongly defined in the centre of eachcheek, went out at once. I use this expression, because thesuddenness of their departure put me in mind of nothing so much as theextinguishment of a candle by a puff of the breath. The upper lip,at the same time, writhed itself away from the teeth, which it hadpreviously covered completely; while the lower jaw fell with an audiblejerk, leaving the mouth widely extended, and disclosing in full view theswollen and blackened tongue. I presume that no member of the partythen present had been unaccustomed to death-bed horrors; but so hideousbeyond conception was the appearance of M. Valdemar at this moment, thatthere was a general shrinking back from the region of the bed.

  I now feel that I have reached a point of this narrative at which everyreader will be startled into positive disbelief. It is my business,however, simply to proceed.

  There was no longer the faintest sign of vitality in M. Valdemar; andconcluding him to be dead, we were consigning him to the charge of thenurses, when a strong vibratory motion was observable in the tongue.This continued for perhaps a minute. At the expiration of this period,there issued from the distended and motionless jaws a voice--such as itwould be madness in me to attempt describing. There are, indeed, two orthree epithets which might be considered as applicable to it in part; Imight say, for example, that the sound was harsh, and broken and hollow;but the hideous whole is indescribable, for the simple reason that nosimilar sounds have ever jarred upon the ear of humanity. There were twoparticulars, nevertheless, which I thought then, and still think, mightfairly be stated as characteristic of the intonation--as well adapted toconvey some idea of its unearthly peculiarity. In the first place, thevoice seemed to reach our ears--at least mine--from a vast distance,or from some deep cavern within the earth. In the second place, itimpressed me (I fear, indeed, that it will be impossible to make myselfcomprehended) as gelatinous or glutinous matters impress the sense oftouch.

  I have spoken both of "sound" and of "voice." I mean to say thatthe sound was one of distinct--of even wonderfully, thrillinglydistinct--syllabification. M. Valdemar spoke--obviously in reply to thequestion I had propounded to him a few minutes before. I had asked him,it will be remembered, if he still slept. He now said:

  "Yes;--no;--I have been sleeping--and now--now--I am dead."

  No person present even affected to deny, or attempted to repress, theunutterable, shuddering horror which these few words, thus uttered, wereso well calculated to convey. Mr. L--l (the student) swooned. The nursesimmediately left the chamber, and could not be induced to return. My ownimpressions I would not pretend to render intelligible to the reader.For nearly an hour, we busied ourselves, silently--without the utteranceof a word--in endeavors to revive Mr. L--l. When he came to himself,we addressed ourselves again to an investigation of M. Valdemar'scondition.

  It remained in all respects as I have last described it, with theexception that the mirror no longer afforded evidence of respiration. Anattempt to draw blood from the arm failed. I should mention, too, thatthis limb was no farther subject to my will. I endeavored in vain tomake it follow the direction of my hand. The only real indication,indeed, of the mesmeric influence, was now found in the vibratorymovement of the tongue, whenever I addressed M. Valdemar a question.He seemed to be making an effort to reply, but had no longer sufficientvolition. To queries put to him by any other person than myself heseemed utterly insensible--although I endeavored to place each memberof the company in mesmeric rapport with him. I believe that I have nowrelated all that is necessary to an understanding of the sleep-waker'sstate at this epoch. Other nurses were procured; and at ten o'clock Ileft the house in company with the two physicians and Mr. L--l.

  In the afternoon we all called again to see the patient. His conditionremained precisely the same. We h
ad now some discussion as to thepropriety and feasibility of awakening him; but we had little difficultyin agreeing that no good purpose would be served by so doing. It wasevident that, so far, death (or what is usually termed death) had beenarrested by the mesmeric process. It seemed clear to us all that toawaken M. Valdemar would be merely to insure his instant, or at leasthis speedy dissolution.

  From this period until the close of last week--an interval of nearlyseven months--we continued to make daily calls at M. Valdemar's house,accompanied, now and then, by medical and other friends. All this timethe sleeper-waker remained exactly as I have last described him. Thenurses' attentions were continual.

  It was on Friday last that we finally resolved to make the experimentof awakening or attempting to awaken him; and it is the (perhaps)unfortunate result of this latter experiment which has given rise toso much discussion in private circles--to so much of what I cannot helpthinking unwarranted popular feeling.

  For the purpose of relieving M. Valdemar from the mesmeric trance, Imade use of the customary passes. These, for a time, were unsuccessful.The first indication of revival was afforded by a partial descent of theiris. It was observed, as especially remarkable, that this loweringof the pupil was accompanied by the profuse out-flowing of a yellowishichor (from beneath the lids) of a pungent and highly offensive odor.

  It was now suggested that I should attempt to influence the patient'sarm, as heretofore. I made the attempt and failed. Dr. F--then intimateda desire to have me put a question. I did so, as follows:

  "M. Valdemar, can you explain to us what are your feelings or wishesnow?"

  There was an instant return of the hectic circles on the cheeks; thetongue quivered, or rather rolled violently in the mouth (although thejaws and lips remained rigid as before;) and at length the same hideousvoice which I have already described, broke forth:

  "For God's sake!--quick!--quick!--put me to sleep--or, quick!--wakenme!--quick!--I say to you that I am dead!"

  I was thoroughly unnerved, and for an instant remained undecided what todo. At first I made an endeavor to re-compose the patient; but, failingin this through total abeyance of the will, I retraced my steps and asearnestly struggled to awaken him. In this attempt I soon saw that Ishould be successful--or at least I soon fancied that my success wouldbe complete--and I am sure that all in the room were prepared to see thepatient awaken.

  For what really occurred, however, it is quite impossible that any humanbeing could have been prepared.

  As I rapidly made the mesmeric passes, amid ejaculations of "dead!dead!" absolutely bursting from the tongue and not from the lips of thesufferer, his whole frame at once--within the space of a single minute,or even less, shrunk--crumbled--absolutely rotted away beneath my hands.Upon the bed, before that whole company, there lay a nearly liquid massof loathsome--of detestable putridity.