"Tausend
Teufel!" he exclaimed, rapping out a tremendous South German oath,
to the great astonishment of his audience and to the disgust of the
Swedenborgian. "Where the Henker am I then, and what in thunder
has occurred? Oh yes, I remember now. One of these nonsensical
mesmeric experiments. There is no result this time, for I remember
nothing at all since I became unconscious; so you have had all your
long journeys for nothing, my learned friends, and a very good joke
too; "at which the Regius Professor of Physiology burst into a roar
of laughter and slapped his thigh in a highly indecorous fashion.
The audience were so enraged at this unseemly behaviour on the part
of their host, that there might have been a considerable
disturbance, had it not been for the judicious interference of
young Fritz von Hartmann, who had now recovered from his lethargy.
Stepping to the front of the platform, the young man apologised for
the conduct of his companion. "I am sorry to say," he said, "that
he is a harum-scarum sort of fellow, although he appeared so grave
at the commencement of this experiment. He is still suffering from
mesmeric reaction, and is hardly accountable for his words. As to
the experiment itself, I do not consider it to be a failure. It is
very possible that our spirits may have been communing in space
during this hour; but, unfortunately, our gross bodily memory is
distinct from our spirit, and we cannot recall what has occurred.
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