Poe, Edgar Allen - The Complete Works of Edgar Allen Poe

by Volume 01-05 (lit)

  that the skin had been broken through by the cheek-bones. His

  expectoration was excessive. The pulse was barely perceptible. He

  retained, nevertheless, in a very remarkable manner, both his mental

  power and a certain degree of physical strength. He spoke with

  distinctness -- took some palliative medicines without aid -- and,

  when I entered the room, was occupied in penciling memoranda in a

  pocket-book. He was propped up in the bed by pillows. Doctors D --

  and F -- were in attendance.

  After pressing Valdemar's hand, I took these gentlemen aside, and

  obtained from them a minute account of the patient's condition. The

  left lung had been for eighteen months in a semi-osseous or

  cartilaginous state, and was, of course, entirely useless for all

  purposes of vitality. The right, in its upper portion, was also

  partially, if not thoroughly, ossified, while the lower region was

  merely a mass of purulent tubercles, running one into another.

  Several extensive perforations existed; and, at one point, permanent

  adhesion to the ribs had taken place. These appearances in the right

  lobe were of comparatively recent date. The ossification had

  proceeded with very unusual rapidity; no sign of it had discovered a

  month before, and the adhesion had only been observed during the

  three previous days. Independently of the phthisis, the patient was

  suspected of aneurism of the aorta; but on this point the osseous

  symptoms rendered an exact diagnosis impossible. It was the opinion

  of both physicians that M. Valdemar would die about midnight on the

  morrow (Sunday). It was then seven 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 their intention to return; but, at my request, they agreed to

  look in upon the patient about ten the next night.

  When they had gone, I spoke freely with M. Valdemar on the subject of

  his approaching dissolution, as well as, more particularly, of the

  experiment proposed. He still professed himself quite willing and

  even anxious to have it made, and urged me to commence it at once. A

  male and a female nurse were in attendance; but I did not feel myself

  altogether at liberty to engage in a task of this character with no

  more reliable witnesses than these people, in case of sudden

  accident, might prove. I therefore postponed operations until about

  eight the next night, when the arrival of a medical student with whom

  I had some acquaintance, (Mr. Theodore L -- l,) relieved me from

  farther embarrassment. It had been my design, originally, to wait for

  the physicians; but I was induced to proceed, first, by the urgent

  entreaties of M. Valdemar, and secondly, by my conviction that I had

  not a moment to lose, as he was evidently sinking fast.

  Mr. L -- l was so kind as to accede to my desire that he would take

  notes of all that occurred, and it is from his memoranda that what I

  now have to relate is, for the most part, either condensed or copied

  verbatim.

  It wanted about five minutes of eight when, taking the patient's

  hand, I begged 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 of mesmerizing him in his then condition.

  He replied feebly, yet quite audibly, "Yes, I wish to be "I fear you

  have mesmerized" -- adding immediately afterwards, deferred it too

  long."

  While he spoke thus, I commenced the passes which I had already found

  most effectual in subduing him. He was evidently influenced with the

  first lateral stroke of my hand across his forehead; but although I

  exerted all my powers, no farther perceptible effect was induced

  until some minutes after ten o'clock, when Doctors D -- and F --

  called, according to appointment. I explained to them, in a few

  words, what I designed, and as they opposed no objection, saying that

  the patient was already in the death agony, I proceeded without

  hesitation -- exchanging, however, the lateral passes for downward

  ones, and directing my gaze entirely into the right eye of the

  sufferer.

  By this time his pulse was imperceptible and his breathing was

  stertorous, and at intervals of half a minute.

  This condition was nearly unaltered for a quarter of an hour. At the

  expiration of this period, however, a natural although a very deep

  sigh escaped the bosom of the dying man, and the stertorous breathing

  ceased -- that is to say, its stertorousness was no longer apparent;

  the intervals were undiminished. The patient's extremities were of an

  icy coldness.

  At five minutes before eleven I perceived unequivocal signs of the

  mesmeric influence. The glassy roll of the eye was changed for that

  expression of uneasy inward examination which is never seen except in

  cases of sleep-waking, and which it is quite impossible to mistake.

  With a few rapid lateral passes I made the lids quiver, as in

  incipient sleep, and with a few more I closed them altogether. I was

  not satisfied, however, with this, but continued the manipulations

  vigorously, and with the fullest exertion of the will, until I had

  completely stiffened the limbs of the slumberer, after placing them

  in a seemingly easy position. The legs were at full length; the arms

  were nearly 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 requested

  the gentlemen present to examine M. Valdemar's condition. After a few

  experiments, they admitted him to be an unusually perfect state of

  mesmeric trance. The curiosity of both the physicians was greatly

  excited. Dr. D -- resolved at once to remain with the patient all

  night, 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 in

  the morning, when I approached him and found him in precisely the

  same condition as when Dr. F -- went away -- that is to say, he lay

  in the same position; the pulse was imperceptible; the breathing was

  gentle (scarcely noticeable, unless through the application of a

  mirror to the lips); the eyes were closed naturally; and the limbs

  were as rigid and as cold as marble. Still, the general appearance

  was certainly not that of death.

  As I approached M. Valdemar I made a kind of half effort to influence

  his right arm into pursuit of my own, as I passed the latter gently

  to and fro above his person. In such experiments with this patient

  had never perfectly succeeded before, and assuredly I had little

  thought of succeeding now; but to my astonishment, his arm very

  readily, although feebly, followed every direction I assigned it with

  mine. I determined to hazard a few words of conversation.

  "M. Valdemar," I said, "are you asleep?" He made no answer, but I

  perceived a tremor about the lips, and was thus induced to repeat the

  question, ag
ain and again. At its third repetition, his whole frame

  was agitated by a very slight shivering; the eyelids unclosed

  themselves so far 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-waker again:

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

  The answer now was immediate, but even less audible than before: "No

  pain -- I am dying."

  I did not think it advisable to disturb him farther just then, and

  nothing more was said or done until the arrival of Dr. F -- , who

  came a little before sunrise, and expressed unbounded astonishment at

  finding the patient still alive. After feeling the pulse and applying

  a mirror to the lips, he requested me to speak to the sleep-waker

  again. I did so, saying:

  "M. Valdemar, do you still sleep?"

  As before, some minutes elapsed ere a reply was made; and during the

  interval the dying man seemed to be collecting his energies to speak.

  At my fourth repetition of the question, he said very faintly, almost

  inaudibly:

  "Yes; still asleep -- dying."

  It was now the opinion, or rather the wish, of the physicians, that

  M. Valdemar should be suffered to remain undisturbed in his present

  apparently tranquil condition, until death should supervene -- and

  this, it was generally agreed, must now take place within a few

  minutes. I concluded, however, to speak to him once more, and merely

  repeated my previous question.

  While I spoke, there came a marked change over the countenance of the

  sleep-waker. The eyes rolled themselves slowly open, the pupils

  disappearing upwardly; the skin generally assumed a cadaverous hue,

  resembling not so much parchment as white paper; and the circular

  hectic spots which, hitherto, had been strongly defined in the centre

  of each cheek, went out at once. I use this expression, because the

  suddenness of their departure put me in mind of nothing so much as

  the extinguishment of a candle by a puff of the breath. The upper

  lip, at the same time, writhed itself away from the teeth, which it

  had previously covered completely; while the lower jaw fell with an

  audible jerk, leaving the mouth widely extended, and disclosing in

  full view the swollen and blackened tongue. I presume that no member

  of the party then present had been unaccustomed to death-bed horrors;

  but so hideous beyond conception was the appearance of M. Valdemar at

  this moment, that there 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

  every reader 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; and

  concluding him to be dead, we were consigning him to the charge of

  the nurses, 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 it would be madness in me to attempt describing.

  There are, indeed, two or three epithets which might be considered as

  applicable to it in part; I might say, for example, that the sound

  was harsh, and broken and hollow; but the hideous whole is

  indescribable, for the simple reason that no similar sounds have ever

  jarred upon the ear of humanity. There were two particulars,

  nevertheless, which I thought then, and still think, might fairly be

  stated as characteristic of the intonation -- as well adapted to

  convey some idea of its unearthly peculiarity. In the first place,

  the voice seemed to reach our ears -- at least mine -- from a vast

  distance, or from some deep cavern within the earth. In the second

  place, it impressed me (I fear, indeed, that it will be impossible to

  make myself comprehended) as gelatinous or glutinous matters impress

  the sense of touch.

  I have spoken both of "sound" and of "voice." I mean to say that the

  sound was one of distinct -- of even wonderfully, thrillingly

  distinct -- syllabification. M. Valdemar spoke -- obviously in reply

  to the question 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, the

  unutterable, shuddering horror which these few words, thus uttered,

  were so well calculated to convey. Mr. L -- l (the student) swooned.

  The nurses immediately left the chamber, and could not be induced to

  return. My own impressions I would not pretend to render intelligible

  to the reader. For nearly an hour, we busied ourselves, silently --

  without the utterance of a word -- in endeavors to revive Mr. L -- l.

  When he came to himself, we addressed ourselves again to an

  investigation of M. Valdemar's condition.

  It remained in all respects as I have last described it, with the

  exception that the mirror no longer afforded evidence of respiration.

  An attempt to draw blood from the arm failed. I should mention, too,

  that this limb was no farther subject to my will. I endeavored in

  vain to make it follow the direction of my hand. The only real

  indication, indeed, of the mesmeric influence, was now found in the

  vibratory movement of the tongue, whenever I addressed M. Valdemar a

  question. He seemed to be making an effort to reply, but had no

  longer sufficient volition. To queries put to him by any other person

  than myself he seemed utterly insensible -- although I endeavored to

  place each member of the company in mesmeric rapport with him. I

  believe that I have now related all that is necessary to an

  understanding of the sleep-waker's state at this epoch. Other nurses

  were procured; and at ten o'clock I left the house in company with

  the two physicians and Mr. L -- l.

  In the afternoon we all called again to see the patient. His

  condition remained precisely the same. We had now some discussion as