The works of Edgar Allan Poe; newly collected and edited, with a memoir, critical introductions, and notes, by Edmund Clarence Stedman and George Edward Woodberry; the illustrations by Albert Edward Sterner.

TALES OF PSEUDO-SCIENCE

On quitting the invalid's bedside 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 — 1), 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 -- 1 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 patients hand, I begged him to state, as distinctly
as he could, to Mr. L — 1, whether he (M. Valdemar) was entirely willing that I should make the
experiment of mesmerizing him in his then condition.
326