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The Letters of H. P. Blavatsky to A. P. Sinnett - 1925

By A. T. Barker

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APPENDIX III

Cures Effected by Colonel Olcott in Calcutta by Mesmeric Passes
[A newspaper cutting. — Ed.]

(To the Editor of the Indian Mirror.)

Sir,

As Colonel Olcott, President and Founder of the Theosophical Society, will accept of no compensation, nor is he desirous of receiving any thanks for the trouble he has taken in curing my grandson, Ashu Tosh Bysack, I, in justice to myself, beg to make a public acknowledgment of the same. The boy in question is now aged twelve years. He has been suffering from epilepsy for the last six or seven years. The best physicians, Allopathic, Homeopathic, and Native, have treated him, but to no effect. The disease became latterly so violent that in one day and night he had no less than sixty fits, and was unable to get up or walk.

In this state he was brought to Colonel Olcott, who has now been treated by him for seven days. The boy has so much improved that he can run and walk without difficulty, looks very lively, and appears perfectly healthy; besides which he has had no fits during this period. His appetite has returned, costiveness is gone, and he gets sound sleep, and is enjoying life like other boys for the first time in seven years. I consider from the general appearance of the boy that the disease is gone, and it is now only a question of his more or less rapid convalescence. The object of my making this statement public is that my countrymen, and especially members of the Theosophical Society, may know the great effect of mesmerism, in curing obstinate diseases like epilepsy which are beyond the power of medicine. I am now old enough having passed sixty years, and a retired servant of Government after a service of 44 years; and it is a joy to me that a European gentleman like Colonel Olcott should be showing our countrymen the beauty of the Aryan system and our duty to revere our Yogis and Munis.

Yours Etc.,
Surji Kumar Bysack.
The 1st March, 1883.

THE SAME

(To the Editor of the Indian Mirror.)

Sir,

The presence of Colonel Olcott in Calcutta has afforded us a long-needed opportunity to test the claims of mesmerism as a curative potency. We have attended at the Boitok-khanah house of Maharajah Sir Jotendro, Mohun Tagore Bahadur, K.C.S.I., the past 7 or 8 mornings to see Colonel Olcott heal the sick by the imposition of the hands. Our experience has been of a very striking nature. We have seen him cure an epileptic boy whose case had been given up in despair by his family after resorting to every other known mode of treatment. The lad is of respectable parentage, his father being the Deputy Magistrate, and can be seen at Paturiaghata, No. 80, in the premises of Babu Surji Kumar Bysack. A Theosophist from Bhaugulpore, suffering from atrophy of the disc of the left eye, is having his sight restored to him; and other patients have been relieved of different maladies. But a case which occurred this morning is of so remarkable a character as to prompt us to join in this letter for the information of your readers. A young Brahmin, aged -----, was brought by the relatives of the epileptic boy for treatment. He had a facial paralysis which prevented his closing his eyes — projecting his tongue, and swallowing liquids, in the usual way. The paralysis of his tongue prevented his speaking without the greatest efforts. In our presence and that of other witnesses, Colonel Olcott laid his hands upon him, pronounced the command, Aram Hao! made some passes over the head, eyes, face, and jaws, and in less than five minutes the patient was cured. The scene, which followed, affected the bystanders to tears. For a moment the patient stood closing and opening his eyes and thrusting out his tongue, and then, when the thought flashed upon him that he was cured, he burst into a fit of tears of joy, and with exclamations of gratitude that touched our hearts, flung himself on the ground at the Colonel's feet, embracing his knees and pouring out expressions of the deepest thankfulness. Surely no one present can ever forget this dramatic incident.

Yours etc.,
Shautcorry Mukerji,
Srinauth Tagore
Nivaran Chandra Mukerji.

To A. P. Sinnett, [This comment in K. H.'s writing appears on the margin of the news-paper cutting. — Ed.]

This is all done thro' the power of a lock of hair sent by our beloved younger Chohan to H. S. O.

I pray you friend to show this to the bitter opponents of your Society.

K. H.