But the public's attention was particularly riveted by the case of a
young girl who had been for some time past under Dr. Binder's
treatment. She had come from a distant city to seek a cure at the
hands of the famous physician and pupil of Mesmer. A bad cold had
brought about a paralysis of all her limbs; she was unable to move
her hands and feet, and had for months lain on her bed as
motionless, rigid, and dumb, as a marble statue. Her parents had, in
the anguish of their heart, at length applied to Dr. Binder. The
doctor received her into his house. He publicly invited all the
physicians of Berlin to visit his patient, to examine her condition,
and to satisfy themselves of the efficacy of his cure, he also
requested the public to watch the progress of it, and to come to his
house at the hours when he lulled his patient to sleep. The
physicians had disdainfully refused to have any thing to do with the
"quack doctor," who pretended to cure diseases without medicines;
but the public appeared the more eagerly.
And this public enjoyed the satisfaction of seeing that the
motionless form of the young girl, who at first had lain on the bed
as rigid as stone, very slowly commenced to move. It was seen that,
a few days afterward, she raised her right hand, and, shortly after,
her right foot; gradually life and motion were restored to her
limbs, and at length, at a truly solemn hour, the young girl, at the
doctor's loudly-uttered command, arose from her couch and paced the
room with firm and steady steps.
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