From the Saturday Review are gleaned some very interesting statements on this subject, which is nearly related to Animal Magnetism.
A chief employment of an Italian witch is to attacare (attack) persons. A lover may pay her more for a single charm, but those who want to attacare somebody are her steady customers. The purpose of this spell is to render a person either incapable of action and reason, or the use of some faculty. Those who have a lawsuit, pay a witch to bind the tongue of the advocate who has to speak against them. This does not mean that he is to be struck dumb,—that would frustrate the whole design,—but merely that he is to be rendered incapable of speaking effectively.
When a man is entirely bound, he must remain in the position he happens to be in at the moment, or assume another position at command; and he loses all consciousness. After hours he awakes from his trance, and continues the movements he began before it fell upon him. To leave a man in such a position would be murder, and in due time he is always unbound,—at least in the popular stories. Whether the charm would in time lose its effect, if it were not retracted, seems rather a doubtful point. Among the believers in magic, opinions differ, and tales might be cited in support of either view.
