The Parasitic Miss Penclosa.

The Parasitic Miss Penclosa.

The Parasite must surely be one of the strangest stories that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle ever wrote. Subtitled ‘A Mesmeric and Hypnotic Mystery,‘ it was first published in four instalments in Harper’s Weekly in 1894. 

Arthur Conan Doyle had dealt with the subjects of mesmerism and hypnotism in two of his earlier stories; John Barrington Cowles (1884), and The Great Keinplatz Experiment (1885).

Mesmerism itself was first introduced in the 1770s by the German physician, Franz Anton Mesmer. He theorised that there was a natural energy transference between all animate objects. Mesmer used this to put people into a mental state that was similar to sleep.

Eventually mesmerism was replaced by hypnotism. This was largely due to the pioneering work of the Scottish surgeon James Braid (1795 - 1860). Braid helped to put hypnosis on a more scientific footing. Professor John Elliotson (1791 - 1868) also had a strong interest in the subject. Professor Elliotson held regular stage performances where he would put a person into a hypnotic trance. The subject would then do a number of tricks for the audience. This brought Professor Elliotson into conflict with the medical committee at University College Hospital in London. Elliotson eventually had to resign from his post as physician at the hospital in 1838.

There was thus considerable interest in both mesmerism and hypnotism by the time Arthur Conan Doyle came to write The Parasite.

The story is told through a diary that is kept by Professor Gilroy. Gilroy is a Professor of Physiology. He is invited to the home of Professor Wilson, who introduces Gilroy to the mesmerist, Miss Helen Penclosa.

Professor Gilroy is initially sceptical of Miss Penclosa’s powers. However, he witnesses the mesmerism of his fiancé, Agatha Marden. Professor Gilroy is himself then mesmerised by Miss Penclosa.

He becomes a convert and wishes to study Miss Penclosa’s mesmerism scientifically. However, she falls in love with Professor Gilroy. He spurns Miss Penclosa’s advances, as she is much older than he is. 

Rejected by Professor Gilroy, Helen Penclosa takes her revenge on him. Gilroy records this in his diary:

“This woman, by her own explanation, can dominate my nervous organism. She can project herself into my body and take command of it.“

Miss Penclosa does just that. She humiliates Professor Gilroy through his work and he loses his post. Miss Penclosa then uses her powers to force Professor Gilroy to commit a crime. Worst of all she sends him in a trance to the home of his fiancé, Agatha. Luckily Gilroy comes to his senses and finds himself holding a bottle of sulphuric acid:

“My heart stood still as I held the bottle to the light. Thank God, it was full ! No mischief had been done as yet.“

Increasingly desperate, Professor Gilroy decides to murder Miss Penclosa. He will thus be rid of her forever. However, fate intervenes at the conclusion of the story.

The Parasite veers towards melodrama at times, as when in one paragraph Arthur Conan Doyle uses no less than seven exclamation marks. But Conan Doyle skilfully overcomes this as he racks up the tension of Professor Gilroy’s plight.

A feature film titled The Parasite was released in 1997. It was directed by Andrew Froemke, with a screenplay by Patrick Roddy. One wonders what Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would make of this modern adaptation of his story…

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