given minute accounts of such cases :-Fernelius (De abditis morborum causis); Paul Lentulus (Historia admiranda de prodigiosa Apollonia, 1604); Dionis (Recueil sur la morte subite et la catalepsie, Paris, 1718); Sauvages (Nosologia method. 1763, t. iv., and Mémoires de l'Acad. des Sciences à Paris, 1742); Petetin (Mémoires sur la découverte des phénomènes qui présentent la catalepsie et le somnambulisme, symptômes de l'affection hystérique essentielles, 1787,-Electricité animale prouvée par la découverte des phén. phys. et moraux de catalepsie, etc., et de ses variétés par les bons effets de l'électricité artificielle dans le traitement de ces maladies, Lyons, 1808). All pathologists describe idio-somnambulism in nervous affections, and it would therefore be superfluous to give a long list of works on the subject; it will suffice to state that De Haen, Darwin, Willis, Brandis, Swieten, Pinel, Wichman, Reil, Hufeland, etc., have scientifically investigated this subject in their works, and endeavoured to accommodate it with known laws. From the importance of the subject we must enter a little into explanation and details.

In inflammatory diseases, particularly those of the brain, prophetic delirium often takes place. De Seze considers it an undisputed fact that in apoplexy and inflammation of the brain ecstatic states manifest themselves, and that not only new ideas are formed but a new power of looking into the future. Fernel tells us of a patient who in sleep spoke Latin and Greek, which he was unable to do when awake; he also told the physicians their thoughts, and laughed at their ignorance. Gueritant (Bulletin de la Société des Sciences à Orleans, Sept. 84,) mentions a young girl who has a peculiar power of recognizing persons at a distance, and who indicated the necessary course of treatment to be pursued in her case. A very similar case is related by Hunaud (Dissert. sur les vapeurs) of a cataleptic girl who predicted future events, as for instance,—“ I see poor Maria, who takes so much trouble about her pigs; she may do what she likes, but they will have to be thrown into the water." The next day six of the pigs were driven home, and a servant fastened them up in a pen, as they were to be killed the next day. During the night, however, one of

them went mad, having been bitten a few days before by mad dog, and bit all the other pigs. They all had to b killed and thrown into the water. Lentulus relates simila cases, as well in nervous as in spasmodic affections; and among others which Petetin mentions, one is very remarkable from the fact that he made experiments very similar to mesmerism before Mesmer had given his theory to the world

The cataleptic person whom Petetin mentions had been for a length of time insensible to outward influences, and could neither see nor hear. Once, however, Petetin remarked that she understood him when he spoke close to the pit of the stomach. Soon afterwards she was able to see and smell in the same manner, and she had the power of readin a book or a letter even when a substance was laid between her and it. If a non-conducting body was laid between the object and the pit of the stomach she took no notice of it, but with good conductors the opposite took place. In this way he often formed a chain of persons, of whom the first touched the patient with his fingers, and the last, who was the most distant, whispered into his hand, and by this means the patient understood all that he said. If, however, the communication was interrupted between only two of the persons who formed the chain, by any idio-electric bodyfor instance, a piece of sealing-wax-the cataleptic patient remained perfectly unconscious of everything that was said: it was this which induced him to ascribe the whole phenomenon to electricity.

In another cataleptic patient, Petetin not only observed an entire transfer of the senses to the pit of the stomach, but also to the ends of the fingers and toes. Both of these patients showed, however, a remarkable activity of mind, and made frequent predictions of the future. Petetin was at that time a violent antagonist to magnetism, and it was not till near the end of his life that he became better acquainted with it.

Sauvages relates the following circumstance:-In 1737 a girl, twenty-four years of age, was attacked by catalepsy. Three months afterwards a remarkable state showed itself. When it came over the patient, she spoke with a volubility quite unusual to her. What she said had reference to that

for thich she had spoken the day before when in the same state. the repeated word for word a catechism which she had heard he previous day, and drew from it moral conclusions for he instruction of the people of the house. She accompanied ll this with movements of the limbs and eyes, and yet was ast asleep. To test the truth of these appearances I pricked er, placed a light suddenly before her eyes, and another person shouted from behind in her ears. I poured French randy and spirit of sal-ammoniac into her eyes and mouth, and blew snuff into her nostrils; I pricked her with needles, twisted her fingers, touched the ball of her eye with a pen, and even with the end of my finger; but she did not show e smallest sense of feeling. In spite of all this she was ery lively, and spoke with great quickness. Soon afterwards she got up, and I expected to see her strike herself against the beds; but she walked about with great composure, and avoided all the beds and chairs. She then laid down again, and soon became cataleptic. If any one raised her arm or turned her head on one side during the continuance of this state, she would remain so as long as the equilibrium of the body was preserved. She awoke from this as from a deep sleep. As she knew from the faces of those around her that she had had one of her attacks, she was always confused, and generally wept the whole day, but she was totally ignorant of everything that passed in this state. After some time these phenomena disappeared, although it was very doubtful whether medicine had produced this effect. I have since heard that she has again become somnambulic, though without the previous cataleptic attacks. Her health was much improved." The somnambulism in which halfclairvoyant glances are exhibited, is often, as in this case, the crisis of a disorder. Hippocrates regarded it from this point of view, when he says, (Aphorisms, sect. vii. n. 5)— In mania and dysentery, dropsy or ecstasy are beneficial." The most frequent examples are recorded of nervous affections, hysteria, St. Vitus's dance, and epilepsy. Lentulus, who gives the case of Apollonia Schreier, of Bern, celebrated in 1604 on account of her visions and long-continued fastings, also mentions an epileptic boy who after the fits became ecstatic and sang hymns; then he would stop suddenly and say many remarkable things, even concerning the dead.

After the ecstasy he was like one who awakes from a deep sleep, and he declared that he had been with angels in the most lovely gardens, and had enjoyed the greatest happiness. Somnambulic visions are almost always associated with chronic convulsions, particularly when the latter arise endemically; it was so among the "convulsionairs" of the Protestants in the Cevennes, who during the sixteenth century spread themselves over almost the whole of Germany (Théâtre Sacré des Cevennes); and also in the remarkable cases which took place at the grave of Diaconus Paris in the churchyard of St. Medard, at Paris, in the years 1724 to 1736. These possessed many points of resemblance with cases of "possession." According to Carré de Montgeron (La vérité des miracles opérés par l'intercession de M. Paris, Cologne, 1745, ii. vol. 4), these convulsionairs are Isaid to have been insensible to thrusts and blows with pointed stakes and iron bars, as well as to the oppression of great weights. They had visions, communicated with good and evil spirits, and many miraculous cures are said to have been performed there; which, however, are designated by the Archbishop of Paris, in his Pastoral Letter of 1735, as, miracula, quæ non aliam habent originem, nisi mendacia, dolos fraudesque,"-though this is in direct opposition to the accounts of the Jansenists, who regarded them as performed by divine assistance, and similar to the Apostolic miracles. The patients made use of very peculiar modes of treatment, called " grandes secours" or secours meurtriers," and which are authenticated by the report of eye-witnesses and by judicial documents. They were belaboured by the strongest men with heavy work-tools, pieces of wooden and iron bars weighing thirty pounds; and instead of any severe or mortal injury to the body, a sensation of pleasure was experienced, which increased with the violence used. They also were covered with boards, on which twenty men and upwards stood, without its being painful to them. They even bore with the greatest composure more than a hundred blows with a twenty-pound weight, alternately given on the breast and the stomach with such force that the room trembled and those present shuddered. The sick persons even begged for stronger blows, as light ones only increased their sufferings. Any one who did not dare to lay on with all

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his might was considered weak and cowardly; and only those. who showered down the heaviest and most numerous blows were thanked, as these were said to give great relief. It was only when the power of these blows had at last penetrated as it were into the very stomach of the patient ("s'enfoncent si avant dans l'estomac de la convulsionaire, qu'ils parait pénétrer presque jusqu'au des, et qu'il semble dévoir écraser, tous les viscères," etc.) that he appeared contented, and exclaimed aloud, with every expression of satisfaction visible in his countenance, That does me good!" ("que cela me fait de bien! Courage, mon frère ! redoublez encore des forces si vous pouvez.") It is, however, a wellknown fact, that spasmodic convulsions maintain themselves against outward attempts, and even the greatest violence, with an almost superhuman strength, without any danger of injury to the patient, as has often been observed in young girls and women, where any one might have almost been induced to believe in a supernatural influence. The tension of the muscles increases in elasticity and power with the insensibility of the nerves, so that no outward force is equal to it; and when it is attempted to check the paroxysm by force it gains in intensity, and according to some observers not less psychologically than physically. The attack is more likely to pass over by calming the mind and by repose of excited nature, without there being any necessity either to imagine those miracles and wonders which history has accumulated in this disease, or to drag in an explanation by means of good or bad angels, or belief and faith. I have observed the same manifestations in children, in Catholics, Protestants, and Jews, without the least variation; on which account I consider it to be nothing more than an immense abnormal and inharmonic lusus naturæ. It is certainly clear that in these unusual appearances the mind must undergo peculiar modifications; and we must admire the various capabilities of man for distant and foreign influences of which in his usual state he but rarely experiences anything: on this very account the sphere of activity and dignity of man is far too much underrated.

In the St. Vitus's dance patients often experience divinatory visions of a fugitive nature, either referring to them