THE ELECTRICAL GIRL. 589 



move with great violence ; she felt herself attracted to it, but, so soon 

 as she touched it, it retreated before her, or was even upset. The fol- 

 lowing morning similar phenomena were observed ; and before long 

 public opinion was very decided in affirming that Angelique Cottin 

 was possessed of a devil, and that she should be brought before the 

 parish priest. But the curb was a man of too much common-sense to 

 heed their request for an exorcism, and resolved to see the facts for 

 himself. The girl was brought to the cure's house, and there the phe- 

 nomena were repeated, though not with the same intensity as before : 

 the table retreated, but was not overturned, while the chair on w T hich 

 Angelique was seated moved in a contrary direction, rocking the while, 

 and giving Angelique great difficulty in keeping her seat. These ef- 

 fects were so remarkable as to attract a great deal of attention ; and 

 so many came to see the demonstrations that the girl's relations, who 

 were in straitened circumstances, thought to make a lucrative business 

 of her singular faculty by exhibitions from time to time. Various pro- 

 fessional men testified to her performances, of which the following let- 

 ter from Dr. Beaumont-Chardon, of Mortagne, gives the usual account : 



"This is what I saw," says this physician. 



" 1. Eepulsion and attraction, bounding and displacement of a massive table ; 

 also of another table, mounted on casters, about three metres by two ; another 

 square table, in oak, about a metre and a half in size ; an arm-chair, of ma- 

 hogany, very massive. All these movements took place from the voluntary or 

 involuntary contact of Angelique's clothes. 



" 2. When she was seated, overturning and repulsion of the young girl and 

 the person who was occupying the same chair ; a momentary adherence of the 

 chair to the girl's dress was seen several times. Cessation of these effects when 

 the chair and the young girl were placed upon glass or oil-cloth, or when the girl 

 was placed upon the chair without having the feet of the latter touch the floor, 

 effects generally less upon waxed floors or carpets. 



" 3. Great disturbance noticed in the girl, recalling that which is produced by 

 an electric discharge, when a piece of wood, a stick, a shovel, or tongs, was 

 brought in contact with the vertebral column. My finger held toward her fore- 

 head, or the top, and above all, the back of her head, either by actual contact, 

 or at a distance of two centimetres, produced the same effect as it had done when 

 brought in contact with the elbow of the left arm disappearance of this effect 

 when a piece of oil-cloth was interposed between the arm and the object. 



" 4. Painful and insupportable sensation of itching when one or two iron 

 rods, strongly magnetized, were held several centimetres from the extended 

 fingers of her left hand, or from her head ; non-magnetized iron did not produce 

 this effect. A magnetized needle, suspended horizontally from the ceiling by a 

 long thread, deviated from the direction of the terrestrial magnetic axis, and 

 oscillated at the approach of the girl's left arm. 



"The young girl was generally heavily charged when I was near her, be- 

 cause I did not arouse in her any feeling of mistrust, but always endeavored to 

 spare her suffering; I thought that, in order to appear to the best advantage, her 

 mind must be free, and she herself gay and lively, although her will seemed to 

 be entirely void of influence." 



