2Si Facts towards a History of 



needles ; — flagellation, and ** other odd experiments,'* which 

 the Doctor informs us he thinks better " to pass over in 

 silence,'* all of which might as well have been spared, for she 

 was very sulky, and good-for-nothing, when she was awake. 

 This sulkiness, however, should be noticed, as being connected 

 with the complaint. Previously to this somnolent disease, 

 many of the persons have become uneasy, sullen, and surly. 

 In all, the mind has evidently been affected ; and in some, 

 where there has been extreme abstinence, their waking hours 

 have been characterized by decided mental aberration. 



A lady in perfect health, twenty-three years of age, was 

 asked by the parents of a friend to be present at a severe 

 surgical operation. On consideration, it was thought wrong 

 to expose her to such a scene, and the operation was post- 

 poned for a few hours. She went to bed, however, with 

 the imagination highly excited, and awoke in alarm, hearing, 

 or thinking she heard, the shrieks of her friend under the 

 agony of ah operation. Convulsions and hysterics super- 

 vened, and on their subsiding, she went into a profound sleep, 

 which continued sixty-three hours. The most eminent of 

 the faculty were then consulted, and she was cupped, which 

 awoke her ; but the convulsions returned, and she again went 

 to sleep, and slept with few intermissions for a fortnight. For 

 the next twelve months, she remained perfectly well. The 

 sleeping began again without any apparent cause, which, in 

 irregular periods, continued for ten or twelve years, the length 

 of the sleeping fits being from thirty to forty hours, diminished 

 in duration as time went on, till she got well. Then arrived 

 irritability, and total want of sleep, for three months, which 

 was succeeded by aberration of mind. This state continued 

 about six months, when, to the relief of her friends, her sleep- 

 ing fits returned, and were very regular in their periods, both 

 as to arrival and duration. 



Her usual time for sleeping was forty-eight hours. She 

 would in the intermediate day be very well, till twelve at night, 

 when she went to bed. Sometimes she would awake for a few 

 minutes, take some warm fluid, which was always kept ready 

 with a lamp ; but found any effort to remain awake unavailing, 

 and the bare notion of attempting it gave her great horror. 



