ALCOHOLIC TRANCE. 187 



their eggs, because the figs are here so constituted that there is no 

 proper place for them to lay on. In other Avords, the true fig is a cul- 

 tivated wasp-proof caprifico. But, as the figs won't properly swell 

 without fertilization, it becomes important to conciliate the attentions 

 of the wasps ; and for this reason the Italian peasants hang small 

 branches of the caprifico on the boughs of the cultivated fig-trees, at 

 the moment when the eye of the fig opens, and so shows that they are 

 ready to be fertilized. The wasps, as they emerge from their own 

 homes, enter the figs at once, and there set the little hard seeds, on 

 whose impregnation the pulpy part of the fig begins to swell. The 

 fruit of the caprifico itself never comes to anything, as it hardens and 

 withers on the tree ; but, since the true figs are dependent upon it for 

 pollen, it follows that, if the caprificos were ever to become extinct, the 

 supply of best Eleme in layers would forthwith cease entirely. — Corn- 

 hill Magazine. 



ALCOHOLIC TEANCE. 



Bt t. d. ckotiiees, m. d. 



I PROPOSE to describe in a general way a peculiar mental state 

 following the toxic use of alcohol, which has only recently at- 

 tracted attention, and which promises to be a very imporant factor in 

 the medical jurisprudence of the future. Morbid states of the nervous 

 system, in which the mind seems to act automatically, and without con- 

 sciousness of the surroundings, and with no registration by the memory 

 of these acts, are not new to students of mental and nervous diseases ; 

 but the fact that they are more or less common in inebriety from 

 alcohol, and may follow any excess, is a recent discovery. In 1879 I 

 published a short paper " On Trance and Loss of Consciousness follow- 

 ing Inebriety," which, as far as I can ascertain, was the earliest study of 

 these cases ever made. The following are among the first cases which 

 attracted my attention to this subject. In 1877 a patient was admitted 

 to the asylum at Binghamton, with this incident in his history : A 

 year before, while apparently sober, he purchased a trotting -horse, 

 paying a fabulous price. Two days after, he denied all knowledge of 

 the transaction, and became involved in a lawsuit. On the trial it 

 appeared that the purchase of the horse had been discussed for many 

 hours, and that the buyer had exhibited great sagacity and judgment 

 to avoid deception ; also that, although drinking large quantities of 

 spirits, he gave no evidence of other than good judgment, and perfect 

 knowledge of his acts and their consequences. In the defense it was 

 shown that the purchase of the horse was a most unusual act ; that he 

 never showed any interest in fast horses, or racing, nor had he been on 

 the race-course, and was in fact afraid of driving fast horses ; and, 



