94 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



wife,' and Kdsim the elder accepted the providential appear- 

 ance of his greatly-desired spouse, and embraced her with not 

 less fervour than his namesake and rival. It was evident that 

 neither intended to give up the lady to the other, and, as each 

 tried to monopolize her charms, a struggle began between them 

 to obtain complete possession, during which the audience, 

 almost frantic with delight, urged the actors in this drama to 

 manifest their affection to the lady of their choice. In the 

 midst of this clamour the Kasims and their joint spouse fell 

 down, and, as they nearly rolled into the fire, and seemed dis- 

 inclined even then to abandon the lady, she was taken away 

 and put back in her corner with the chairs and snakes. It is 

 a detail, which I only add because some readers hunger for 

 detail, that neither of the Kasims possessed a wife. 



" I do not pretend to offer any explanation of the cause of 

 this state of mind which the Malays call latah. I imagine 

 it is a nervous disease affecting the brain, but not the body. 

 I have never met a medical man who has interested himself 

 in the matter, and I cannot say if the disease, if it be one, is 

 curable or not. I should doubt it. I have somewhere read 

 that individuals similarly affected are found amongst the 

 Canadian lumber-men." 



Thus the long quotation. I have ventured to bring it 

 before you in the hope that perhaps some information may be 

 got on this side of the world. Since the word is so well 

 known in one of its senses in the Pacific, there may be some 

 knowledge of it as "hypnotism" yet to be gathered. How 

 far did the priests of the South Sea temples or religions 

 exercise the mesmeric power ? It has been used by priests in 

 all ages ; but, so far, I have not been able to find direct mes- 

 meric agency used in Oceania. It is most remarkable that in 

 Mangareva we should find the word rata applied to a sorcerer, 

 or one under the influence of a deity, which is always, among 

 savages, a variety of madness or the imitation of it. What 

 was this power that "tamed" persons, made them like 

 domestic animals, or following as a dog follows, or crawling 

 like a child ? Surely it was some mental influence, some 

 power of hypnosis, that could make men depart so much 

 from their usual habits. Even the Samoan fa' a-latalata (" to 

 act the coquette") seems to give a hint of nervous suscepti- 

 bility, because it wars with the general sense of "tame, flat, 

 level." In any case I trust that the unusual subject of this 

 paper may excite some interest among students of mental 

 phenomena. 



