XXX Journal of Comparative Neurology. 



A few words in passing upon this summary. The admission of i 

 is significant and is fuUv borne out by the facts adduced. These so- 

 called possessions are not in any material way different from phenom- 

 ena with which modern pathology is deahng every day at home with 

 no doubt of their pathological character. That they have been gener- 

 ally referred to devils is as forcible an argument as it would be to ad- 

 duce the universal belief that scrofula was due to the evil eye in a 

 modern medical consultation. We might drop the matter right here 

 and would be content to do so if convinced that all our readers were 

 familiar wath the state of scientific opinion. We have, then, not a pe- 

 culiar set of phenomena but a familiar set in peculiar setting which 

 alone warrants its selection for special study. Our author does not hes- 

 itate to suggest (p. 182) that " the unscientific Chinese were, so far as 

 this subject is concerned, more careful observers of facts, and more 

 correct in their conclusions than many who have been leaders of public 

 opinion in our times ;" the direct objective being here modern patholo- 

 gists. This is a remarkable statement which becomes more remarka- 

 ble with every illustration of the scientific attainments of the oriental 

 observer and healer. 



The symptomatic complex indicated in the following sections con- 

 tains nothing novel in any way, but the strange circumstances and the 

 implicit faith of the barbarians in the supernatural character of the 

 manifestations very naturally produce a strong impression on the visitor. 

 The author was chiefly struck by the apparent transformation of the 

 personality during such attacks, yet he is not entirely ignorant of the 

 fact that a change of personality is characteristic of well-known nerv- 

 ous maladies. It is gravely stated that the possessed shows super- 

 natural powers of speech and gaining information. There is, however, 

 no case given where such powers are proven. It is true that under the 

 pressure of the disease the patient may seem to speak with tongues, but 

 when the evidence can be thoroughly sifted such cases usually find 

 their true place among familiar facts. A case in point now occurs to 

 the writer. The wife of a prominent theological professor, herself a 

 woman of great strength and refinement of character but not well- 

 versed in the German language, awoke one morning and to her own 

 great distress and the astonishment of her family was utterly unable to 

 speak a word of English but made her wants known in German. Her 

 husband was even less familiar than she had hitherto been with that 

 language so that she was for the most part unintelligible. The good 

 Doctor, in narrating the circumstances, stated that she spoke fluently, 

 but admitted that neither he nor she were in a condition to gauge the 



