130 Darwinism and Other Essays. 



Academy of Sciences, consisting of Arago, Bee- 

 querel, Geoffroy St. Hilaire, and others. Tables, 

 books, brushes, and magnetic needles, all kept 

 most provokingly quiet, and the &quot; electric girl &quot; 

 subsided into oblivion. So, numbers of people 

 who watched the &quot; Welsh fasting-girl &quot; were 

 quite sure that she subsisted without food ; but, 

 when really competent watchers were introduced, 

 the poor creature died of starvation, destroyed 

 by her own obstinacy and the criminal acquies 

 cence of her parents. 



We have touched upon but few of the topics 

 treated in Dr. Hammond s book. Into his elab 

 orate discussion of the painful and often disgust 

 ing phenomena of hysteria, ecstasy, and stigmat- 

 ization, we have not space to follow him. His 

 subject is one which leads the inquirer into some 

 of the darkest and most loathsome corners of the 

 human mind ; but the inquiry has, nevertheless, 

 its uses. 



July, 1876. 



