viii.] TABLE-TIPPERS* 129 



provokingly quiet, and the " electric girl " subsided 

 into oblivion, So, numbers of people who watched 

 the " Welsh fasting-girl " 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 acquiescence of her parents. 



We have touched upon but few of the topics 

 treated in Dr. Hammond's book. Into his elaborate 

 discussion of the painful and often disgusting pheno- 

 mena of hysteria, ecstasy, and stigmatisation, 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, 



