Suicide or Hypnosis? 



The spectacle has a tragic air; and I feel 

 overcome by a certain anxiety when I gaze 

 upon the results of my evil spells. Poor 

 Turkey! What if she were never to wake 

 again ! 



We need not be afraid: she is waking; 

 she stands up, staggering a little, it is true, 

 with drooping tail and a shamefaced ex- 

 pression. That soon passes off; not a trace 

 of it remains. In a few moments the bird 

 is once more what it was before the experi- 

 ment. 



This torpor, the mean between true sleep 

 and death, is of variable duration. When 

 repeatedly provoked in my Turkey-hen, with 

 suitable intervals of repose, immobility lasts 

 sometimes for half an hour and sometimes 

 for a few minutes. Here, as in the insect, 

 it would be very difficult to analyse the causes 

 of these differences. With the Guinea-fowl 

 I succeed even better. The torpor lasts so 

 long that I become alarmed by the bird's 

 condition. The plumage reveals no trace of 

 breathing. I ask myself, anxiously, whether 

 the bird is not actually dead. I push it a 

 little way along the ground with my foot. 

 The patient does not stir. I do it again. 

 And lo, the Guinea-fowl frees her head, 

 stands up, regains her balance and scurries 



395 



