SYNCOPE AND DEATH FKOM PAIN. 393 



truth of the narrative, and yet I choose this case because we 

 have records of numerous other ones which resemble it so much 

 in one or more particulars, that we can hardly doubt the sub- 

 stantial accuracy of the description ; and owing to the peculiar 

 circumstances under which the events are said to have taken 

 place, w^e find in this one instance all the phenomena which we 

 woukl otherwise have to seek for, some in one case, some in 

 another. 



During the reign of Charles or James the Second, one of the 

 Scottish Covenanters, named John Bruce, concealed himself from 

 the dragoons who v/ere in search of him at some little distance 

 from his cottage, and his little daughter Alice was accustomed 

 daily to visit him with a supply of provisions. One day, while 

 on this errand, she was unhappily discovered and seized by the 

 dragoons, who at once guessed her purpose from the food she 

 was carrying, and declared that unless she informed them of the 

 phice of her father's concealment they would torture her with 

 thumb-screws. She refused, and the instruments were accord- 

 ingly applied. Scarcely, however, had a few turns of the screw 

 been made, when her face became deadly pale, and she fe'll back 

 insensible. The screw was at once undone, water from a neigh- 

 bouring rivulet was dashed in her face, and after a deep sigh 

 or two the paleness disappeared and consciousness returned. 

 Again the dragoons demanded her secret, adding the threat thafc 

 they would not let her off so easily this time. Again she 

 refused, and the dragoons, irritated by her obstinacy, by a fcv/ 

 rapid turns of the screw nearly crushed her thumbs between 

 the jaws of the instrument. A second time the deadly pallor 

 overspread her face, and unconsciousness relieved her pain. 

 This did not suit the purpose of the dragoons, and they again 

 sought to restore her as before. But this time all their efforts 

 were unavailing; the heart had ceased to beat, and the poor 

 child was dead. 



Here w^e have a typical instance, first of fainting, then of 

 death by syncope, following the infliction of intense pain alone, 

 without any injury whatever to the vital organs. Sometimes 

 death may occur from an impression on the nervous system 

 without even pain being felt, as in a case recorded by Sir Asiiey 



