z;2 ROUGH WAYS MADE SMOOTH. 



tion, three songs, one after the other. After which he wiped 

 his face with his handkerchief and drank, without a grimace, 

 a tumbler of strong vinegar and water which was put into 

 his hand.' 



But the most remarkable part of the whole story is that 

 which follows. ' Sitting at a table in one of his abnormal 

 states, Sergeant F. took up a pen, felt for paper and ink, and 

 began to write a letter to his general, in which he recom- 

 mended himself for a medal on account of his good con- 

 duct and courage.' (Rather a strange thing, by the way, 

 for a mere automaton to do.) *It occurred to Dr. Mesnet 

 to ascertain experimentally how far vision was concerned in 

 this act of wr.ting. He therefore interposed a screen be- 

 tween the man's eyes and his hands ; under these circum- 

 stances, F. went on writing for a short time, but the words 

 became illegible, and he finally stopped, without manifesting 

 any discontent. On the withdrawal of the screen, he began 

 to write again where he had left off. The substitution of 

 water for ink in the inkstand had a similar result. He 

 stopped, looked at his pen, wiped it on his coat, dipped it 

 in the water, and began again with a similar result. On 

 another occasion, he began to write upon the topmost ot 

 ten superimposed sheets of paper. After he had written a 

 line or two, this sheet was suddenly drawn away. There 

 was a slight expression of surprise, but he continued his 

 letter on the second sheet exactly as if it had b en the first. 

 This operation was repeated five times, so that the fifth 

 sheet contained nothing but the writer's signature at the 

 bottom of the page. Nevertheless, when the signature was 

 finished, his eyes turned to the top of the blank sheet, and 

 he went through the form of reading what he had written 

 a movement ot the lips accompanying each word ; moreover, 

 with his pen, he put in such corrections as were needed, in 

 that part of the blank page which corresponded with the 

 position of the words which required correction in the sheets 

 which had been taken away. If the five sheets had been 

 transparent, therefore, they would, when superposed, have 



