5 i8 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



in countenance, and moving awkwardly about in the chair. I 

 asked him what was the matter. " He can not answer you," said 

 Dr. Luys ; " he is dumb, he can not speak ; he is transformed ; he 

 is no longer a man and can not use the speech of men ; he is as- 

 suming the nature of a cat." And, sure enough, presently the un- 

 happy creature threw himself on to the ground with every sign 

 of excitement and congestion ; he began scratching about the floor 

 on all fours, and presently mewing like a cat a disagreeable but 

 striking imitation and when the valerian tube was taken from 

 his neck and held in front of him he came scratching and spitting 

 along the floor on all fours, as though irresistibly attracted, as a 

 cat might be, to the person who held it. This astonishing gym- 

 nastic lasted for some minutes and seemed to fatigue him, as well 

 it might. On the following day I secured the presence in my 

 apartments of Mile. V. above mentioned. On calling on her with 

 M. Cremiere I found her installed as a hypnotizer as well as a 

 hypnotic subject, and with a plate on her door accordingly. We 

 arranged for a seance on her usual terms. She insisted, however, 

 on bringing "her subject" with her, for she apparently now finds 

 the passive and performing state rather fatiguing and not suffi- 

 ciently profitable, and prefers the double emploi. When she ar- 

 rived a very amusing scene followed. Acting Dr. Luys to the 

 life, she proceeded to place her subject before her, and began to 

 give us the magistral demonstration based on his lectures on sug- 

 gestion, which he describes above as the peculiar endowment of 

 her somnambulistic condition, and of which, as he observes art- 

 lessly, he believes her to be quite incapable in her waking state, 

 thinking it only possible when her faculties are peculiarly "ex- 

 alted " by his manipulation. I have no doubt that, as he says, she 

 would have gone on indefinitely and until she was exhausted ; but 

 we were very soon tired of her glib impudence, and stopped the 

 performance after she had shown us how she had trained this new 

 subject in three weeks to a number of the required manifesta- 

 tions. We had the " passional attitudes," " fascination," the prise 

 du regard, etc. The eyelids were duly opened by order for fur- 

 ther performances, for she intelligently observed : 



The eyelids, gentlemen, are the windows of the soul, are they not? and in 

 order that her heightened faculties may acquire their full perception, the light 

 must penetrate; but she sees only me, she knows nothing of what goes on around 

 her, she thinks my thoughts, she is en rapport with me alone. 



Here we stopped her, for we were beginning to be fatigued, al- 

 though she was not. We now requested herself to become the 

 subject, and duly regretted her absence at the dinique of Dr. 

 Luys on the previous day. 



Oh (she said), I am very sorry I was not there, hut I did not come because it 

 is the off season. At the New Year every one is making holiday ; very few peo- 



