656 SLEEP-WAKING. 



in a semi-transparent box held by Dr. Petetin upon her stomach. 

 Another patient, when a letter was placed upon her finger, 

 said, " If I were not discreet, I could tell you the contents : 

 but to prove that I have read it, there are just two lines and a 

 half/' She correctly enumerated the chief articles in the pockets 

 of the company : and a Madame de St. Paul, if interrogated 

 mentally only by means of a metallic chain, one end of which 

 was placed on her epigastrium and the other on the interro- 

 gator's lips, or of a chain made by several persons, the first 

 of whom placed his hand on her epigastrium and the last 

 whispered in the hollow of his hand, heard perfectly, though 

 insensible to the loudest voice if the chain were interrupted by a 

 piece of sealing-wax. 



These things seem calculated only to excite a smile; but, from 

 that time to this, similar cases have been recorded in different 

 countries. Baron de Strombeck published one, in which the 

 phenomena were observed, noted down, and attested by three 

 physicians as well as himself. k 



Dr. Joseph Frank 1 , in 1817, gave an account of a violent 

 case of hysteria and catalepsy, in a married woman twenty- 

 two years old, who, in her fits, was insensible to light, prick- 

 ing, and the loudest sound, but heard the moment the doctor 

 approximated his mouth to her epigastrium and spoke in a 

 low tone, not audible to the bystanders. Still he spoke : and 

 be it also known that the woman was so credulous as to 

 have given herself up to certain empirics and old women ; " so 

 ardent in putting her trust in God that she prayed fervently 

 day and night ; and laboured under hysteria, which often gives 

 a strong disposition to deceive and excite the interest and 

 wonder of others. While comatose, she both tasted sugar and 

 water applied to her epigastrium, though after the coma she could 

 say only that something moist was there but could not tell 

 what, and could hear nothing except the doctor's hand was 

 on her stomach. When asked the name of a gentleman pre- 

 sent, she was silent : but, as soon as Dr. Joseph Frank, whose 

 hand was always on her stomach, took him by the hand, she 



k Histoire de la Guerison d'unejeune Personne par le Magntisme Animal pro- 

 duit par la Natur elle meme. Par un Temoin oculaire. 



1 Praxeos Medicee Universes Prcecepla. Leipsirc, 1817. P. ii. vol. i. p. 49.5. 

 sqq. 



