374 Hystero-Demonojpathy in Savoy. 



HYSTEKO-DEMONOPATHY IN SAVOY. 



The term Hystero-demonopathy has been invented by medical 

 writers to designate a form of hysteria in which the patients 

 conceive themselves subjects of demoniacal possession. For 

 the spread of disorders of this class it is necessary that the 

 victims of the malady should be ignorant persons, or, at any 

 rate, not having received any practical scientific training ; that 

 the locality should be more or less isolated from the busy 

 world and that sharpening of the intellect and firmness of 

 moral character which results from the healthy exercise of 

 faculties under civilized conditions; and lastly, that there 

 should be a general belief in particular forms of superstition 

 favourable to the delusions of those whom the disease attacks. 

 Cases of this kind are very interesting in a scientific point of 

 view. There must be a certain substratum of positive physical 

 disorder, and there must be a mental disorder co-operating 

 with the former, exaggerating its violence, and giving it a 

 special direction. During the middle ages such epidemics were 

 common, and they are probably much more frequent now than 

 is generally supposed; but the difference is, that whereas in 

 former times of greater ignorance, less security for life and 

 property, and less regular industry, they made their appear- 

 ance in important localities, they are now chiefly confined to 

 districts that have escaped the progressive influences of our 

 time, and it is only by accident that any person of adequate 

 knowledge studies the phenomena, and makes them the subject 

 of a report. 



We learn by an article in the Revue Moderne, that an 

 epidemic of the kind described is prevalent in a place called 

 Morzine, in Savoy. The superstitious folks declared that the 

 devil possessed many of the inhabitants of this place, and M. 

 J. Tissot, who writes the article from which our information is 

 derived, proceeded to the spot. It appears that in 1857, a 

 priest, born at Morzine, who tried to persuade the people that 

 the devil had nothing to do with their illness, was suspected 

 of having cast a diabolical spell over some of the young women. 

 He was compelled to leave ; but before departing they believed 

 he communicated the fatal secret to certain individuals who con- 

 tinued the evil work. So the clergy and the laity fancied, 

 and the local medical science, instead of correcting the delusion, 

 became a convert to it. It was affirmed that exorcism had 

 succeeded in a similar case that had occurred in the neighbour- 

 hood of Morzine, and for a time other means were abandoned 

 in favour of a remedy that accorded with the state of the 

 village mind. Witnesses that would have been accepted as 



