368 ON UTERINE IRRITATION, AND ITS EFFECTS 



says, that, when in this stupor on subsequent occasions, she 

 told her what was said to her on the evening on which she 

 baptized the children. It was remarked that, while under 

 the paroxysm, she knew a person better by looking at the 

 shadow than at the body ; that is, she perceived those objects 

 best which were presented merely in outline, or were very dim- 

 ly illuminated. The disease made progress in the interval be- 

 tween its first appearance in December and the beginning of 

 March, though no dates of its different stages are given. 

 From the 2d of March till its disappearance Dr Dyce's ac- 

 count is very circumstantial. 



She was brought to him for medical advice by her mother. 

 The mother called these affections sleepy Jits. The girl herself 

 called them wanderings. They sometimes continued for an 

 hour. If they came on when she was in bed, she sometimes 

 rose and tried to raise the sashes of the windows. The eyes 

 were described as half-shut, the pupils dilated, and the cornea 

 covered with a dimness or glaze, resembling those of a person 

 in syncope. She answered many questions correctly, shewing 

 at times scarcely any failure of her mental powers. It was re- 

 marked, that she always retained the impression last made on 

 her previous to the fit. 



With regard to the case as an object of medical attention, it 

 is sufficient to mention that some foulness of tongue, and 

 other symptoms of torpor or disorder in the alimentary canal, 

 accompanied these mental phenomena, and were treated by 

 Dr Dyce principally with emetics and laxatives, in proportion 

 to their degree. 



The symptoms of the paroxysm, as they fell under the Doc- 

 tor's own eye for the first time, are thus described. " When 

 she was brought to my room she appeared as if in a state of 



stupor. 



