370 ON UTERINE IRRITATION, AND ITS EFFECTS 



The account which she gave of her feelings as connected 

 with her present situation was, that previously to an attack she 

 felt drowsy, with a little pain in the head ; then a cloudiness 

 or mistiness came over her eyes ; she heard a peculiar noise 

 in her head resembling that of a carriage running, and had a 

 feeling of motion as if she were seated in such a carriage. 

 When this stage supervened, her conceptions of external ob- 

 jects were immediately altered. 



Next day (March 5.) while under a fit, she performed in 

 the most correct manner some of her accustomed duties relat- 

 ing to the pantry, and the dinner-table. Dr Dyce went to see 

 her ; she gave him a wrong name as formerly ; when her 

 mistress desired her to stand straight up, look round, and tell 

 where she was, she recovered instantly ; but it was only for a 

 little ; she very soon relapsed. When asked to read in an al- 

 manac held before her, she did not seem to see it, nor did she 

 notice a stick which was held out to her. Being asked a se- 

 cond time to read, she repeated a portion of Scripture, and 

 did not give a correct answer when asked where she was. Be- 

 ing desired to state what she felt, she put her hand to her fore- 

 head, and complained of her head ; said " she saw the mice run- 

 ning through the room.'* Mrs L mentioned that she had 



said the same thing on many former occasions, even when her 

 eyes were shut ; that she also frequently imagined that she was 

 accompanied by a little black dog, which she could not get rid 

 of; did not, in general, express any particular uneasiness from 

 that cause ; at times, however, cried in consequence of it, and 

 at other times laughed immoderately. In some of her repeat- 

 ed paroxysms, she insisted that she was going to church to 

 preach. One day, while taking out two infants for an airing, 



she was seized with one of her fits on the quay, and without 



hesitation walked along a single plank placed between a ves- 

 sel 



