go ic Jumpers” of Maine . [February, 
window, struck his fist right through the glass, cutting it 
severely. These Jumpers have been known to strike their 
fists against a red-hot stove ; they have been known to jump 
into the fire, as well as into water ; indeed, no painfulness 
or peril of position has any effedt on them ; they are as 
powerless as apoplectics or hysterics, if not more so; the 
absolute victims of the orders that are given them, or of the 
surprises that are played upon them ; they must do as they 
are told, though it kill them , or though it kill others. I can 
find no evidence that the presence of water or of fire will 
interfere, even in the slightest degree, with the motions 
which they are compelled to make. As has been made 
apparent by the above description, it is not necessary that 
the surprises should come from any human being ; it is not 
necessary that they should be ordered to strike or to jump ; 
any sound from any source that comes upon them with suffi- 
cient severity and suddenness, for which they are not fore- 
warned and forearmed, may cause them to jump and to cry. 
One of those on whom I experimented told me that the 
falling of a tree in the woods, when unexpected, would have 
the same effeCt upon him. He said that one time he was so 
alarmed by the sudden crash of a tree, that he not only 
jumped, but was perfectly entranced, so that he could not 
move, although the tree did not fall upon him. The explo- 
sion of a gun or pistol is almost sure to excite these Jumpers. 
The screech of a steam-whistle is especially obnoxious to 
them, few of them, so far as I have been able to learn, 
having been able to withstand it. On one of the lake- 
steamers in which I returned from the hotel there was a 
Jumper who, when the screech was heard, jumped right up, 
so that he nearly hit his head on the upper deck. As the 
steamer neared the landing and came to a place where he 
knew the whistle would sound again, he was warned to pre- 
pare himself, and he did so with such success that on the 
first screech he jumped scarcely any; on the second, how- 
ever, despite his care, he raised his shoulders perceptibly, 
but did not jump. In many of these cases it may be 
observed, a simple raising of the shoulders, a sudden impul- 
sive movement, is all that is done, there being no cry and no 
movement of the hands to throw or to strike. Although 
called “Jumpers,” they only jump in a minority of the ex- 
periments, the word jumping really including all such 
phenomena as lifting the shoulders, raising the hands, 
striking, throwing, crying, and tumbling. Jumpers have 
been known to fall head over heels over an embankment on 
which they were sitting, on suddenly hearing the whistle of 
a locomotive ; they have been known to tumble head over 
