ing of the heart was noticed; when spoken to, he turned wildly round with a confused, unconscious stare, and closed his eyes. The limbs became flaccid, and in a few minutes he became completely conscious. He said there was no pain. During the night a slight return, but it passed off, and he continued awake the whole night in spite of twelve m. doses of Magendie's solution of morphine every hour.

"Next morning, countenance sallow, extremely bilious; was rational but while conversing was seized with the same rigidity as before; total loss of consciousness for twenty minutes. Rigidity then passed off and was followed by delirium, during which he would figure up large sums with amazing rapidity, repeating long rows of figures, and then coming over them again in the same order. His muscular power was so great that several men could not hold him, though perfectly under the control of a lady whom he imagined the same to whom he was engaged. He recovered after a few days."

DIAGNOSIS.-Catalepsy, when it comes on spontaneously, differs from ecstacy, somnambulism, reverie or clairvoyance, by being always associated with perceptible physical disease. It is, therefore, a curable affection by the proper application of remedies. The latter named abnormal states are at this day generally produced by voluntary effort. The propriety of making such effort, and opening the doors between the frail inhabitant of a material body and the little known influences formerly regarded as supernatural, must be left to the consideration of those who practice it.

The danger of mistaking catalepsy or other abnormal conditions for real dissolution, renders it necessary here to review the principal points by which they may be distinguished.

Symptoms of Death.-Impatience of covering; throwing off the bed-clothes, as if for the purpose of getting the fresh air to come in contact with the skin. (Symond's Cyclopedia of Anatomy and Physiology.) It is supposed by Edwards that the air produces some change in the skin as it does in the lungs. This symptom is frequently present where there is little disturbance in the organs of respiration. Orfila mentions a case of poisoning by sulphuric acid, in which the patient made constant efforts to throw off even the lightest covering. It is rather probable that the tossing of the arms and throwing off of the covering depends on a certain inexpressible anxiety at the præcordia or the chest; this is seen most plainly in epidemic cholera. The skin there is blue, and cold, and clammy, while the patient declares that he is "burning up," and throws off all covering, pressing the hand to the pit of the stomach.

On the Signs that Death has really Occurred.-Dr. Whiting published a book "On the Disorder of Death," in which he gathers up so many horrible stories of persons "buried alive," as almost makes one

afraid to die for fear he may be buried alive. In England where the body is usually kept several days, the probabilities of a premature burial are not very strong; but in this country where it is common to bury the dead, at most within a day or two, there is reason to believe that premature burial is common. Buhier has collected the details of fifty-two cases of persons buried alive; of fifty-three who recovered without assistance, after they were laid in their coffins; and of seventytwo falsely reported dead.

The signs of the total extinction of the functions of life are not so unequivocal as most persons suppose they are. Cessation of respira tion and circulation cannot afford positive evidence, for the external senses are not sufficiently perfect to enable us to detect either respiration or the circulation in the smallest degree compatible with mere existence. Foubert proposed as a test, to make an incision into one of the intercostal spaces and feel the heart with the finger!

Loss of heat is not conclusive; for life may exist and recovery may take place when no perceptible heat exists.

Galvanism has been supposed to furnish a certain test. Nystau showed that irritability is first extinguished in the left ventricle; in forty-five minutes it leaves the intestines and stomach; so on after this the bladder; and, in one hour, the right ventricle; in one-and-ahalf hours the œsophagus; in fifteen minutes more it leaves the iris. It next ceases to be perceptible in the muscles of the trunk; then leaves the upper and lower extremities, and lastly, the right auricle. The duration of contractility is shortened by a warm and humid state of the atmosphere. After death there is, first, softness and flexibility; then rigidity, which some think the last effort of vitality, others think it analogous to coagulation of the blood. The collapsed edge of a wound in a dead body, in distinction from a gashing wound in a living living body, is the result of a peculiar irritability. The annihilation of this is one of the surest signs of death. Rigidity is a pretty certain sign of death; flaccidity, quite so; putrefaction, unequivocal. All other supposed evidences of real death have often led careless physicians and friends into the great error of mistaking a temporary trance for absolute dissolution. The number of persons who have revived at a last moment when about to be consigned to the coffin, is fearfully great. The number known to have been really BURIED ALIVE, are already sufficient to justify extraordinary precautions in every case.

The opinion prevailed among the ancients that dying persons were gifted with some peculiar illumination by which they were able to foresee the future; but modern physicians have thought the circumstances of each case might explain all that is really met with in such cases. The disease under which the dying patient is sinking, always acts in some manner upon the mind. Thus consumption excites the feelings

of hope and security. The consumptive always expresses himself as "better," and his conversation is of every thing but death and the grave. Like the swan on his last voyage, "Floating down by himself to die,"

"Death darkens his eye and unplumes his wings,

But his sweetest song is the last he sings."

Palsy excites feelings of fretfulness and discontent. Diseases of the heart arouse involuntary terrors; and some diseased states of the intellect excite morbid sharpness of the faculties of the mind. It is not strange, then, that the death-beds of those about to sink under diseases. of the mind, should exhibit marked energy under bodily decay. The passions during life have obscured judgment, but they are extinguished at the approach of death. And the inferences which wisdom had drawn from the former experiences of life are now rendered available to correct the erroneous opinions which have hitherto interfered with the best use of the bodily powers. Milton says:

Old experience doth attain

To something of prophetic strain."

The explanation given by Sir H. Halford, of the prophetic power ascribed to certain persons at the close of life is that commonly received. He says "it arises from the strength and unwonted vivacity of thought and solemnity of feeling, that led Aretæus to give this explanation of it. This is particularly the case in brain-fever which, when its violence subsides, clears the patient's mind and renders his sensations exquisitely keen. He,' says this author, is the first to discover that he is about to die, and announces it to his attendants; he seems to hold converse with the spirits of those departed from earth before him as if they stood in his presence. In diseases of the mind these phenomena observed by Aretæus are often witnessed. The description of the death-scene of Don Quixotte, whether true in fact or invented by Cervantes, is true to nature." (Halford's Essays on Death and Madness.)

On the Length of time passed since Death was Complete.-In from two to twenty hours the flexibility, elasticity, heat and contractility of the living body entirely disappear. "In from ten hours to three days," says Devergie, "we find the rigidity of the joints, pitting of the soft parts, change of appearance of the skin, loss of animal heat perfect, and no contraction under the stimulus of electricity." In from three to eight days there remains flexibility after rigidity, and no contractility. After from five to twelve days, the soft parts are puffed, elastic and shining. After the twelfth day, there is easy separation of the epidermis, and a green tint of the abdominal integuments; these indications give merely approximations to truth. Much depends on

the temperature, as five or six hours in summer are equal to ten or fifteen days in winter.

CAUSES OF CATALEPTIC SEIZURES.-Predisposing.-Whatever diminishes vital power and increases the susceptibility of the nervous system; depressing passions; hereditary debility; hysterical temperament; sorrow, anxiety; intense mental labors; nervous exhaustion, however induced; nervous derangement caused by mercury. It may occur at any age, but is more common in females than males, and at or after the age of puberty.

Exciting Causes.-Violent mental impressions; great mental application; fright, terror or dread; suppression of the menses; concealed emotions; ungratified love or passion; ovarian disease. In certain constitutions the trance state can be artificially induced, a proceeding which involves the subject of it in many perils little understood by persons who permit or encourage it.

Treatment. The treatment of catalepsy in general, must be directed by the general principles which govern us in the forms of disease with which it is associated.

PRINCIPAL REMEDIES FOR CATALEPSY.-Cham., Ipec., Plat., Stram., Acon., Agarious, Bell., Cicuta, Hyos., Mosch., Veratr., Asafatida, Camph., Coloc., Ignatia, Merc., Opium, Petroleum.

SOMNAMBULISM.-Bry., Natr.-m., Silicea, Sulph., Petrol., Phosphor. Natural Clairvoyance.― Remedies.-Phosphorus, Acon., Bry., Cic., Hyos. Agaricus, Mosch., Natrum-mur., Sil., Sulph., Veratr. Cannabis-indica.-This remedy, more than other known to us, completely simulates in its action the phenomena of catalepsy. It deserves to be more fully tried in this disease.

A Case with Uterine Complications.-A lady aged twenty-nine, subject from her childhood to palpitations of the heart. She has clear white skin, dark brown hair and blue eyes. For five years she has suffered from continual headache which extends over the vertex from the forehead to the occiput, but severest on the top of the head. She cannot make or receive visits, as prolonged conversation aggravates the headache, produces vomiting, and compels her to remain three or four days in perfect quiet in bed. Slight departure from prescribed rules in diet causes gastralgia, vomiting of acid water and eructations of gas. She cannot bear the taste or smell of animal food. Menses irregular, pale, and small in quantity, appearing eight days too early; fluor albus in the interval; colic pains preceding the next period; the lungs not diseased. On waking in the morning from a sound but unrefreshing sleep, if permitted to fall to sleep again, she goes into a profound cataleptic trance, in which state she remains for several hours. These "fits" come and go without the least provocation, and pass off without leaving any bad effect behind them. Damp weather aggra

vates all her abnormal symptoms, and causes fits of melancholy; worse in the evening. She feels always chilly; hands and feet being cold.

Dr. Von Grauvogl, of Nuremberg, prescribed in this case Nuxvomica 3°, morning and evening, and Ipecac. 3°, during the day every two hours. He says he knows no remedies but these which " can produce a more lively change in all the tissues, and thus more heat in the body, enabling it to withstand the influences of cold and dampness, and at the same time vivifying the nervous system." He thought it necessary to give them in the same day for a week, leaving them off the next, and thus change the constitutional condition before any thing would cure the headache. Wines, coffee, fruits, vinegar and cold bathing to be avoided. In a month she was less chilly; the cataleptic fits had diminished; headache and palpitation remaining. After improvement from mountain travelling, the headache was again excited by crossing a lake. Gave Aranea-diadema, which lessens the influence of dampness. The menstrual period was prolonged for the first time to four weeks, but the flow was much increased, as this remedy causes profuse hæmorrhages, even of the lungs in females. In two weeks more the headaches had greatly subsided; in a week more there were intervals of a day or two, and soon they ceased altogether, after having troubled her for six years. The palpitation of the heart still remained, but it was mitigated by Puls. 30°. This losing effect in a few days, Puls. 3 was finally effectual. The fluor albus was removed by Magnes.-sulph. 6°; the patient was then perfectly cured. (Hirschel's Klinik.)

Somnambulism.-Cedron.-Dr. Casanova." A grown person and two. children, (a girl and a boy,) who were in the habit of getting up at night and walking about the room in a perfect and profound state of sleep, were cured, in less than a week of that sort of periodic somnambulism, by repeated doses of Cedron, 6 to 12, taken two hours before going to bed, and their uninterrupted sleep was restored. The former of these three patients could read and play on the pianoforte in that state. At other times she would descend from her bedroom to the pantry, and help herself to food, returning to her chamber without disturbing any one in the house. The little girl was in the habit of taking her needle-work and sewing in her bed. The boy would insist always in opening the front door to go, as he said, 'to school,' carrying his books, &c., with him."

5. APOPLEXY.

The word Apoplexy is derived from the Greek words añо, and λŋw, meaning to strike or knock down; because the persons seized with this disease fall down suddenly. Hence the common appellation of