A CURIOUS CASE OF CATALEPSY.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2236, 6 November 1886, Page 1 (Supplement)

A CURIOUS CASE OF CATALEPSY.

A curious ca=?e of lethargy in a femalpatient at the Salpe'trie'ie is just nnw causing great sensation in Paris. The patient is forty-seven yeara of ape, and, without any apparent cause, fell into a profound sleep, from which sho awoke after 18 days. During this the respiration of the patient was very irregular. Insensibility was almost c<un])lete ; <me could thrust needles into her skin without provoking the slightest manifestation of pain. She was nourished with milk, bouillon, and eges. Kudoxie Hedouim which is the patient's na'ue, is one of the oldest penbionnaires of the Salpt'triOre, where she .was admitted m \S'J2 with hemiplegia of the, left bide, and since that time she has never walked. She is of extiaordinarv embonpoint, and atone, time weighed 140 kilogrammes, or ne.ulv 300 Ib. avoudupois. On awaking from her sjepp last week she was seized with a \io]rnt net voiis trembling, which was accompanied by bin stings of hysterical laughter lasting about ten minute*. She then opened hei eyes, and said " Bonjour " to someone whom she took tor her mother, and ne%ei uttered another word on the first day. At tho > isit on Friday last she was offered an empty glass, making: her believe that it was filled with champagne. At thiee different times, in putting the glass to her lips, s,h^ imagined that she had been drinking fiom the glass, and then manifested all the symptoms of inebriation ; but on offering her a piece of aloes and trying to persuade her that it was sug.u, she made a significant grimace on tasting it. During her bleep, Dr. Voisin, in whose waid she is, peiformed on her a mo.st cmious expeiunent. Without utteunga word in presenci of his pupils, the doctor placed in the hi-t itistinceon the chest of tho patient ,i >m v! packet o attaining tartar emjtic, wlier.; hi l«ftit for a few minutes, and then replued it by another packet in which there wanothing. Tlien, addressing his audience, he said in a loud voice: "You will nee, gentlemen, the effect which the tartar emetic is going to produce by simply placuu' it on the epide-mis of the pitient. In ti\i minutes nausea and \ (uniting will appeal." Accordingly, at tho e\piiatron of tho tm.e, the predictions of the doctor weie ieali cd It must, then, be concluded that thtpatient, in spite of her sleep, heud wlnt the dootor s.iid. Since she was awakened she does not seem to be quite c<>n c ciuu-, but drinks, oats, and sleeps as at oidioa>v time?. --Lancet, August 2i>, ISSG. (M Chkvheul.