Case CV

"Some years ago," says Abercrombie, "I attended a young lady subject to an affection of this character, which always took place during the day, and which lasted from ten minutes to one hour. Without any premonitory symptoms, her body became motionless, her eyes open, fixed, and she was completely insensible, and quite unconscious of what was passing around her. She was frequently attacked whilst playing on the piano; she continued to play with perfect correctness, but without getting beyond a certain point. She was, on one occasion attacked just as she was about to begin a new piece. During the paroxysm, she repeated it perfectly five or six times; but on recovering, could not play it without study."*

This appears to us to have been a union of catalepsy, epilepsy, and ecstasy.

The hallucinations of somnambulism may give rise to the most singular actions, and to resolutions involving the gravest responsibility, which might result in unhappy consequences to the actors if these facts were not known.

Case CVI

Dom. Duhaget was of a good family in Gascony, and had distinguished himself in service; he had been a captain in the infantry for twenty years; and was a chevalier of St. Louis. I never knew any one possessing more amiability or piety.

"We had," he related, "a friar at---------, where I was prior before I came to Pierre Chatel, of a melancholy disposition and a gloomy character, who was known as a somnambulist.

" Sometimes, during the paroxysms, he would leave his cell, and re-enter it alone; at others, he would lose himself, and have to be brought back. His case had been treated, and as the returns were very rare, it had ceased to attract attention.

* Abercrombie, op. tit. pp. 308 and 328.

"One night, I was sitting up beyond my usual hour for retiring. I was engaged in looking over some papers in my desk, when I heard the door open and saw the friar enter in a complete state of somnambulism. His eyes were open, but fixed; he had on only the garment in which he slept, and held a large knife in his hand. He went straight to my bed; appeared to satisfy himself by feeling, that I was really there; after which, he struck three heavy blows so powerfully, that the blade, after piercing the clothes, entered deep into the mattress, or rather the mat, which I used instead. When he first entered, his brow was frowning and the muscles of his face contracted. Having struck, he turned around, and I observed that instead of the frowning and distorted features, his countenance was overspread with an air of great satisfaction. The light from two lamps that were on my desk had no effect on his eyes; he returned as he came, opening and shutting quietly the two doors that led to my cell; and I was soon satisfied that he had gone directly and quietly to his own.

"You may imagine," continued the prior, "my state of mind, during this terrible apparition. I shuddered with horror at the danger from which I had escaped, and so great was my emotion that I could not close an eye the whole night.

"The next day, I summoned the somnambulist, and quietly asked him of what he had dreamed the preceding night. At this question he was agitated. ' Father,' replied he, ' I had so strange a dream that I do not like to tell you of it; it is, perhaps, the work of the evil one, and' - 'I command it,' replied I; 'a dream is always involuntary, and is but an illusion.' ' Father,' said he, 'I was hardly asleep before I dreamed that you had killed my mother; that her bleeding shade appeared and demanded vengeance; at this sight, I was so enraged that I flew like a madman to your apartment and stabbed you. Soon afterwards I awoke, bathed in perspiration. I hated myself for the outrage, and then blessed God that so great a crime had not been committed.' ' The deed was nearer consummation than you are aware of,' said I to him, with a calm and serious air.

"I then related what had occurred, and showed him the evidence of the blows which he thought were dealt upon me.

"Upon this, he threw himself at my feet in tears, groaning over the misfortune which had so nearly happened, and imploring such penance as I thought fit to inflict upon him.

"No, no," I cried; "I shall not punish you for an involuntary act; but henceforth I dispense with your services during the night, and advise you that I shall have your cell locked on the outside after the evening repast, and opened only in time for you to attend mass at daybreak."

If, under these circumstances, the prior, who escaped by a miracle, had been killed, the sleep-walking friar would not have been punished, as it would have been an involuntary murder on his part.*

The Neapolitan journals lately related a case in which a man, in a state of somnambulism, dreaming that his wife, then by his side, was unfaithful, wounded her dangerously with a poniard, which he always carried about him. M. Maglietta, a barrister, published an opinion, in which he contended that blows and wounds inflicted by a man asleep, and in a state of somnambulism, were not punishable.†

Lorry has described two very interesting cases which he witnessed. A woman, in a state resembling somnambulism, was in the habit of conversing loudly with absent persons whom she thought she saw. She was so insensible to external impressions, that she could be pinched and pricked without manifesting the slightest pain. In this state she perceived distinctly the objects with which she was in connection. Her arms and fingers preserved their position, until an involuntary movement of the members gave them another direction. After the paroxysm, she had no recollection of what had passed.

The other case was that of a woman who was irregular. During the continuance of this state, she was in the habit of conversing with a person whom she appeared distinctly to see. Her discourse always dwelt on the thought that had preoccupied her mind. In this state, she was unconscious of the presence of any one. The mother of this woman having died suddenly, the daughter, during her paroxysms, continued to talk with her as though she were living.

* Brillat Savarin, Physiologic de gout, 2d edit, t i. p. 6, Paris, 1828. † Union M6dicale, 16 December, 1851.

The most remarkable peculiarity of these cases is the profound insensibility of the individuals to outward impressions, excepting to those connected with their ideas, thoughts, and sentiments; they are instances of striking analogy with animal somnambulism. Another characteristic of this affection is the instantaneous change which occurs in thought and consciousness. The affection is also characterized by the ecstatic disposition of the mind, by the total suspension of actual ideas, which continues for an indefinite period, and in the equally sudden and remarkable return of the mind to the normal state on the termi-mination of the paroxysm.

I shall conclude this series of observations with a case borrowed from Dr. Dyce, of Aberdeen; it possesses much interest, and resembles, in some respects, that of Negretti, related by Muratori, but appears decisive on the question whether or not somnambulism carries with it the suspension of the senses, and their transposition to the nervous system of physical life.

Case CVI1. Dyce speaks of a young girl, who was of delicate health until she attained womanhood. The first symptom which appeared was great drowsiness, soon followed by a perpetual desire to talk. She repeated what had passed during the day, and sang both sacred and profane melodies. Every night, in her sleep, she imagined herself going to Epsom Races, mounted a kitchen stool, and ran round the room, imitating the sounds used by a person riding. She replied without waking to any questions that were asked her. The returns of this state were frequent, and at irregular intervals. She dressed the children in her sleep, and at one time she set the table for breakfast, her eyes remaining closed.

When taken to church, she understood the sermon, and seemed much affected when the preacher spoke of three young persons who had been executed, and of their progress in crime. On being questioned, when the paroxysm was over, and having returned home, she denied having been to church; but in the subsequent recurrence of the somnambulic state, she repeated the text and the substance of the discourse.

Artificial Somnambulism. - The cases to which we have just directed attention, lead us to those relating to artificial somnambulism. We must not confound these two conditions, although they present certain analogies; thus, the first usually occurs without any perceptible cause, and is not under the influence of the will. The somnambulist appears to use but one sense,* and his attention is excited by only one order of facts, those with which his mind is occupied; his thoughts have but one tendency, and he is conscious of nothing that does not bear some relation to this peculiar direction of the mind. The second state succeeds magnetism; it is determined by the will of the operator. Almost always, however, the thoughts and attention of the person are free.

Artificial somnambulism offers several curious phenomena. We have already spoken of some of them on the occasion of dreams and ecstasy; here, however, we will confine ourselves to the study of somnambulism in its relation to hallucination. Those who maintain that we explain this singular state by hallucination, are in error; it is one thing to affirm that it is produced in the magnetic sleep of hallucinations, and another to say that somnambulism is but a hallucination. It must not, however, be lost sight of, that this phenomenon may be physiological, and yet be manifested in reverie, dreams, and other dispositions of the mind which have never been seriously ranked with insanity.

Amongst the cases of artificial somnambulism, we will select those whose authenticity cannot be questioned.