THE THUNDER-STRUCK. ious and combined efforts of the elite of the faculty in London. He approved of the course 1 had adopted-most especially the blister on the spine; and earnestly recommended me to resort to galvanism-if Miss P- should not be relieved from the fit before the evening-when he promised to call and assist in carrying into effect what he recommended. "Is it that beautiful girl I saw in your pew last Sunday, at church?" he inquired suddenly. "The same-the same!"-I replied with a sigh. Dr. D―continued silent for a moment or two. "Poor creature!"-he exclaimed with an air of deep concern, "one so beautiful! Do you know I thought I now and then perceived a very remarkable expression in her eye, especially while that fine voluntary was playing. Is she an enthusiast about music?" "Passionately-devotedly" "We'll try it!" he replied briskly, with a confident air—“We'll try it!" First, let us disturb the nervous torpor with a slight shock of galvanism, and then try the effect of your organ." I listened to the suggestion with interest, but was not quite so sanguine in my expectations as my friend appeared to be. In the whole range of disorders that affect the human frame, there is not one so extraordinary, so mysterious, so incapable of management, as that which afflicted the truly unfortunate young lady, whose case I am narrating. It has given rise to almost infinite speculation, and is admitted, I believe, on all hands to be-if I may so speak-a nosological anomaly. Van Swieten vividly and picturesquely enough compares it to that condition of the body, which, according to ancient fiction, was produced in the beholder by the appalling sight of Medusa's head "Saxifici Medusæ vultus." The medical writers of antiquity have left evidence of the existence of this disease in their day --but given the most obscure and unsatisfactory description of it, confounding it, in many instances, with other disorders-apoplexy, epilepsy, and swooning. Celsus, according to Van Swieten, describes such patients as these in question, under the term, attoniti," which is a translation of the title I have prefixed to this paper; while in our own day, the celebrated Dr. Cullen classes it as a species of apoplexy, at the same time stating that he had never seen a genuine instance of catalepsy. He had also found, he says, those cases which were reported such, to be feigned ones. More modern science, however, distinctly recognizes the disease as one peculiar and independent; and is borne out by numerous and unquestionable cases of catalepsy, recorded by some of the most eminent members of the profession. Dr. Jebb, in particular, in the appendix to his " Select Cases of Paralysis of the Lower Extremities," relates a remarkable and affecting instance of a cataleptic patient. ing support to her exhausted frame. The blister on the spine, and the renewed sinapisims to the feet, had failed to make any impression! Thus was every successive attempt an utter failure! The disorder continued absolutely inaccessible to the approaches of medicine. The baffled at tendants could but look at her, and lament. Good God, was Agnes to continue in this dreadful condition till her energies sunk in death? What would become of her lover? of her mother? These considerations totally destroyed my peace of mind. I could neither think, read, eat, nor remain any where but in the chamber, where, alas! my presence was so unavailing! Dr. D -made his appearance soon after dinner; and we proceeded at once to the room where our patient lay. Though a little paler than before, her features were placid as those of the chiselled marble. Notwithstanding all she had suffered, and the fearful situation in which she lay at that moment, she still looked very beautiful. Her cap was off, and her rich auburn hair lay negligently on each side of her, upon the pillow. Her forehead was white as alabaster. She lay with her head turned a little on one side, and her two small white hands were clasped together over her bosom. This was the nurse's arrangement: for" poor sweet young lady," she said, I could'nt bear to see her laid straight along, with her arms close beside her, like a corpse, so I tried to make her look as much asleep as possible." The impression of beauty, however, conveyed by her symmetrical and tranquil features, was disturbed as soon as lifting up the eyelids, we saw the fixed stare of the eyes. They were not glassy or corpse-like, but bright as those of life, with a little of the dreadful expression of epilepsy. We raised her in bed, and she, as before, sate upright, but with a blank, absent aspect, that was lamentable and unnatural. Her arms, when lifted and suspended, did not fall, but sunk down again gradually. We re turned her gently to her recumbent posture, and determined at once to try the effect of galvanism upon her. My machine was soon brought into the room; and when we had duly arranged matters, we directed the nurse to quit the chamber for a short time, as the effect of galvanism is generally found too startling to be witnessed by a female spectator. I wish I had not myself seen it in the case of Miss P! Her colour went and came-her eyelids and mouth started open and she stared wildly about her with the aspect of one starting out of bed in a fright. 1 thought at one moment that the horrid spell was broken, for she sate up suddenly, leaned forwards towards me, and her mouth opened as though she were about to speak! "Agnes! Agnes! dear Agnes! Speak, speak but a word! Say you live!" I exclaimed, rushing forwards, and folding my arms round her. On returning home from my daily round-in Alas, she heard me-she saw me-not, but fell which my dejected air was remarked by all the back in bed in her former state! When the patients I had visited-I found no alteration what- galvanic shock was conveyed to her limbs, it ever in Miss P. The nurse had failed in produced the usual effects-dreadful to behold forcing even arrow-root down her mouth, and in all cases-but agonizing to me, in the case of finding it was not swallowed, was compelled to Miss P- The last subject on which I had desist, for fear of choking her. She was, there- seen the effects of galvanism, previous to the fore, obliged to resort to other means of convey-present instance, was the body of an executed malefactor;* and the associations revived on the * * "No-not that I am aware of. I never heard of it, if she had." "Had she generally a horror of thunder and lightning?" "Oh-quite the contrary! she felt a sort of ecstacy on such occasions, and has written some beautiful verses during their continuance. Such seemed rather her hour of inspiration than otherwise!" been married, HE will soon be here shortly to see her" "My God!" exclaimed Dr. D- clasping his hands, eyeing Miss P- with intense commisseration" What a fearful bride for him? "Twill drive him mad!" "I dread his coming-I know not what we shall do!-And, then, there's her mother-poor old lady! her I have written to, and expect almost hourly!" "Why, what an accumulation of shocks and miseries! it will be upsetting you!" said my friend, seeing me pale and agitated. "Well!" he continued-"I cannot now stay here longer-your misery is catching; and besides, 1 am most pressingly engaged; but you may rely on my services, if you should require them in any way." My friend took his departure, leaving me more disconsolate than ever. Before retiring to bed, I rubbed in mustard upon the chief surfaces of the body, hoping, though faintly, that it might have some effect in rousing the system. I kneeled down, before stepping into bed, and earnestly prayed, that as all human efforts seemed baffled, the Almighty would set her free from the thraldom in which she lay, and restore her to life, and "I have no means of knowing whether the those who loved her more than life! Morning immobility of the pupils arises from blindness, came-it found me by her bedside as usual, and or is only one of the temporary effects of cata-her, in no wise altered-apparently neither betlepsy." 66 Do you think the lightning has affected her? Do you think her sight is destroyed?" "Then she believed the prophecy, you think, of the world's destruction on Tuesday?" "No-I don't think she exactly believed it: but I am sure that day brought with it awful apprehensions-or at least a fearful degree of uncertainty." ter nor worse! If the unvarying monotony of my descriptions should fatigue the reader-what must the actual monotony and hopelessness have been to me. While I was sitting beside Miss P-, ! heard my youngest boy come down stairs, and ask to be let into the room. He was a little fair"Well,-between ourselves-there was some-haired youngster, about three years of age; and thing very strange in the coincidence, was there not? Nothing in life ever shook my firmness as it was shaken yesterday! I almost fancied the earth was quivering in its sphere!" had always been an especial favourite of Miss P -'s: her" own sweet pet," as the poor girl herself called him. Determined to throw no chance away, I beckoned him in, and took him "It was a dreadful day! One I shall never on my knee. He called to Miss P-, as if forget! That is the image of it," I exclaimed, he thought her asleep; patted her face with his pointing to the poor sufferer-" which will be little hands, and kissed her. "Wake, wake!engraven on my mind as long as I live!-But the Cousin Aggy-get up!" he cried, "Papa say, worst is, perhaps, yet to be told you: Mr. N-,'tis time to get up!-Do you sleep with eye her lover, to whom she was very soon to have *A word about that case, by the way, in passing. The spectacle was truly horrible. When I entered the room where the experiments were to take place, the body of a man named Carter, which had been cut down from the gallows scarce half an hour, was lying on the table; and the cap being removed, his frightful features, distorted with the agonies of suffocation, were visible. The crime he had been hanged for, was murder; and a brawny, desperate ruffian he looked! None of his clothes were re moved. He wore a fustian jacket, and drab knee-breeches. The first time that the galvanic shock was conveyed to him will never, I dare say, be forgotten by any one present We all shrunk from the table in consternation, with the momentary belief, that we had positively brought the man back to life; for he suddenly sprung up into a sitting posture: his arms waved wildly: the colour rushed into his cheeks: his lips were drawn apart, so as to show all his teeth, and his eyes glared at us with apparent fury. One young man, a medical student, shrieked violently, and was carried out in a swoon. One gentleman present, who happened to be nearest to the upper part of the body, was al most knocked down with the violent blow he received from the left arm. It was sometime before any of us could recover presence of mind sufficient to proceed with the experiments. open?* Eh?-Cousin Aggy?" He looked at her intently for some moments, and seemed frightened. He turned pale and struggled to get off my knee. I allowed him to go; and he ran to his mother, who was standing at the foot of the bed, and hid his face behind her. I I passed breakfast time in great apprehension expecting the two arrivals I have mentioned. knew not how to prepare either the mother or the betrothed husband for the scene that awaited them, and which I had not particularly described to them. It was with no little trepidation that I heard the startling knock of the general postman; and with infinite astonishment and doubt, that I took out of the servant's hands, a letter from Mr. N1 knew not what to make of it. Had he received for poor Agnes! For a while the alarming express I had forwarded to him; and did he write to Miss P-! Or was he unexpectedly absent from Oxford when it ar *I had been examining her eyes, and had only half closed the lids. 66 THE THUNDER-STRUCK. P. S. The tenth of July, by the way-my Aggy! Is it all over with us, sweet Pythonissa? Are you and I at this moment on separate fragments of the globe? I shall seal my conquest over you with a kiss when I see you. Remember, you parted from me in a pet, you naughty one! and kissed me rather coldly. But that is the way that your sex always end arguments, when you are vanquished!" 11 rived? The latter supposition was corroborated | let it precede or follow." Still I hesitated-and by the postmark, which I observed was Lincoln. yet I scarce knew why. Come, Doctor, you I felt it my duty to open the letter. Alas! it was know I am no enthusiast-I am not generally in a gay strain; unusually gay for N- -; in- considered a fanatic. Surely, when man has forming Agnes that he had been suddenly sum- done his best, and fails, he should not hesitate to moned into Lincolnshire, to his cousin's wedding turn to God!" The good old man's words sunk -where he was very happy-both on account of into my soul, and diffused in it a cheerful and his relative's happiness, and the anticipation of a humble hope that the blessing of Providence similar scene being in store for himself! Every would attend the means suggested. I acquiesced line was buoyant with hope and animation; but in the Dean's proposal with delight, and even the postscript most affected me. eagerness; and it was arranged that he should be at my house between seven and eight o'clock that evening. I think I have already observed, than I had an organ, a very fine and powerful one, in my back drawing-room; and this instrument was the eminent delight of Miss PShe would sit down at it for hours together, and her performance would not have disgraced a professor. I hoped that on the eventful occasion that was approaching, the tones of her favourite I read these lines in silence!-my wife burst music, with the blessing of heaven, might rouse into tears. As soon as I had recovered a little a slumbering responsive chord in her bosom, and from the emotion occasioned by a perusal of the aid in dispelling the cruel "charm that deadened letter, I hastened to send a second summons to her." She certainly could not last long in the Mr. N, and directed it to Lincoln, whither condition in which she now lay. Every thing he had requested Miss P- to address him. that medicine could do, had been tried-in vain; Without explaining the precise nature of Miss and if the evening's experiment, our forlorn hope, P's seizure, I gave him warning that he failed, we must, though with a bleeding heart, must hurry up to town instantly; and that even submit to the will of Providence, and resign her then it was to the last degree doubtful whether to the grave. I looked forward with intense anxhe would see her alive. After this little occur-iety-with alternate hope and fear-to the enrence, I could hardly trust myself to go up stairs gagement of the evening. again and look upon the unfortunate girl. My On returning home late in the afternoon, I heart fluttered at the door, and when I entered, found poor Mrs. Phad arrived in town, I burst into tears. I could utter no more than in obedience to my summons: and heart-breakthe words, "poor, poor Agnes!" and withdrew.ing, I learnt, was her first interview, if such it I was shocked, and indeed enraged, to find in one of the morning papers, a paragraph stating, though inaccurately, the nature of Miss P- 's illness. Who could have been so unfeeling as to make the poor girl an object of public wonder and pity? I never ascertained, though I made every inquiry, from whom the intelligence was communicated. One of my patients that day happened to be a niece of the venerable and honoured Dean of -, at whose house she resided. He was in the room when I called; and to explain what he called "the gloom of my manner," I gave him a full account of the melancholy event which had occurred. He listened to me till the tears ran down his face. "But you have not tried the effect of musicof which you say she is so fond! Do you not intend to resort to it?" I told him it was our intention; and that our agitation was the only | reason why we did not try the effect of it immediately after the galvanism. "Now, Doctor, excuse an old clergyman, will you?" said the venerable and pious Dean, laying his band on my arm, "and let me suggest that the experiment may not be the less successful with the blessing of God, if it be introduced in the course of a religious service. Come, Doctor, what say you?" I paused. Have you any objection to my calling at your house this evening, and reading the service appointed by our church for the visitation of the sick? It will not be difficult to introduce the most solemn and affecting strains of music, or to may be called, with her daughter. Her shrieks alarmed the whole house, and even arrested the attention of the neighbours. I had left instructions that in case of her arrival during my absence, she should be shown at once, without any precautions, into the presence of Miss P-; with the hope, faint though it was, that the abruptness of her appearance, and the violence of her grief, might operate as a salutary shock upon the stagnant energies of her daughter. "My child! my child! my child!" she exclaimed, rushing up to the bed with frantic haste, and clasping the insensible form of her daughter in her arms, where she held her till she fell fainting into those of my wife. What a dread contrast was there between the frantic gestures-the passionate lamentations of the mother, and the stony silence and motionlessness of the daughter! One little but affecting incident occurred in my presence. Mrs. P- (as yet unacquainted with the peculiar nature of her daughter's seizure,) had snatched Miss P's hand to her lips, kissed it repeatedly, and suddenly let it go, to press her own hand upon her head, as if to repress a rising hysterical feeling. Miss P- -'s arm, as usual, remained for a moment or two suspended, and only gradually sunk down upon the bed. It looked as if she voluntarily continued it in that position, with a cautioning air. Methinks I see at this moment the affrighted stare with which Mrs. P- -regarded the outstretched arm, her body recoiling from the bed, as though she expected her daughter were about to do or appear something dreadful! I learned from Mrs. P that her mother, the grandmother of Agnes, was reported to have been twice affected in a similar manner, though apparently from a different cause; so that there seemed something like a hereditary tendency towards it, even though Mrs. P- herself had never expe rienced any thing of the kind. As the memorable evening advanced, the agitation of all who were acquainted with, or interested in the approaching ceremony, increased. Mrs. P. I need hardly say, embraced the proposal with thankful eagerness. About half past seven, my friend Dr. D. arrived pursuant to his promise; and he was soon afterwards followed by the organist of the neighbouring church-an old acquaintance, and who was a constant visiter at my house, for the purpose of performing and giving instructions on the organ. I requested him to commence playing Martin Luther's hymn-the favourite one of Agnes-as soon as she should be brought into the room. About eight o'clock the Dean's carriage drew up. I met him at the door. her right hand in his, and in a voice broken with emotion, read the following affecting verses from the 8th chapter of St. Luke: "While he yet spake, there cometh one from the ruler of the synagogue's house, saying to him, Thy daughter is dead; trouble not the Master. "But when Jesus heard it, he answered him, saying, Fear not; believe only, and she shall be made whole. "And when he came into the house, he suffered no man to go in, save Peter, and James, and John, and the father and mother of the maiden. And all wept and bewailed her: but he said, Weep not; she is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn, knowing that she was dead. "And he put them all out, and took her by the hand, and called, saying, Maid, arise. And her spirit came again, and she rose straightway." While he was reading the passage which I have marked in italics, my heated fancy almost persuaded me that I saw the eyelids of Miss Pmoving. 1 trembled from head to foot; but, alas, it was a delusion. "Peace be to this house, and to all that dwell in it!" he exclaimed, as soon as he entered. I The Dean, much affected, was proceeding with led him up stairs; and, without uttering a word, the fifty-fifth verse, when such a tremendous and he took the seat prepared for him, before a ta- long continued knocking was heard at the street ble, on which lay a Bible and Prayer-book. door, as seemed likely to break it open. Every After a moment's pause, he directed the sick one started up from their knees, as if electrified person to be brought into the room. I stepped all moved but unhappy Agnes-and stood in up stairs, where I found my wife, with the nurse, silent agitation and astonishment. Still the knockhad finished dressing Miss P- I thought ing was continued almost without intermission. her paler than usual, and that her cheeks seemed My heart suddenly misgave me as to the cause. hollower than when I had last seen her. There "Go-go-See if"-stammered my wife, pale was an air of melancholy sweetness and languor as ashes-endeavouring to prop up the drooping about her, that inspired the beholder with the mother of our patient. Before any one had stirkeenest sympathy. With a sigh, I gathered her red from the spot on which he was standing, the slight form into my arms, a shawl was thrown door was burst open, and in rushed Mr. N over her, and, followed by my wife and the nurse, wild in his aspect, frantic in his gesture, and his who supported Mrs. P- -, I carried her down dress covered with dust from head to foot. We stairs, and placed her in an easy recumbent stood gazing at him, as though his appearance posture, in a large old family chair, which stood had petrified us. between the organ and the Dean's table. How strange and mournful was her appearance! Her luxuriant hair was gathered up beneath a cap, the whiteness of which was equalled by that of her countenance. Her eyes were closed; and this, added to the paleness of her features, her perfect passiveness, and her being enveloped in a long white unruffled morning dress, which appeared not unlike a shroud, at first sight-made her look rather a corpse than a living being! As soon as Dr. D and I had taken seats on each side of our poor patient, the solemn strains of the organ commenced. I never appreciated music, and especially the sublime hymn of Luther, so much as on that occasion. My eyes were fixed with agonizing scrutiny on Miss P Bar after bar of the music melted on the ear, and thrilled upon the heart; but, alas! produced no more effect upon the placid sufferer than the pealing of an abbey organ on the statues around! My heart began to misgive me: if this one last expedient failed! When the music ceased, we all kneeled down, and the Dean, in a solemn and rather tremulous tone of voice, commenced reading appropriate passages from the service, for the visitation of the sick. When he had concluded the 71st psalm, he approached the chair of Miss P, dropped upon one knee, held "Agnes-my Agnes!" he exclaimed, as if choked for want of breath. 66 Agnes!-Come!" he gasped, while a laugh appeared on his face that had a gleam of madness in it. Mr.N- what are you about? For mercy's sake be calm? Let me lead you, for a moment, into another room, and all shall be explained?" said I, approaching and grasping him firmly by the arm. "AGNES!" he continued, in a tone that made us tremble. He moved towards the chair in which Miss P- lay. I endeavoured to interpose, but he thrust me aside. The venerable Dean attempted to dissuade him, but met with no better reception than myself. 66 Agnes!" he reiterated, in a hoarse, sepulchral whisper, "why won't you speak to me? what are they doing to you?" He stepped within a foot of the chair where she lay-calm and immovable as death! We stood by, watching his movements, in terrified apprehension and uncertainty. He dropped his hat, which he had been grasping with convulsive force, and before any one could prevent him, or even suspect what he was about, he snatched Miss P out of the chair, and compressed her into his arms with frantic force, while a delirious laugh burst from THE THUNDER-STRUCK. event. with an "Do you know," said Dr. D. his lips. We rushed forward to extricate her | are satisfied, beyond a doubt, that life is extinct." I feel, however, that I should not protract these the The next evening beheld Dr. Dand myself, around the bedside Dean of of Agnes. All of us expressed the most gloomy apprehensions. The Dean had been offering up a devout and most affecting prayer. "Well, my friend," said he to me, "she is in the hands of God. All that man can do has been done, let us resign ourselves to the will of Providence." "Aye, nothing but a miracle can save her, I fear," replied Dr. D "How much longer do you think it probable, humanly speaking, that the system can continue in this state, so as to give hopes of ultimate recovery?" inquired the Dean. "She "I have an impression that she will die sud- * * * "Alas, I fear so too!" 66 Why-why" stammered the Dean, turning pale-"what if she has-has HEARD all that has unconsciously been said!"+ "Aye,” replied Dr. D sinking his voice to a whisper, "I know of a case There was a faint in fact, a friend of mine has just published itin which a woman". knocking at the door, and I stepped to it, for the purpose of enquiring what was wanted. While I was in the act of closing it again, I overheard -'s voice exclaim, in an affrighted Dr. Dtone," Great God!" and on turning round, I saw the Dean moving from the bed, his face white as ashes, and he fell from his chair, as if in a fit. How shall I describe what I saw, on approaching the bed? - to The moment before, I had left Miss P lying in her usual position, and her eyes closed. They were now wide open, and staring upwards with an expression I have no language to describe. It reminded me of what I had seen when I first discovered her in the fit. Blood, too, was streaming from her nostrils and mouth-in short, and I lost all power a more frightful spectacle I never witnessed. In a moment both Dr. D. of motion. Here, then, was the spell brokenThe trance over! I implored Dr. Drecollect himself, and conduct the Dean from the room, while I would attend to Miss P. The nurse was instantly at my side, shaking like an aspen-leaf. She quickly procured warm water, sponges, cloths, &c., with which she at once wiped away and encouraged the bleeding. The was a long, first sound uttered by Miss P deep-drawn sigh, which seemed to relieve her bosom of an intolerable sense of oppression. Her eyes gradually closed again, and she moved her head away, at the same time raising her trembling right hand to her face. Again she sighed: again opened her eyes, and, to my delight, their expression was more natural than before. She looked languidly about her for a moment, as if examining the bed-curtains-and her eyes closed again. I sent for some weak brandy and water, and gave her a little in a tea-spoon. She swallowed it with great difficulty. I ordered some warm water to be got ready for her feet, to equalize the circulation; and while it was preparing, sat by her, watching every motion of her features with the most eager anxiety. "How are you, Agnes?" I whispered, kissing her. She turned languidly towards me, opened her eyes, and shook her head feebly, but gave me no answer. "Do you feel pain any where?" I inquired. A faint smile stole about her mouth, but she did not + In almost every known instance of recovery from Catalepsy, the patients have declared that theyard every word that had been uttered beside them. |