Curiosities of Medical ExperienceMillingen, J. G. (John Gideon)
Philosophy
Curiosities of Medical Experience
Millingen, J. G. (John Gideon)
Medicine
"In another year from this time she began to talk a great deal in her
sleep, in which she fancied herself instructing a young companion. She
often descanted with the utmost fluency and correctness on a variety of
subjects, both political and religious, the men of the day, the historical
parts of Scripture, public characters, and particularly the character of
the members of the family and their visiters. In these discussions she
showed the most wonderful discrimination, often combined with sarcasm, and
astonishing powers of mimickry. Her language through the whole was fluent
and correct, and her illustrations often forcible and even eloquent. She
was fond of illustrating her subjects by what she called _a fable_, and in
these, her imagery was both appropriate and correct. The justice and truth
of her remarks on all subjects, excited the utmost astonishment in those
who were acquainted with her limited means of acquiring information.
"She had been known to conjugate correctly Latin verbs, which she had
probably heard in the school room of the family, and she was once heard to
speak several sentences very correctly in French, at the same time stating
that she had heard them from a foreign gentleman whom she had met
accidentally in a shop. Being questioned on this subject when awake, she
remembered having seen the gentleman, but could not repeat a word of what
he had said.
"During her paroxysms it was almost impossible to awake her, and when her
eyelids were raised and a candle brought near the eye, the pupil seemed
insensible to the light. For several years she was, during the paroxysm,
entirely unconscious of the presence of other persons, but about the age
of sixteen, she began to observe those who were in the apartment, and she
could tell correctly their number though the utmost care was taken to have
the room darkened. She now also became capable of answering questions that
were put to her, and of noticing remarks made in her presence, and, with
regard to both, she showed astonishing acuteness. Her observations indeed
were often of such a nature, and corresponded so accurately with character
and events, that, by the country people, she was believed to be endowed
with supernatural power.
"During the whole period of this remarkable affection, which seems to have
gone on for at least ten or eleven years, she was, when awake, a dull
awkward girl, very slow in receiving any kind of instruction, though much
care was bestowed upon her; and in point of intellect, she was much
inferior to the other servants of the family. In particular, she showed no
kind of turn for music. She did not appear to have any recollection of
what passed in her sleep; but during her nocturnal ramblings, she was more
than once heard to lament her infirmity of speaking in her sleep, adding
how fortunate it was she did not sleep among the other servants, as they
teased her enough about it as it was.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account