The _lethargic state_ may be induced by simply pressing together the eyelids of the subject, or by causing him to fix his gaze upon some definite object. The paroxysm begins with a deep inspiration, causing a peculiar laryngeal sound, followed sometimes by the appearance of a little foam on the lips. The eyelids are either wholly or partially closed, and are in a state of continual tremulous motion. The eyeballs are generally turned upwards and inwards. The muscles are completely relaxed. The tendinous reflexes are exaggerated; pressure over a muscle, or upon a nerve, arouses a peculiar contracture of synergic muscles and groups of muscles that are supplied by the excited nerve trunk. The facial muscles, however, do not thus become contractured; they merely contract during the application of the stimulus. If the lethargic subject be rendered cataleptic by opening the eyes, these contractures persist even after waking; and they can only be dispelled by renewing the lethargic state before resorting to pressure upon the antagonistic muscles--the process by which contractures peculiar to this species of lethargy may always be annulled. By the approach of a magnet to a contractured limb, the rigidity may be completely transferred to the corresponding muscles upon the opposite side of the body. If upon a limb of a lethargic subject who has been rendered cataleptic by opening the eyes, an Esmarch’s band be applied, pressure over the bloodless muscles excites no contracture until the band is removed. A contracture is then developed, and it may be transferred to the opposite limb by the approach of a magnet. To this phenomenon has been applied the term _latent contracture_. The extraordinary muscular excitability manifested by these subjects is further illustrated by an observation recorded by Dumontpallier.[95] If one end of an India rubber tube, half an inch in diameter, and five or six yards in length, be applied over a muscle in the leg, and if the other end be in like manner connected with a watch, every movement of the second hand will be followed by a slight contraction in the muscle. The same result follows connection with the wire of a telephone; and, if a microphone be introduced into the circuit, the incidence of a ray of light upon the instrument, or even its reflection from the conjunctival surface of the eye of a spectator, will arouse a responsive muscular contraction. Charcot has also seen muscular motion upon the opposite side of the body when a mild galvanic current was applied to the parietal surface of the skull, presumably over the motor centres of the corresponding half of the brain. During these manifestations of muscular hyper-excitability, there is complete insensibility to pain, but the senses of sight and hearing seem to preserve some degree of activity. The subject, however, does not often exhibit any susceptibility to influence by suggestion.