“It seems to be always desirable to obtain a contemporary record of all unusual phenomena. It is so more especially where they are of a somewhat indefinite character, and scarcely susceptible of exaggeration. We know of none which are more so than the cases of ‘trance.’ These examples are both sufficiently unusual to deserve a passing record, and sufficiently mysterious in their character to call for a more careful investigation than it has hitherto been possible to accord to them. We transcribe the facts of a recent instance, as they are circumstantially detailed, and, no doubt, some of the surgeons of Coventry will be able to afford their testimony as to the degree of correspondence of this narrative with their observations. “The girl, whose name is Amelia Hinks, is twelve or thirteen years of age, and resides with her parents in Bridge Street, Nuneaton. She had lately appeared to be sinking under the influence of some ill-explained disorder, and about three weeks since, as her friends imagined, she died. The body was removed to another room. It was rigid and icy cold. It was washed and laid out with all due funeral train. The limbs were decently placed, the eyelids closed and penny-pieces laid over them. The coffin was ordered. For more than forty-eight hours the supposed corpse lay beneath the winding-sheet, when it happened that her grandfather, coming from Leamington to assist in the last mournful ceremonies, went to see the corpse. The old man removed a penny-piece, and he thought that the corpse winked! There was a convulsive movement of the lid. This greatly disturbed his composure; for, though he had heard that she died with her eyes open, he was unprepared for this palpebral signal of her good understanding with death. A surgeon is said to have been summoned, who at first treated the matter as a delusion, but subsequently ascertained stethoscopically that there was still slight cardiac pulsation. The body was then removed to a warm room, and gradually the returning signs of animation became unequivocal. When speech was restored, the girl described many things which had taken place since her supposed death. She knew who had closed her eyes and placed the coppers thereon. She also heard the order given for her coffin, and could repeat the various remarks made over her as she lay in her death-clothes. She refused food, though in a state of extreme debility. She has since shown symptoms of mania, and is now said to have relapsed into a semi-cataleptic condition. The parents are ‘creditable people,’ and there is no apparent ruse in this unusually romantic history, which is causing considerable excitement in Nuneaton and its neighbourhood.” * * * * * From the _Lancet_, December 18, 1858, p. 642. “‘THE DEAD ALIVE.’ “(To the Editor of the _Lancet_.)