Dr. Adam (a master of Sir Walter Scott), on the subsidence of delirium, exclaimed, “It grows dark—the boys may dismiss;” and instantly expired. The last words of Dr. Abercrombie were addressed to an imaginary patient, regarding the care of his digestive functions. Some time after the trial of the Bristol magistrates, Lord Tenterden lapsed into a stupor from exhaustion. A short period before death he rallied, and, after conversing with his friends for a few minutes, he raised himself on his couch, and said, “Gentlemen of the jury, you may retire;” and then fell back and expired. SOMNOLENCE.—TRANCE.—CATALEPSY. ——“In this borrow’d likeness of shrunk death, Thou shalt remain full two and forty hours, And then awake, as from a pleasant sleep.” ROMEO AND JULIET. CAST. Evelyn, you have again bewildered my thoughts. Sleep, that should be the _anodyne_ of the mind, has awakened afresh my curiosity. I am in a mood for mystery. Any more wonders? EV. The prototypes of sleep, dear Castaly, are _all_ “mysteries,” as _you_ call them, and marked by ever-varying shades. The most impressive conditions of the mind are these: Unconscious and passive, as in _sound sleep_. Conscious yet passive, as in _dreaming_. Conscious and willing, yet powerless, as in _night-mare_. Unconscious yet active, as in _somnambulism_. If we go deeper in our analysis, we shall discover a state more wondrous still than all we have unravelled, in which mind is unconscious, sensationless, unwishing, motionless, powerless, as in _trance_ or _catalepsy_; an absolute apathy of body and complete oblivion of mind. _And yet life is there!_ In the dream of night-mare, you remember, there is a will, but no power. In the absolute senselessness of trance, all sympathy between the brain or spinal marrow, or the influence of the nerves of motion, or of the will on muscle, _altogether cease_. I will not fatigue you with _varieties_, such as _carus_, _catalepsy_, and the like, or with mere medical definitions, as _syncope_ or fainting, epilepsy, apoplexy, and _their_ analogies. By the term trance I would define all those conditions in which there is protracted _derangement of volition_ or the will; sensibility and voluntary action being suspended, while the _vital functions_ are performed, yet with diminished energy; the “deep sleep” of Paracelsus, Hieronymus Fabricius, Celsus, and other writers of antiquity. In some the rosy colour of the lips and cheeks will not fade; in others, they are pale and bloodless; the body becomes cold as marble, the pulse often imperceptible, and the vapour of breathing on a polished surface alone distinguishes the still living being from the perfect work of the sculptor. I have, however, had patients who were rosy when they fell asleep, but became pale about the end of the second day.