FIVE WEEKS IN A TRANCE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue 87, 1 July 1881, Page 3

FIVE WEEKS IN A TRANCE.

Physicians in Newark have been deeply interested lately in a curious case of hysteria in that city. For five weeks Mis 9 Annie Ward, the 16 year-old stepdaughter of Alexander Johnson, of the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company, lay in a trance. Last winter she was seriouly ill for weeks with typhoid fever. When she recovered it was deemed best not to allow her to return to school until September. Then she found that she had fallen behind her classmates in her studies. Feeling that she was strong 1 , as she had spent the summer at Long Branch, and Saratoga, she begun to apply herself diligently to her studies to make up for lost time. «^he over taxed her brain, her health failed after a few days and she was compelled t > withdraw lrora the school Her sickness became serious, and in the latter part of November she fell into a trance. She lay quietly in her bed, with her eyes sometimes open and sometimes shut, but recog-

iiising no one, and never speauiug. I No sound escaped her, and it was , evident she suffered no pain. There were a sl ; ght twitching of iho eyelids, but little other improvement. Dr William O'Gorinan. tho family physician-, called Dr A. N. lJougherty and Dr E. C. t-eguin, of tho city to consult with him It was quickly determined the strange dis tase was not catalepsy, for the patient's arms, when raised, foil bacU upon her bed in toad of remaining "wh°re placed. It was concluded that she was a victim of'hysieiia in an aggravated form, resulting from overstudy The aeveresfc electric shocks caused not even tho twitching ! of a muscle. After several days ha< ! passed, JDr O'Gorman, not knowinf how long the trance would last, de cided to administer r<yiid food . artificially, as tho patient could noi swallow. About New"! ear's Day she revived and now she is able to rido out, and seems to be lestored to health. While she was in (ho trance the phys"ei.-n* were satisfied h:i< sin; \v,is conscious. and proved it two or three tiims. Once Dr Scguin said, foi v te.sl : j£ " She is h very pretty «riil." Imniediatly she blushed. She says she was conscious, bu 1 had only one thought, and that was a Ur rible one. She feared constantly that the physician would pronounce her dead, and she would be buried alive. She had no physical pain, but this dread was agonising. In vtiiu did she try to speak. Sbe could not even move her lips It is supposed that the twitching of the eyes was caused by her effort to speak or give a sign of life. A physician s:iid yesterday that he had known of only one case of hysteria that was at all like this. Within the last, month he was called to sec a lady who became a widow within a week after her marriage. The shock to her nervous system mmlied in a trance state, and a partial suspension of nil sense or feeling, but after a few days flic became conscious.