Louise Lateau of Bois d'Haine : her life, her ecstasies, and her stigmata, a medical study / by F. Lefebvre ; translated from the French ; edited by J. Spencer Northcote.

  • Lefebvre, Ferdinand J. M., 1821-1902.
Date:
1873
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Louise Lateau of Bois d'Haine : her life, her ecstasies, and her stigmata, a medical study / by F. Lefebvre ; translated from the French ; edited by J. Spencer Northcote. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    Case 3. ' A few years ago,' says that author, ' I attended a young married lady subject to attacks of somnambulism, which took place constantly in the daytime, and lasted for a space of time which varied from ten minutes to an hour. Without any premonitory symptoms,. her whole body grew motionless, her eyes wide open, fixed, and com- j)letely vacant; she had no laiowledge of what was passing around her. The attack frequently came w^on her wliilst she was playing the i>iano, and she continued with ]3erfect precision up to a certain point. Once the fit seized her just as she commenced playing a piece, that was new to her. During the paroxysm she continued the piece and repeated it perfectly five or six times over; when she recovered,. it was impossible for her to perform it without having the music be- fore her.'^^ Case 4. The patient was a 3'Oung servant-girl subject to attacks of somnolencj^, which came on suddenly during the day, and from which at first she could be roused by shaldng her, or taking her out into the fresh air. Soon she began to talk continually during the attacks, contemplating as in a dream the objects wliich appeared to pass before her; and she then no longer heard a word that was ad- dressed to her. She once repeated distinctly the bax^tismal service of the Church of England, terminating with an extempore prayer. In her later attacks she began to hear what was said to her, and to re]3ly very sensibly, although the influence of her hallucinations could be perceived; she also became capable of iierforming her usual duties during the fit; once she laid the cloth quite rightly, and several times she dressed herself, and the children as well, witli her eyes shut. Later on a remarkable circumstance was noticed, that during the paroxysm she remembered perfectly well what had taken place in the former attacks, although she had not the least recollection of it in her lucid intervals. One day, during an attack, she was taken to church, where she behaved mth jperfect propriety, and evidently listened attentively to the preacher, being at one time so much afiected as to shed tears. In the interval between the paroxysm and the next,, she gave an exact account of the sermon, noting in particular the part by which she had been so much impressed. In one of her attacks she read distinctly a passage from a book which was presented to her, and she frequently sang hymns and songs. This, as the doctor affirmed, she was unable to do when awake. The afiection lasted six months, and ceased in consequence of a particular change in her con- stitution.^'^ The radical differences between these cases and the ecstasj'' of ^5 Abercrombie, Inquiries concerning the Intellectual Poivers and the Investigation of true Somnaiiibulism, London, 1841, p. 308. 3<5 Abercrorabie, p. 316.