ocal habitation and a name. He looked into
the round eyes and wide pupils a little anxiously, as if he feared that
she was in a state of undue excitement, but, true to his professional
training, he waited for another symptom, if indeed her mind was in any
measure off its balance.

"I know what you are thinking," Lurida said, "but it is not so. 'I am
not mad, most noble Festus.' You shall see the evidence and judge for
yourself. Read the whole case,--you can read my hand almost as if it
were print, and tell me if you do not agree with me that this young
man is in all probability the same person as the boy described in the
Italian journal,

"One thing you might say is against the supposition. The young patient
is spoken of as Signorino M---- Ch------ But you must remember that ch
is pronounced hard in Italian, like k, which letter is wanting in the
Italian alphabet; and it is natural enough that the initial of the
second name should have got changed in the record to its Italian
equivalent."

Before inviting the reader to follow the details of this extraordinary
case as found in a medical journal, the narrator wishes to be indulged
in a few words of explanation, in order that he may not have to
apologize for allowing the introduction of a subject which may be
thought to belong to the professional student rather than to the readers
of this record. There is a great deal in medical books which it is very
unbecoming to bring before the general public,--a great deal to repel,
to disgust, to alarm, to excite unwholesome curiosity. It is not the men
whose duties have made them familiar with this class of subjects who
are most likely to offend by scenes and descriptions which belong to the
physician's private library, and not to the shelves devoted to polite
literature. Goldsmith and even Smollett, both having studied and
practised medicine, could not by any possibility have outraged all the
natural feelings of delicacy and decency as Swift and Zola have outraged
them. But without handling doubtful subjects, there are many curious
medical experiences which have interest for every one as extreme
illustrations of ordinary conditions with which all are acquainted. No
one can study the now familiar history of clairvoyance profitably who
has not learned something of the vagaries of hysteria. No one can read
understandingly the life of Cowper and that of Carlyle without having
some idea of the influence of hypochondriasis and of dysp