l, when God permits, to communicate to man
forces above those of Nature. Nor must it be said that God never permits
this; the case of the girl Sonnet is unanswerable proof to the
contrary."[28]

Among the incidents which appear to have led to this opinion one is thus
stated by him:--"They let fall upon her stomach, from the height of the
ceiling, a stone weighing fifty pounds, while her body, bent back like a
bow, was supported on the point of a sharpened stake, placed just under
the spine; yet, far from being crushed by the stone, or pierced by the
stake, it was a relief to her."[29]

Montgeron supplies further particulars of this case. He says:--"It was
not once, it was a hundred times in succession, and that daily repeated,
that this flint stone was raised by main force, by the aid of a pulley,
to the ceiling of the room, and thence suddenly let fall on the stomach
of the patient. This stone weighed, it is true, fifty pounds only; but,
descending from a great height, its effect was immensely increased by
the momentum it acquired in falling, as soon as the cord was detached by
which it was suspended in the air.' And, in truth, the ribs of the
convulsionist bent under the terrible shock, sinking under the weight
till her stomach and bowels were so completely flattened that the stone
seemed wholly to displace them. Yet she received no injury whatever, but
was relieved, as Dr. A---- himself admits. He confesses, also, that the
body of the convulsionist was bent back so that the head and feet
touched the floor, and was supported only on the sharp point of a stake
right under her reins, and placed perpendicularly beneath the spot where
the stone was to fall. The weight of the stone in falling was,
therefore, arrested only by the point of this stake, the body of the
convulsionist being between them, so that the entire force of the blow
was concentrated opposite that point.... The stake appeared to penetrate
to a certain depth into the body, yet neither the skin nor the flesh
received the slightest injury, nor did the convulsionist experience any
pain whatever."[30]

This same Marie Sonnet exposed herself to terrible tests by fire. A
certificate in regard to this matter, signed by eleven persons, of whom
one was an English lord, one a Doctor of Theology in the Sorbonne, and
another the brother of Voltaire, Armand Arouet, Treasurer of the Chamber
of Accounts, is given by Montgeron, and I here translate it:--

"We, the und