time being to bring
them into prominence. Merely to attract attention is a mania with some
people.

There is also something about the study of hypnotism, and similar
subjects in which delusions constitute half the existence, that seems to
destroy the faculty for distinguishing between truth and delusion.
Undoubtedly we must look on such manifestations as a species of
insanity.

There is also a point at which the unconscious deceiver, for the sake of
gain, passes into the conscious deceiver. At the close of this chapter
we will give some cases illustrating the fact that persons may learn by
practice to do seemingly impossible things, such as holding themselves
perfectly rigid (as in the cataleptic state) while their head rests on
one chair and their heels on another, and a heavy person sits upon them.

First, let us cite a few cases of what may be called neuropathic
deceit--a kind of insanity which shows itself in deceiving. The
newspapers record similar cases from time to time. The first two of the
following are quoted by Dr. Courmelles from the French courts, etc.

1. The Comtesse de W---- accused her maid of having attempted to poison
her. The case was a celebrated one, and the court-room was thronged with
women who sympathized with the supposed victim. The maid was condemned
to death; but a second trial was granted, at which it was conclusively
proved that the Comtesse had herself bound herself on her bed, and had
herself poured out the poison which was found still blackening her
breast and lips.

2. In 1886 a man called Ulysse broke into the shop of a second-hand
dealer, facing his own house in Paris, and there began deliberately to
take away the goods, just as if he were removing his own furniture. This
he did without hurrying himself in any way, and transported the property
to his own premises. Being caught in the very act of the theft, he
seemed at first to be flurried and bewildered. When arrested and taken
to the lock-up, he seemed to be in a state of abstraction; when spoken
to he made no reply, seemed ready to fall asleep, and when brought
before the examining magistrate actually fell asleep. Dr. Garnier, the
medical man attached to the infirmary of the police establishment, had
no doubt of his irresponsibility and he was released from custody.

3. While engaged as police-court reporter for a Boston newspaper, the
present writer saw a number of strange cases of the same kind. One was
that of a quiet, r