SIONISTS OF ST. MEDARD.

SECOND PAPER.

Having, in a previous number, furnished a brief sketch of the phenomena,
purely physical, which characterized the epidemic of St. Medard, it
remains to notice those of a mental and psychological character.

One of the most common incidents connected with the convulsions of that
period was the appearance of a mental condition, called, in the language
of the day, a state of _ecstasy_, bearing unmistakable analogy to the
artificial somnambulism produced by magnetic influence, and to the
_trance_ of modern spiritualism.

During this condition, there was a sudden exaltation of the mental
faculties, often a wonderful command of language, sometimes the power of
thought-reading, at other times, as was alleged, the gift of prophecy.
While it lasted, the insensibility of the patients was occasionally so
complete, that, as Montgeron says, "they have been pierced in an inhuman
manner, without evincing the slightest sensation";[15] and when it
passed off, they frequently did not recollect anything they had said or
done during its continuance.

At times, like somnambulism, it seemed to assume something of a
cataleptic character, though I cannot find any record of that most
characteristic symptom of catalepsy, the rigid persistence of a limb in
any position in which it may be placed. What was called the "state of
death," is thus described by Montgeron:--

"The state of death is a species of ecstasy, in which the convulsionist,
whose soul seems entirely absorbed by some vision, loses the use of his
senses, wholly or in part. Some convulsionists have remained in this
state two or even three days at a time, the eyes open, without any
movement, the face very pale, the whole body insensible, immovable, and
stiff as a corpse. During all this time, they give little sign of life,
other than a feeble, scarcely perceptible respiration. Most of the
convulsionists, however, have not these ecstasies so strongly marked.
Some, though remaining immovable an entire day or longer, do not
continue during all that time deprived of sight and hearing, nor are
they totally devoid of sensibility; though their members, at certain
intervals, become so stiff that they lose almost entirely the use of
them."[16]

The "state of death," however, was much more rare than other forms of
this abnormal condition. The Abbe d'Asfeld, in his work against the
convulsionists, alluding to the state of ecstasy, defines it as a