ating the flames
of love. All this appeared to him to be very extraordinary, for though
he had often seen people bleed from the nose, he had never seen them
bleed like that.

After this incident Palma continued the performances--_actions de grace_
he calls them--her hands clasped and her eyes closed. In the lower
limbs, especially the left, there was a tremor like a nervous trembling
which was soon quieted. After a few minutes she rubbed her hands
together, made the sign of the cross and returned naturally to the
conversation. He then examined her forehead and endeavored to ascertain
where the blood had come from. The skin was intact without the least
opening. She showed him above the right frontal eminence a hole in the
cranium, from which at a former period, five little pieces of bone had
been discharged. The opening was entirely covered over by the scalp, and
he was surprised to find that there was no cicatrix. It was round, the
end of his index finger entered it readily, and it was just such an
opening as would have been produced by the crown of a trephine. At the
time it was made, the skin opened to allow of the exit of the pieces of
bone; then it closed without leaving the trace of a scar. It was the
same with the stigmata. They closed at once without there being any
marks to indicate the place whence the blood had flowed. This hole in
the skull had been caused by some particular circumstances that no one
was willing to reveal to him, but which he says are reported in the
journal of the directors of this woman, and which will soon be
published. Most medical men will come to the conclusion that it was due
to caries and necrosis of the bone, of syphilitic origin.

During another visit Palma told Dr. Imbert-Gourbeyre that she had eaten
nothing for seven years, but that she was obliged to drink frequently on
account of the great internal heat, which like a fire consumed her. She
then drank in his presence two carafes of water at one time, and the
doctor states that "this water became so hot in her stomach that it was
vomited boiling. She also had often ejected from her mouth oil, and
another fluid of a balsamic character, in which, on standing for some
time, bodies resembling the consecrated host were formed."

The doctor then relates the following details, which I give in his own
words, in further illustration of the character of his mental
organization and of the pretensions put forth by the woman, whose word
see