egged permission, on
arriving, to wear his cloak. Scarcely had the lady, the access having
come on, fallen into catalepsy, when she said, "And how long, doctor,
has it come into fashion to wear letters next the heart?" Petetin
pretended to deny the fact; she insisted on her correctness; and,
raising her hands, designated the size, and indicated exactly the place
of the letter. Petetin drew forth the letter, and held it, closed, to
the fingers of the patient. "If I were not a discreet person," she said,
"I should tell the contents; but to show you that I know them, they form
exactly two lines and a half of writing;" which, on opening the letter,
was shown to be the fact.

A friend of the family, who was present, took out his purse and put it
in Dr Petetin's bosom, and folded his cloak over his chest. As soon as
Petetin approached his patient, she told him that he had the purse, and
named its exact contents. She then gave an inventory of the contents of
the pockets of all present; adding some pointed remark when the
opportunity offered. She said to her sister-in-law that the most
interesting thing in _her_ possession was a letter;--much to her
surprise, for she had received the letter the same evening and had
mentioned it to no one.

The patient, in the mean time, lost strength daily, and could take no
food. The means employed failed of giving her relief, and it never
occurred to M. Petetin to inquire of her how he should treat her. At
length, with some vague idea that she suffered from too great electric
tension of the brain, he tried, fantastically enough, the effect of
making deep inspirations, standing close in front of the patient. No
effect followed from this absurd proceeding. _Then he placed one hand on
the forehead, the other on the pit of the stomach of the patient_, and
continued his inspirations. The patient now opened her eyes; her
features lost their fixed look; she rallied rapidly from the fit, which
lasted but a few minutes instead of the usual period of two hours more.
In eight days, under a pursuance of this treatment, she entirely
recovered from her fits, and with them ceased her extraordinary powers.
But, during these eight days, her powers manifested a still greater
extension; she foretold what was going to happen to her; she discussed,
with astonishing subtlety, questions of mental philosophy and
physiology; she caught what those around her meant to say, before they
expressed their wishes, and eith