The Sun.
London, England, 1829-01-12 00:00:00

EXTRAORDINARY TRANCE.

• We are happy to lay before our readers some
account • Of the extraordinary case of trance,
Which has occurred in this neighbourhood, in
which, state the poor girl still remains, without
there having been the least variation in the cha-
racter of her complaint from its commencement
to this hour. We can depend upon its authen-
ticity, as we have been favoured with the follow-
ing extract from a paper read before the Cam-.
bridge Philosophical Society :
Sarah Carter, aged 17, the daughter of a
farmer at Stapleford, has been afflicted with en-
largement of the viscera of the abdomen.for two
years, the consequenee of typhus fever, which
attacked her whilst nursing her father, who died
of that complaint. The swelling of the body
does not give the fluctuating sensation produced
by water, but its hardness is that of enlargement
of the internal organs. During the whole of her
illness she has complained very little; owing per-
haps to her constitutional indolence of body and
mind ; as even in the earlier period of the .disease
she seldoni spoke, except when questioned ; and
she is now without feeling or the power of utter-
ance, lying in a state of perfect insensibility, in
which she has remained since the first week in
October.. During the first fortnight of this in-
sensible state, her bead was constantly rolling
from side to side upon her pillow, and this action
continued night and day without a moment's in-
termission. In May last she eat the last solid
food, which was a piece of cheese, and for the
four following months she took nothing but fruit,
which she merely sucked, and water, which she
swallowed in very minute quantities. Since the
first week in October, it appears that nothing.
whatever, has passed her throat, and her mouth is
so firmly locked by the spasmodic contraction of
the muscles, that all attempts to open it have
failed. It seems that every voluntary muscle of
her frame is in the same state of spasmodic
action, for when with much force her arms are
raised from het chest, on which th6y ,are
crossed, they can only be elevated a few inches,
and recoil instantly to their former position ; and
so inflexible is her whole person-, that when
removed from her bed, she is carried like a sta-
tue. Nothing has passed
.her bowels for thirteen
weeks, nor has there been any secretion of urine
for the same time,-every power' of the abdominal
viscera aeeming suspended. The heart, the cir
culating system, and the organs of breathing,:
seem unaffected ; the pulse indeed varies in' fre-
quency and strength, and she experiences occa-
sionally an increase of fever. The pulse does
not get weaker, and the colour of the cheeks
Changes so often that her mother thinks she is
consemus.of what is passing in the room. She
lies upon her back, 4 little inclined to the right
side. The application of leeches to her temples
some time since was followed by a copious dis-
charge of blood, and a few days after her nose
bled freely. She had taken no medicines'what-
ever for some months,. but on the 10th of No-
vember two drops of Croton oil: were put upon
her tongue by means of a feather, but with no,
effect ; the following day four drops, from a dif-.
ferent bottle, were applied in the same way, and
in the course of a few hours it occasioned a
heaving of the stomach, and an ounce of cheese
in a semi-masticated state, and retaining its
odour, was thrown up. For several days the
salivary glands secreted copiously, but the mother
would not allow a- repetition of the oil, the zip.:
plibation of galvanism, or in fact auy medical
means whatever. The great peculiarity of this
case is, that during so long a state of inanition,
the body has suffered no waste in appearance nor
in weight, and that, though the nerves of- sen-
sation seem torpid, those subservient to muscu-
lar motion appear to have their vigour increased
for how otherwise can be explained the power
with which they resist those efforts to which in
.a natural state they must have )ielded
bridge Chronicle, Jan. 8.

We regret to learn that the subscriptions
mite(' for the suffering inhabitants Queenborough are
exhausted, while their unhappy condition has experienced
no alleviation. The committee appointed at the late
public meeting have determined on calling the subscribers
together, in order to place the frets of the ease before them,
and to found upon it a new appeal to the sympathy of the
public.

The Annuaire .of the Board of Longitude,
just published at Patin, contains some statistical tables te-
venting that capital, which are quoted in a journal of Wed-
nesday. Some of these tables exhibit results by no means
flattering to the national pride of Frenchmen, as regards
either their morals or their comforts. Out of 23,533
deaths at Paris in 1827, 9,208 (or at least two-fifths) took
place in the hospitals; and out of 993,191 births for the
whole of France, 72,171 were those of natural children.
In the department of the Seine, in which Patis is situated.
the ratio of natural children to legitimate was as two to five !

A melancholy occurrence has thrown Miss
Huddart, of the Plymouth Theatre, iuto that deepest afflic-
tion, and deprived Mr. Brunton of her valuable services for
some time. That deservedly-admired actress left Birming-
ham on Monday sennight, in company with her father and
mother, with the intention of proceeding to Plymouth,
where she w is to have performed on Monday evening last,
The coacli had, however, not long passed through Worcester,
when Mr. Iluddart suddenly expired ! He had been some
time in a declining state; and a fellow-passenger statee, that
when he was lifted into the coach (for he could not walk)
he seemed in an alniest expiring state. The body was left
at the Gecige Inn at Whitminster, under the care of the
almost distracted widow and'da ughter PlynanothJournal.