Star.
London, England, 1829-01-12 00:00:00

EXTRAORDINARY CASE OF TRANCt

The following is an account of the extraordinary case
of trance which has occurred in the neighbourhood of
Cambridge, in which state the poor girl still remains,
'without there having been the least variation in the
character of her complaint from its commencement to
this hour. We can depend upon its anthentieity, as we
have been favoured with the following extract horn •
raper read before the Cambridge Philosophical Society,
a Sarah Carter, aged 17. the daughter of a farmer at
Staplers:Pr(); has been afflicted with enlargement of the
viscera of the abdomen for two years, the consequence
of typhus fewer stitch attacked her while noosing her
father, who died of that complaint. The swelling of '
the body does net give the fluctuating sensation pro-
duced by water, but its hardness is that of enlargement
of the internal wpm. During the whole of her illness
she has complained very little, owing perhaps to her
constitutional indolence of .body and mind; as even in
the earlier period of the disease she seldoin spoke, ex-
cept when. questioned; and she is now without feeling
or the power of uttersi.oe,, lying in a state of perfect,
insensibility, in which she has remained since the first
week in October. Doting the first fortnight of this in.
sensible state, her head was constantly rolling from
side to side upon the pillow, and this action ci utinued
night and day without a moment's iutermission. In
May last, she ate the last solid food, which was a piece
of cheese, a..d for the four following months she took
nothing but fruit, which she merely sucked, and
water, which she swallowed in very minute trend
ties. Since this first week in October, it appears that
noth ng whatever has passed her throat, and her month
is so frtmly locked by the spasmodic contraction of the
muscles. that all attempt, to open it have failed. It
i.eems that every voluntary muscle of her frame is in
the same state of spasmodic action, for when with
much force her arms as e raised from her chest, on which
they ate classed, they can only be elevated a• few inches,
and recoil instantly to their ft rmer position ; and so in-
flexible is her whole person, that when removed from
her bed. :hi is carried like a statue. Nothing has passed
the bowels for thirteen weeks, every power of the
abdominal viscera seeming suspended. The head, the
,cisculating system, and the organs of breaihinn. wens
unaffected; the pulse, indeed, varies in irequitney and
sire' gth, and she experiences occasionally an ivertaseof
fees,. The pulse d..es not get weaker, and the colobt
of the cheeks changes so often; that her Mother thinks she
is conscious of what is passing in the roods. Site lies upon
her bask, a little inclined to 04 right side. The applica.
tiun of leeches to her temples was followed by a Co.
pious discharge of bloods and a few days after her nose
bled freely. Me had liken no medicines whatevedor
some months, but on the 10th of November !Orb drops
of Ci oleo nil were put upon her tongue by meant of •
feather, but with ist effnct. The following day four
drops, horn a different bottle, were applied iii the same
way, and in the course of a few hours it occasioned .
heaving of the stomach, and an ounce of detain in. a
semi-masticated state) and Winning its °doer, *as
thrown up. For several days the salivary glands-se-
creted copiviesly, but the mother would obi allbw
repetition ill the oil, the application of galvanism, Or, lb
fetes any meatival means whatever. The great pee..
flashy of this oast is, that during so lohg it state dl
inanition, the girl has suffered no Waste in appearance
nor in weight, and that, though the isms% of seniatioh
meta torpid, those subservient to muscular molten ap•
pear to bate their vigour increased; for how otherwise,
can be ekplaihed the power with %Aids they retist those
atm, to which in a natural state they shalt have
nieklnd reastinidse CAsonide,Jan. S.

•
The tronty of Axoutart met on `faraday. at
Beauniark when three exceUetd Petition were agreed to merit
vaaeimnaliy. the &modems arstotatteag to Mt taletical 11MAIO
eke, u 4 levee.