Jeffersonian Republican. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1840-1853, 1847-05-13
Som ss0 nsbnliSHal.

!
has recorded a curious case of somnambnlisin
which may be interesting TO many Of our read
ers who take an in.eres, in The progress of Mes.
mcrism. one Of The mos. curious and mysterious
of modern scientific pursuits
II was" says his Lord>hip, the case of q
young girl, in the neighborhood of my house in
The country, who had disease ,ha, is pretty
| well known in the country where lve under
the name Of the louping, ,ha. is, the jumping
frenzy which seizes The patients in their sleep,
and makes them jump and run like persons pos
sessed The girl was aiacked by this disease
three years ago, in The spring. when she was
abou, sixteen years of age, and j, lasted some
Thing more than three months. The fit always
seized her in the daytime. commonly about
seven or eigh, o'clock IN The morning, after she
had been out Of bed Two or three hours II be.
gan with heaviness or drowsiness, " hicll end
cd in sleep, at least what had the appearance
Of sleep, for her eyes uere close shy. In this
condition, she would leap upon stools and Ia
blcs with surprising agility, then she would get
out OF The cottage where she lived with her fa-
Their, mother and brother, aud run with great
violence, and much faster than she could uhen
uceN but always wilh~a certain destination to
some one place in The neighboshood and 10
which place she often said. when she found the
fit coming upon her, that she was To GO; and
after she had gone 10 the place of destination
II she did not there awake, she came back
in the same direction though she did no, al
ways keep The high-1 Dad, but frequently went
a nearer way across he fields; and though her
road, for this reason, was often very rough, She
never fell, notwithstanding the violence with
which she ran. But all the uhile she ran, her
eyes tcere quite SHUT as her brother allests, whO
often ran with her 10 take care of her; and>m no,
though be was much older, stronger, and clev.
erer than she, was hardly able 10 keep up with
her. When she told before The Fl, came on.
to hat place she was to run, she said she
dreamed the night before that she was 10 run la
that place and though they sometimes dissua-
ded her from going 10 particular place, as 10
my house. FOR example, where, they said, the
dogs would bite her, she said she would run
that way, and no other. When she awaked,
and came OH, of her deirinn,, she found herself
extremely weak, but soon recovered her strength,
and was nothing the worse for it, but on the
contrary, was much worse for being restrained
from running When she awakened, and came
10 herself, she had not The least remembrance
Of wha, had passed whilst size was asleep
Sometimes .he would run upon The ;op Of the
earlhen fence which surrounded her fathers
irregular figure, and very narrow a, the top yet
she never fell from il, nor from the top of the
house, upon which she would sometimes get
by The assistance of this fence, though her eyes
,cerc then HkewiSe shut. Some time before her
disorder left her, she dreamed: as she said, that
The water Of well in the neighborhood, called
The Dripping Well. would cure her. and accord
ingly she drank of il very penifuIIy. both when
she was well and when she was i'll. Once.
when she was i'll, she expressed, by signs, a
violen, desire TO drink of ii; (for she did not,
while in the fit, speak so as TO be Ineligible J
and they having brought her other water, she
would moi let it come near her, bnt rejected it
with signs of great aversion; 5u, when they
brought her the water of this well. she drank Il
greed'ly, her eyes being all the ,chile shut. Be.
fore her last fiji came upon her, she said ,ha,
she had just lhree leaps to make, and she would
neither leap nor run more. And accordingly
having fallen asleep as usual, she leaped upon
The Stone at The back Of The chimney, and down
again; and having done this three times, she
kert her word, and never leaped nor ran more.
She is now in peTlec, health
Having given these details of this very in-
leresrng case, his Lord,hip justly observes,
!" What have said Of this gilI remembering
nothing Of what passed whilst she was in The
f' is The case of all nighl-walkefs. 1t Is by
his, chiefly. that nishi.walhing Is distinguished
from dreaming; and j, proves 10 me that the