The post. [volume] (Middleburg, Snyder County, Pa.) 1864-1883, 1870-11-03
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Twenty Years Asleep.

The committee of doctors appointed
by the Medical socie'y to examine into
the case of Susan c Godsey, of Ten
ncssce, have not yet concluded their
Investigations, but will present. writ
ten report TO the society II, its next
meeting, which will doubles, be ii
model of lucid Saxon. Pending the
ullimatum Of the doctors, which there
is really some public curiosity to hear,
the phoDomcna connected with this
most curious case must We presume,
remain unexplained. To an unsci-n-
,idc mind it would appear to be one OF
catalepSy with regular recurring spasms
but there are some features 10 the case
not usual in the disease mentioned. In
addition to what before has been pub
lishcd, the following may be of some
interest. The girl, it is stated, has
teen 10 substantially the same cond.-
ton MS at present for Il years, but it
is necessary to visit her room and
watch her atteptively for some time in
order to fully comprehend the extra
ordinary procession of her symptoms.
Let US, for Instance, visit her in the
morning or rathe just before dawn.-
We enter tkc room and SEQ on the bed
the form Of he wonderful sleeper. -
The face is q little sallew in hue but
not at all emaciated, and is pleasing in
its expression; rather broad with an
oval brow Of an expanse indicating in
dicatin2 intellect above the ordinary
She is perfectly quiet, and rs we ap-
proach the bed no more movement is
apparent than if corpse lay before us,
accept that there is slight trcmor
where her hands are lying which con-
stantly shakes 10 nervous agitation -
The mouth is closed and the rcspira-
ton thro' the nostrils is SO faint and
low as to be almost impesccptible.-
This death-like calm is only broken by
the spasms monticned in our previous
notice of the case, which occurs at in.
tervals generally of six and seven min.
utes.. AS the time arrives when the
sun rises above tho horizon the phe-
nomena changes. The spasms, or vic,
lent lateral motions of the head be.
come more frequent, and finally, strange
to say, at the exact moment of dawn
she begins to awake. Respiration
becomes audible aud very quick this
lasts nearly u minnie she then swal-
lows once or twice and becomes un-
conscious. When awake there is moth.
ing ouire in her manners or appear.
ance. She is extremely weak and
complains constantly ofpain 10 the head,
She is supported by pillows, eats and
drinks slowly, exhibiting a strong par
tiality for water, and talks in a low
soft tone. She remains awake geusr-
ally eight or nine minutes, and then
falls back into the comatose condition.
in which the only evidences Of life are
the recurring spasms and the stertu-
ous breaths which occur just after the
agitation Of the head, and 10 the nu-
merical order given before. After be-
coming concious in the morning, she
awakes once every hour until about
noon, then not again until about B,
aud then again until sunset, according
to true time At 0 o'clock at night
she awokes again, and between 0 Il ~
she is seized with more violent spasms,
which lasts nearly an hour, and then
sleeps again from I2 to Q, when she
awakes, and then does net awake again
until dawn. This order 10 never varied,
nor do any Of her symptoms change,
but from year 10 year are repeated