The herald., 1897-01-28
SLEPT HALF THE YEAR.
Death of Jack Teller, the Noted Nova
Scotia Cataleptic.

JOnn IelIPr, VINO Qleu dt MOScfCiic,
Annapolis, Nova Scotia, last week, at
the age of 20 years, was, perhaps, the
most notable instance of alternating
human being of which there is any rec
ord. For the last twenty years OF MS
life he had passed the winters in almost
continuous sleep, and for fully f1fteen
years no effort was made by his family
to prevent him relapsing into his annual
stupor, his case having been abandoned
as hopeless. Many physicians had tried
their hand with Telfer, and one after
the other gave him up. The public
curiosity which the case attracted at
first died away after two or three years,
and Telfer's neighbors paid ah little at
tention to his doings latterly as they
would to any person in his humble sta
tion. When he died the newspapers OF
the vicinity recorded the fact briefly,
and only one gave any account Of the
strange mans history.
Telfer's people were English. His
father had served in the British army, OF
which he was a pensioner. The only
evidence of heredity in the sleeper's
mental popularity is the fact that his
father, the old soldier. committed sui
eide The elder Teller, was cobbler,
and before he killed himself the son had
| begun to act strangely He would sit
| for hours a t his fathers bench, laughing
and talking to himself. At times he
would break into immoderate fits of
laughter, and again in fighting imagin-
ary foes he would work himself into a
frenzy or rage.
Before his first entire winters sleep
Teller had passed through trancelike
attacks of several days duration, and
those who knew him were thus in meas
ure prepared for 1t. But the case attract
| ed widespread interest among scientific
men, many Of whom went long distances
! to make study of it. None of them ever
| had any great success in attempts at
| effecting a cure, although the catalogue
| of known treatments for cataleptics
| seems to have been exhausted, and In
| some cases the remedies adopted were
| of so heroic a nature as to be decidedly
| disagreeable at least to the members
of Telfer's family, if not to the unfor-
| tunate sleeper himself.
About the end of August Teller would
| go to bed after eating his evening meal
! as usual, and without exhibiting any,
thing out of the common in his manner,
| or giving any reason to suppose that he
| was out of sorts in any way. On the
| following morning he would not get up,
| nor would he show any more vitality
than sleeping man. Hi sleep was very
| quiet, without any stertor. Twice in
| every twenty-four hours he would be
taken up, a person supporting him on
each side. About II o'clock every night
| he seemed to show rather more life than
| at other times and advantage was taken
| of this to pour little thin oatmeal cruel,
] beef tea or soup down his throat, he
opening his lips to allow the attendants
to do so, and slowly swallowing it. He
| took very little each time, and If urged
to take more simply kept his mouth shut.
About once in every thirty days, during
the evening generally, he would get up,
but would soon return to bed.
One of the physicians who had tried his
hand with Telfer's case-a DR.. Robert
son of Annapolis-gives this account Of
his experiences: "My first visit to Tel
fer was about twenty years ago, when
l first came to live and practice in An
napolis, and 1t came about in this way:
OF course, there was a talk about the
| new doctor, and what he could do. So
I was called to see this queer case. I
got all the particulars from the friends
| and neighbors, and what means had
been tried by other doctors, and then
l promised to try what could do. On
| the following day / went again, accom-
panied by my brother, also physician.
We took with us a powerful galvanic
battery One of the handles was placed
| in each of Telfer's hands and bound
closely to the finger with wet bandages.
We put on the full power of the instru-
| ment.
Poor old Jack was out of bed in an
| instant, and l shall never forget his look
! of astonishment and horror as he yelled
out, 'Damnation, what's that? I can
also well remember my own feeling Of
satisfaction and complacency when the
natives congratulate me on my success
in this, my first case. walked off ~
if saying to myself. I knew l could 10
it Well, Jack remained awake about
three days, and then got message that
my patient was off again. I went up
and tried the battery second time, with
only the effect, however, of making him
open his eyes and grunt out En-, in a
! Querulous manner, and, after looking
about him for half an hour or so, he
lapsed into his former condition. Next
day l tried the battery, but without the
hard case"
Telfer's sleep usually lasted from Sep
tember to May. During the summer
months he did exactly the work he was
told to do, but he had to be told over
again every day. although the work was
the same day in and day out. The only
thing he did without being told was 70
get his meals. He would talk quite ra-
tionally when spoken to. and distinctly
recalled most of the incidents of his
childhood. He would hold animated
oonfab, however. with the cows, dogs,
trees. or any other object which hap
pened to be in his way and might he
seen al times lecturing a tree for hours
toge ther, breaking out occasionally into
uproarious fits of laughter-N. Y. Sun.
ATHLETIC LEGISLATION