The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-08-21
G A IN A TRANCE SLEEP.
GEORGE SEYMOUR CONTINUES TO
PUZZLE TIE DOCTORS.

He has Disappointed Their Predictions by Co
ting 10 Sleep Again after Remaining Awake
Three Days-He Has. They say, shown sSmp-
toms or Auto-HS pnotism and CntnlcpHy.
B~ISGHAMToN, Aug. 2o.-Goorge Seymour, the
trance sleeper, continues to puzzle the physi-
clans. lie has kept the authorities here guess
ing over since his arrest on the charge OF horse
stealing. The police officials do not know what
to do with him; the hospital authorities do not
know what to make Of him. He is unlike any
prisoner who has ever been confined in the
Broomo County Jail. He is unlike any patient
who has ever been treated at the City Hospital.
In short, he is n mystery.
Seymour has disappointed every prediction
which has been made OF him by the physicians.
They do not know what he will do next. and
they have given up trying to guess. Seven
weeks ago. after the most heroic measures bad
been exhausted to keep him awake, he fell
asleep and slept four weeks. The physicians
said he would sleep for years, and that 1t might
DO forever. On the following day, MS II to prove
tho fallibility of human prediction, he began to
wake up. He was then at the City Hospital.
where he had been taken for treatment. The
physicians said that his waking up was only
preliminary to a still longer sleep than the one
from which he was awakening. Again he fooled
them. He remained awake.
Then the physicians said that he would get
Ing day he feli asleep again. The physicians
said that he was suffering from auto-hypnotism.
They added that his sleep was the result Of his
having acted as n professional hypnotic subject.
They denied that he was a cataleptic. On tho
following oay he began to betray symptoms OF
catalepsy. n his arm was raised or put, in a
certain position 1t remained there until the
muscles gave out from physical! exhaustion.
when the hear, arm would gradHai.S sink In to a resting
condition was due to catnlepsy. On the follow
ing day these symptoms also disappeared. His
a., tr,N ,u.nz tIA . I,,t an ~ Al. nfnhar nf
diseases. and tho physicians said he couldn't re-
cover, They gave him twenty.four hours longer
TO @o lisG ap AT af,s tnS a e spee of Of ahf sf tyehh hours irou and npu ats he q
hearty meal. They regarded this as a good
symptom, and said that Seymour was improy-
ing and that his trouble would not return. He
stayed awake three days. and to-day no fell
asleep again. He Is now wrapped in slumber as
profound as at any time since his arrest. and tho
present Indications are that he will not wake up
again for weeks.
When no woke up for tho first time after his
speech. He could not talk. He seemed to com.
prehend what was said to him, but he answered
action OF the mind was slow. and some OF the
questions had to be repeated several times be.
fore he grasped their meaning. When he tried
to speak he could not make a sound. He had
los, all control Of the vocal organs.
The other day he woke up, but he had lost his
memory. His mind WAS a blank except upon
those events occurring when he WAS a hypnotic
subject. He thought he was still with Prot.
fessional subject. He had a convulsion when he
woke up. and this fact seemed to deepen his i'm
preston that he was still under Prof. Mars in
fiuence.
Seymour remained awake FIVE days and then
he began to get drowsy again. All efforts to
keep him awake were unsuccessful. An applica-
ton was made before County Judge Arms TO
have a lunacy commission examine him, 80 that
h. could be removed to tho State Hospital. but
this application Judge Arms refused TO grant
until further Investigation had been made.
What to do with seymour the authorities do
not know. What he will do next Is equally a
mystery. He is sleeping his life away.
DR.. Hills, the attending physician, had not
heard ut IA late hour tonight that Seymour had
gone to sleep again. He visited his patient this
morning and left orders to notify him IL there
WAS any decided change. AT that time Sey-
mour was wide awake and bright as q dollar.
He did not look like a man who was in need OF
sleep and he did not appear to be in danger of
falling asleep again.
DR.. Hills says that Seymour is practically
without will power as the result Of the hypnotic
experiments he has undergone. He is an ideal
subject for a hypnotist. and DR.. Hills says his
condition now is such that a child could
hypnotize him. 1t Is dangerous to let a sleepy
person look at him, for his eyes will close at
once and 1t is difficult to arouse him.. A yawn
will send him into profound slumber. from
which he is awakened with difficulty.