Santa Fe daily New Mexican., 1897-12-22

Not Look Her In the Eyes-Slowly Be-
ing Cured.
No one need go to Paris now to see
all that is marvellous in hypnotism.
Charcot, with all his research into the
mysteries of psychic phenomena, has
never brought out such strange case
as is under treatment every day at the
New York hospital. Think of it! A girl
of 81, sound in every faculty otherwise,
who falls into cataleptic trance at a
glance, who is insensible to pain and to
heat and cold and yet is able to go about
the daily duties Of lifel She earns her
own living as forewoman in a shop
where underclothing is made. Her case
is in the hands of DR.. Charles Z. Nam
mack, who is in charge Of the New
York hospitals outdoor clinic.
About month ago the girl came to
the clinic. DR.. Nammack happened to
be away at the time, and his assistant
took the case. The patient complained
that needle wound received four years
ago would not heal. She explained that
a young physician who had tried to
cure her by hypnotism had left her in a
condition Of hysteria that made life
very uncomfortable.
DR.. Nammacks assistant looked the
girl steadily in the eyes, and before he
knew it she was in a trance. Her mus.
cles grew rigid, her eyeballs were in
sensible to light, her limbs refused to
move-she was in cataleptio state.
Several hours work was necessary to
restore the girl to her normal condition,
"It was a remarkable case. F" said Dr.
Nammack recently II did not believe,
when my assistant told me, that the
girl would respond to hypnotic sugges.
tion from any one. But such was the
case. Hardly had | begun talking to
the patient when she fell off into cata-
lepsy, and had several hours of very
hard work restoring her
II presented the case at the last meet
ing of the section on neurology of the
Academy of Medicine. The neurologist
present agreed that it was the first case
Of complete or universal anasthesia
that had ever come to the notice of the
profession The girl was absolutely in
sensible to pain We could even prick
her eyeball, the most sensitive part Of
the body, with needle without produc-
ing any feeling A feather stuck down
her throat caused no gagging or choking.
'Strangest Of all, the patient was
alike insensible to heat or cold. / put
glass of hot water in one Of her hands
and a glass of cold water in the other,
and she could not tell the difference.
Mind, this was not when she was hyp-
Noticed She can only tell when she is
burned by noticing the scorching flesh. "
This is the first case known to sci
ence Persons with insensibility to feel
ing in some portions of the body are
not uncommon. One case is known
where a woman was wholly insensible
to feeling save on small spot on hel
breast and over her spine, but this case
of Dr. Nammack's is the only one
where every portion Of the body is in.
sensible to feeling
The young woman is engaged to be
married. 1t was for this reason that
she came to Dr. Nammack. He thinks
she can be cured. In fact, the wound
caused by the needle, rendered extreme
ly sore by reason Of blood poisoning
that set in afterward, is slowly healing,
For professional reasons DR.. Nam.
mack declines to give his patient
name. She attends to her work daily,
her only difficulty being that she must
be careful to avoid the steady glance Of
any one for fear Of falling into trance.
She is also bothered by numbness Of
the so called tactual sensations. This
means that in taking hold of anything
she has difficulty in determining its
shape by the feel of it OF course hel
eyes fill out this deficiency.
1.-THE girls special senses are perfect
ly normal" said DR., Nammack. "Sht
can see and hear as you or do But
let any one gaze at her steadily and she
succumbs. When in trance, the girls
muscles are perfectly rigid. Her limbs
will remain for hours in whatever posi-
tion, no matter how awkward, you
place them. She will not respond to q
needle stuck into the flesh. These same
queer conditions are present when she
is in full possession of her senses y
Daily the poor girl is put in hun.
dred embarrassing situations. Her work
consists in laying out the work Of the
girls under her in the underclothine
manufactory She cuts the patterns and
takes an occasional stitch on the ma
| chimes just to show the other girls less
| experienced than herself how it should
| be done.
Imagine her feelings when she pricks
her finger with the needle and only
knows it when the blood dyes the spot
less linen on which she is working. Hel
feet, she knows, are on the treadles Of
the machine, AID yet she cannot feel
them there. She knows by her eyes that
the treadles are revolving, but she has
no sense Of contact with them.
| Once her insensibility to cold laid her
| up with pneumonia The sun was shin
ing brightly out Of doors Her family
were all out. She thought it was balmy
weather and went to her work and re-
turned without any wrap She did not
know that 1t was one Of the coolest
L days Of the year She could not feel IL.
That night she had a chill next day it
was pneumonia. II always wear wrap
now, I" she explained to the physicians.
"What difference does it maker can't
feel it If the day is warm, and 80 wear
one just to be sure. /"
But the poor girl feels her af1iction
most keenly when her sweetheart comes
to call Theirs is the strangest courtship
in the world. He cannot look her
straight in the eye without sending the