Year: 1878

The fortnightly meeting of the Psy-
Geological Society was held recently at
the hall, Chandos street, London. Mr..
Sergeant Cox in the chair. The sub
ject of the debate was Psychology of
Wit and Humor," by Prof. c. j.
Plumbtree.


The Professor, before beginning the
discussion, said that when down at
Swindon three weeks ago he was ask
ed to visit lady and visited her. He
found the lady to be about thirty-four
years of age, widow. and with two
children. The lady was lying on a
sofa in the corner OF the room. The
lower part of her body was as hard as
marble, with her limbs turned up.
When she was removed from Bath to
Swinflon, a box had to be made in
which the lower part of her body was
placed.


1t appeared that in 1863 her hus-
band died, and one day afterward,
when she was coming down stairs
with her two children in her arms, a
drum was sounded, and the start
shocked her so much that she fell
down stairs, and from that date she
gradually grew worse. She lost the
senses of sight and hearing, and after
ward the power of speech. She felt
strange feeling concentrated i'll her
cheeks, and it occurred to her that she
might be able to carry on conversa-
ton by others writing on her cheeks.
He found that the jaws had been lock-
had been taken by her during that
time. She was fed on soups, milks,
cream, sc. She determined to test the
sensibilities- of the cheeks and lips
Her friends began to write words
with the finger Oh the cheek,
which she perfectly understood. He
found her eyes closed, and when the
upper lid was forced up, the eyeballs
were turned upward, the same as a
person in a mesmeric sleep. She also
was unable to move her fingers. She
took the pencil in her mouth and
guiding it with her hand, she wrote
the reply.


There was one remarkable phcnom-
enon that the patient could tell colors
by the touch. He tested her bv ask
ing what was the color of his coat.
She put it to her cheek, and, after
few moments, wrote on the slate that
it was dark gray with small red spots.
She also was able to tell the chief
characters in photograph if the carte
were pressed across lips and cheeks.
If she grasped the hand of stranger,
she could tell at any future time who
it was. She also was able to tell the
melody sung or played to her, if in the
former the hand of the singer was
placed on the cheek of the lady, or in
the latter if her hand were placed on
the piano when the performer was ex-
ecuting.


She was quite resigned to her fate,
and seemed to be quite happy. He
believed that any lady or gentle
man could see this lady if they visited
her at her home in Swindon.


The Chairman said such facts were
far more convincing than all the es-
says that could be written on the SUBJ
ject. There produced two letters
from the letters from the lady, which
were correctly spelled and in proper
sentences. She, in answer to a ques-
ton, thus describes how she distin-
guished cloth:


Black feels raised and harsh;
white, smooth, cold and dead; drab
and gray, little raised, smooth and
cold red, smooth and very hot blue,
smooth, but CRATES little--what l
mean by this. it edges my teeth and
all my nerves brown very grating and
hot. Other colors 1 cannot exactly
explain how tell them."