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A C C O U NT
J A N E C. R. I D E R ,
$pringfigiú $0mutantüttligt :
THE SUBSTANCE OF WHICH was DELIVERED As A
LECTURE BEFORE THE SPRING FIELD
LycEUM, JAN. 22, 1834,
\
*
“...
By L. W. BELDEN, M. D.
- SPRINGFIELIX
P U B L IS H E D B Y G. A. N. D. C. M. E. R. R. I. A. M.
1834.
Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year
1834, by G. & C. MERRIAM, in the Clerk’s Office of the
District Court of Massachusetts.
PREFACE.
-º-
IT was originally my intention to
make the extraordinary case of Miss
Rider the subject of a communication
to one of the Medical Journals ; and,
on that account, though frequently So-
licited, I have uniformly declined to
furnish a statement of the facts for
publication in the newspapers. After
the delivery of the Lecture which forms
the basis of the following history, it
was suggested, by several gentlemen,
that the popular form in which the
subject is here presented, was better
calculated to meet the wishes of the
public than a history more strictly pro-
fessional. From the wide circulation
that has been given to the partial
accounts which have already appeared,
it is believed that a curiosity to see an
authentic narrative of all the circum-
stances connected with this truly re-
markable case has been excited in many,
vi PREFACE.
who would have little relish for a purely
medical Essay. To furnish such a nar-
rative, the Lecture, with a particular
history of her case since the residence
of the “ Somnambulist” in the Luna-
tic Hospital, obligingly communicated
by the distinguished gentleman who
presides over that institution, is submit-
ted to the public. The introductory
remarks, though they contain nothing
Original, seemed to be required, to ren-
der the subject generally intelligible :
they consequently have been allowed
to retain the same place which they
occupied when the Lecture was de-
livered.
Springfield, Feb. 18, 1834.
contents.
CHAPTER I.
General Remarks on Somnambulism.—Sleep.–
Dreaming and Insanity.—Remarks from Dr.
Abercrombie.—Somnambulism ; most frequent
in childhood.—Student in Yale College.—Ser-
vant-girl.—Case mentioned by Dr. Dyce.—
Young lady mentioned by Maj. Elliott—Lad
of Lausanne. º º tº - - - 9
Page.
CHAPTER II.
JANE C. RIDER,-Early history.—First attack of
Somnambulism.—Second paroxysm; her con-
duct in it.—Loss of memory.—Operations
in the dark-Time of Attack.-General de-
scription of the paroxysms.—Acuteness of vi-
sion.—No recollection when awake of her
conduct in the somnambulist state.—Experi-
ments proving the extraordinary power of vi-
sion.—Power of imitation, &c. confined to the
state of sommambulism.—Removal to Insane
Hospital at Worcester.—Abstract from the
Records of the Hospital.—Letter written by
Jane in one of her paroxysms.-Letters from
Dr. Woodward. - - - - - - 29
.viii CONTENT'S.
CHAPTER III.
Impossibility of imposture.—Cases of affection
of the mental faculties by disease.—Of a person
whose recollection of a language long forgotten
was restored.—Similar case mentioned by Dr.
Prichard.—Woman in Scotland.—Case men-
tioned by Dr. Rush-Boy.—Peculiarity of the
case of Jane C. Rider. Theory of vision.—
Analogy of Light and Heat.—Case of Caspar
Hauser.—Theory of Jane's case.—Zerah Col-
burn.—Commexion of the physical with the
mental organization.—Extract from a Lecture
of Dr. Woodward. - - tº gº tº
APPENDIX. ,
Note A.—Caspar Hauser; acuteness of his sen-
sual perceptions. - - - * º *
Note B. - tº sº º sº º * * *
Note C.—Zerah Colburn. Examples of his re-
markable calculations, - ſº tº wº tº
Page
93
121
126
127
Testimonials from Individuals who saw JMiss Rider in
her paroſcysms.
Letter from Hom. Wn. B. Calhoun, - Eº *
Letter from Rev. Wm. B. O. Peabody. - -
Letter from Dr. John Stone. - º tº ºn
Letter from Rev. Dr. Osgood. - sº tº *
Letter from Dr. M. B. Baker. - gº tº gº
130
£b.
132
| 33
134
AN ACCOUNT
OF
J A N E C. R. H. D. E. R.
CHAPTER I.
GENER.A.L. R.E.M.A.R.KS ON SOMNAME}ULISM-
WITH C.A.S.E.S.
SoMNAMBULISM, or sleep walking, forms,
as it were, the connecting link between
dreaming and insanity ; and, in order to a
full understanding of its nature, it will be
necessary to offer a few remarks relative to
these two seemingly different, but really
analogous states. . t
Sleep has been defined to be the repose of
the organs of sense and of voluntary motion.
The senses cannot long continue to receive
impressions, or the muscles to contract,
without fatigue, and the necessity for the
reparation of those powers which have been
10 JAN E C. RIDER.
expended during their action. After a pe-
riod of activity, which cannot be extended
beyond certain limits, the mind becomes
insensible to the presence of external things
—sounds are not heard, odors are not per-
ceived, heat or cold is not felt—all access
to the mind through the organs of sense is
closed—the intellectual operations become
dull and confused—recollection finally ceas-
es, and it is supposed that, in perfect sleep,
there is neither thought nor idea of any
kind. During this suspension of action in
the organs of relation, as they are called, or
those by means of which the mind holds
communication with outward objects, the
functions of organic life, such as respiration
and circulation, those which are necessary
to mere animal existence, continue.
Sleep, in the language of poetry, has
been compared to death ; and Dr. Good has
stated that the resemblance between them
is not less correct upon the principles of
physiology, than it is beautiful among the
images of poetry. “Sleep is the death or
torpitude of the voluntary organs, while the
SLEEP. } ]
involuntary continue their accustomed ac-
tions. Death is the sleep or torpitude of
the whole.” There is also another striking
difference. During the whole of sleep, a
process of renovation is probably going on in
the organs of relation, which adapts them
for subsequent activity, and contrasts sig-
nally with the state of annihilation which
constitutes death.
On the approach of sleep, all the organs
are not simultaneously affected. “The
closure of the eye first shuts out the sight,
the smell yields after the taste, the hearing
after the smell, and finally the touch sleeps.
Sensations of hunger, thirst and pain, are
no longer noticed. From the first, the in-
tellectual and moral powers partake of the
languor which pervades the frame—the will
relaxes its control—the ideas flit for a time
in a disorderly manner, constituting a kind
of delirium—recollection is finally lost, and
the sleep becomes complete.”
The state of complete sleep, or that which
is characterized by a total suspension of all
the voluntary powers, and all intellectual
12 JANE C. RIDER.
operations, if it occurs at all, does not long
continue. After a period of repose, of longer
or shorter duration, some of the organs hav-
ing been less exhausted, or requiring a
shorter time for reparation, awake ; sensa-
tions are obscurely perceived, and visions
again float across the mind. The sense of
sight and the voluntary motions are least
readily roused, so that those functions which
fall asleep the last, are most readily awaked ;
and they gradually resume thcir activity in
the same order in which they lost it. It is
in this state of incomplete sleep that dreams
occur, when the senses are but partially
awake, and the will is powerless.
We have the power, when awake, not
only of perceiving external objects, but of
recalling former impressions in the absence
of the objects which originally excited them.
These impressions may be recalled in the
same order and connexion in which they at
first occurred, constituting memory; or new
combinations may be formed from the ma-
terials furnished by the senses—a power
to which we give the name imagination.
DREAMING AND IN SANITY. 13
Philosophers suppose that in every act of
memory or imagination, the scene thus
represented to the mind is attended with a
momentary belief of its reality—a belief,
however, which the senses enable us imme-
diately to correct. For example, in think-
ing of a past transaction, we for the moment
regard it as actually present ; and this im-
pression remains till reason, by comparing
the vision with the actual state of things in
the external world, dispels the belief. There
are, however, states in which this belief of
the independent existence of that which is
only passing in the mind is not corrected
by the actual relations of external things.
Of these states, dreaming and insanity con-
stitute two remarkable examples. In in-
sanity, the senses are awake and the will
active ; still, the false impression remains
and influences the conduct. “The maniac
fancies himself a king, possessed of boundless
power, and surrounded by every form of
earthly splendor; and, with all his bodily
senses in perfect exercise, this hallucination
is in no degree ºrrected by the sight of his
14 JAINE C. RIDER.
bed of straw, and all the horrors of his cell.”
The same belief in the reality of that which
occupies the mind occurs in dreams; but
the will, in this state, having no control
over the active powers, the conduct is not
affected, and the vision is dissipated upon
awaking.
Dr. Abercrombie remarks that the pecu-
liar condition of the mind in dreaming, ap-
pears to be referable to two heads:
I. “The impressions which arise in the
mind are believed to have a real and present
existence; and this belief is not corrected,
as in the waking state, by comparing the
conception with the things of the external
world. II. The ideas or images in the
mind follow one another according to asso-
ciations over which we have no control;
we cannot, as in the waking state, vary the
series, or stop it at our will.”
Somnambulism partakes of the character
both of dreaming and insanity. The mind,
as in dreaming, is fixed on its own impres-
sions, which, it supposes, have a real and
present existence—a delusion which is tem-
SOMN AMB ULISM. 1 5
porary, and is dispelled on waking—but, as
in insanity, the will excites the organs of
voluntary motion, so that the person acts
under the influence of his conceptions. The
somnambulist is also, to a certain extent,
sensible of the presence of external things;
but the ideas received through the organs
of sense do not correct the erroneous con-
ceptions, but rather intermingle with and
confirm them. Somnambulism, therefore,
is a state of imperfect sleep, in which the
mind, sensible, to some extent, of the pre-
sence of external things, still believes in the
reality of the visions by which it is occupied,
and acts under the influence of this belief.
This state occurs most frequently in
childhood, and is often connected with
frightful dreams. Soon after going to bed,
before the period of sound repose, dreadful
visions haunt the mind. The individual
imagines himself in some danger from which
he attempts to escape—his first efforts are
unsuccessful, because the limbs do not obey
the will—at length the will regains its
power, and the dreamer, trembling with
apprehension, rises, and often calls for help.
16 JANE C, RIDER,
Some time generally elapses before the false
impression vanishes, and the mind becomes
sensible to surrounding objects. Precisely
of the same nature are those dreams from
which adults awake in terror, the heart
palpitating violently, and the whole system
in a state of agitation ; but the organs of
motion in them being less easily excited by
the will, they wake in the struggle. It is
under the influence of dreams of a different
kind, that some persons talk in their sleep,
the will acting in correspondence with the
thoughts which occupy the mind. The
only difference between dreaming and sleep
talking is, that in one case the organs of
speech obey the will, and in the other they
do not.
The next variety occurs in those indi-
viduals, who, under the influence of dreams,
rise from bed, walk about the house, finding
their way without difficulty and avoiding
obstacles, engage in various employments,
and finally return to bed. These transac-
tions are afterwards remembered only as a
dream. The case of a young nobleman is
STUDENT IN YALE COLLEGE. 17
mentioned, “Who was observed by his
brother to rise in his sleep, wrap himself in
his cloak, and escape by his window to the
roof of the building. He there tore in pieces
a magpie's nest, wrapped the young birds
in his cloak, returned to his apartment and
went to bed. In the morning he mentioned
the circumstance as having occurred in a
dream, and could not be persuaded that
there had been any thing more than a
dream, till he was shown the magpies in
his cloak.” The most remarkable example
of this kind with which I have been per-
sonally acquainted, was that of a young
gentleman in Yale College, who rose in
his sleep, jumped from a window in the
third story of the college buildings, breaking
several paries of glass in his fall, and ran
some rods before he awoke. The account
which he gave of the occurrence was, that
he dreamed he was in the hall stealing
pies; and finding there was no other way
to avoid detection, he escaped through the
window, and ran, as he imagined, towards
18 JANE C. RIDER.
his room. He received only a slight injury
from the fall.
So far, the philosophy of somnambulism
appears perfectly intelligible, and we find
little difficulty in accounting for the phe-
nomena which this class of cases presents.
But there are other cases, which, while
they retain so many points of resemblance
to the preceding as to be included under the
same name, still differ from them in many
important particulars. Some of these pre-
sent symptoms of a very extraordinary
nature. While there is the same belief in
the reality of the scenes which occupy the
mind, united with at least a partial insensi-
bility to external impressions, which exists
in ordinary somnambulism, there is a state
of the intellectual powers analogous to that
which is occasionally witnessed in insanity,
or as the effect of injury to the brain, at-
tended in some instances, with increased
sensibility in one or more of the organs of
sense. It occurs also, most generally, in
the form of a fit, or paroxysm, at any hour
during the day, is preceded by certain pre-
SERVANT-GIRL. 19
monitory symptoms, and is invariably con-
nected with disorder in some of the bodily
functions. There is an entire interruption
of consciousness, the individual, on waking,
retaining no recollection of what transpired
in the paroxysm, though, in some instances,
the knowledge is restored in a subsequent
paroxysm. .
Several examples of this affection are
given by medical writers, some of which I
will relate.— “An ignorant servant-girl,
mentioned by Dr. Dewar,” observes Dr.
Abercrombie, “during paroxysms of this
kind, showed, an astonishing knowledge of
geography and astronomy, and expressed
herself in her own language in a manner
which, though often ridiculous, showed an
understanding of the subject. The alterna-
tions of the seasons, for example, she ex-
plained by saying that the earth was set
a-gee. It was afterwards discovered that
her notions on these subjects had been de-
rived from overhearing a tutor giving in-
structions to the young people of the fam-
ily.”
20 JANE C. RIDER.
Another case, in many of its features very
similar to the one which has recently, oc-
curred in this town, is described by Dr. Dyce
of Aberdeen. “The patient was a servant-
girl, and the affection began with fits of
somnolency, which came upon her suddenly
during the day, and from which she could,
at first, be roused by shaking, or by being
taken out into the open air. She soon be-
gan to talk a great deal, during the attacks,
regarding things which seemed to be pass-
ing before her as a dream ; and she was
not at this time sensible to any thing which
was said to her. On one occasion she re-
peated distinctly the baptismal service of
the church of England, and concluded with
an extemporary prayer. In her subsequent
paroxysms she began to understand what
was said to her, and to answer with a con-
siderable degree of consistency, though the
answers were generally, to a certain degree,
influenced by her hallucinations. She also
became capable of following her usual em-
ployments during the paroxysm : at one
time she laid out the table correctly for
CASE OF SOMIN AMBULISM. 21
breakfast; and repeatedly dressed her-
self and the children of the family, her eyes
remaining shut the whole time. The remarka-
able circumstance was now discovered that
during the paroxysm she had a distinct
recollection of what took place in former
paroxysms, though she had no remembrance
of it during the intervals. At one time she
was taken to church while under the attack,
and there behaved with propriety, evidently
attending to the preacher; and she was at
one time so much affected as to shed tears.
In the interval she had no recollection of
having been at church ; but in the next
paroxysm she gave a most distinct account
of the sermon, and mentioned that part of it
by which she had been so much affected.
“This woman described the paroxysm as
coming on with a cloudiness before her
eyes, and a noise in the head. During the
attack the eyelids were generally half shut ;
her eyes sometimes resembled those of a
person affected with amaurosis, that is, with
a dilated and insensible state of the pupil,
but sometimes they were quite natural.—
3 -
22 JANE C. RIDER.
She had a dull, vacant look; but, when
excited, knew what was said to her, though
she often mistook the person who was
speaking ; and it was observed, that she
seemed to discern objects best which were
faintly illuminated. The paroxysms gene-
rally continued about an hour, but she could
often be roused out of them ; she then
yawned and stretched herself, like a person
awaking out of sleep, and instantly knew
those about her. At one time, during the
attack, she read distinctly a portion of a
book which was presented to her ; and she
often sung, both sacred and common pieces,
incomparably better, Dr. Dyce affirms, than
she could do in the waking state. The
affection continued to recur for about six
months.”
A most remarkable example of interrupt-
ed consciousness is related by Major Elliotº
Professor of Mathematics in the U. S. Mili-
tary Academy at West Point. “The patient
was a young lady of cultivated mind, and
the affection began with an attack of som-
molency, which was protracted several hours
CASE BY MAJOR ELI. I O T. 23
beyond the usual time. When she came
out of it, she was found to have lost every
kind of acquired knowledge. She imme-
diately began to apply herself to the first
elements of education, and was making
considerable progress, when, after several
months, she was seized with a second fit of
somnolency. She was now at once restored
to all the knowledge which she possessed
before the first attack, but without the least
recollection of any thing that had taken
place during the interval. After another
interval she had a third attack of somno-
lency, which left her in the same state as
after the first. In this manner she suffered
these alternate conditions for a period of four
years, with the very remarkable circum-
stance that during one state she retained all
her original knowledge; but during the
other, that only which she had acquired
since the first attack. During the healthy
interval, for example, she was remarkable
for the beauty of her penmanship; but
during the paroxysm wrote a poor, awkward
hand. Persons introduced to her during the
24 JANE C. RIDER.
paroxysm she recognised only in a subse-
quent paroxysm, and not in the interval;
and persons whom she had seen for the
first time during the healthy interval, she
did not recognise during the attack.”
The only remaining case to which I shall
at present refer, is one furnished by the re-
port of a select committee to the Physical
Society of Lausanne. This relates to a lad,
in the fourteenth year of his age, residing
in Vevay, who was subject to somnambu-
lism. The fits lasted several hours, and
generally occurred two nights successively,
after which there was an interval, sometimes
of several weeks. They were preceded by
heaviness in the head and a sense of weight
in the eyelids, and their departure was an-
nounced by a few minutes of quiet sleep,
during which he snored. He then awoke,
rubbing his eyes like a person who has slept
quietly. During the paroxysms he talked,
sometimes sat up, and was subject to con-
tinued involuntary motions. When he
awoke he could not recollect what he had
been doing during the fit.
CASE IN LAU S ANNE. 25
From the facts which they observed, the
tommittee infer, “ that the power of vision is
not suspended as to those objects which the
sleep-walker wishes to see ; that in order to
see, he is obliged to open the eyes as much
as he can, but when the impression is once
made, it remains: that objects may strike
the sight without striking the imagination,
if it is not interested in them ; and that he
is sometimes informed of the presence of
objects without either seeing or touching
them. On one occasion, as he was writing,
a thick paper was put before his eyes, not-
withstanding which he continued to write, "
and to form letters very distinctly ; showing
signs, however, that something incommoded
him, which apparently proceeded from the
obstruction which the paper, being held too
near his nose, gave to the respiration. At
another time, having written several lines
from a copy, he perceived that in one word
he had omitted a letter, and in another had
inserted a superfluous one; he then stopped
writing to make the necessary corrections.”
The fact that this lad could write with
3%
26 JANE C. RIDER.
his eyes shut and an obstacle before them,
the committee account for in the following
manner. “Hispaper,” say they, “is imprint-
ed on his imagination, and every letter he
means to write is also painted there, at the
place at which it ought to stand on the
paper, and without being confounded with
the other letters. Now it is clear that the
hand, which is obedient to the will of the
imagination, will trace them on the real
paper, in the same order in which they
are represented on that which is pictured
in the mind. It is thus that he is able to
write several letters, several sentences, and
entire pieces.”—An experiment mentioned
afterwards gives some appearance of proba-
bility to this conclusion. The lad had a
light beside him and had certified himself of
the place where his inkstand was standing
by means of sight. From that time he con-
tinued to take ink with precision, without
being obliged to open his eyes again ; but
the inkstand being removed he returned as
usual to the place where he thought it was.
It must be observed that the motion of the
LAD OF LAU SANNE. 27
...”
hand was rapid till it reached the height of
the inkstand, and then he moved it slowly,
till the pen gently touched the table as he
was seeking for the ink; he then perceived
that a trick was put upon him, and com-
plained of it ; he went in search of the ink-
stand, and put it into its place. This ex-
periment was several times times repeated,
and always attended with the same circum-
Stall CeS.
29
CHAPTER II.
JACCOUNT OF JANE C. R.I.D.E.R.
SECT, I. First period, in which the attacks were confined
to the night season.
NoNE of the cases to which I have alluded
in the preceding chapter, and they are the
most remarkable that I can find recorded,
appear so extraordinary as the one which
has recently occurred in this town, the phe-
nomena of which have been witnessed by
hundreds. The incredulity, also, with which
the accounts respecting this case have been
received by the public, and even by scien-
tific men, shows that, if it is not wholly
unexampled, similar instances must be ex-
ceedingly rare. While it equals the most
wonderful of the preceding examples in the
vast increase of some of the mental facul-
ties, it far exceeds them all in respect to the
power of vision.
30 JANE C. RIDER.
JANE C. RIDER, the subject of the following
history, is a native of Vermont, and in the
17th year of her age. Her father, a very
ingenious and respectable mechanic, resides
in Brattleborough. With him, and with
the friends of her mother, whose sudden
death from disease of the brain rendered her
an orphan in early infancy, she lived till
last April. At that time she removed to
Springfield, and became an inmate of the
family of Mr. Festus Stebbins; where her
intelligence and uniformly mild and obliging
disposition soon secured the confidence and
love of all with whom she was connected.
Her education is superior to that which is
usually acquired by those occupying the
middle rank in society. She is fond of
reading, and especially delights in poetry,
her selections of which generally evince a
chaste and correct taste. Though of a full
habit, her appearance is prepossessing, and
her plump and rosy cheeks, by the unpro-
fessional observer at least, would be regard-
ed as the index of perfect health. She,
however, has always been subject to fre-
EARLY HISTORY. 31.
quent headachs, and other symptoms arising
from an undue determination of blood to
the head; and about three years since was,
for several months, affected with Chorea.
A small spot on the left side of the head,
near the region which prhenologists assign
to the organ of “marvellowsness,” has, since
her earliest recollection, been tender, or pain-
ful on pressure, and the sensibility is much
increased when she suffers from headach.
During the paroxysms to which she has
lately been subject, this spot, at all times
painful, is frequently the seat of such intense
agony as to induce her to exclaim, “It
ought to be cut open—it ought to be cut
open.” Her eyes are so sensible to the
light, that she invariably suffers when she
goes abroad in a clear day without a veil.
From her infancy she has been in the habit
of sleeping more soundly, and a greater
number of hours, than is usual. She is
seldom conscious of dreaming, and rarely
wakes of her own accord in the morning.
In her childhood she was in the habit of
occasionally rising in her sleep, but did not
32 JANE C. RIDER.
manifest any of the peculiar powers on
those occasions which have since rendered
her case so remarkable.
I have given this sketch of her early his-
tory to show that there is nothing in her
character or in that of those connected with
her, to give the slightest occasion for the
suspicion that she is an impostor.—Her ap-
prehension respecting the probable termina-
tion of her malady was such, that after a
paroxysm of unusual length it was deemed
advisable not to inform her of its actual du-
ration ; when, however, the truth was acci-
dentally revealed to her, she burst into tears.
I do not believe it possible for any one to
watch her during a paroxysm, and witness
the artlessness and consistency of her con-
duct, the unequivocal signs of extreme suf-
fering which she occasionally manifests,
and above all to observe the symptoms of
returning consciousness, without the fullest
assurance that there is in this nothing
feigned. In fact, after visiting her, all, I
believe, without a single exception, have
come away with the conviction that there
FIRST ATTAC R. 33
can be no such thing as imposture. If there
be a mistake, it is in us—in the conclusions
which we draw from our observations—in
her I am satisfied there is no intentional
deception.
The singular affection of which she has
lately been the subject, made its first ap-
pearance on the night of the 24th of June.
I was called, under the impression that she
was deranged, and such at first was my
own belieſ. She was struggling to get out
of bed, complaining very much at the same
time of pain in the left side of the head.
Her ſace was flushed, the head hot, eyes
closed, and her pulse much excited. At-
tributing the attack to the presence of undi-
gested food in the stormach, I gave her an
active emetic, which she took voluntarily,
supposing me to be her father. She reject-
ed a large quantity of green currants, after
which she became more quiet, and soon fell
into a natural sleep, from which she did not
wake till morning; when she was totally
unconscious of every thing which had passed
in the night, and could scarcely be persuaded
34 JANE C. R.IDER.
that she had not slept quietly during the
, whole time.
Nearly a month elapsed before another
paroxysm. Then, after several attempts to
keep her in bed, it was determined to suffer
her to take her own course, and watch her
movements. Having dressed herself, she
went down stairs, and proceeded to make
preparations for breakfast. She set the
table, arranged the various articles with the
utmost precision, went into a dark room
and to a closet at the most remote corner,
from which she took the coffee cups, placed
them on a waiter, turned it sideways to
pass through the doors, avoided all inter-
vening obstacles, and deposited the whole
safely on the table.
She then went into the pantry, the blinds
of which were shut, and the door closed
after her. She there skimmed the milk,
poured the cream into one cup and the milk
into another without spilling a drop. She
then cut the bread, placed it regularly
on the plate, and divided the slices in the
middle. In fine, she went through the
SEC OND PARO XY SM. 35
whole operation of preparing breakfast with
as much precision as she could in open
day; and this with her eyes closed, and
without any light except that of one lamp
which was standing in the breakfast room
to enable the family to observe her opera-
tions. During the whole time, she seemed
to take no notice of those around her, unless
they purposely stood in her way, or placed
chairs or other obstacles before her, when
she avoided them, with an expression of
impatience at being thus disturbed.
She finally returned voluntarily to bed,
and on finding the table arranged for break-
fast when she made her appearance in the
morning, inquired why she had been suffer-
ed to sleep, while another had performed
her duty. None of the transactions of the
preceding night had left the slightest im-
pression on her mind—a sense of fatigue
the following day being the only evidence
furnished by her consciousness in confirma-
tion of the testimony of those who saw her.
After this the paroxysms became more
frequent, a week seldom passing without
36 JANE C. RIDER.
her getting up two or three times. Some-
times she did not leave her room, but was
occupied in looking over the contents of her
trunk, and arranging the different articles
of dress. She occasionally placed things
where she could not find them when awake,
but some circumstances induced the belief
that the knowledge of their situation was
restored to her in a subsequent paroxysm.
In one instance she disposed of her needle-
book where she could not afterwards dis-
cover it; but after some time had elapsed,
she was ſound one night in her chamber,
sewing a ring on the curtain with a needle
which she must have procured from the lost
book.
The entire paroxysm was sometimes
passed in bed, where she sung, talked,
and repeated passages of poetry. Once
she imagined herself at Brattleborough,
spoke of scenes and persons with which she
was acquainted there, and described the
characters of certain individuals with great
accuracy and shrewdness, and imitated their
actions so exactly as to produce a most
LOSS OF MEMORY. 37
comical effect. At this time she denied
ever having been at Springfield, nor could
she be made to recollect a single individual
with whom she was acquainted here, except
one or two whom she had known in Brat-
tleborough. Even the name of the people
with whom she lived seemed unfamiliar
and strange to her.
Generally her conceptions relative to
place were, to a certain extent, correct—
those relating to time were very commonly
inaccurate. She almost invariably supposed
it was day ; hence her common reply when
reminded that it was time for her to retire,
was, “What I go to bed in the day time !”
And when I say her notions relative to place
were in accordance with fact, the statement
requires considerable limitation. She very
frequently imagined herself in a different
room from the one where she actually was,
and almost always in the room which she
usually occupied when awake.
Still her movements were always regulated
by the senses, and not by her preconceived
notions of things. Her chamber was con-
4%
38 JANE C. RIDER.
tiguous to a hall, at one extremity of which
was the staircase. At the head of the stairs
was a door which was usually left open, but
which was once closed after she was asleep,
and fastened by placing the blade of a knife
over the latch. On getting up, she rushed
impetuously from her room, and without
stopping, reached out her hand before she
came to the door, seized the knife, and
throwing it indignantly on the floor, ex-
claimed, “Why do you wish to fasten me
in 122
Without entering into minute detail, I
will only mention some of the most remark-
able circumstances which occurred at this
early period of the complaint.
Allusion has been made to her sewing in
the dark, and circumstances render it al-
most certain that she must at that time have
threaded her needle also. Sometime after
this occurrence she conceived the plan, dur-
ing a paroxysm, of making a bag, in which,
as she said, to boil some squash. She was
then seen to thread a needle in a room in
which there was barely light enough to
OPERATIONS IN THE DARK. 39
enable others to perceive what she was
about, and afterwards, the same night, she
was seen to do it with her eyes closed.
In this condition she completed the bag,
and though a little puckered, as she ob-
served, it still answered very well to boil
the squash in.
In one instance she not only arranged
the table for a meal, but actually prepared
a dinner in the night, with her eyes closed-
She first went into the cellar in the dark,
procured the vegetables, washed each kind
separately, brought in the wood and made
a fire. While they were being boiled, she
completed the arrangements of the table,
and then proceeded to try the vegetables to
ascertain whether they were sufficiently
cooked. After repeated trials, she observ-
ed the smallest of them were done—she
took them up, and after waiting a little,
said the rest would do, and took them up
also. They were actually very well cooked.
She then remarked that S., a little girl
in the family, ate milk, and procured a
bowl for her—she also procured one for her-
40 JANE C. RIDER.
self and ate it. As the family did not seat
themselves at table, she became impatient,
and complained that the men never were
ready for their dinner. While engaged in
her preparations, she observed a lamp burn-
ing in the room, and extinguished it, saying
“she did not know why people wished to
keep a lamp burning in the day time.” On
being requested to go to bed, she objected,
alleging as a reason, that it was day ; but
was persuaded to do so by being reminded
that she was not well, and that sleep would
relieve her head. In the morning she ap-
peared as usual, totally unconscious of the
transactions of the preceding night.
At first, the paroxysms occurred only in
the night, and generally soon after she
went to bed. As the disease advanced,
they commenced earlier—she then fell
asleep in the evening, sitting in her
chair—or rather passed into the state of
somnambulism ; for her sleep, under these
circumstances, was never natural. At a
still later period, the attack took place at
any hour during the day or evening. Af-
DESCRIPTION OF PAROXYSM. 41
ter she began to be affected in the day time,
the fit seldom commenced when she was in
bed; and even when she retired, as she
often did, in this state, she usually remained
quiet till the paroxysm subsided—though
at times she continued to talk and sing.
Sometimes she suffered two distinct parox-
ysms in one day.
SECT. II. General description of the Parowysm.
The follwing description of the paroxysms has refe-
rence only to that period of the disease in which the
extraordinary acuteness of vision was manifested—after
this was lost, most of the other symptoms were less
marked, and many of them disappeared entirely.
The state of somnambulism was usually
preceded by a full, heavy, unpleasant feel-
ing in the head—sometimes by headach,
ringing in the ears, cold extremities, and an
irresistible propensity to drowsiness, attend-
ed with a feeling as if weights were ap-
pended to the eye-lids. There was almost
always a slight contraction of the eye-brows,
the cheeks were flushed, and sometimes
42 JANE G. RIDER,
tinged with a crimson hue. By great exer-
tions, the fit might be put off for hours after
the appearance of these symptoms; but, in
order to gain this reprieve, it was necessary
for her to walk, or be engaged in some ac-
tive employment. The most effectual pre-
ventive was exposure to the open air. The
moment these precautions were relaxed,
and sometimes even in the midst of her
active duties, she experienced what she de-
scribed as a sense of rushing to the head,
attended with a loss of the power of speech
and motion. If in this state she was imme-
diately carried into the open air, the fit was
often arrested; but if this was delayed a
moment too long, she lost all recollection,
and could not by any efforts be aroused.
To a spectator she appeared like a person
going quietly to sleep. Her eyes were clos-
ed, the respirations became long and deep,
her attitude, and the motions of her head,
resembled those of a person in a profound
slumber. During the fit, the breathing,
though sometimes natural, was often hurri-
ed, and attended with a peculiar moaning
DESCRIPTION OF PAROXYSM. 43
Sound, indicative of suffering. At times
the pulse was accelerated, but generally it
did not vary much from the natural stan-
dard. I have remarked, that in her first pa"
roxysm the head was hot, but such was not
commonly the case, nor was there any pe-
culiar throbbing of the temporal arteries—
the hands and feet, however, were almost
invariably cold.
Her manner differed exceedingly in differ-
ent paroxysms. Sometimes she engaged in
her usual occupations, and then her motions
were remarkably quick and impetuous—she
moved with astonishing rapidity, and ac-
complished whatever she attempted with a
celerity of which she is utterly incapable in
hel natural state. Shefrequently satin a rock-
ing-chair, at times nodding, and then moving
her head from side to side with a kind of
nervous uneasiness, the hand and fingers
being at the same time affected with a sort
of involuntary motion. In the intervals of
reading or talking, and even when engaged
in these very acts, her nods, the expressions
of her countenance, and her apparent in-
44 JANE C, RIDER.
sensibility to surrounding objects, forced upon
the mind the conviction that she was asleep.
Occasionally she was cheerful, disposed to
talk, and willing to exercise her powers;
the greater part of the time she was irritable
and petulant. Pain in a circumscribed spot
on the left side of the head was, I believe,
always an attendant on the paroxysm, and
frequently occasioned a degree of suffering
almost beyond endurance. To this spot
she invariably pointed as the seat of her ag-
ony when she repeated the expression, “it
ought to be cut open, it ought to be cut
open.” Occasionally the whole system
was thrown into agitation, and she present-
ed the appearance of a person in a violent
fit of hysterics.
Her eyes were generally closed, but at
times they were stretched widely open, and
the pupil was then very considerably dilated.
These different states of the eye seemed to
occasion no difference in the power of seeing
—she saw apparently as well when they
were closed, as she did when they were
open. In the day time she always had the
ACUTENESS OF VISION. 45
eyes covered with a bandage during the
paroxysm, nor would she allow it to be re-
moved for a single moment, unless the room
was unusually dark. In order to test the
sensibility of the eye, I took one evening a
small concave mirror, and held it so that the
rays proceeding from a lamp were reflected
upon her closed eyelid. When the light was -
so diffused that the outline of the illuminated
space could scarcely be distinguished, it
caused, the moment it fell on the eyelid, a
shock equal to that produced by an electric
battery, followed by the exclamation, “why
do you wish to shoot me in the eyes!”
This experiment was repeated several times,
and was always attended with the same
result. It was also tried when she was
awake, and the effect, though less striking,
was very perceptible. The same degree of
light thrown on my eyelids, occasioned no
pain. -
How far she was sensible to the presence
of surrounding objects, it is very difficult to
determine ; indeed, facts seem to prove that
she was not, in every paroxysm, alike in
5
46 JANE C. RIDER.
this respect. In the early stage of her
complaint, she appeared to take little notice
of persons, unless they were connected with
her train of thought, and then she regard-
ed those with her only as the representa-
tives of the persons whom she imagined to
be present. Nor did the sight or the hear-
ing have any tendency to correct the false
impression. Thus, in her first paroxysm,
she regarded me as her father, and continu-
ed to do so as long as I remained with her;
but, in her subsequent fits, this idea was
never revived. Her conception of persons
was generally made to correspond with the
idea of the place in which she conceived
herself to be. She was in the habit, when
well, of spending her evenings in the room
with the children of the family, and it was
in their company that she often imagined
herself to be during the paroxysm. The
questions which were at these times propos-
ed to her to test her powers of vision, were
cheerfully and readily answered, because
they were questions which it was natural
for children to ask; or, at least, she supposed
CONDUCT DURING PAROXY SMS, 47
them to proceed from children. Much that
she said was also directed to them, though
it was evident, at times, her conceptions
and perceptions were strangely intermin-
gled. In a paroxysm, soon after the arri-
val of her father, he asked her a question
which she answered by addressing a little
boy belonging to the family, who was not
then in the room ; but his knife which he
placed in her hand, she immediately recog-
nized as her father’s, and wondered how
that came to be in Springfield while he was
in Brattleborough. At a later period of her
complaint, she appeared to comprehend
more of what transpired in her presence,
and accordingly she obstimately refused to
read cards, or submit to experiments of any
kind. These trials she then evidently re-
garded as so many attempts to impose upon
her; and in adopting this conclusion she
reasoned with perfect consistency; for if
she actually could see as she appeared to—
if to her vision, might was converted into
day, and darkness into light, while she was
unconscious of any thing peculiar to her-
48 JANE C. RIDER.
self, what could be more annoying than to
be constantly teased with questions which
to her senses were perfectly obvious ! If a
request were made of her which appeared
reasonable, especially if it related to her
customary duties, she readily did whatever
was required.
There is abundant evidence that she re-
collected, during a paroxysm, circumstan-
ces which occurred in a former attack,
though there was no remembrance of them
in the interval. A single illustration will
suffice, though many more might be given.
In a paroxysm, a lady who was present
placed in her hand a bead bag which she
had never before seen. She examined it,
named the colors, and compared them with
those of a bag belonging to a lady in the
family. The latter bag being presented to
her in a subsequent paroxysm, the recol-
lection of the former was restored—she told
the colors of the beads, and made the same
remarks respecting the comparative value
of the two bags that she had done before.
I had taken measures to satisfy myself
PARO XY SMS. 49
*…
in the interval that she then remembered
nothing of the first impression.
Attempts to rouse her from this state
were uniformly unsuccessful. She heard,
felt, and saw ; but the impressions which
she received through the senses had no
tendency to waken her. A pailful of cold
water was in one instance thrown upon
her ; she exclaimed, “Why do you wish to
drown me !”—went to her chamber, chang-
ed her dress, and came down again. Large
doses of laudanum were sometimes given
her with a view to relieve her pain—it ap-
peared to mitigate her sufferings, and she
was observed uniformly to wake soon after-
wards. Excitements of every kind, and
particularly attempts to draw forth her
peculiar powers, invariably prolonged the
fits, and generally aggravated the pain in
the head. -
At the termination of a paroxysm, she
sunk into a profound sleep. The frown
disappeared from her brow, the respirations
again became long and deep, and the atti-
tude was that of a person in undisturbed
slumber. She soon began to gape and rub
5%
50 JANE c. RIDER.
her eyes, and these motions were repeated
after short intervals of repose. In the
course of fifteen or twenty minutes from
the first appearance of these symptoms, she
opened her eyes, when recollection was at
once restored. She then invariably revert-
ed to the time and place at which the
attack commenced, and in no instance,
when under my care, manifested any know-
ledge of the time which had elapsed, or the
circumstances which transpired during the
interval.
These paroxysms were very obviously
connected with the state of the stomach
and digestive organs. Though the appetite
was generally good, food often occasioned
oppression, and she not unfrequently raised
a considerable portion of what she ate. She
also had headach, acidity of stomach, and
most of the symptoms usually termed dys-
peptic. These circumstances had not in-
deed attracted much attention till after the
occurrence of the paroxysms; but I then
found that they had existed, in a slight
degree, for some time, and that lately her
sufferings from this source had been very
CAUSE OF AN ATTACK. 51
considerably aggravated. Improper food,
and other causes affecting the stormach di-
rectly, I am confident, in several instances,
occasioned an attack. The very first pa-
roxysm occurred a few hours after she had
eaten a large quantity of green currants ;
and two or three times afterwards, a parox-
ysm was occasioned by medicine which
disturbed the stomach.
During the fit she very often called for
food, particularly for apples; but she sel-
dom. awoke as soon as usual, after having
gratified her appetite. At a time when she
had invariably one or two paroxysms daily,
I gave her an emetic, and afterwards allow-
ed her to take but a small quantity of the
simplest food; under this course she had
but one slight attack for five days, and she
was in every respect much better. The
paroxysm which she had in this instance
occurred also under circumstances illustra-
tive of the nature of the complaint. It
came on in the stage, when she was on the
way to Worcester, and was preceded by
sickness, to which she is very subject when
riding in a close carriage.
52 JANE C. RIDER,
SECT. III.-Eaperiments proving the eartraordinary power
of vision,
Though no decisive experiments were at
first made to establish the fact, the mem-
bers of the family in which she lived were
very early convinced that she saw both
when her eyes were closed, and in the dark.
They were irresistibly led to this conclusion,
when they saw her, night after night, per-
form that which seemed impossible for her
to do without the aid of vision, when at the
same time they could discover nothing
which indicated the want of sight. She
never betrayed any thing like hesitancy or
indecision—there was no groping, no feeling
after the object which she wished to lay
hold of, but the motion was quick and
direct, as if perfectly aware of its precise
situation. When obstacles were placed in
her way, or the position of a thing was
changed, she always observed it, and ac-
commodated herself to the change. This
kind of evidence, though perfectly satisfac-
tory to eye witnesses, is not so well calcu-
POWERS OF VISION. 53
lated to produce conviction in the minds of
others as tests of a different kind.
No direct trial of her powers of vision
was made until Sabbath evening, Nov.
10th ; when it was proposed to ascertain
whether she could read with her eyes
closed. She was seated in a corner of the
room, the lights were placed at a distance
from her, and so screened as to leave her
in almost entire darkness. In this situation
she read with ease a great number of cards
which were presented to her, some of which
were written with a pencil, and so obscure-
ly, that in a faint light no trace could be
discerned by common eyes. She told the
date of coins, even when the figures were
nearly obliterated. A visitor handed her a
letter, with the request that she would read
the motto on the seal, which she readily
did, although several persons present had
been unable to decipher it with the aid of a
lamp. The whole of this time the eyes
were, to all appearance, perfectly closed.
The second day after this exhibition of
her power, she fell asleep in the morning
54 - JANE C. RIDER.
in the act of procuring water from the
pump. This was her first attack in the day
time. Soon after, on going out of doors,
she observed to her companion, “what a
beautiful day it is, how bright the sun
shines l’” It was in fact quite cloudy.
When asked by one of the ladies of the
family to thread a needle, she refused, say-
ing, “you can do it for yourself.” Soon af-
ter, she went into a neighboring house,
where there was an elderly lady to whom
she often rendered this kind of assistance.
This lady said, “Jane, I am old, and cannot
see very well, will you thread my needle for
me 'P' She immediately complied with the
request, and threaded the needle not only
at that time, but once or twice afterwards.
She awoke from this paroxysm in the after-
noon, and was quite distressed to find the
fits beginning to affect her in the day-
time.
The next morning she fell asleep while I
was prescribing for her, and her case having
now excited considerable interest, she was
visited during that and the following day
ACUTE VISION.—EXPERIMENT. 55
by probably more than a hundred people.
To this circumstance, undoubtedly, is to be
attributed the unprecedented length of the
paroxysm : for she did not wake till Friday
morning, forty-eight hours aſter the attack.
During this time she read a great variety of
cards written and presented to her by differ-
ent individuals, told the time by watches,
and wrote short sentences.
For greater security, a second handker-
chief was sometimes placed below the one
which she wore constantly over her eyes,
but apparently without causing any ob-
struction to the vision. She also repeated
with great propriety and distinctness several
pieces of poetry, some of which she had
learned in childhood, but had forgotten, and
others which she had merely read several
years since without having ever committed
them to memory. In addition to this she N
sung several songs, such as “Auld Lang
Syne” and “ Bruce’s Address to his Army,”
with propriety and correctness. Yet she
never learned to sing, and never has been
known to sing a tune when awake. She
was evidently very much exhausted by these
56 JANE C. RIDER.
efforts, and at times her sufferings were so
extreme that she could not be induced to
answer any questions.
On Wednesday, Nov. 20th, I took a large
black silk handkerchieſ, placed between the
folds two pieces of cotton batting, and ap-
plied it in such a way that the cotton came
directly over the eyes, and completely filled
the cavity on each side of the nose—the
silk was distinctly seen to be in close contact
with the skin. Various names were then
written on cards, both of persons with whom
she was acquainted, and of those who were
unknown to her, which she read as soon as
they were presented to her. This was done
by most of the persons in the room. In
reading she always held the paper the right
side up, and brought it into the line of
vision. The cards were generally placed
in her hand for the purpose of attracting her
notice, but when her attention was excited
she read equally well that which was held
before her by another. I do not know that
she ever read cards which she had never seen,
when only the back was presented to her.
Being desirous, if possible, to prove that
ExtERIMENTs, witH BANDAGED EYES. 57
the eye was actually closed, I took two
large wads of cotton, and placed them di-
rectly on the closed eyelid, and then bound
them on with the handkerchief before used.
The cotton filled the cavity under the
eyebrow, came down to the middle of the
cheek, and was in close contact with the
nose. The former experiments were then
repeated without any difference in the re-
sult. She also took a pencil, and, while
rocking in her chair, wrote her own name,
each word separately, and dotted the i.
Her father, who was present, asked her to
write his name. “Shall I write Little Billy
or Stiff Billy,” was her reply, imagining that
the question was proposed by a little boy of
the name of William belonging to the fami-
ly. She wrote Stiff Billy—the two words
without connexion, and after writing them
both, she went back and dotted the i in
each. She then wrote Springfied under
them, and after observing it a moment,
smilingly remarked that she had left out a
letter, and inserted the 1 in the proper
place.
A watch enclosed in a case was handed
6
58 JAIN E C, RI DER.
to her, and she was requested to tell the
time—after examining both sides, she open-
ed the case, and then answered the ques-
tion. Afterwards, but in the same parox-
ysm, a gentleman present wrote his name
in characters so small that no one else could
distinguish it at the usual distance from the
eye. As soon as the paper was put into
her hand, she pronounced the name. It
was thought that any attempt to open the
eye would be indicated by the contraction
of the skin on the forehead, but though she
was closely watched, nothing of the kind
was observed. -
She also at this time repeated poetry
and sung, as before. This she did almost
every paroxysm ; and though there are
some pieces which she must have repeated
in this way scores of times, her knowledge
of them when she is awake is not in the
least improved by the practice. These
experiments were performed in the presence
of several of the most respectable and intel-
ligent gentlemen in town, and they were all
convinced there could be no deception.
While she was in a paroxysm a few
CONDUCT IN THE PARO XY SMS. 59
evenings afterwards, the lights were re-
moved from her room, and the windows so
secured that no object was discernible.
Two books were then presented to her
which had been selected for the purpose;
she immediately told the titles of both,
though one of them was a book which she
had never seen beſore.
Monday, Nov. 25th, she was removed to
my house; but, though she had several
paroxysms in the interval, nothing worthy
of notice occurred till the 30th. The
morning of that day, as she was engaged
in her customary employments, she com-
plained suddenly of dizziness, seated herself
in a chair, and immediately became insensi-
ble. Soon after, she applied a bandage to
the eyes, went to her chamber and changed
part of her dress. She then came down,
and taking a basket which she had pur-
chased the day before, and which was much
soiled, remarked that it was dirty, and she
would wash it. This operation she per-
formed with as much meatness and despatch
as she could have done when awake.
The room in the front part of the house
60 JANE C. RIDER.
she had never seen except for a few mo-
ments several months since. The shutters
were closed, and it was so dark that it was
impossible for any one possessing only ordi-
nary powers of vision to distinguish the
colors in the carpet. She, however, though
her eyes were bandaged, noticed and com-
mented on the various articles of furniture,
and pointed out the different colors in the
hearth rug. She also took up, and read
Several cards which were lying on the table.
Soon after observing her with a skein of
thread in her hand, I offered to hold it for
her to wind. She immediately placed it on
my hands, and took hold of the end of the
thread in a manner which satisfied me she
saw it, and completed the operation as
skilfully and readily as if she were awake.
Having left the room a moment, I found
her on my return with her needle threaded,
and hemming a cambric handkerchief. She
however soon abandoned her work, and
was then asked to read a little while aloud.
Bryant’s Poems were given to her; she
opened the book, and turning to the “Than-
atopsis,” read the whole, (three pages,) and
EXPERIMIENT'S IN PAR OXY SMS, 61
the most of it with great propriety. Some-
thing being said about her manner of read-
ing, she observed there were parts of the
piece which she did not understand, that
she could read it much better if she under-
stood it. The day before, she had procured
several samples of calico at the shops, por-
tions of some of which had been washed
since the commencement of her paroxysm.
On their being spread out before her, she
not only told the shop at which she obtained
each, and named its price, but compared the
part which had been washed with the piece
from which it was taken, and when there
was any change, pointed out the difference.
A colored girl came in and seated herself
before her : she was asked if she knew
that lady ; she smiled and returned no an-
swer. Some one said, “She has a beautiful
complexion, has she not ?” Jane laughed
heartily, and said, “I should think she was
somewhat tanned.”
At dinner, she took her seat at the table
as usual, helped herself to bread when it
was offered, presented her tumbler for water,
and through the whole time, did not, by
6%
62 JANE C. RIDER.
her manner or actions, betray the least want
of sight. After dinner the bandage which
she put over her eyes in the morning, and
which she had worn ever since, was taken
off, and in its place a black silk handker-
chief stuffed with cotton was bound on so
as to fit accurately to the nose and cheeks.
Though extremely reluctant on account
of severe pain in the head, she was at
length prevailed on to write a part of the
“Snow Storm,” one of the pieces which she
is in the habit of repeating when asleep. -
She finished one stanza of six lines, and
part of a second. In writing she followed
for a time the ruled lines placed under her
paper, but they having been displaced, she
proceeded without them, continuing, how-
ever, nearly in a straight line. In one or
two instances she failed to make a proper
division of the poetry into lines, and several
times misspelled words which she would not
have done had she been awake. Twice
she noticed the inaccuracy in the spelling,
and corrected it at the time, but when
writing the same word afterwards she fell
into a similar error. A person standing
EXPERIMENTs. 63
**
behind her very carefully interposed a piece
of brown paper between her eyes and the
paper on which she was writing. When-
ever this was done she appeared disturbed,
and exclaimed, “don’t, don’t.” For some
time I watched her narrowly to ascertain
whether the bandage was constantly in
place, but I could detect no change in its
position. »
A watch was presented to her, the face.
of which was concealed by a piece of brown
paper placed between it and the chrystal.
Instead of telling the time, she observed,
“Any thing put a paper watch ſ”
In the evening, when the room was
so dark that nothing but the position of the
windows could be discerned by common
eyes, a blue fancy handkerchief was placed
before her, and she was asked if she did not
wish for a beautiful pink handkerchief—she
replied, “I hope I know blue from pink.” -
The next day, during a paroxysm, she
went into a dark room and selected from
among several letters, having different direc-
tions, the one bearing the name which she
was requested to find. She was heard to
64 S JANE C. R.I.D.E.R.
•
take up one letter after another and examine
it, till she came to the one for which she
was in search, when she exclaimed, “Here
it is,” and brought it out. She also, with
her eyes bandaged, wrote of her own accord
two stanzas of poetry on a slate; the lines
were straight and parallel.
One circumstance I have omitted to men-
tion, which is, the power of imitation which
she occasionally exhibits. This extends
not only to the manner, but to the language
and sentiments of the persons whom she
personifies: and her performances in this
way are so striking, and her conceptions of
character so just, that nothing can be more
comical.
This, like her other extraordinary powers,
is confined to the somnambulist state—at
other times site does not exhibit the slightest.
trace of it.
Many other circumstances might be ad-
ded similar to those which have been de-
tailed ; enough, however, has been given
to illustrate the peculiar features of this sin-
gular case. I have not myself been a wit-
ness of every fact here related ; but I have
REMOVAL TO WORCESTER. 65
mentioned nothing differing in kind or more
remarkable in degree than I have seen with
my own eyes. However extraordinary these
phenomena may appear, therefore, I do not
hesitate to vouch for the general accuracy
of every statement.
SECT. IV.-flöstract from the records of the hospital at
Worcester. sº
As it was very apparent that her disease
was aggravated by the daily trial of her pe-
culiar powers to which she was subjected by
a constant succession of visitors, arrange-
ments were made for Jane’s removal to the
Hospital in Worcester, where she could en-
joy that seclusion which seemed essential
for her cure. She accordingly left Spring-
field the fifth of December, and was the
same day received into the Hospital.
The following abstract from the daily re-
cord of cases kept in that institution will be
found to confirm the observations which had
been before made relative to her extraordi-
nary power of vision, and will show the pro-
gress which has been made towards a cure.
66 JANE C. RID F.R.
Jane had no paroxysm till the evening of
December 6th, the day after her admission.
“Immediately after falling asleep she be-
gan to breathe with difficulty, her mind
seemed to labor, and she was uneasy and in
perpetual motion. She said nothing till
questions were asked her. She told the time
of day by a watch, in the dark, with her eyes
closed—the fire was not extinguished, and of
course it was not entirely dark. Her pulse
was 72 in a minute, and without irritation.
She answered questions regularly, but with
an air of impatience ; and said “they kept
asking her to read, but she would not.”
She declared she would not go to Worcester,
and said she was at Mr. Stebbins's in Spring-
field. Afterwards she complained she was
locked up in the Hospital, and did not wish
to stay, and that she would not have come
here if she had expected to be locked up. One
hour and a half after the commencement of
the paroxysm, her feet were placed in a bath
of the Nitro-Muriatic Acid. In five minutes
she became calm, and went into a quiet
sleep; in a few minutes more she waked
very pleasant.”
RECoRDS of THE HOSPITAL. 67
From this time till the 13th, she had
from one to three paroxysms daily ; in some
of which “she repeated passages of poetry
very sweetly Sihing some tunes with cor-
rectness; and, with her eyes bandaged, walk-
ed about the house, and from room to room,
without inconvenience.” Many of these
paroxysms, the Doctor observes, he is now
satisfied were occasioned by improper food, v
particularly by the free use of fruit.
Dec. 13. “Jane had a more interesting
paroxysm than at any time before since her
residence in the Hospital. In a paroxysm
the day previous, she lost a book which she
could not afterwards find. Immediately on
the access of the paroxysm to-day, she went
to the sofa, raised the cushion, took up the
book, and commenced reading. She read
two or three pages to herself. Her eyes
were then covered with a white handker-
chief folded so as to make 8 or 10 thickness-
es, and the spaces below the bandage filled
with strips of black velvet. She then took
a book and read audibly, distinctly, and cor-
rectly, nearly a page. It was then proposed
68 JANE C. RIDER.
to her to play backgammon. She said she
knew nothing of the game, but consented to
Wearn it. She commenced playing with the
assistance of one acquainted with the moves,
and acquired a knowledge of the game
very rapidly. She handled the men and
dice with facility, and counted off the points
correctly. Had another paroxysm in the
afternoon in which she played a number of
games of backgammon, and made such pro-
ficiency that, without any assistance, she
won the sixth game of Dr. Butler, who is
an experienced player. Knowing her to be
a novice, he suggested several alterations in
her moves—these alterations she declined
making, and the result showed the correct-
ness of her judgment. The Doctor, a little
mortified at being beaten by a sleeping girl,
tried another game, in which he exerted all
his skill. At its close she had but three
men left on the board, and these so situated
that a single move would have cleared the
whole. While she was engaged in this
game, an apple was taken from a dish,
in which there were several varieties, and
held before her, but higher than her eyes.
RECORDS OF THE HOSPITAL. 69
On being asked its color, she raised her head,
like a person who wished to see an object a
little elevated, and gave a correct answer to
the question. “ In the lucid interval, half
an hour after she awoke from the paroxysm,
it was proposed to her to play backgammon.
She observed she never saw it played, and
was wholly ignorant of the game—on trial
it was found she could not even set the
men.”
Dec. 15. “Paroxysm rather singular.
She is full of mischief like a roguish child—
is very pleasant all the while, but will not
read. At twilight her eyes were more open
than common, but she insisted she could not
see. Ate too heartily and felt sickness at
stomach.” *
Dec. 16.” Has been different in the parox-
ysms to-day. -She opens her eyes and declares
she cannot see, when they are shut. When
reading, I placed my fingers on her eyes,
she said immediately it was total darkness,
and she could not read a word. The fact
------ 7 -
70 JANE C. RIDER.
that her eyes are open in the paroxysms
proves that they are less susceptible to light,
and of course that her vision is less acute.
At dinner her eyes were open, and all the
family supposed her awake ; but she declared
in the evening she had not the least recol-
lection of dining, of seeing some friends, or
of witnessing a catastrophe in the gallery
which disturbed the whole family, and in
which she was much interested at the
time.”
Dec. 18. “In the paroxysm this evening her
eyes are open, and she appears, in all respects,
like a person awake ; yet her manner is
very different from that which she usually
exhibits. She evidently has lost her former
acuteness of sight—she protests she can see
nothing when blinded, and will not attempt
the least thing.” -
Dec. 19. “During the whole day the
appearance was the same as on previous
days, excepting her mind was more tranquil,
and she was more disposed to melancholy.
She once said her head ached, and felt
RECORDS OF THE HO SPITAL. 71
strangely. She appeared very much like a
person insane. I gave her a letter about
four o’clock, which she read, and remarked
that she did not know that her friends
expected her to write to them. At nine
o’clock she was asked if she had seen a
letter from Springfield; she denied that she
had, but recollected circumstances which
transpired yesterday; and, in this respect,
was different from what she usually is during
the paroxysm. A stranger would say, you
have got an odd or insane girl, but would
suspect nothing more. My family disagreed
about the time of her coming out of the
paroxysm; one thought she was out of it
when others thought not.”
Dec. 21. “Wery well and wakeful all
day, but in the evening had a paroxysm of
complete insanity; talked, ran about the
house, and refused to take her medicine.
When forced to take it she shed tears, and
fell into a sort of hysterical sobbing, which
lasted some minutes.”
Dec. 24. “Had a paroxysm in the even-
ing, in which she played backgammon : at
72 JANE C. RIDER,
first her eyes were closed, afterwards wide
open. She said she could not read a word
or see at all when blinded. Lately her face
has been less flushed, and her head less
painful.” -
Dec. 30. In a paroxysm to-day she wrote
the following letter to her aunt. She after-
wards remembered that she had written a
letter, but could not recollect its contents.
“DEAR AUNT, - -
I feel that it is my duty to write to
you, and inform you of my situation, as it
is a very critical one. I received a letter,
from father yesterday, saying he had not
written to you, and wished me to do so. I
thought I would try. Perhaps you will
wonder how I came to Worcester Hospital
—but it is for my health. As I prize that
above every thing else, I was willing to
deny myself a great many pleasures only
for a few months. I left home last April,
and went to Springfield with a young lady
of my acquaintance, and liked there so well
that I concluded to stay and spend the
LETTER. To HER AUNT. 73
summer. While there I was attacked with
the disorder that has brought me to the
Hospital. The first attack was in June.
It was about ten in the evening—the people
called a physician ; he thought it was par-
tial derangement, and gave me an emetic
that stilled me a little, and I got over it,
and the next day was quite well. The
people thought it was a very strange disor-
der, and let it pass off. But I was troubled
almost every week with the same disorder,
and it soon became something serious. I
found I was growing worse every day, and
was put under the physician’s care. Medi-
cine did not seem to have any effect, and I
was still growing worse. In October I was
attacked in the day time. It was Tuesday
morning, and it continued till Friday morn-
ing, when I went into a natural sleep, and
awoke up and knew nothing of what had
passed. I will not try to give you any de-
scription of what I did, as I presume you
have read it in the newspapers, as my
case was the one referred to, and I think
the pieces are not exaggerated in the least,
Father was sent for when I was in one
7%
74 JANE C. RIDER.
of my turns, as I do not know what else to
call them, and reached Springfield in about
48 hours; and an hour after I came out of
it. He expected to take me home with
him; but I was taken the next morning,
and continued so most of the time he was
in Springfield. He said it was no place for
me at home, and there must be something
done. They then concluded to bring me
here, as people thought if I could be cured
any where it would be here; and I am happy
to say I am much better than I was when
I came here. I have been here about a
month, and I think I shall be entirely well
in two months more, as my turns are n0t
near as often, and no two have been alike.
The people of Springfield were so much
interested for me, that they offered to pay
my board here until I was well; so the night
I left Springfield I had a present of 48 dollars.”
In the evening of the day on which she
wrote the letter she had a very distressing
paroxysm, which was followed by a mild
form of fever which lasted several days;
for an account of which see Dr. Woodward’s
letter of January 6th.
B.E CORDS OF THE HO 3 PITAL. 75
Jan. 10. “Did not feel well all day yes-
terday—had confusion of head and flushing
of face. At evening she had a paroxysm
in which she recollected all that was done
in the day; and after the paroxysm all that
was done in it. It lasted but half an hour,
when she went into a quiet sleep and slept
till morning.”
Jan. 11—13. “Had slight paroxysms in
which consciousness was not lost—recol-
lected in the paroxysms what transpired in
the interval, and in the interval the circum-
stances of the paroxysm—is greatly inclined
to indulge in eating, and if she eats freely
is unusually dull and sleepy afterwards.”
Jan. 19. “Has had one or two paroxysms
since the 13th similar to those last described.
In the one to-day she repeated the “Pilgrim
Fathers” very distinctly and correctly. I
had censured her for eating fried cakes and
the like between meals; and she kept a fast
during the paroxysm to-day, but called for
pancakes, which she said might be eaten
with impunity on fast-days.”
76 JAINE G. R. 1 DER,
To the preceding history, Dr. Woodward
has subjoined the following statement of his
views respecting the nature of the disease,
and an outline of the treatment which has
been pursued.
“ Worcester, Jam. 29th, 1834.
“The above abstract is taken correctly
from the records of the Hospital, and forms
an epitome of this interesting case of som-
nambulism since the subject of it has been
in the institution. The object in placing
Miss Rider in the Hospital was that she
might be so far secluded from the intercourse
of visiters as to afford a more favorable
chance for a cure. The medical treatment
pu: sued by her physician, Dr. Belden, was
the same in general as that adopted at the
Hospital; and our views of the nature of
the case and the causes which led to the
extraordinary symptoms perfectly coincide.
To restore the equilibrium of the circulation,
and to warm the feet, which were always
cold, the Nitro-Muriatic Acid bath was pre-
scribed, and has been continued almost daily
to this time. The Tincture of Guaiacum,
LETTER FROM DR. WooDWARD. 77
Tincture of Sanguinaria, and calomel in
small doses, were also given with the inten-
tion of affecting a secretion, which, at this
period of life, is essential to health, and to
the establishment of which the favorable
change in her state is mainly to be attribu-
ted. Her head was also shaved, and blisters
were applied to the part which had been
painful from the first, and, at one time, to
the inferior extremities likewise. Great care
is still necessary on the subject of diet.
Many of the paroxysms may be directly
traced to the quantity or quality of the food
which had previously been taken.
The Somnambulism in this case undoubt- .
edly depends on physical disease, and there
is every reason to believe that it will gradu-
ally disappear, if a judicious course be
pursued. Independent of all other conside-
rations, I have no doubt, from the exhibitions
at the Hospital, that all the facts stated in
this history of the case are strictly correct.
“S. B. WooDWARD.”
During a late visit to Worcester, I had
an opportunity of witnessing the improve-
78 JANE G. RIDER.
Inent in the health of my patient since her
residence in the Hospital. Her face has
lost the flush which it used habitually to
wear—the head is now seldom painful, and
there is no tenderness at the spot formerly
affected, and the natural, healthful temper-
ature of the extremities has been restored.
There is still some oppression after eating,
especially if she deviates from the regulations
which have been prescribed respecting her
diet; and any gross violation is almost
certain to be followed by a paroxysm. Strong
mental emotion too, or any kind of mental
or physical excitement, conduces to the
same effect ; and, sometimes, is of itself
sufficient to occasion a fit. In a paroxysm
which occurred while I was there, the eyes
were open and appeared nearly natural—
the pupil was, perhaps, a little more dilated
than common. Her manner was hurried—
the speech and motions rather quick and
abrupt. She appeared to be sensible of
every thing which took place around her,
—knew me, and answered my questions
with propriety and correctness; and, so far
as I could discover, had a proper concep-
A T W OR.C. ESTER. 79
tion of the relations of time and place. A
handkerchief having been tied over her eyes
she declared she could not see at all—said
that it was perfect darkness to her. During
the whole time her perceptions appeared to
be more quick nd Vivid than natural. Her
remarks, as ºn the earler perods of her
disease, were often distinguished for a
degree of wit and brilliancy peculiar to these
occasions. She also, at this time, sung as
she formerly did. In the paroxysm she
recollected circumstances which transpired
a short time before, but did not, the next
day, remember what occurred in the fit.
The termination of the paroxysm is often
less distinct than it, formerly was, though
the access, I believe, continues to be well
marked. ..º
Most of the facts contained in the follow-
ing letters have already been noticed in the
Journal; but, as some of these facts are
stated in the letters more fully, and with
additional circumstances, it has been thought
that the history of the case would be ren-
dered more complete by inserting them in
the order in which they were received.
80 JANE C. B.I.D.E.R.
“Worcester, Dec 18th, 1833.
“DEAR. DocToR,
I have deferred writing you on the inter-
esting case of Somnambulism to this time,
as I have had nothing interesting, and
particularly nothing new, to communicate.
We repeated your experiments of reading,
&c. with success; and our experience
confirms yours fully, as our records will
show. Jane learned the game of back-
gammon during the paroxysms, and now
plays it well in them, but cannot play it at
all in the lucid interval. She has had from
one to three paroxysms a day till yesterday,
when she had none. If undisturbed, she is
quiet, and the paroxysms do not exceed an
hour, during which she says little or nothing
—if attempts are made to draw from her
any thing interesting she remains much
longer in the paroxysm. Indeed she has
never waked till she was quiet and still. On
Sunday the nature of the paroxysms changed
—she became very mischievous about the
house, and turned every thing topsy-turvy—
she laughed constantly, and her eyes were
open. On Monday this appearance was
H.ETTER FROM DR. W. 81
still more manifest—her eyes were wide open
—her vision natural, and she could not see at all
blinded,—it is as dark as midnight, she says.
She appears like any person awake, but
more like an insane than a rational girl.
Monday evening she said her head was
better than it had been for several months,
and she had no disposition to sleep. To-day
she was wakeful, and has been busy. This
evening she has a paroxysm wide awake, and
is at this time playing backgammon, of
which game she is fond during the prox-
ysm, but says nothing about it in the lucid
interval. During the game, I placed a
handkerchief over her eyes; she stopped
immediately, and said, It is total darkness.
I urged her to move, but she insisted she
could not see at all. She is as well as usual,
apparently contented, and generally pleasant
—-in her paroxysms much more so than she was
when she came here. I have used the
Nitro-Muriatic acid bath, and the Calomel
pill, at night, and Tinct. Guaiacum in doses
of one drachm three times a day. She has
frequently come out of the paroxysm while
8
82 JANE C. RIDER,
her feet were in the bath. She inclines to
eat too freely, and during the paroxysm
scolds about Dr. Belden’s short allowance ;
but always speaks respectfully of you, and
all her Springfield friends, when out of the
paroxysm.
On Monday, the day she was wide awake,
she sat at table and ate her food as usual,
and no one supposed her to be in a parox-
ysm. She witnessed a catastrophe in one
of our dining rooms, and interested herself
in the distress of a female attendant who
got hurt ; but at evening, when in the lucid
interval, she declared she had no knowledge
of either the dinner or the other transaction.
I think the present change is favorable.
It very clearly establishes the views which
you had in common with me, that she saw
through the articles interposed between her
and the object, by the intensity of the power
of vision. Now, I think, she has lost that
acuteness of sight, and hence can open her
eyes; before, she would shrink if her eyes
were open in day light. I shall be glad to
answer any queries concerning this novel
LETTER FROM DE. W. 83
case; and, at the end of it, whatever may
be its event, we must put our information
together for the benefit of science, and to
prevent those delusions from gaining ground
which such cases are likely to beget, and
strengthen.
Yours truly and affectionately,
S. B. WoopWARD.”
“Worcester, Jan. 6, 1834.
“My DEAR DocTor,
Considering you as the guardian of
Jane C. Rider, I write to you to inform you
that she has been laboring under a mild form
of fever for a few days past. On Monday
week, she had a long paroxysm of som-
marnbulism, the last that she has had, and
yet exhibiting hardly any peculiarity from
the lucid interval. She complained of
headach, and for the first time, in the even-
ing, had a high hysterical paroxysm, wished
me to cut her head open, and various other
things like hysterical delirium. Her face
was flushed and she complained of Soreness
in the tender part. I poured a stream of
cold water on the head for a minute, but
84 JANE G. RIDER.
when it struck upon the tender part, she
uttered a scream, and immediately came to
her usual consciousness. She had previous-
ly taken 40 drops of laudanum at two doses.
She had a restless night, and got the clothes
off the bed, and on the morning of Tuesday
felt sick, which I supposed to be the effect
of laudanum. Her headach continued, the
tongue became coated and face flushed, her
feet cold as marble, and inclined to be numb.
I shaved each side of her head and ap-
plied a blister, blistered her ancles and gave
her calomel.
Her feet are still inclined to coldness, and
her face is flushed. She has some headach
all the time, her eye is dull, pupils rather
large, light offends her. She laughs some—
at times feels badly—is not severely sick ;
and I should have no apprehension if hers
were a common case. Yet I have hardly
thought of the case since she came to the
Hospital, but the idea of effusion has sug-
gested itself to my mind, and I confess has
given me some uneasiness during this slight
illness. -
I omitted to mention that the pulse is
LETTER FROM JANE. 85
slow—at least as slow as in health—tongue
is still coated. I have been thus particular,
as I know that her case is peculiarly in-
teresting to you, and so singular to all of us
as to leave us in doubt what changes are
going on in the brain. I will apprize you
if any thing new occurs in her case, in the
mean time we will see that every care be
taken of her. -
Yours affectionately,
S. B. WoODWARD.
“Worcester, Jan. 11, 1834.
“KIND FRIEND, -
“As it was your wish that I should write
to you respecting my health, I have a good
opportunity now, and I thought I would
improve it. Dr. Woodward informed me that
he had written you a short time since, telling
you that I was sick; but I am happy to say
I am much better now, and think that being
a little more unwell than usual has had a
very good effect; for I am much better than
I was before it. I have had but two very
slight paroxysms since the 30th of Decem-
ber, and they are very different from any I
8%
86 JANE G. RIDER.
ever had before. I can recollect what passed
before them, when awake, while in the pa-
roxysm, and after I get out of them, can
recollect what passed during the paroxysm.
I think I have lost the power of seeing in the
dark. - -
I have seen in the Boston papers that I
am entirely well, and have returned to my
friends, and I hope I can say so myself in a
few weeks; not that I am discontented in
the least, for I am not. The time has
passed very quick and pleasantly. I take a
ride almost every day—that I like very
much, and think it does me good. I feel as
if I never could repay my friends in Spring-
field for all they have done for me—indeed
I know I never can. All I can do is to
thank them, and deny myself every thing
that would be injurious to my health, and I
find that it is very hard to resist every tempta-
tion : but when I think what has been done
for me, I can. I have nothing more at pre-
sent to write. Please to give my respects
to Mrs. B. and all other enquiring friends.
I am with respect,
Your most obedient friend,
JANE C. RIDER.”
LETTER FROM DR. W. 87
In the same letter, Dr. Woodward observes,
“I have nothing to add to Jane’s letter,
but a confirmation of all that she has stated.
The last paroxysms are short, and very un-
like the others. The febrile attack has gone
off very favorably. If she is extremely
careful on the subject of diet and exposure,
I feel confident that she will soon be free
from her disagreeable disease.
Yours truly and respectfully,
S. B. Woodward.”
“Worcester, Jan. 14, 1834.
“DEAR DocToR,
“Yours of yesterday came to hand this
afternoon. I hasten to communicate to you
what information I can in the compass of a
letter. Nothing particularly interesting oc-
curred in the case, except what confirmed
your common observation, till the 13th Dec.
when she consented for the first time to read.
Her eyes were blinded with a thick stout
white cotton handkerchief, and the spaces
under the eyes filled with strips of black
silk velvet, till I, and Mrs. Woodward, and
Dr. Chandler were satisfied that it would be
88 JANE C. RIDER,
total darkness to us. I then took a book
quite new to her, and opened it at a page
wholly by accident. She took the book,
and read the page distinctly and accurately,
shut up the book, and declared she would
read no more.
It was then proposed to her to play back-
gammon ; she declared that she did not
understand the game : she however con-
sented to play, and with the assistance of
an experienced prompter, threw the dice
and made the moves correctly, always say-
ing as the dice fell upon the board, five, six,
&c. as the case might be. She learned
the game pretty well in the course of the
day—played with Dr. Bartlett of Lowell,
Dr. Butler, the editor of the Mass. Spy, &c.
She slept nearly all day. At night she
waked, and it was proposed to her to play
the game. She said that she did not un-
derstand it ; and, in attempting to play, she
failed even to set the men. She has often
played the game since, and has thoroughly
learned it, and now plays it well both in the
paroxysms and in the lucid interval. We
LETTER FROM DR. W. 89
have found that when least disturbed she
Soonest comes out of the paroxysm.
From the time that she came into the
Hospital till the 16th of Dec. her eyes were
closed, and she was in great pain if forced
to open them. On that day she walked about
all the time of the paroxysm with her eyes
wide open. They were dull and heavy, her
face flushed, and she was very mischievous.
On that and the succeeding days I tried
the bandage on her eyes, and she uniformly
declared that she could not see at all, and
that it was total darkness. As she was so
playful and roguish on those days, I did not
feel that I could rely with great confidence
on her statements, although the fact that
the eyes were open led me to predict that
she could not see. Subsequent experience
has satisfied me that this extraordinary
power is lost, at least for the present. For
Some time after this change took place she
did not recollect in the interval what occurred
in the paroxysm, and was as much in the
dark about it as she was before ;-recently
she has a recollection of what occurs in the
paroxysm afterwards, and her manners have
90 JANE G. RIDER.
greatly improved in the paroxysm, so that
she is now quite a civil, well bred somnam-
bulist.
The fever left her in about a fortnight, or
perhaps a day or two less. Her head and
extremities were blistered, and she took
Fowler’s Solution. She had one long parox-
ysm, and two short ones of 15 or 20 minutes,
in the fortnight. Her diet was then restricted.
to gruel, weak coffee, porridge, &c. I am
satisfied she often has paroxysms from eat-
ing too much, or what is improper for her.
She is also inclined to eat in the paroxysm,
which in my opinion protracts it. * * *
During the early part of her residence
here she repeated verses, in the paroxysms,
which she could not recollect at all in the
interval, and sung as at Springfield. At
present I am confident she has lost that
power, and that the acuteness of her
faculties, as well as that of the senses, is
lost.
With respect to a theory of this interesting
case, I am confirmed in my first impression
of the rationalé of the symptoms. Acute-
ness of vision to an astonishing degree and
LETTER FROM DB. W. 91
of memory of early impressions—and as
phrenologists would say, a morbid manifes-
tation of the faculty of time and tune, so that
she could sing accurately and agreeably,
although she can do neither in her ordinary
state of health. This is settling the matter
at a sweep, I am sensible ; but yet it ap-
pears to be philosophically done. * * *
Truly and affectionately yours,
S. B. WooDWARD.”
“Worcester, Feb. 11, 1834.
“DEAR Doc Tor, -
* * * * * J ne’s paroxysms have
ceased altogether for the last 9 days, and
she is in good health, excepting a distress
after taking food. She has never appeared
so cheerful, and in so good spirits, since her
residence with us. During most of last
week she did the duty of an assistant, in the
absence of one of our attendants, and she
has done more or less work in the halls
every day. During the last paroxysm I ap-
plied leeches to her head. She waked
during the paroxysm, not a little surprised
at her new head ornaments. She now takes
92 JANE C. RIDER,
the Myrrh and Iron pills, and no other medi-
cine. She has lately chosen a milk diet,
which suits her. * *
Yours truly,
S. B. WooDWARD.”
93
CHAPTER III.
R.E.M.A.R.R.S.
Those who have witnessed Jane’s con-
duct for a single hour during a paroxysm,
need not be told that she is no impostor.—
There is an air of honesty about her, which,
however difficult it may be to describe, it is
easy to discern, and hard to counterfeit.
But, independent of any regard to her cha-
racter, the very nature of the facts stated
preclude the idea of imposition; certainly
unless it be admitted that others were con-
cerned with her in a conspiracy to delude
the public. No art could enable her to see
in a dark room, or when her eyes were closely
covered. Nor is the supposition that she
was assisted by others at all more tenable ;
for aside from the improbability of the thing,
an argument which those only who know
the circumstances can duly appreciate, the
same phenomena have been witnessed at
9
94 JAINE C. RIDER.
Mr. Stebbins's, at my house, and at Worces-
ter; and at neither of the removes which
she made was she accompanied by a single
individual who had before been connected
with her. And, if any farther confirmation
is necessary, the fact that a cure has been
nearly effected by medical treatment, proves!,
most incontestably, that these extraordinary
powers were the effect of bodily disease.
On reviewing this case, we at once perceive
that in addition to the mental hallucination
and the peculiar state of the bodily organs
which constitute somnambulism, there is an
unnatural or excited state of some of the
intellectual powers connected with physical
disease ; analogous to that which exists in
some cases of insanity, or in persons whose
brain is affected by disease, or in conse-
quence of mechanical violence. The extra-
ordinary revival of past impressions, the
ability to sing, and the talent of imitation,
therefore, are to be classed with similar oc-
currences not connected with the Somnam-
bulist state.
The records of medicine furnish many
examples of a similar affection of the mental
REMARKABLE CASES. 95
faculties connected with different diseases.
In the case recorded by Dr. Dyce, most of
the peculiarities which appeared so remarka-
ble in Jane were observed; but I now pro-
pose to notice a few examples in which the
same symptoms have been witnessed dis-
connected with Somnambulism.
“A case occurred in St. Thomas’s Hos-
pital of a man, who was in a state of stupor
in consequence of an injury of the head. On
his partial recovery, he spoke a language
which nobody in the hospital understood,
but which was soon ascertained to be Welsh.
It was then discovered that he had been 30
years absent from Wales, and before the
accident he had entirely forgotten his native
language. On his perfect recovery, he
completely forgot his Welsh again, and re-
covered the English language.
“A lady mentioned by Dr. Prichard, when
in a state of delirium, spoke a language
which nobody about her understood, but
which also was discovered to be Welsh.-
None of her friends could form any concep-
tion of the manner in which she had become
acquainted with that language; but, after,
96 JANE C. R.II) ER.
much inquiry, it was discovered that in her
childhood she had a nurse from Brittany,
the dialect of which is closely analogous to
the Welsh. The lady had at that time
learned a good deal of this language, but
had entirely forgotten it for many years be-
fore this attack of fever.
“A woman who was a native of the High-
lands, but accustomed to speak English,
was under the care of Dr. Macintosh, on
account of an attack of apoplexy. She was
so far recovered as to look around her with
an appearance of intelligence, but the Doc-
tor could not make her comprehend any
thing he said to her, or answer the most
simple question. He then desired one of
her friends to address her in Gaelic, when
she immediately answered with readiness
and fluency. - *
“An Italian gentleman, mentioned by Dr.
Rush, who died of the yellow fever in New
York, in the beginning of his illness spoke
English, in the middle of it French ; but
on the day of his death he spoke only
Italian.
“A case is related of a boy, who at the
REMARKABLE CAS E.S. 97
age of four received a fracture of the skull,
for which he underwent the operation of
trepam. He was at that time in a state of
perfect stupor, and after his recovery re-
tained no recollection of the accident or the
operation. At the age of fifteen, during
the delirium of a fever, he gave his mother
a correct description of the operation, and
the persons who were present at it, with
their dress, and other minute particulars.
He had never been observed to allude to it
before, and no means were known by which
he could have acquired the circumstances
which he mentioned.”
Other examples of the influence of dis-
eases on the mind might be added, but
enough have been given to answer the pur-
pose of illustration. --
But that which distinguishes the case
whose history has just been given from alloth-
ers which I can find, and were I to judge from
the incredulity with which the statements
respecting it have been received, from all
others on record, is the extraordinary power
of vision. I say extraordinary power of vision;
for I believe, darkness and bandages not-
98 JANE G. RIDER.
withstanding, that when Jane read, wrote,
&c., she actually saw ; and that perception
was not communicated in a mysterious way
of which we can form no idea. In the
records of animal magnetism, it is true, we
read of persons acquiring a knowledge of
external things by means which have no
connexion with the senses: as for example
discovering the contents of a sealed letter
by merely applying it to the pit of the
stomach or the back of the head, or what is
stranger still, detecting the secret thoughts of
another only by contact, or without contact,
if placed in a certain magnetic relation.
And strange as these facts appear, this sys-
tem has believers; and many, I doubt not,
ascribe the knowledge which Jane obtains
of visible objects, when her eyes are closed,
to an influence of this kind. I have received
a letter from a very respectable gentleman
who wished to ascertain some facts relative
to her vision, obviously with a view to satisfy
himself on this very point.
As to animal magnetism, its claims are
of so very extraordinary a character, that a
man must possess more than an ordinary
Vf SION. 99
share of credulity who can at once be brought
to admit them. But, without entering into
a discussion of this subject, I am satisfied
that all the facts in the case under conside-
ration admit of a solution on less questiona-
ble principles.
Two things are necessary to vision; first,
that an inverted image of the object be
painted on the retina, or nervous expansion
at the back of the eye : secondly, that the
impression be conveyed to the brain in such
a way as to occasion perception.
The eye is simply an optical instrument,
made up of parts endowed with different
refractive powers, so arranged and combined
as to form a distinct image just where it
should fall, on the retina. That part of the
process of vision, therefore, which relates to
the formation of this image, is purely physi-
cal,—the effect of a physical agent, modified
by physical causes.—The eye is entirely
passive—it affects the light passing through
it in precisely the same way that inanimate
transparent substances of the same form
and density would affect it ; that is, it
changes the direction of the rays, and brings
100 JANE C. RIDER.
them to a ſocus at a certain point behind it.
Light must pass from the object throuhg the
eye, or no image will be formed on the retina;
and without this image, we cannot conceive
it possible that external objects should be
seen. The transſer of this impression to
the brain by the optic nerve, and the percep-
tion which follows, are vital processes; and,
of course, may be performed with greater
or less facility and perſection according to
the state of the organs on which they de-
pend. These principles must be regarded
as established and fundamental, and no the-
ory of vision, in the present state of science,
can be admitted which is not based on them.
Darkness, strictly speaking, is the absence
of light ; but, in the common acceptation
of the word, its signification is only relative.
We speak of darkness in relation to the or-
gans of vision. To organs of a certain con-
struction an apartment may be quite dark,
and yet there may be light enough to enable
animals whose relation to this element is
different, to see perfectly. For example,
many quadrupeds, and some birds, can see
in an atmosphere which, to most men,
VISION. 101
would appear totally dark; and, judging
from the habits of many tribes of insects, to
which night is the season of activity and
enjoyment, we should infer that their organs
are adapted to the degree of light which
then exists.
Light and heat are analogous in their
laws, and in many of their properties. Heat,
we know, cannot, by any means within our
control, be entirely abstracted from any body
or space; for however low the temperature
may be reduced, we feel confident that the
reduction might be carried still farther.
Had we the same means of testing the
presence of light that we have of heat, we
should undoubtedly find that it is seldom ab-
sent from any space, however dark it may
appear to our senses.
There are two ways in which objects
may become visible in an atmosphere coal-
paratively dark. The first is by an enlarge-
ment of the pupil, a round opening in the
membraneous partition of the eye, through
which the light must pass to reach the
retina. In this way a greater number of
rays than ordinary will be admitted, and
# 02 JANE C. RIDER.
objects will thus be rendered perceptible
which were before invisible. Hence it is
that we can see better after having been a
few moments in a dark room than when we
first entered it. The second way in which
objects may become visible, when there is
too little light for ordinary vision, is by an
increase in the sensibility of the retina, so
that fewer rays than common are necessary to
make a distinct impression. This increased
sensibility may be the result of various causes.
It may be the consequence of long confine-
ment in the dark.-Some men who have
been confined in dark cells for years, have
in this way acquired an astonishing acute-
ness of vision. Causes affecting the whole
nervous system may give to the sense of
sight, in common with the other senses, a
high degree of sensibility. The history of
Caspar Hauser” furnishes a remarkable ex-
ample of this general exaltation of the senses
—his sense of smell was so acute as to be
a source of unceasing annoyance—wherever
he went he was assailed by disagreeable
odors—almost every thing but bread and
* See Appendix, Note A.
CASPAR HAUSER. } 03
water was disgusting to his taste—he could
see much better in twilight than in open
day, and in the darkest night needed no
artificial light to enable him to walk se-
curely through the most intricate passages
in the city, or any where within the house.
Inflammation too, it is well known, occasions
an uncommon sensibility to light. In cases
of inflammation of the eye, it often becomes
necessary not only to exclude the light by
bandages, but to confine the patient in a
dark room—a single ray admitted to the eye
often gives the most intense pain. In all
cases in which the sensibility of the retina
is much increased, too strong a light over-
powers the organ ; in order to see distinctly,
the degree of light must be less than that
which would be required in the natural state
of the eye. -
There is abundant evidence that this
increased sensibility of the retina existed in
Jane, and that during the paroxysm it was
augmented to a very great degree. Hence
it was that the light of the sun always gave
pain to the eye, even when she was in her
usual health—hence, too, during the parox-
ySm, she always closed the eye to exclude
104 JANE C. RIDER.
the light; and, if the paroxysm occurred in
the day time, made use of the additional
defence of a bandage. This also accounts
for the expression which she once used in a
cloudy day—“what a beautiful day it is,
how bright the sun shinesſ” The small
quantity of light which passed through the
eyelid, was sufficient, in the excited state of
the retina, to give her the impression that
the sun shone. The extreme pain which
she experienced when the light was thrown
upon the unprotected eyelid, with the mirror,
is to be explained in the same way. The
effect was equivalent to that which would be
produced on a healthy eye, if, when open,
it were suddenly placed in the focus of a
powerful lens. These, and many other
circumstances which might be mentioned,
leave no room to doubt that the same causes
which occasioned the paroxysm produced
a very great temporary augmentation of the
sensibility of the retina—a sensibility which
enabled her to see distinctly in a room so
dark that to common eyes no object was
discernible.
But, the question arises, will this state of
A THEORY. . 105
the retina account for her seeing with her
eyes closed and bandaged " That she could
not see through substances absolutely opaque is
certain—she could not see through a watch-case,
nor have I any reason to believe she could per-
ceive objects through a book or a board, or in a
distant apartment. Light passes through the
eyelid, as every one can satisfy himself by
looking with his eyes closed towards a candle
or the sun. It also passes through a ban-
dage, but in so small a quantity as not to be
noticed by our organs of vision. If in the
dark, we hold a handkerchief doubled or
even quadrupled between the eyes and a
lamp, we can perceive light. We can easily
conceive therefore that light enough may
penetrate even a thick bandage to be per-
ceived when the organ is in a state 6f high
excitement.
There is, however, one objection to this
view of the subject. It may be admitted
that light penetrates the bandage, and in
quantity sufficient for vision. But, that a
person may see external objects, it is neces-
sary that a distinct image of the object be
formed on the retina, even though it be a
- 10
106 JAIN E C. RIDER.
faint one. Now the rays of light, in passing
through a bandage, or through the eyelid,
are so variously refracted that no distinct
image is formed. If a piece of common
writing paper be held between the eye and a
light, the paper appears luminous, but we
cannot see through it. But, if the paper be
oiled, it becomes, in a measure, transparent,
so that we can see through it with tolerable
distinctness. The rays of light in passing
through it are then more equally refracted—
that is, they are all alike bent out of their
course, so that they afterwards form a dis-
tinct image. Light enough for vision un-
questionably often penetrates the eyelid ;
but still we do not see, nor should we if the
light were increased a thousand fold ; no
distinct image would be formed on the reti-
na. Something more than an extraordina-
ry sensibility to the impression of light is
necessary, therefore, in order to understand
how objects can be seen when the eyes are
closed. There must be, it appears to me, a
change in the brain itself—an excited state
of the organ, in consequence of which per-
ception, so far, at least, as relates to this or-
* A. THEORY. 107
der of impressions, is effected more readily
than usual. In this way we can conceive
that it would be possible for even a confused
image to be perceived.
Nor is this a mere supposition, entirely un-
supported by evidence. There was certain-
ly some change, in consequence of which
Jane was able to recall past impressions
with an extraordinary degree of distinctness.
The power of perceiving the relation of
sounds, which constitutes tune, was also de-
veloped, so that she could sing with a toler-
able degree of correctness. These facts
show conclusively, that some relations were
perceived with a vigor and distinctness al-
together unusual. Why not, therefore, ad-
mit that the same change extended to that
function of the brain by which the mind
perceives impressions transmitted from the
retina 7–or, in the language of phrenolo-
gists, that the organ of color was excited
equally with that of tune 4*
In the case of the servant girl, who in her
paroxysms manifested such an astonishing
* See Appendix, Note B.
108 JANE C. RIDER.
knowledge of Geography and Astronomy,
it is not at all probable, that when she
heard these subjects explained by the tutor
she understood his meaning. If so, she
would afterwards have alluded to it. In
the paroxysms, her intellectual powers were
so much increased that she comprehended
what was before to her a mere tissue of .
words without meaning, or what was, at
best, but very imperfectly perceived.
One of the most extraordinary examples
on record, however, of the effect of disease
in developing the power of perceiving a cer-
tain class of relations, is that of Zerah Col-
burn. His history is well known. When
quite a child, in his sixth year, without any
previous instruction, he could, by mere in-
tuition, perceive the relation of numbers with
so much readiness and precision, as to solve,
almost without reflection, questions in arith-
metic, which would require a long calcula-
tion to enable others to answer. How he
obtained this result, he could not tell. The
answer seemed to present itself to his mind
with the same readiness, and conviction of
ZERAII COLB URIN. 109
its truth, that the proposition, two and two
make four, does to us.* These facts, I say,
are well known ; but it is not so well known,
that this power was the effect of disease. Sr
That such was the case, I have very little
doubt. This was the opinion of a very dis-
tinguished physician who saw him at the
time, and who ascertained that he was then
affected with a peculiar nervous disease—
the same which Jane had a few years since.
In conversing with Mr. Colburn, about a
year ago, I asked him if he retained the
power of calculation which he possessed in
his childhood. He said, No ; and attributed
the loss to a want of its exercise. But why
should it require exercise to sustain a faculty
in existence which was spontaneously de-
veloped 4 -
Facts like these not only give plausibility
to, but go far towards establishing, the
opinion, that the power of perceiving certain
properties or certain relations may be very
greatly increased, while the power of
perceiving other properties, or other rela-
* See Appendix, Note C.
10%
1 10 JANE C. RIDER.
tions, is not affected—and that this change
is the result of physical causes influ-
encing the brain. I conceive, therefore,
that the extraordinary power of vision
manifested by Jane, was the result of
the combined effect of two causes :-First,
increased sensibility of the retina, in conse-
quence of which objects were rendered visi-
ble in comparative darkness. Second, a
high degree of excitement in the brain it-
self, enabling the mind to perceive even a
confused image of the object.
It has lately been announced in the news-
papers as a new discovery that Jane’s dis-
ease was in the stomach,--that all her pe-
culiar symptoms were occasioned by tem-
porary determinations of blood to the head,
produced by the derangement of the diges-
tive organs. So far from being a new dis-
covery, this view of the nature of her com-
plaint has been entertained from its very
commencement, and upon it have been
founded principally our hopes of a cure.
Physiology teaches us that thought, and
all the intellectual operations, the suscepti-
REMARKS. 11 i
bility of receiving impressions of external
things by means of the senses, and the
power of voluntary motion, are depend-
ent on the brain. These functions may be
entirely suspended by causes affecting this
organ, as in apoplexy, where there is neither
thought, motion, or sensation of any kind,
or they may be modified in a great variety
of ways. Nor is it always necessary that
these causes should act directly on the brain
itself. Such is the connexion between the
different organs that they exert a mutual
influence—when one suffers, another par-
takes in the derangement. Between the
digestive organs and the brain, this harmo-
ny of parts, or sympathy, as it is technically
termed, is particularly intimate. We all
know that a full meal is not favorable to
intense mental application, and the sick
headach has undoubtedly furnished many
of us with abundant and painful evidence
of the sympathy between the head and the
stomach. -
It matters not by what means this mutual
influence is exerted, whether by occasioning
1 12 JANE C. RIDER..
v
a determination of blood to the part, or in
some other way—the fact is all that is im-
portant, viz. that the sensibility of the dif-
ferent organs, and the facility with which
intellectual operations are performed, may
be increased or diminished by causes which
affect the brain only indirectly.
We can now understand how a state of
ill health, in which the brain is not primarily
diseased, may occasion a train of symptoms
with which it seems to have no relation.—
If it be asked how a physical cause, acting
either directly or indirectly on the brain,
can restore to the mind that which had
been long forgotten, or endow it with the
power of perceiving relations to which it
had before been insensible, I can only an-
swer, I do not know ; nor do I know how
the brain ever acts, when the mind per-
ceives or remembers:–we here reach a gulf
which human intelligence cannot pass.
The sudden developement of such extra-
ordinary powers through the influence of
disease, exhibits in a strong light the nature
of the relation between the spiritual and
REMARKs. 113
material portions of our being. The brain
is the instrument by means of which the
mind acts, and the increase of intellectual
power is the effect of excitement in the phy-
sical organ. But this view of the case,
though it establishes the indissoluble con-
nexion between the state of the bodily func-
tions and the manifestations of mind, is very
far from proving that the latter are the mere
result of organization. Indeed all the facts
connected with this subject, when properly
understood, lead directly to the opposite con-
clusion. The eye is essential to sight, the
acuteness of which depends on the structure
and condition of the organ—yet no one
believes that the eye itself sees—it is only
the instrument of vision. So of the brain ; it
is the material organ by means of which the
mind perceives, thinks and remembers; and
these mental acts are performed with a
greater or less degree of perfection, accord-
ing to the state of functional excitement in
the parts on which they depend. And
when from the mere stimulus of disease,
we occasionally see the mind exerting un-
114 JANE C. RIDER.
wonted powers, and astonishing us by the
kind and rapidity of its attainments, we
may, perhaps, form an imperfect idea of its
condition in a future state, when its means
of perception will not only be greatly im-
proved, but vastly multiplied.
Dr. Woodward, whose standing in the
profession, as well as opportunities of obser-
vation, deservedly entitle his opinions to
great weight, has thrown out some sugges-
tions on this subject which appear to me as
just as they are beautiful. They are ex-
tracted, by permission, from a manuscript
lecture which he lately delivered.
“That the mind is dependent upon, and
intimately connected with, physical develope-
ment, is one of the fundamental principles
of physiology. It is useless to shut our eyes
against the facts on this subject, and blindly
to doubt, while every step in the progress of
physiological science shows an intimate
union between the physical system and the
mind. In the commencement of our career
the two systems are alike feeble, helpless,
and imperfect. The limbs, though complete
in organization, are almost wholly: power-
RE MARKS. 115
less. The organs of sense, too, though per-
fectly formed, are capable of conveying to
the mind only the simplest ideas, or the
most indistinct and confused impressions, all
of which are transitory, and require frequent
repetition in order to convey any clear, dis-
tinct knowledge to the mind.
This indissoluble union and connexion is
evinced by the fact that the body and mind
both repose together ; that one is never
healthy and vigorous while the other is fee-
ble and infirm. The phenomena of disease
show that one cannot be disturbed without
the other unites in the suffering, and par-
takes of the evil. In Apoplexy, Catalepsy,
and Syncope, the mind is apparently anni-
hilated. A state of complete insensibility
takes place for a time—all the efforts that
we can make cannot restore consciousness
till the physical powers are again renovated.
Sensibility then returns, and all the mental
energies, for a while so dormant, are awak-
ened to life and restored to vigor. In inju-
ries of the brain by compression or concus-
sion, the same phenomena take place ; and,
1 16 JANE C. RIDER.
if the injury is serious, the functions of the
brain are never performed again, and a total
loss of intellect exhibited in idiotism ; or an
irregular performance of these functions, and
incurable insanity is the result.
And how are we to account for the in-
fluence of age upon the mind, which appa-
rently destroys it, so well as to suppose the
physical system is unfit for its manifestation 7
If the mind were independent of the body,
it would lose none of its functions by a de-
cay of the latter; and such a decay under
such circumstances would inevitably lead to
the conclusion that the mind is annihilated
when the man ceases to exist. On the
other hand, the intimate connexion there is
between a sound body and vigorous mind
shows that the latter may actin a new sphere
with all the energy of pristine existence.
Let us illustrate this by a familiar example.
Suppose that an experienced player on a
violin should take an excellent instrument,
well tuned and well strung, and make music
upon it of the finest kind. He continues to
play, and after a while a string wears out
and is broken—a key gives way and will no
POWERS OF THE MIND. 117
longer do its office. He still plays on—the
music becomes more and more imperfect, till
finally the instrument is destroyed. Does
this prove that the player has lost his skill '!
Surely not—the instrument only is worn ,
Out. - - -
“So with the mind—when one and another
sense and faculty is lost, and finally, in old
age, every vestige of mind is obliterated—
to all appearance blotted out forever.—It is
far from being the fact ; and this deceptive
appearance is all attributable to the decay
of the physical system, by which system
only these manifestations of mind are appa-
rent ; and a new state of existence, like a
resuscitation from Syncope or asphyxia, will
bring forth the mind with all its vigor and
intelligence. And, may it not be that all
the knowledge which has, for the whole
life, been treasured up, will at once be
brought to remembrance; and the energies
of the mind, by the new impulses that shall
then be given them, will be a thousand fold
greater than they ever have been in their
primitive existence 1 This is a view of the
| | -
118 , JANE C. RIDER.
subject which I have long contemplated,
and which, for some time, I have believed to
be true. My opinion is that all knowledge
once impressed on the mind, remains indeli-
bly fixed there, and only requires a strong
"stimulus to call it forth. In typhus fever,
somnambulism, and other affections of the
brain and nervous system, subjects long for-
gotten recur with freshness to the mind,
and are repeated with facility and in detail.
In insanity past impressions return to the
recollection with pristine freshness: — in
dreaming, how many facts are presented to
the mind, which have been for years appa-
rently lost, because no stimulus sufficiently
active has been applied to call them forth.
Forgotten languages recur to the memory
in disease; and insane people sometimes
communicate their ideas in languages of
which before they retained no recollection.
“If it should prove in a future state of ex-
istence, that all the knowledge which we
gain in this world will, by the increased
energy of mind, be restored to the recollec-
tion, and be at the command of the will,
WIS DOM OF THE DEITY. 119
and in the grand designs of the Almighty
Intelligence we shall be unceasingly con-
scious both of the present and past, how;
exalted will be the future destiny of man,
and how ought we to adore the wisdom and
benevolence of the Deity l’”
I 21
A P P E N D I X.
NOTE A,
The following extracts from the published
“Account of Caspar Hauser,” an account “ drawn
up from legal documents,” and of unquestioned
credibility, show “the almost preternatural acute-
ness and intensity of his sensual perceptions.”
As to his sight, there existed in respect to him
no twilight, no night, no darkness. This was
first noticed, by remarking that at night he stepped
everywhere with the greatest confidence; and
that, in dark places, he always refused a light
when it was offered to him. He often looked
with astonishment, or laughed at persons, who in
dark places, for instance when entering a house
or walking on a staircase by night, sought safety
in groping their way, or in laying hold on adjacent
objects. In twilight, he even saw much better
than in broad daylight, Thus, after sunset, he
once read the number of a house at the distance
of 180 paces, which in day light, he would not
have been able to distinguish so far off. Towards
the close of twilight, he once pointed out to his
instructor a gnat, that was hanging in a very
distant spider’s web. ...At the distance of, certainly
11
122 . APPEN ID | X.
not less than sixty paces, he could distinguish the
single berries in a cluster of elderberries from
each other, and these berries from black currants.
It has becn proved by experiments carefully made,
that in a perfectly dark night, he could distinguish
different dark colors, such as blue and green, from
each other.
When, at the commencement of twilight, a
common eye could not yet distinguish more than
three or four stars in the sky, he could already
discern the different groups of stars, and he could
distinguish the different single stars of which they
were composed, from each other, according to
their magnitudes and the peculiarities of their
colored light. From the enclosure of the castle
at Nuremberg, he could count a row of windows
in the castle of Marloffstein ; and from the castle,
a row of the windows of a house lying below the
fortress of Rothenberg. His sight was as sharp,
in distinguishing objects near by, as it was pene-
trating, in discerning them at a distance. In anat-
omizing plants, he noticed subtile distinctions and
delicate particles, which had entirely escaped the
observation of others. •
Scarcely less sharp and penetrating than his
sight, was his hearing When taking a walk in
the fields, he once heard, at a distance compara-
tively very great, the footsteps of several persons,
and he could distinguish these persons from each
other, by their walk.
Of all his senses, that which was the most
troublesome to him, which occasioned him the
most painful sensations, and which made his life
APPENDIX. #23
in the world more disagreeable to him than any
other, was the sense of smelling. What to us is
entirely scentless, was not so to him. The most
delicate and delightful odors of flowers, for in-
stance the rose, were perceived by him as insup-
portable stenches, which painfully affected his
Il 61 WCS. •
What announces itself by its smell to others,
only when very near, was scented by him at a
very considerable distance. Excepting the smell
of bread, of fennel, of anise, and of caraway, to
which he says he had already been accustoned in .
his prison, — for his bread was seasoned with
these condiments—all kinds of smells were more
or less disagreeable to him. When he was once
asked, which of all other smells was most agreea-
ble to him ; he answered, none at all. His walks.
and rides, were often rendered very unpleasant by
leading him near to flower gardens, tobacco fields,
nut trees, and other plants which affected his ol-
factory nerves; and he paid dearly for his recre-
ations in the free air, by suffering afterwards from
headachs, cold sweats, and attacks offever. He
smelt tobacco, when in blossom in the fields, at
the distance of fifty paces, and at more than one
hundred paces, when it was hung up in bundles
to dry, as is commonly the case about the houses
in the villages near Nuremberg.
He could distinguish apple, pear, and plum
trees from each other at a considerable distance,
by the smell of their leaves. The different color-
ing materials used in the painting of walls and
furniture, and in the dying of cloths, &c., the pig-
124 APPENDIX.
ments with which he colored his pictures, the ink
or pencil with which he wrote, all things about
him, wafted odors to his nostrils which were un-
pleasant or painful to him. If a chimney sweeper
walked the streets, though at the distance of sev-
eral paces from him, he turned his face shudder-
ing from his smell.
What we call unpleasant smells, were perceiv-
ed by him with much less aversion, than many of
our perfumes. The smell of fresh meat was to
him the most horrible of all smells. When Pro-
fessor Daumer, in the autumn of 1828, walked
with Caspar near to St. John’s churchyard, in the
vicinity of Nuremberg, the smell of the dead bo-
dies, of which the professor had not the slightest
perception, affected him so powerfully, that he was
immediately seized with an ague, and began to
shudder. The ague was soon succeeded by a
feverish heat, which at length broke out into a
violent perspiration, by which his linen was thor-
oughly wet.
In respect to his sensibility of the presence of
the metals, and his ability to distinguish them
from each other by his feelings alone, Proſessor
Daumer has collected a great number of facts,
from which I shall select only a few. In autumn,
1828, he once accidentally entered a store filled
with hardware and particularly with brass wares.
He had scarcely entered, before he hurried out
again, being affected with violent shuddering, and
saying that he felt a drawing in his whole body in
all directions.
At a time when Caspar was absent, Professor
APPENDIX. 125
Daumer placed a gold ring, a steel and brass
compass, and a silver drawing pen under some
paper, so that it was impossible for him to see
what was concealed under it. Daumer directed
him to move his finger over the paper without
touching it; he did so; and by the difference of
the sensation and strength of the attraction, which
these different metals caused him to feel at the
points of his fingers, he accurately distinguished
them all from each other according to their respec-
tive matter and form.—Once, when the physician,
Dr. Osterhausen, and the royal crownfiscal Brun-
ner from Munchen happened to be present, Mr.
Daumer led Caspar, in order to try him, to a table
covered with an oil cloth, upon which a sheet of
paper lay, and desired him to say, whether any
metal was under it; he moved his finger over it
and then said : ºthere it draws “But this time,”
replied Daumer, “you are nevertheless mistaken;
for,” withdrawing the paper, “nothing lies under
it.” Caspar seemed at first to be somewhat em-
barrassed; but he put his finger again to the place
where he thought he had felt the drawing, and
assured them repeatedly, that he there felt a draw-
ing. The oil cloth was then removed, a stricter
search was made, and a needle was actually found
there. . * . -
When he laid his hand upon a horse, a cold
sensation, as he said, went up his arm ; and when
he was mounted, he felt as if a draught of wind
passed through his body. But these sensations
went over after he had several times rode his horse .
around the riding School.
126 APPENDIX.
When he caught a cat by the tail, he was seized
with a strong fit of shivering, and felt as if he had
received a blow upon his hand.
NOTE: IB,
It will scarcely escape the observations of
phrenologists, that the organs which, according to
the system of Spurzheim, correspond to the men-
tal faculties that were affected during the parox-
ysms, are grouped together in the anterior part of
the brain, near the region in which she felt such
acute pain. The organs of Color, Tune, Time,
Wit and Imitation, were evidently, in the language
of phrenology, morbidly excited. It is certain also
that the excitement was confined almost entirely to
the intellectual faculties—the sentiments and pro-
pensities were not at all affected. There was no
uncommon manifestation of Benevolence, Wenera-
tion or Hope, nor of Combativeness, Destructive-
ness, or any other of the propensities. Whatever
may be said of the specific details of phrenological
science, the facts brought to light in this and other
analogous cases, it must be admitted, go very far
towards establishing the fundamental principle
that the mind acts by separate, and to a certain
extent, independent organs.
APPENDIX. 127
NOTE: C,
The power of computation evinced by the
youthful Colburn, springing up as it did sponta-
neously, and without any previous instruction, is
one of the most remarkable facts in the history of
mind; and is in itself much more incomprehensible
than the extraordinary acuteness of vision mani-
fested by the subject of this memoir. Its discov-
ery was purely accidental. Zerah, not having yet
completed his sixth year, was overheard by his
father as he repeated to himself, in his play, parts
of the multiplication table. The father, surprised
to find that a boy, who had hitherto possessed no
advantages beyond a six weeks’ attendance at the
district school, discovered such a knowledge of
numbers, proceeded to examine him; and, finding
him perfect in the table, asked him the product of
13×97, to which 1261 was instantly given in
answer. The following extract from a memoir
written by himself, and published within the last
year, will show the facility with which he per-
formed numerical operations in his ninth year.
At a meeting of his friends which was held for
the purpose of concerting the best method of pro-
moting the interest of the child by an education
suited to his turn of mind, he undertook and
succeeded in raising the number 8 to the sixteenth
128 APPENDIX.
power, and gave the answer correctly in the last
result, viz. 281,474,976,710,656. He was then
tried as to other numbers, consisting of one figure,
all of which he raised as high as the tenth power,
with so much facility and dispatch that the person
appointed to take down the results was obliged to
enjoin him not to be too rapid. With respect to
numbers consisting of two figures, he would raise
some of them to the sixth, seventh, and eighth
power, but not always with equal facility; ſor the
larger the products became, the more difficult he
found it to proceed. He was asked the square
root of 106,929, and before the number could be
written down he immediately answered 327. He
was then requested to name the cube root of
268,336,125, and with equal facility and prompt-
ness he replied, 645.
Warious other questions of a similar nature
respecting the roots and powers of very high num-
bers, were proposed by several of the gentlemen
present, to all of which satisfactory answers were
given. One of the party requested him to name
the factors which produced the number 247,483,
which he did by mentioning 941 and 263, which
indeed are the only two factors that will produce
it. Another of them proposed 171,395, and he
named the following factors as the only ones,
viz.: 5× 34279, 7 × 24485, 59 × 2905, 83%2065,
35×4897, 295 ×581, 413 × 415. He was then
asked to give the factors of 36,083, but he im-
mediately replied that it had none ; which in fact
was the case, as 36,083 is a prime number.
It had been asserted and maintained by
APPENDIX. 129
the French mathematicians that 42949.67297
(=2** +1) is a prime number ; but the cele-
brated Euler detected the error by discovering
that it was equal to 641--6,700,417. The same
number was proposed to this child, who found out
the factors by the mere operation of his mind.
On another occasion, he was requested to give
the square of 999,999; he said he could not do
this, but he accomplished it by multiplying 37037
by itself, and that product twice by 27. Ans.
999,998,000,001. He then said he could multiply
that by 49 which he did: Ans. 48,999,902,000,049.
He again undertook to multiply this number by
49 : Ans. 2,400,995,198,002,401. And lastly he
multiplied this great sum by 25, giving as the
final product, 60,024,879,950,060,025. Various
offorts were made by the friends of the boy to
elicit a disclosure of the methods by which he per-
formed his calculations, but for nearly three years
he was unable to satisſy their inquiries. There
was, through practice, an increase in his power of
computation ; when first beginning, he went no
farther in multiplying than three places of figures;
it afterwards became a common thing with him to
multiply four places by four ; in some instances
five figures by five have been given,
130 APPENDIX.
LETTERS FROM SEVERAL GENTLEMEN.
FROM THE HON. W.M. B. CALHOUN.
Boston, Feb. 6, 1834.
DEAR SIR, -
In reply to your note of the 30th ult. I can
simply state, that I saw Miss Rider, repeatedly,
in the paroxysms of somnambulism or reverie.
Her eyes were covered with a closely folded silk
handkerchief, having a thick wadding of cotton
underneath—the whole drawn tightly over her
eyes. In this situation, I saw and heard her read
whatever was presented to her, promptly and dis-
tinctly, under circumstances which precluded, in
my opinion, all chance of deception. Several
experiments of this nature were tried in my pre-
sence, which satisfactorily removed all the distrust-
fulness that I had previously felt.
Your friend and ob’t servt.
W. B. CALHoun.
DR. BELDEN. - -
FROM THE REW. W. B. O. PEABODY.
Springfield, Feb. 14, 1834.
DEAR SIR, -
I had the pleasure of hearing your lecture de-
APPENDIX. 131
livered in the Springfield Lyceum, and with
respect to those facts which fell under my obser-
vation, I can confidently add my testimony to
your own. Before I saw Jane Rider, I had no
confidence whatever in the reports which I heard
of her extraordinary power of vision, for the
simple reason that I thought it more easily
accounted for on the supposition of imposture :
acting under this impression, when I first saw her
in this state, I endeavored to startle her with a
charge of imposture, so sudden and unexpected,
that she must have betrayed signs of some
emotion, of anger at least, had she been conscious
of what was passing: but such experiments,
though convincing, were unnecessary ; for the
most skeptical could not see her, for any length
of time, without being persuaded that she was
actually in a deep sleep. I saw your experiments,
in which you covered her eyes, and after close
examination, I was convinced that she could not
see under the bandage : but had she done so, the
papers which she read, were held in such manner,
as not to be seen in that direction. While one of
the cards was before her, I looked at it at the
same time and the same distance, without being
able to distinguish a letter ; which was the more
remarkable, since I ascertained by experiment
132 - APPENI) IX.
when she was awake, that she was very near-
sighted, not being able to read at the distance of
two feet what others could read without difficulty
when it was twice as far from their eyes. When
these experiments and the precise circumstances
under which they were tried are given to the world
in your lecture, those, if there are any, who are
not inclined to admit the facts, will be under the
necessity of showing in what manner you were
deceived ; your experiments were as numerous
and thorough as circumstances would allow : so
that it will not be enough to discredit the statement
without explaining how so many witnesses were
misled, the great proportion of whom, like myself,
went to the place thoroughly incredulous, and left
it thoroughly satisfied that there could be neither
delusion nor imposture.
Respectfully and truly yours,
- W. B. O. PEABody.
FROM DR., JOHN STONE.
Springfield, Feb. 14, 1834.
DEAR SIR, -
In compliance with your request that I would
give you my opinion of the interesting case of
Miss Rider, I simply state that, on one occasion,
I saw her in a paroxysm of Somnambulism, and
APPENDIX. 133
heard her repeat distinctly and correctly several
passages of poetry which, it was said, she could
not recollect when awake. She also, in my
presence, with her eyes bandaged, read several
cards which were presented to her; and, in a
single instance, one which was held behind a
palm-leaf fan in such a manner that, I am satisfied,
she could perceive it only by light passing through
the fan. From my observation of the case I am
convinced that her apparent power of distinguish-
ing objects in the dark, and with her eyes covered
is real; and that the facts which have been ob-
served cannot be accounted for on the supposition
of imposture. .#
Yours, &c.
John STONE.
* FROM REW DR. OSGOOD.
Springfield, Feb. 15, 1834.
I hereby certify that I was present when many
of the experiments were made upon Jane Rider,
as narrated in the above history of her case, and
am sure that there could have been no deception
practised ; I fully believe that every thing written
by Dr. Belden is without exaggeration.
SAMUEL Osgood.
12*
134 APPENDIX,
FROM DR. M. B. BAKER.
Springfield, Feb. 14, 1834.
Having, by the politeness of Dr. Belden, had
frequent opportunities of seeing Miss Rider, I am
happy to state that I witnessed many of the most
remarkable phenomena of her case, and that they
are correctly described by him in his account of
her; that the experiments with regard to vision
seemed to me to be fairly performed, and that
there does not seem to me to be the slightest
reason to suspect her of any attempt to impose
upon the public.
M. B. BAKER, M. D.
IErrata.
Page 26, ninth line from bottom, quotation marks at
The, ending with the chapter.
“ 36, fourth line from bottom, strike out the and.
“ 53, third line from top, powers should be singular.
“ 62, tenth line from bottom, for however, read to
write.
“ 63, twelfth line from top, for chrystal, read crys-
tal. -
“. . 63, fourteenth line from top, for put read but.
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