Montgéron supplies evidence that the expression clubs, here used, is not misapplied. He furnishes quotations from a petition addressed to the Parliament of Paris by the mother of the girl Turpin, praying for a legal investigation of her daughter's case by the attorney-general, and offering to furnish him with the names, station in life, and addresses of the witnesses to the wonderful cure, in this case, of a monstrous deformity that was almost congenital; in which petition it is stated,—"Little by little the force with which she was struck was augmented, and at last the blows were given with billets of oak-wood, one end of which was reduced in diameter so as to form a handle, while the other end, with which the strokes were dealt, was from seven to eight inches in circumference, so that these billets were in fact small clubs." (Montgéron, Tom. III. p. 552.) This would give from eight to nine inches, English measure, or nearly three inches in diameter, and of oak!

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46

Dissertation Théologique sur les Convulsions, pp. 70, 71.

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47

De la Folie, Tom. II. p. 373.

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48

Tympany is defined by Johnson, "A kind of obstructed flatulence that swells the body like a drum."

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49

The Epidemics of the Middle Ages, pp. 89-91. The same work supplies other points of analogy between this epidemic and that of St. Médard; for example: "Where the disease was completely developed, the attack commenced with epileptic convulsions."—p. 88.

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50

Traité du Somnambulisme, pp. 384, 385.

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51

Dictionnaire des Sciences Médicales, Art. Convulsions.

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52

De la Folie, considérée, sous la Point de Vue Pathologique, Philosophique, Historique, et Judiciaire, par le Dr. Calmeil, Paris, 1845, Tom. II. pp. 386, 387.

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53

See, in Calmeil's work cited above, the Chapter entitled Théomanie Extato-Convulsive parmi les Jansenistes, Tom. II. pp. 313-400.

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54

Du Surnaturel en Général, Tom. II. pp. 94, 95.

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55

I translate literally the words of the original: "avec des convulsionnaires en gomme élastique," p. 90.

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56

Du Surnaturel en Général, Tom. II. pp. 90, 91.

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57

See note in De Gasparin's "Experiments in Table-Moving."

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58

Montgéron, Tom. III. p. 703.

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59

Montgéron, Tom. III. pp. 712, 713.

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60

Carpenter's Principles of Human Physiology, p. 647.

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61

Carpenter's Principles of Human Physiology, p. 561. The story, incredible if it appear, is indorsed by Carpenter as vouched for by Mr. Richard Smith, late Senior Surgeon of the Bristol Infirmary, under whose care the sufferer had been. The case resulted, after a fortnight, in death.

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62

Such will be found throughout Hecquet's "Le Naturalisme des Convulsions dans les Maladies," Paris, 1733. Dr. Philippe Hecquet, born in 1661, acquired great reputation in Paris as a physician, being elected in 1712 President of the Faculty of Medicine in that city. He is the author of numerous works on medical subjects. In his "Naturalisme des Convulsions," published at the very time when the St.-Médard excitement was at the highest, he admits the main facts, but denies their miraculous character.

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63

"The eye, contrary to the usual notions, is a very insensible part of the body, unless affected with inflammation; for, though the mucous membrane which covers its surface, and which is prolonged from the skin, is acutely sensible to tactile impressions, the interior is by no means so, as is well known to those who have operated much on this organ."—Carpenter's Principles of Human Physiology, p. 682.

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