Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 15.djvu/475

Rh a blush of redness. Some short time after, it became possible to awake her by opening her eyes, and holding anything before them likely to catch her attention, such as a glass of water, a cup, or the like. When awakened in this way, which succeeded best at the times she was getting her food, she generally laughed a good deal and seemed much delighted, and she always bestowed her whole attention on the vessel in which her food or drink was contained, and the person who held it; she, however, did not speak, and paid no attention whatever to the questions put to her. One day about this time, viz., on the 1st of August, in consequence of her usual medicines failing in their effect, she had two or three laxative clysters, and then a small dose of croton-oil, which produced very copious evacuations, but at the same time caused so much griping as to wake her. When suffering from this, she took hold of the blankets of her bed, twisted them in her hands, and applied them over the abdomen, looking wistfully all the while in the faces of the attendants, as if she had recollected the fomentations which had formerly given her relief, and wished them to be had recourse to on the present occasion; her wish was complied with, with the effect of removing the pain, which seemed to give her great satisfaction. In two or three days after this the torpor was much diminished, and she could be awakened with great ease. She likewise began to take a great liking to the young woman who waited on her, so much so that, when awake, she would hardly allow her to be a moment out of her sight. Now also she would sometimes let herself cautiously down on the floor from her bed, and creep to the fireside, where she would lay herself quietly down on the hearth-rug, as if she wished to enjoy the warmth of the fire.

At length, after progressively improving for some days, she was by the third week in August almost free from torpor, and slept little more than a person in health. During all this period, except that her feet were sometimes cold, the temperature of her body was very nearly natural. Her face was for the most part pale, but sometimes a little flushed, and the pupil of the eye uniformly contracted on exposure to the light. Her pulse, which had been rendered slow by the digitalis, was observed to be rather higher for some time preceding her recovery than it had been even before the use of that medicine. She had undoubtedly lost flesh during her illness, but at this time she was not so thin as she had been a short time before. The catamenia had not appeared since the month of May; but, with the exception of considerable loss of strength, her bodily health was now on the whole tolerably good.

On her recovery from the torpor she appeared to have forgotten nearly all her previous knowledge; everything seemed new to her, and she did not recognize a single individual, not even her nearest relatives. In her behavior she was restless and inattentive, but very lively and cheerful; she was delighted with everything she saw