Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 48.djvu/724

652 this way, but could produce no effect upon them whatever. In other words, she failed to present many of the most characteristic phenomena of hypnosis. I think, perhaps, I should say that my attention was called to this little girl's case by her physician, and although in all the experiments that we made upon her we kept a sharp lookout for any indication of evil results, we were never able to detect any. Her waking dreams did not seem to be more injurious than other dreams.

One may justly ask how one can guard against simulation in such cases. I do not think the possibility can be altogether excluded, and in this case I was at first very suspicious. But after a good deal of careful observation one forms a pretty clear opinion, based upon many slight indications. My chief reason for thinking that the phenomena in her case were genuine was that taken as a whole they differed widely from the type of hypnosis she had seen in the public shows she had attended, which would naturally have given the model for her to imitate, and agreed very closely with rare cases reported by other observers.



E are nearing the end of November, and the rains have come. For three months no more than one or two passing showers have fallen, and every tree and shrub in our gardens has done its best to accommodate itself to the changed conditions. During the rains of May, June, and July they grew rampant, the climbers extending themselves in every direction for long distances. Then came a severe check. The burning sun poured down on the parched earth at the beginning of September and caused most of the trees to flag and hang limp. Some of the more delicate plants in the garden had their leaves burned at the edges and for a time they looked unsightly. Some commenced to drop their leaves preparatory to a partial rest, but these were few; the majority braced up, as it were, and soon adapted themselves to the altered situation. The change was characterized at first by a wealth of flowers, but these quickly disappeared, until hardly a blossom could be seen. As the foliage grew less dense, the young fruit became conspicuous, and very soon guavas began to ripen and mangoes to set. Now also the mammee apple, which matures its fruit only once a year, felt the influence of the sun and came to perfection.

As month after month passed, the leaves fell until the canopy was almost bare, and in one or two cases toward the end of the 