Does any one account otherwise
for those sudden deaths which are no longer unfrequent in the world?
A man, a woman, is to all appearances in perfect health. He or she was
last seen by a friend, who describes the conversation accurately, and
expresses astonishment at the catastrophe which followed so closely upon
the visit. He, or she, is found alone by a servant, or a third person,
in a profound lethargy from which neither restoratives nor violent
shocks upon the nerves can produce any awakening. In one hour, or a
few hours, it is over. There is an examination, and the authorities
pronounce an ambiguous verdict--death from a syncope of the heart. Such
things happen, they say, with a shake of the head. And, indeed, they
know that such things really do happen, and they suspect that they do
not happen naturally; but there is no evidence, not even so much as
may be detected in a clever case of vegetable poisoning. The heart has
stopped beating, and death has followed. There are wise men by the score
to-day who do not ask "What made it stop?" but "Who made it stop?" But
they have no evidence to bring, and the new jurisprudence, which in some
countries covers the cases of thefts and frauds committed under hypnotic
suggestion, cannot as yet lay down the law for cases where a man has
been told to die, and dies--from "weakness of the heart." And yet it is
known, and well known, that by hypnotic suggestion the pulse can be made
to fall to the lowest number of beatings consistent with life, and that
the temperature of the body can be commanded beforehand to stand at a
certain degree and fraction of a degree at a certain hour, high or low,
as may be desired.
Pages:
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367