SEEING WITH THE EYES CLOSED.
The following account of a remarkable case of somnambulism contributed to the American Journal of Medical Science by Dr. Belden, an able practitioner, who attended the lady afflicted with these somnambulic paroxysms:
* * * “After several attempts to keep her in bed, it was determined to suffer her to take her own course. Released from restraint, she dressed herself, 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 to a closet at the most remote corner of it, from which she took the coffee cups, placed them on a tray, turned it sideways to pass through the door, avoided all intervening obstacles, and deposited the whole safely on the table. She then went into the pantry, the blinds of which were shut and the doors closed after her. She then 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 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 room to enable the family to observe her operations. She finally returned voluntarily to bed, and on finding the table arranged for breakfast when she made her appearance in the morning inquired why she had been suffered to sleep while another performed her duty. None of the transactions of the preceding night had left the slightest impression on her mind. In one instance she not only arranged the table for a meal, but actually prepared a dinner with her eyes closed.”