Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 November 1894 — DEATH IN HYPNOTISM. [ARTICLE]

DEATH IN HYPNOTISM.

A Young Lady Dies During a Hypnotic Trance. Great interest has been excited in Europe by the death of a young lady of a prominent family in Vienna which occurred under hynotic influence while she was in the hands of Herr Neukomm, the well-known liynotist of that capital. She had been suffering much for several months from nervous headaches and nothing would cure her but Neukomm putting her into a trance. The last .affair was before a numerous audience. The first accounts of the affair were incorrect but a later version given by Dr. Von Bragassy, who was present throughout, is almost incredible. Dr. Bragassy says: “It was with the concurrence of the parents and the medium herself that Hypnotist Neukomm fixed as the object of his experiment the condition of his brother, residing in Werchez, concerning which the opinions of physicians vary. “In about twelve minutes the medium exclaimed, ‘I am fast asleep.’ The. young lady gave signs of great excitement, which, according to her parents, had not been observable in previous experiments. Neukomm requested the medium to go see his brother in Werchez, and say what was the nature of his illness and what cure should be adopted. “What followed was really incredible. The medium began a scientific description of the lungs, giving a minute account of the diseased condition, with technical particulars, which even an ordinary doctor would not give, and which might be expected only from an experienced' specialist with full command and correct use of technical expressions. She gave the closest detail, extending a full diagnosis of the inflammation of the lungs, and declared that\ the prognosis were very unfavorable, as against that kind of disease medical skill was powerless. “In conclusion she described the end of the patient in the usual Latin terminology. Immediately afterwards she fell back senseless, uttering a piercing shriek. ”1 at once had recourse to every conceivable means for bringing her to consciousness, but all in vain. Within eight minutes her pulse began to fail and death shortly followed.” According to the post-mortem examination the immediate cause of death was concussion of the brain.

How Walking Sticks Are Made. “The cultivation of material for walking sticks is carried on in quite an extensive scale in some parts of Europe;” said T. L. Van Cleve, of New York,, at the Lindell last night, “and special attention is often paid to making the roots grow into shapely forms for the handles. While in London last year I went into a manufacturing establishment, the floor space of which covers nearly an acre. This concern has storehouses filled with native and foreign sticks from which stock is drawn as it is wanted for the shops. The sticks, as they grow, are often very crooked, and have to be straightened. A heap of sand is piled on the top of a hot stove, into which the sticks are plunged until they are pliable. The workman takes tho crooked stick while it is yet hot, and inserts it in • notch cut in a stout board, placed

at an angle inclined from him, where he bends and strains it. When it has become perfectly straight it is thrown down to cool, after which it becomes rigid and permanent in its lines. The same power which makes a crooked stick straight is applied tc make a straight one crooked. AH the various kinds of sticks that are required to be curled or twisted are by the application of heat made to assume any shape or form.” —[St. Louis Globe-Democrat.

Ostrich Farming. Ostrich farming is one of the growing industries of Southern California. Ten or twelve years ago several farms were started, with a total of seventy birds, imported from South Africa. There are now 600 or 700 birds in California,each yielding about SSO worth of undressed feathers annually. It costs three cents a day to feed each bird. All eggs are hatched in incubators, about eighty per cent hatching successfully. The chicks are allowed to run about in tile sunshine after hatching, and several days after birth are fed on tender vegetable sprouts. For nine months or so they are kept away from adult birds, lest tlieir elders should kill them. Until three months old, a chick can be bought for $25. Over three months of age the price is SSO. In several years they attain maturity, and sell for S3OO to S4OO each. Selected feathers, especially the long, white feathers sell for SIOO a pound. The birds are'vegetarians, with a preference for alfalfa. If allowed to get very hungry, they would eat an old hat. Their legs and bodies have the appearance of a rheumatic dancer while their walking gait resembles a combination of the walk of a dude and a girl whose shoes are too tight. Thirty years is the average -life-time of an ostrich. —[New York Times.

An Eleotric Gun Needed. It is reported that an attempt was made the other night to hold up a trolley car not far from New York City. It was on one of the short lines running out of Jersey City in a neighborhood described as “dark and desolate.” There was a sharp fight for a few minutes, and the robbers were driven oil. It is suggested that the incident presents an opportunity to investigators to devise some means of making the tremendous current of electricity which the trolley car has always available, a means of defense in such circumstances. A stream of water thrown, say by confined carbonic acid, and connected with the trolley apparatus, would knock out any assailant of the car in short order.—[New Orleans Picayune. Men Stronger than Oxen. Perhaps the most amusing feature of the Cumberland Fair was the contest between a yoke of oxen and an equal weight of men. The drag which was hauled by the contestants was loaded with granite blocks, weighing in the aggregate 4,959 pounds. The cattle weighed, with yoke. 8,220 pounds, and twenty men were allowed to offset the weight. The men took hold of the drag first, and walked off with it easily, dovering a distance of ninety-five feet in two minutes. The cattle, on their trial, failed to equal this record by about ten feet in the same time.— {Portland (Me.) Press.