Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 35, Number 82, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 June 1903 — SLEPT, FoR TWENTY YEARS. [ARTICLE]

SLEPT, FoR TWENTY YEARS .

French Woman Has Already Rivaled the Nap of Rip Van Winkle. There Is in Thenelles, in the department of Aisne, France, a woman named Marguerite Boyenval who has slept since the month of June, 1883— that is to say, about twenty years. M. Stiegler gives the following Account of the case: Marguerite Boj*enval had a stroke of catalepsy after suffering a great shock, but it is not known whether or not up to that time she had manifested any signs of hysteria, although she seemed to be healthy. After the attack Dr. Charller treated her by metalotherapy, which was the fashion at that time; then he treated her by means of electricity, but the results were nil. He attempted subcutaneous injections of atropliine, which was the only measure that had any effect, in this case sensibility returning to the limbs, but not to the head, this sensibility, on the other hand, being merely momentary. Nothing more could be done, although suggestions were made frequently. Many physicians belijeve that the sleeper understands what is ..said to her and that it is simply impossible for her to respond, this being the opinion of Dr. Voisin, of the Salpetriere, who went to Thenelles during the last year. Up to the present it has been impossible to verify this hypothesis. M. Stiegler describes his ylsit as follows: “I was ushered into a room and on a little bed beheld the; sleeper. How pale and thin and motionless she was, although she was not colorless, as one would naturally believe, and, as a matter of fact, thcre was. a slight coloration on the cheeks of this waxen face and the lips were clearly red, these firmly closed lips which have not relaxed a single time for many years, which have not allowed a single drop of water to pass between them and which have not let a word, not even a sigli, escape. The head was supported on a pillow and wore a white bonnet tied by two bands under the ehin, which allowed the hair, black and flat and separated by a part, to be seen. The eyelids, which one may open partly, thereby disclosing two white and glassy eyes, were closed. The body was flattened out under the covers and hardly took up the space which would be occupied by the body of an Infant, although the woman looked fully the 40 years which is In reality her age. “As a matter of fact, the patient has not eaten for many years past, and she is now fed on peptone and milk containing the yolks of eg£s. The brea’th did not raise the chest In the least, the respiration was not apparent and, while It evidently existed, it was so slight that It was impossible to perceive it. While the woman gradually wastes away this phenomenon, without example In the history of medicine, can still last a long time, even for years.”