422. In lethargy and catalepsy, the patients generally see and hear what takes place around them, but are unable to manifest their impressions. Is it through the eyes and ears of the body that these impressions are received?

"No; they are received by the spirit. The spirit is conscious, but cannot express himself."

– Why can he not express himself?

"The state of his body prevents his doing so; and this peculiar state of his bodily organs proves that man consists of something more than a body, since the body no longer works, and yet the spirits acts."

423. Can a spirit, in a state of lethargy, separate himself entirely from his body, so as to give to the latter all the outward appearances of death, and afterwards come back and inhabit it?

"In lethargy, the body is not dead, for it still accomplishes some of its functions. Its vitality is latent, as in the chrysalis, but is not annihilated; and a spirit is united to his body as long as it remains alive. When once the links which keep them together are broken by the death and disaggregation of the bodily organs, the separation is complete, and the spirit never again comes back to his body. When one who is apparently dead comes to life again, it is because the process of death was not entirely consummated."

424. Is it possible, by means of timely help, to renew the ties which were ready to break, and to give back life to a person who, but for this help, would have definitively ceased to live?

"Yes, undoubtedly; and you have proofs of this every day. Mesmerism often exercises, in such cases, a powerful restorative action, because it gives to the body the vital fluid which it lacks, and which is necessary to keep up the play of the organs."

Lethargy and catalepsy proceed from the same cause, viz., the temporary loss of sensibility and power of motion, from some as yet unexplained physiological condition. They differ in this respect, viz., that, in lethargy, the suppression of the vital force is general, and gives to the body all the appearances of death, whereas, in catalepsy, that suppression is localised, and may affect a more or less extensive portion of the body, while leaving the intelligence free to manifest itself; a fact which does not allow it to be confounded with death. Lethargy is always natural; catalepsy is sometimes spontaneous, but it may be produced and dissipated artificially by mesmeric action.