The doctor had gone the length of deciding, in his own mind, that
Valentine's sane period of life and insane period lay one on each side
of a fixed gulf, and that fixed gulf was his long trance succeeding the
final sitting of the two young men. This conclusion was arrived at with
ease, once the theory of a subtle lunacy was accepted as a fact. For,
on sending his mind back along the ways of recollection, the doctor was
able to recall hints of the new Valentine dating from that very night,
but never before it. The first hint was Rip's manifested fear, and this
led on to others which have been already mentioned. Having made up his
mind that this trance was the motive power of Valentine's supposed
madness, the doctor sought in every direction to increase his knowledge
on the subject of simulations of death by the human body. He looked up
again the cases of innumerable hysterical patients whom he had himself
treated, sometimes with success, sometimes with failure. He consulted
other doctors, of course without mentioning the object of his research.
He endeavoured to apply to Valentine's case standards by which he was
quickly able to form a satisfactory opinion on the cases of others. He
even went so far as to examine as closely as possible into the history of
table-turning, the uses ascribed to it by its votaries, and the results
obtained from it by credible--as opposed to merely credulous--witnesses.
Pages:
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541
542
543
544
545
546
547
548
549
550
551
552
553