But afterwards these unconscious, spontaneous letters became common, and I was better able to study the mode of their production.

I was fortunately able to watch Madame B.on one occasion while she went through this curious performance.

She was seated at a table, and held in the left hand the piece of knitting at which she had been working.

Her face was calm, her eyes looked into space with a certain fixity, but she was not cataleptic, for she was humming a rustic tune; her right hand wrote quickly, and, as it were, surreptitiously.

I removed the paper without her noticing me, and then spoke to her; she turned round wide-awake but was surprised to see me, for in her state of distraction she had not noticed my approach.