Second, surprising progressive exaltation of the hearing and interpretation of sounds coming from her in a dark room.

At the end of four or five months, her movements in bed awoke me or not according as she herself was awake or not.

Frequently after awaking I was distinctly aware of what movements of hers had awaked me.[12] A movement of her head by which it was held up from the pillow was readily distinguished from the restless movements of her sleep.

It was not so much, therefore, exaltation of hearing as exaltation of the function of the recognition of sounds heard and of their discrimination.
[Footnote 12: This fact is analogous to our common experience of being awaked by a loud noise and then hearing it after we awake; yet the explanation is not the same.] Again, the same phenomenon to an equally marked degree attended the sound of her breathing.

It is well enough known that the smallest functional bodily changes induce changes in both the rapidity and the quality of the respiration.