Note 47 — THE CONVULSIONISTS OF ST. MÉDARD

The details are given by M. Morand, a surgeon of Paris of high reputation, member of the Academy of Sciences, who had been employed by the Lieutenant of Police to make to him a report on the subject, and who reproduces the result of his observations in his "Opuscules de Chirurgie." He found four girls, the centres of whose hands and feet were indurated by the frequent perforations of the nails. He witnessed the operation of crucifying one of them, the Sister Félicité. A certain M. La Barre was the operator. The nails were of the sort called demi-picaron, very sharp, flat, four-sided, and with a large head. They were driven, at a single blow of a hammer, nearly through the centre of the palm, between the third and fourth fingers; and in like manner through each foot a little above the toes and between the third and fourth; the same stroke causing the nail to enter also the wood of the cross. Félicité gave no signs of sensibility during the operation. When attached to the cross, she was gay, and converged with whoever addressed her, remaining crucified nearly half an hour. Morand remarked, that her wounds were not at all bloody, and that very little blood flowed, even when the nails were withdrawn. See his "Opuscules de Chirurgie," Partie II. chap. 6.