-- than ever was known in those parts; -trees canes - huts all were swept before it! Even the very ground on which we stood seemed whirled away beneath us! I turned my head a moment to look at the direction in which things were going, when, in the very act of turning, the blast suddenly caught my head, and-oh, my God!-blew it completely round on my shoulders, till my face looked quite-directly behind me-over my back! In vain did I almost wrench my head offr f my shoulders, in attempting to twist it round again; and what with horaltogether ror, and and in short, I awoke and found the frightful reality of my situation! Oh, gracious Heaven!" continued Mr. N-, clasping his hands, and looking upwards, "what have I done to deserve such a horrible visitation as this?" Humph! it is quite clear what is the matter here, thought I; so assuming an air of becoming professional gravity, I felt his pulse, begged him to let me see his tongue, made many inquiries about his general health, and then proceeded to subject all parts of his neck to a most rigorous examination; before, behind, on each side, over every natural elevation and depression, if such the usual varieties of surface may be termed, did my fingers pass; he, all the while, sighing, and cursing his evil stars, and wondering how it was that he had not been killed by the "dislocation!" This little farce over, I continued silent for some moments, scarcely able, the while, to control my inclination to burst into fits of laughter, as if pondering the possibility of being able to devise some means of cure. "Ah,-thank God !—I have itI have it "" "What !—what-eh ?—what is it ?" "I've thought of a remedy, which, if-if-if anything in the world can bring it about, will set matters right again will bring back your head to its former position." "Oh, God be praised!-Deardear doctor!-if you do but succeed, I shall consider a thousand pounds but the earnest of what I will do to evince my gratitude!" he exclaimed, squeezing my hand fervently. "But I am not absolutely certain that we shall succeed," said I cautiously. "We will, however, give the medicine a twentyfour hours' trial; during all which time you must be in perfect repose, and consent to lie in utter darkness. Will you abide by my directions?" "Oh, yes-yes- yes! - dear doctor!-What is the inestimable Tell me tell me the remedy? name of my ransomer. I'll never divulge it-never!" "That is not consistent with my plans, at present, Mr. N-," I replied, seriously; "but, if successful- of which I own I have very sanguine expectations - I pledge my honor to reveal the secret to you." "Well-but-at least you'll explain the nature of its operation-eh? Is it internal-external-what?" The remedy, I told him, would be of both forms; the latter, however, the more immediate agent of his recovery; the former, preparatory-predisposing. I may tell the reader simply what my physic was to be three breadpills (the ordinary placebo in such cases) every hour; a strong laudanum draught in the evening; and a huge bread-and-water poultice for his neck, with which it was to be environed till the parts were sufficiently mollified to admit of the neck's being twisted back again into its former position; and, when that was the case-why-to ensure its permanency, he was to wear a broad band of strengthening plaster for a week!! This was the bright device, struck out by me-all at a heat; and, explained to the poor victim with the utmost solemnity and deliberation of manner-all the wise winks and knowing nods, and hesitating "hems" and "has" of professional usage-sufficed to inspire him with some confidence as to the results. I confess I shared -he" he chuckled, in a sort of the most confident expectations of sotto voce, "him massa head turned ! success. A sound night's rest--him back in front! him waddle! hourly pill-taking-and the clammy -he-he-he!"-and he twitched saturating sensation round about his clothes-jerking his jacket, and his neck, I fully believed would bring him round :—and, in the full anticipation of seeing him disabused of the ridiculous notion he had taken into his head, I promised to see him the first thing in the morning, and took my departure. After quitting the house, I could not help laughing immoderately at the recollection of the scene I had just witnessed; and Mrs. M-, who happened to be passing on the other side of the street, and observed my involuntary risibility, took occasion to spread an ill-natured rumor, that I was in the habit of making myself merry at the expense of my patients!"-I foresaw, that should this "crick in the neck" prove permanent, I stood a chance of listening to innumerable conceits of the most whimsical and paradoxical kind imaginable for I knew N's natural turn to humor. It was inconceivable to me how such an extraordinary delusion could bear the blush of daylight, resist the evidence of his senses, and the unanimous simultaneous assurances of all who beheld him. Though it is little credit to me, and tells but small things for my self-control, I cannot help acknowledging, that at the bedside of my next patient, who was within two or three hours of her end, the surpassing absurdity of the "turned head " notions glared in such ludicrous extremes before me, that I was nearly bursting a blood-vessel with endeavors to suppress a perfect peal of laughter! About eleven o'clock the next morning, I paid N- a second visit. The door was opened as usual by his black servant, Nambo; by whose demeanor I saw that something or other extraordinary awaited me. His sable swollen features, and dancing white eyeballs, showed that he was nearly bursting with laughter. "He-he pointing to his breeches, in a way that I did not understand. On entering the room where N-———, with one of his favorite silent smoking friends, (M, the late wellknown counsel,) were sitting at breakfast, I encountered a spectacle which nearly made me expire with laughter. It is almost useless to attempt describing it on paperyet I will try. Two gentlemen sat opposite each other at the breakfast table, by the fire the one with his face to me was Mr. M—; and N sat with his back towards the door by which I entered. A glance at the former sufficed to show me, that he was sitting in tortures of suppressed risibility. He was quite red in the face-his features were swelled and puffy-and his eyes fixed strainingly on the fire, as though in fear of encountering the ludicrous figure of his friend. They were averted from the fire, for a moment, to welcome my entrance-and then re-directed thither with such a painful effort— such a comical air of compulsory seriousness-as, added to the preposterous fashion after which poor N had chosen to dress himself completely overcame me. The thing was irresistible; and my utterance of that peculiar choking sound, which indicates the most strenuous efforts to suppress one's risible emotions, was the unwitting signal for each of us bursting into a long and loud shout of laughter. It was in vain that I bit my under lip almost till it brought blood, and that my eyes strained till the sparks flashed from them, in the vain attempt to cease laughing; in full before me sate the exciting cause of it, in the shape of N-, his head supported by the palm of his left hand, with his elbow propped against the side of the arm-chair. The knot of his neck-kerchief was fied, with its customary formal precision, back at the nape of his neck; his coat and waistcoat were buttoned down his back ;—and his trowsers, moreover, to match the novel fashion, buttoned behind, and, of course, the hinder parts of them bulged out ridiculously in front !-Only to look at the coat-collar fitting under his chin, like a stiff military stock-the four tail buttons of brass glistening conspicuously before, and the front parts of the coat buttoned carefully over his back-the compulsory handiwork of poor Nambo! N-, perfectly astounded at our successive shouts of laughter-for we found it impossible to stopsuddenly rose up in his chair, and, almost inarticulate with fury, demanded what we meant by such extraordinary behavior. This fury, however, was all lost on me; I could only point, in an ecstacy of laughter, almost bordering on frenzy, to his novel mode of dress-as my apology. He stamped his foot, uttered volleys of imprecations against us, and then ringing his bell, ordered the servant to show us both to the door. The most violent emotions, however, must in time expend their violence, though in the presence of the same exciting cause; and so it was with Mr. M and myself. On seeing how seriously affronted N― was, we both sat down, and I entered into examination, my whole frame aching with the prolonged convulsive fits of irrepressible laughter. It would be in vain to attempt a recital of one of the drollest conversations in which I ever bore part. N's temper was thoroughly soured for some time. He declared that my physic was all a humbug, and a piece of quackery; and the "d-d pudding round his neck," the absurdest farce he ever heard of; he had a great mind to make Nambo eat it, for the pains he had taken in making it, and fastening it on-poor fellow ! Presently he lapsed into a melancholy reflective mood. He pro tested that the laws of locomotion were utterly inexplicable to hima practical paradox; that his volitions as to progressive and retrogressive motion neutralized each other; and the necessary result was, a cursed circumgyratory motion-for all the world like that of a hen that had lost one of its wings! That henceforward he should be compelled to crawl, crab-like, through life, all ways at once, and none in particular. He could not conceive, he said, which was the nearest way from one given point to another; in short, that all his sensations and perceptions were disordered and confounded. His situation, he said, was an admirable commentary on the words of St. Paul"But I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind." He could not conceive how the arteries and veins of the neck could carry and return the blood, after being so shockingly twisted-or "how the wind-pipe went in," affording a free course to the air through its distorted passage. In short, he said, he was a walking lie! Curious to ascertain the consistency of this anomalous state of feeling, I endeavored once more to bring his delusion to the test of simple sensation, by placing one hand on his nose, and the other on his breast, and asking him which was which, and whether both did not lie in the same direction. He wished to know why I persisted in making myself merry at his expense. I repeated the question, still keeping my hands in the same position; but he suddenly pushed them off, and asked me, with indignation, if I was not ashamed to keep his head looking over his shoulder in that way accompanying the words with a shake of the head, and a sigh of exhaustion, as if it had really been twisted round into the wrong direction. "Ah!" he exclaimed, after a pause, "if this unnatural state of affairs should prove permanent-hem !-I'll put an end to the chapter! He-he-he! He-he he!" he continued, bursting suddenly into one of those short abrupt laughs, which I have before attempted to describe. "He-hehe how d-d odd!" We both asked him, in surprise, what he meant, for his eyes were fixed on the fire in apparently a melancholy mood. "He-he-he! exquisitely odd, Hehehe!" After repeated inquiries, he disclosed the occasion of his unusual cachinations. "I've just been thinking," said he, "suppose-He, he, he !-suppose it was to come to pass that I should be hanged - he, he, he! God forbid, by the way; but, suppose I should, how old Ketch would be puzzled!-my face looking one way, and my tied hands and arms pointing another! How the crowd would stare! He, he, he! And suppose," pursuing the train of thought, "I were to be publicly whipped-how I could superintend operations! And how the devil am I to ride on horseback, eh? with my face to the tail, or-to the mane? In short, what is to become of me? I am, in effect, shut out from society!" "You have only to walk circumspectly," said M- "and as for back-biters-hem." "That's odd-very-but impertinent," replied the hypochondriac, with a mingled expression of chagrin and humor. "Come, come, N, don't look so steadily on the dark side of things," said I. "The dark side of things?" he inquired-"I think it is the backside of things I am compelled to look at !" "Look forward to better days," said I. "Look forward, again! What nonsense!" he replied, interrupting me; "impossible! How can I look forward? My life will henceforth be spent in wretched retrospectives!" and he could not help smiling at the conceit. Having occa sion during the conversation to use his pocket-handkerchief, he suddenly reached his hand behind as usual, and was a little confused to find that the usual position of his coatpocket required that he should take it from before! This I should have conceived enough to put an end to his delusion, but I was mistaken. "Ah! it will take some time to reconcile me to this new order of things-but practice-practice, you know!" It was amazing to me, that his sensations, so contradictory to the absurd crotchet he had taken into his head, did not convince him of his error, especially when so frequently compelled to act in obedience to long accustomed impulses. As, for instance, on my rising to go, he suddenly started from his chair, shook my hands, and accompanied me to the door, as if nothing had been the matter. "Well now! What do you think of that?" said I, triumphantly. “Ah-ah!” said he, after a puzzled pause, "but you little know the effort it cost me !" * * He did not persevere long in the absurd way of putting on his clothes which I have just described; but even after he had discontinued it, he alleged his opinion to be, that the front of his clothes ought to be with his face! I might relate many similar fooleries springing from this notion of his turned head, but sufficient has been said already to give the reader a clear idea of the general character of such delusions. My subsequent interviews with him, while under this unprecedented hallucination, were similar to the two which I have attempted to describe. The fit lasted near a month. I happened luckily to recollect a device successfully resorted to by a sagacious old English physician, in the case of a royal hypochondriac abroad, who fancied that his nose had swelled into greater dimensions than those of his whole body beside ; and forthwith resolved to adopt a similar method of cure with N Electricity was to be the wonderworking talisman! I lectured him out of all opposition, silenced his scruples, and got him to fix an evening for the exorcisation of the evil spirit-as it might well be calledwhich had taken possession of him. Let the reader fancy, then, N's sitting-room, about seven o'clock in the evening, illuminated with a cheerful fire, and four mould candles; the awful electrifying machine duly disposed for action; Mr. Sof Hospital, Dr. and myself, all standing round it, adjusting the jars, chains, &c. ; and Nambo busily engaged in laying bare his master's neck, N- all the while eyeing our motions with excessive trepidation. I had infinite difficulty in getting his consent to one preliminary-the bandaging of his eyes. I succeeded, however, at last, in persuading him to undergo the operation blindfolded, in assuring him that it was essential to success; for that if he was allowed to see the application of the conductor to the precise spot requisite, he might start, and occasion its apposition to a wrong place! The real reason will be seen presently; the great manœuvre could not have been practised but on such terms; for how could I give his head a sudden twist round at the instant of his receiving the shock, if he saw what I was about? I ought to have mentioned that we also prevailed upon him to sit with his arms pinioned, so that he was completely at our mercy. None of us could refrain from an occasional titter at the absurdity of the solemn farce we were playing-fortunately, however, unheard by N. At length, Nambo being turned out, and the doors locked, lest, seeing the trick, he might disclose it subsequently to his master, we commenced operations. S worked the machine -round, and round, and round, whizzing-sparkling-crackling till the jar was moderately charged: it was then conveyed to N's neck, Dr. using the conductor. N, on receiving a tolerably smart shock, started out of his chair, and I had not time to give him the twist I had intended. After a few moments, however, he protested that he felt "something loosened " about his neck, and was easily induced to submit to another shock considerably stronger than the former. The instant the rod was applied to his neck, I gave the head a sudden excruciating wrench towards the left shoulder, S- - striking him, at the same moment, a smart blow on the crown. Poor N▬▬!" Thank God!" we all exclaimed, as if panting for breath. "I-i-s it all over?" stammered N-faintly-quite confounded with the effects of the threefold remedy we had adopted. "Yes-thank God, we have at last brought your head round again, and your face looks forward now as heretofore!" said I. "O, romove the bandage-remove it! Let my own eyesight behold it !-Bring me a glass ! "As soon as the proper bandages have been applied to your neck, Mr. N."" "What, eh-a second pudding, eh?" "No, merely a broad band of dyachlym plaster, to prevent-hem the contraction of the skin," said I. As soon as that was done, we removed the handkerchiefs from his eyes and arms. "Oh, my God, how delightful!" he exclaimed, rising and walking up to the mirror over the mantelpiece. Ecstacy! All really right again" "My dear N, do not, I beg, do not work your neck about in that way, or the most serious disarrangement of the-the parts," said I "Oh, it's so, is it? Then I'd better get into bed at once, I think, and you'll call in the morning." I did, and found him in bed. "Well, how does all go on this morning?" I inquired. "Pretty well-middling," he replied, with some embarrassment of |