Hystero-epileptic attack; period of contortions (Jean-François Badoureau)

Hystero-epileptic attack; period of contortions (Jean-François Badoureau)

Demonic Possession

This image, also known as symptoms of hysteria I is created by Jean-Franois Badoureau depicts Louise Latreau, a patient in Jean-Martin Chacot's clinic, experiencing a hysterical attack in the late nineteenth century. The drawing shows the inflexibility of the female demoniacÍs crossed legs and her extruded tongue. Charcot, made the original sketch for the engraving, claimed that the symptoms of possession were the same as those of hysteria and that demoniacs in the early modern period were really suffering from hysteria. Charcot studied the medical and scientific effects of demonic possession. Specifically Charcot wrote a book on demoniacs in art from the perspective of a medical study. For further study read Charcot, J. M. Les Démoniaques Dans L'art. Amsterdam: B.M. Israel, 1972. The image comes from The Devil Within: Possession and Exorcism in the Christian West by Brian P. Levack

Drawn by M. Richer from a sketch made by M. Charcot

The Devil Within: Possession and Exorcism in the Christian West

Yale University Press

1881, 19th century

Brian P. Levack

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http://library.brown.edu/cds/melancholy/medicine.html

Drawing

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Still Image

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