This was the view of the case taken by a celebrated physician of the day.  Montgeron tells us:—­“This philosopher maintained that the facts alleged could not be true, because they were physically impossible.  He raised, among other objections, this,—­that the flexible, delicate nature of the skin, of the flesh, and of the viscera, is incompatible with a force and a consistency so extraordinary as the alleged facts presuppose; and, consequently, that it was impossible, without ceasing to be what they are,—­without a radical change in their qualities,—­that they should acquire a force superior to that of the hardest and most solid bodies.  They let him quietly complete his anatomical argument, and set forth all his proofs, and merely answered, ’Come and see; test the truth of the facts for yourself.’  He went.  At first sight, he is seized with astonishment; he doubts the evidence of his eyes; he asks to be allowed himself to administer the succors.  They immediately place in his hands iron bars of a crushing weight.  He does not spare his blows; he exerts his utmost strength.  The weapon sinks into the flesh, seems to penetrate to the entrails.  But the convulsionist only laughs at his idle efforts.  His blows but procure her relief, without leaving the least impression, the slightest trace, even on the epidermis."[27]

Space fails me to furnish more than a very few additional specimens of the endless incidents of which the details are scattered by Montgeron over hundreds of pages,—­incidents occurring in various parts of Paris, daily, for many years.  Three or four more of these may suffice for my present purpose.

A certain Marie Sonnet had made herself so remarkable by the incredible succors she demanded, that a physician of Paris, Dr. A——­, published, in regard to her case, a satirical letter addressed to M. de Montgeron, in which, after attacking the girl’s moral character, be assumed this strange position:  “It is a sentiment universally established, that it is in the power of the Devil, when God permits, to communicate to man forces above those of Nature.  Nor must it be said that God never permits this; the case of the girl Sonnet is unanswerable proof to the contrary."[28]

Among the incidents which appear to have led to this opinion one is thus stated by him:—­“They let fall upon her stomach, from the height of the ceiling, a stone weighing fifty pounds, while her body, bent back like a bow, was supported on the point of a sharpened stake, placed just under the spine; yet, far from being crushed by the stone, or pierced by the stake, it was a relief to her."[29]