taken 551 dollars out of the bank. He remained hidden for two months. During this time he had taken a little shop under the name of H. J. Browne, in Norriston, Pa., and had carefully attended to all purchases, although he had never done the like before. On March 14, 1887, he suddenly awoke and went back home, and had complete amnesia for the interval.
Mesnet[1] publishes the following case:—
F., 27 years old, sergeant in the African regiment, was wounded in the parietal bone at Bazeilles. Suffered for a year from hemiplegia, which disappeared when the wound healed. During the course of his illness the patient had attacks of somnambulism, with marked limitation of consciousness; all the senses were paralysed, with the exception of taste and a small portion of the visual sense. The movements were co-ordinated, but obstacles in the way of their performance were overcome with difficulty. During the attacks he had an absurd collecting-mania. By various manipulations one could demonstrate a hallucinatory content in his consciousness; for instance, when a stick was put in his hand he would feel himself transported to a battle scene, he would feel himself on guard, see the enemy approaching, etc.
Guinon and Sophie Waltke[2] made the following experiments on hysterics:—
A blue glass was held in front of the eyes of a female patient during a hysterical attack; she regularly saw the picture of her mother in the blue sky. A red glass showed her a bleeding wound, a yellow one an orange-seller or a lady with a yellow dress.
Mesnet’s case reminds one of the cases of occasional attacks of shrinkage of memory.
MacNish[3] communicates a similar case.
An apparently healthy young lady suddenly fell into an abnormally long and deep sleep—it is said without prodromal
- ↑ Mesnet, “De l’automatisme de la mémoire et du souvenir dans le somnambulisme pathologique.” Union médicale, Juillet, 1874. Cf. Binet, “Les Altérations de la personnalité,” p. 37. Cf. also Mesnet, “Somnambulisme spontané dans ses rapports avec l’hystérie,” Arch, de Neurol., Nr. 69, 1892.
- ↑ Arch. de Neur., Mai, 1891.
- ↑ “Philosophy of Sleep,” 1830. Cf. Binet, “Les Altérations,” etc.
