May 2, 2023 • 32 mins
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psychology, psychoanalysis, psychiatry, mental health, gender studies, sexuality, medical history, case studies, hysteria, gender roles, human nature, psychotherapy, literary style, literary legacy, literary analysis, literary adaptation, literary criticism, feminist literature, 19th century literature, medical ethics, medical research, psychosexual development, mind-body connection, psychiatric diagnosis, cultural norms
psychology, psychoanalysis, psychiatry, mental health, gender studies, sexuality, medical history, case studies, hysteria, gender roles, human nature, psychotherapy, literary style, literary legacy, literary analysis, literary adaptation, literary criticism, feminist literature, 19th century literature, medical ethics, medical research, psychosexual development, mind-body connection, psychiatric diagnosis, cultural norms
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Lecture two monoidaic somnambulisms Somnambulism as thetypical form of hysterical accidents. Description of
some cases of monoidaic somnambulisms their essentialpsychological characters. The emancipation the dissociation of
an idea of a partial system ofthoughts. In somnambulism, the several conceptions
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of an illness are characterized by thechoice of the symptoms described first and considered
as the most important ones. Duringa long time, hysteria was considered as
a chiefly physical disease, and consequentlyconvulsions in all appearance deprived of intelligence,
were put on the first line.Hysteria was above all a convulsive illness,
whose most important symptom was the fit. Charcot has still continued that tradition,
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and you know the pains he tookto explain all that illness in taking as
a starting point the convulsive attack.His theory is nowadays considered very artificial,
and his schematic conception of the attackstends to fall into oblivion that lack of
success. So I easily explain throughhis error of the starting point the hysterical
fit of convulsions. Far from beinga simple phenomenon, is, on the
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contrary, a very variable and complexsymptom. The convulsions have all sorts of
meaning. Sometimes they are in connectionwith sensations or ideas, and very complicated
states of consciousness. Sometimes they arenearly deprived of consciousness. In certain cases
they are linked to habits and grimaces, or depend upon moving agitation in connection
with certain voluntary paralysies. It maybe said that for some rather aged patience,
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whose illness has lasted a long time, the convulsive attack sums up all
the hysterical accidents they have had sincethe beginning of the disease. The attack
I consider as a complex phenomenon thatought to be studied rather at the end
of a course of lectures than atthe beginning. To characterize at once the
spirit of my teaching, and tomake you understand how to construe that nervous
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affection from the moral point of view, I ask you to put in the
first line as the most typical Themost characteristic symptom of hysteria are moral symp
that is, somnambulism. The fitof somnambulism, which appears spontaneously in hystericals
This is a new medical conception,which I consider an important one. Somnambulism
has been too long considered as arare phenomenon, impossible to explain that adds
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itself to the habitual troubles of neuropaths. To me, somnambulism is, on
the contrary, extremely frequent under variousforms that may more or less conceal it.
Somnambulism does not add itself to allsorts of neuropathic troubles. It constitutes
the material point of a peculiar neurosishysteria. If one understands somnambulism well,
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one is I believe, capable ofunderstanding all hysterical phases that are more or
less constructed on the same model.But among the various somnambulisms, a type
must be chosen to be first studied. Here we will not choose the form
that occurs most frequently, but thenecessity of teaching will induce us to choose
the simplest form and the easiest tounderstand. This simple form of somnambulism deserves
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to be called monoideic, and thatname will I hope be justified by this
lecture. Thus we have to examinetogether the typical forms of monoideic somnambulism.
We shall then expose its essentially psychologicalcharacter, and we shall end by trying
to sum up in a simple andgeneral conception the character of these somnambulisms.
In order to compare gradually that first'sconception with those we shall draw from the
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study of other hysterical phenomena. One, What, then, exactly is a
somnambulist? Popular observation has answered longago it is an individual who thinks and
acts while he is asleep. Withouta doubt, that answer is not very
clear, for we don't know verywell what sleep is. That answer means
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only that the person spoken of thinksand acts in an odd way different from
that of other people, and thatat the same time that person is in
some way like a person asleep.You will find nowhere a more beautiful description
of this popular conception of somnambulism thanin Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth, Doctor, I
have two nights watched with you,but can perceive no truth in your report?
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When was it she last walked,gentlewoman? Since his majesty went into
the field. I have seen herrise from her bed, throw her night
gown upon her, unlock her closet, take forth paper, fold it,
write upont read it, afterwards,seal it, and again return to bed
it, all this while in amost fast sleep, Doctor, a great
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perturbation in nature to receive at oncethe benefit of sleep, and do the
effects of watching in this slumbery agitation, besides her walking and other actual performances.
What at any time have you heardher say, gentlewoman, that sir,
which I will not report after her. Doctor, You may to me,
and tis most me you should,gentlewoman, neither to you nor any
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one having no witness to confirm myspeech. Interlady Macbeth, with a taper,
lo you here she comes. Thisis her very guise, and upon
my life, fast asleep, observeher stand close, doctor. How came
she by that light, gentlewoman?Why it stood by her? She has
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light by her continually? Tis hercommand? Doctor. You see her eyes
are open, gentlewoman, Aye,but their sense is shut. Doctor.
What is it she does? Now? Look how she rubs her hands,
gentlewoman. It is an accustomed actionwith her to seem thus washing her hands.
I have known her? Continuing thisa quarter of an hour, Lady
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Macbeth, Yet he is a spotdoctor, hark she speaks. I will
set down what comes from her tosatisfy my remembrance. The more strongly,
Lady Macbeth, Out, damned spotout? I say one? Two?
Why then tis time to doot?Hell is murky? Fhi, my Lord
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Phi, a soldier and a fearedWhat need we fear? Who knows it?
When none can call our power toaccount? Yet? Who would have
thought the old man to have hadso much blood in him? Doctor?
Do you mark that lady Macbeth,the Thane of Fife had a wife?
Where is she now? What willthese hands ne'er be clean? No more
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of that, my lord, Nomore of that? You are all with
this starting, doctor, go too, go too. You have known what
you should not, gentlewoman, shehas spoke what she should not. I
am sure of that. Heaven knowswhat she has known. Lady Macbeth.
Here is the smell of the blood. Still all the perfumes of Arabia will
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not sweeten this little hand. Ohoh, oh, doctor, what a
sigh is there? The heart issorely charged, gentlewoman, I would not
have such a heart in my bosomfor the dignity of the whole body.
Doctor. Well, well, well, gentlewoman, pray God it be doctor.
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This disease is beyond my practice.Yet I have known those which have
walked in their sleep, who havedied holily in their beds. Lady Macbeth,
wash your hands, put on yournightgown. Look not so pale,
I tell you yet again, Banquet'sburied. He cannot come out on scrave
doctor. Even so, Lady Macbeth, to bed, to bed. There's
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knocking at the gate. Come,come, come, come, give me
your hand. What's done cannot beundone to bed, to bed, to
bed, exit, Doctor wilt yego now to bed, gentlewoman, directly,
doctor. Foul whisperings are abroad.Unnatural deeds do breed, unnatural troubles.
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Infected minds to their deaf pillows,will discharge their secrets. More needs
she the divine than the physician.God, God forgive us all look after
her, remove from her the meansof all annoyance, and still keep eyes
upon her. So good night,my mind, she has mate it and
amazed my sight. I think,But dare not speak, gentlewoman, good
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night, good doctor eximed. Ourmodern examples are much less dramatic, but
they may be compared as to theirmost striking features. Let me cite a
certain number of cases to impress uponyour minds the idea of this phenomenon,
which to me is a very importantone. Here is a first instance,
a young woman twenty nine years old, called Ghibb, intelligent sensitive. Here's
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one day, abruptly some disastrous newsher niece, who lives next door has
just died in dreadful circumstances. Sherushes out and comes unhappily in time to
see the body of the young girllying in the street. She had thrown
herself out of the window in afit of delirium. Gibb, although very
much moved, remains to all appearancecalm, helping to make everything ready for
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the funeral. She goes to thefuneral in a very natural way, but
from that time grows more and moregloomy. Her health fails, and we
may notice the beginning of the singularsymptoms we are going to speak of.
Nearly every day, at night andduring the day, she enters into a
strange state. She looks as ifshe were in a dream. She speaks
softly with an absent person. Shecalls Pauline, the name of her lately
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deceased niece, and tells her thatshe admires her fate, her courage,
that her death has been a beautifulone. She rises, goes to the
windows and opens them, then shutsthem again, tries them one after another,
climbs on the window, and ifher friends did not stop her,
she would, without any doubt,throw herself out of the window. She
must be stopped, looked after incessantlytill she shakes herself, rubs her eyes,
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and resumes her ordinary business as ifnothing had happened. The curious case
I have lately observed is that ofAy, which I have related with more
particulars in another of my works.That woman, a hysterical thirty five years
old, was taking a walk inthe zoological garden during her menstrual period,
when she was frightened by a lioness, as it was reported, seemed ready
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to rush upon her. When shecame back to the hospital, she had
a fit of delirium that lasted foreight days. After some interruption, she
again had fits of the same odddelirium. In these crises, she runs
on all fours, roars, rusheson people, trying to bite them,
And although she was anarexic before herattack and could eat very little, now
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she pounces on all sorts of food, picks it up with her teeth,
and devours bits of paper and smallobjects she finds on the floor. In
a word, she acts a comedy, wherein she believes herself to be a
lioness. I say that she actsa comedy, for it becomes certain that
she studies her part, and thatshe often replaces real actors by metaphors.
For instance, she looks in adrawer for photographs, generally children's portraits,
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and tries to eat them up withoutany doubt. As she is unable to
devour real persons, she devours themin effigy. I won't insist on the
form here borrowed by the idea rootedin her mind. It is one of
those changes in personality brought about byus suggestion or an invading idea, which
are already well known. At thesame time, we may observe in her
when she is awake, a verycomplete amnesia that spreads not only upon the
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delirium but also upon the walk.At the zoological garden. Third observation,
a man of thirty two some presentsa still more singular case. He usually
remains in bed, for both hislegs are paralyzed. We won't occupy ourselves
with that paralysis to day, althoughit is a very odd one. In
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the middle of the night, herises slowly, jumps lightly out of bed
for the paralysis we have just spokenof as quite vanished, takes his pillow
and hugs it. We know byhis countenance and by his words, that
he mistakes this pillow for his child, and that he believes he is saving
his child from the hands of hismother in law. Then, bearing that
weight, he tries to slip outof the room, opens the door,
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and runs out through the courtyard.Climbing along the gutter. He gets to
the housetop, carrying his pillow andrunning all about the buildings the hospital with
marvelous agility. One must take greatcare to catch him and use all sorts
of cautions to get him down,for he wakes with a stupefied air,
and as soon as he is awake, both his legs are paralyzed again,
and he must be carried to hisbed. He does not understand what you
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are speaking about and cannot comprehend howit happens that people were obliged to go
to the top of the house inorder to look for a poor man who
has been paralyzed in his bed formonths. A fourth and last observation,
for I insist upon relating to youa great number of instructive examples. We
come back to the common story ofa young girl twenty years old called Irene,
whom despair caused by her mother's deathhas made ill. We must remember
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that this woman's death has been verymoving and dramatic. The poor woman,
who had reached the last stage ofconsumption, lived alone with her daughter in
a poor garret. Death came slowly, with suffocation, blood vomiting, and
all its frightful procession of symptoms.The girl struggled hopelessly against the impossible.
She watched her mother during sixty nightsworking at her sewing machine to earn a
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few pennies necessary to sustain their lives. After the mother's death, she tried
to revive the corpse to call thebreath back again. Then as she put
the limbs upright, the body fellto the floor and it took infinite exertion
to lift it again into the bed. You may picture to yourself all that
frightful scene. Sometime after the funeral, curious and impressive symptoms began. It
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was one of the most splendid casesof somnambulism I ever saw. The crises
last for hours, and they showa splendid dramatic performance, for no actress
could rehearse those lugubrious scenes with suchperfection. The young girl has the singular
habit of acting again all the eventsthat took place at her mother's death without
forgetting the least detail. Sometimes sheonly speaks, relating all that happened with
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great volubility, putting questions and answersin turn, or asking questions only and
seeming to listen for the answer.Sometimes she only seized the sight, looking
with frightened face and staring on thevarious scenes and acting according to what she
sees. At other times, shecombines all hallucinations, words and acts,
and seems to play a very singulardrama. When in her drama death has
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taken place, she carries on thesame idea and makes everything ready for her
own suicide. She discusses it aloud, seems to speak with her mother to
receive advice from her. She fanciesshe will try to be run over by
a locomotive. That detail is alsoa recollection of a real event of her
life. She fancies she is onthe way and stretches herself out on the
floor of the room, waiting fordeath. With mingled dread and impatience.
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She poses and wears on her faceexpressions really worthy of admiration, which remain
fixed during several minutes. The trainarrives before her staring eyes. She utters
a terrible shriek and falls back motionless, as if she were dead. She
soon gets up and begins acting overagain one of the preceding scenes. In
fact, one of the characteristics ofthese somnambulisms is that they repeat themselves indefinitely.
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Not only the difference. Attacks arealways exactly alike, repeating the same
movements, expressions, and words.But in the course of the same attack,
when it has lasted a certain time, the same scene may be repeated
again exactly in the same way,five or ten times. At last,
the agitation seems to wear out,the dream grows less clear, and gradually
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or suddenly, according to the cases, the patient comes back to her normal
consciousness, takes up her ordinary business, quite undisturbed by what has happened.
I could tell him many more ofthese examples, for all the events of
life may be reflected in one ofthese scenes. This patient acts over again
a scene wherein he has been bittenby a dog. That one reproduces in
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his dream the emotion he had whenhe was wounded by the falling of the
lift. This little girl fancies ascene of her school life in which she
was severely punished. That young girlreflects a scene of ravishment. A young
boy repeats a quarrel in the street. Another man lives through a chapter he
has read in a novel where thievesget through a latticed window and bind him
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rightly to his bed. This kindof delirium may vary over and over again
in a thousand different ways. Itis, however, very characteristic, and
in all mental pathology you will notfind another delirium that may be compared with
it. It is then necessary tostudy carefully the psychological character of which it
is made up, for the preciseanalysis of this simple delirium will perhaps be
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the starting point, whence we shallproceed to explain the other more complicated states.
Two innumerable studies have been written toanalyze the preceding state in every particular.
I shall only sum up the veryclear result of those studies, and
I shall do it by following thatstate from its starting point to the return
of normal life. There is afirst, very important period, but on
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it we cannot yet dwell. Itis the moment when somnambulism begins the change
from the normal to the second state. When the change is sudden, there
is, as it seems, aloss of consciousness half faint. When the
change is slow, one may easilyobserve the abasement of mental activity. The
patient pays no more attention to exteriorevents. He understands less and less what
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you tell him, and he answerswith difficulty. As absent minded works more
slowly or interrupts his work. Inshort, voluntary activity and close applications seem
to disappear to give place to theexpansion of the dream. When the dream
begins, you may note a verystriking and important characteristic, namely the perfection
and the intensity of its development.All the phenomena in connection with the dream
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seem enormously increased. Undoubtedly, weall take expressions and attitudes in connection with
our thought, but our expressions lookshabby and incomplete in comparison with the marvels
of plasticity. We may sometimes observein somnambulism some of the patients, as
we have already remarked, neither speaknor move, but remain fixed in an
expressive attitude. That form of monoideicsomnambulism is called catalepsy. We have no
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time to dwell on all its variousforms. We will only point out the
perfect expression of those living statues thathave often inspired superstitious wonder. We may
learn by different means what images fillhis consciousness, and we may see that
he has not our dull memory ofthings, but that he sees the object
he speaks of, and really hears, feels, touches them exactly as if
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they were real. The unfolding ofhallucinations is incomparable, and except in some
crises of alcoholic delirium that are alittle like hysteria, we shall never find
in lunacy such abundance and such copiousnessin the hallucinations of all senses. When
the patient speaks, he has afluency of elocution and even an eloquence that
seems superior to his normal powers.Because he gives himself entirely up to the
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idea he means to express when heacts, he has a precision and quickness
in his movements that makes a wonderfulactor of him. And here again he
surpasses his usual powers. The patientwe just spoke of, the one who
believed he was rescuing his child bycarrying his pillow, ran on the housetop
with more agility than he would haveshown in his normal state, even if
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he had not been palsy stricken.One of my patients who does not know
how to write, writes during hersomnambulism, it is no wonder and there
is no mystery about the case.In the somnambulic state, that woman remembered
the writing she had learnt at schoolas a child and had to all appearance
forgotten thirty years ago. The developmentof the somnambulik delirium is not only intense,
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it is also perfectly regular. Thepatient repeats the same words at the
same moments, makes the same gesturesat the same place every time he begins
his performance over again. He seemsto have on that point a marvelous memory.
When he has appropriated his somnambulism toa given room, he remembers all
that he did at each different spot. He knows from what drawer he took,
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the photos he pretends to eat up, in what table he found a
bit of wood that he used asa pistol. He goes directly to that
spot, unhesitating, knowing exactly whathe expects to find there. Sometimes,
in the course of various somnambulisms,the patient, instead of beginning his history
over again, takes up his deliriumat the exact point where he last stopped,
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and seems to remember perfectly at whatpoint he broke off in his last
delirium. You recollect one of Charcot'ssomnambulists who believed himself a journalist and who
wrote a novel. He waked afterwriting two or three pages, which were
taken away from him. In thenext crisis, he began his novel exactly
at the point where he had brokenoff. You see what an important part
regularity and memory play in these scenes. Inversely, the patient's liberty or power
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of will seem to have no sharein these crises, for the scene is
never altered in the way the patientcould wish. This negative character will become
even more striking if we study somnambulismfrom another point of view. In contrast
with the brilliant unfolding of some phenomena, we discover, with amazement, strange
mental blanks. The same patient wholooks as if he had very precise sensations,
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since he can walk on the house'stop, look for objects in a
drawer, and see very clearly thebed where, in his fancy his mother
lies dying, this same patient seemsunable to grasp anything else. This is
what first struck popular observation. Speakto them, and they do not answer.
Try by all sorts of means tomake your presence felt. They do
not seem to feel it. Theobjects you thrust before their eyes do not
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in the least alter their dream,and do not in the least stop it.
As the doctor remarks in the caseof Lady Macbeth, their eyes seem
open, but they are shut toall impressions that are not connected with their
dream. To make yourself heard,you must dream with the patient and speak
to him only words in accordance withhis delirium. As the patient perceives nothing
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except the idea he has possessed of, he remembers nothing except that one idea.
He knows not where he is.He has quite forgotten the changes that
have taken place since the time hespeaks of. He often does not even
know his name. His memory,as well as his sensations, is shut
up in a narrow circle. Thesomnambulism is ended, the patient comes back
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to consciousness. We may then newcharacteristics and see how they add themselves to
the preceding ones. The patient resumeshis former sensations. The memory he has
lost comes back. He knows hisname, knows also where he is,
and remembers all the events of hislife. He has to all appearance his
former character and personality. But thewonderful thing is that in this new personality,
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somnambulism has left a gap. Heappears to have forgotten all that preceding
period that amazed us to such apoint by its dramatic character. He is
not disturbed by it. He doesnot endeavor to apologize for the ridiculous acts
he has just accomplished. He wonderssometimes at the untidiness of the room of
which he is himself the cause,and cannot understand how it came about.
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If you question him try to awakenhis memory by direct questions, either of
two things may happen. In describingwith too much accuracy of what the patient
has just done in his delirium,you will either revive his memory so vividly
that he will fall back again intothe preceding state, be wholly taken up
by that recollection, get that youare there and act the whole scene over
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again, Or, as more frequentlyhappens, you will be unable to recall
to his mind the lost memory.He does not understand what you mean.
All the preceding scene, which inreality is so lively and persistent in his
memory, since it will begin overagain or will enter in the next crisis,
seems at that moment quite out ofhis consciousness. These are the chief
psychological characteristics that come out in somnambulism. During the crisis itself, two opposite
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characteristics manifest themselves. First, ahuge unfolding of all the phenomena connected with
a certain delirium. Second, anabsence of every sensation and every memory that
is not connected with that delirium afterthe crisis, during the state that appears
as normal, two other characteristics appearopposite to all appearance, the return of
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consciousness, of sensations and normal memory, and the entire forgetfulness of all that
is connected with the somnambulism. Letus remember all these notions that he has
seemed very simple, and we shallafterward would see them unfolded in every hysterical
phenomenon. Three. The facts andthe laws of somnambulism we have just described
have been well known for a longtime, and usually they're made up all
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that was studied about this curious state. But I believe we must notice another
interesting fact in order to understand betterthe whole of the monoideic somnambulism. This
fact is usually more or less concealed, but it becomes very apparent and conspicuous
in certain cases. Let us takeup the case of that young girl Irene,
who acts during her somnambulism the sceneof her mother's death with such apparent
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precision. Let us watch her duringthe intervals of her fits, during the
period in which she seems to benormal. We shall soon notice that even
at that time she is different fromwhat she was before. Her relatives,
when she was conveyed to the hospital, said to us, she has grown
callous and insensible. She has soonforgotten her mother's death and does not seem
to remember her illness. That remarkseems amazing. It is, however,
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true, that this young girl isunable to tell us what brought about her
illness, for the good reason thatshe has quite forgotten the dramatic event that
happened three months ago. I knowvery well my mother must be dead,
she says, since I have beentold so several times, since I see
her no more, and since Iam in mourning. But I really feel
astonished at it. When did shedie? What did she die from?
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Was I not buy her to takecare of her? There is something I
do not understand why, loving heras I did, do I not feel
more sorrow for her death. Ican't grieve. I feel as if her
absence was nothing to me, asif she were traveling and would soon come
back. The same thing happens ifyou put to her questions about any of
the events that happened during those threemonths before her mother's death. If you
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ask her about the illness, themishaps, the nightly staying up, anxieties
about money, the quarrels with herdrunken father. All these things have quite
vanished from her mind. If wehad had time to dwell upon that case,
we should have seen these many curiousinstances. The filial love, the
feeling of affection she had felt forher mother, have quite vanished. It
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looks as if there was a gapas well in the feelings as in the
memory. But I shall insist onlyon one point. The loss of memory
bears not only, as is generallybelieved, on the period of somnambulism,
on the scene of delirium. Theloss of memory bears also on the event
that has given birth to that delirium, on all the facts that are connected
with it, on the feelings thatare related to it. This very important
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remark may be extended to all theother cases I have related. Her,
who has the delirium in which shefancies herself a lioness, has not only
forgotten this period of somnambulism, butalso the walk in the zoological garden that
first cause of her delirium. Somewho carries his pillow on the housetop,
believing that he is rescuing his childfrom the clutches of his mother in law,
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does not remember his quarrels with thatwoman, although those quarrels were the
starting point of the actual disease.I have noted down in this connection a
very singular observation in which this retrogradeamnesia accompanying somnambulism is well brought into evidence.
A young girl nineteen years old Leehas fits of somnambulism in which she
speaks about thieves, about a fire, and calls to her help a certain
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Lucier. When awakened, she knowsnothing about all this, and when you
speak to her of what she said, she pretends that in her life there
is no event in which any partwas played by thieves, by a fire,
or by Lucier. As she hadcome alone to the hospital, we
had no other information and were compelledto believe that she had an imaginary delirium.
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Six months afterwards, only some relativesof hers, who had come from
the country to see her, toldus of an event that happened three years
before and was the starting point ofher nervous crises. She was a servant
in a country seat which one knightwas robbed and set on fire by thieves,
and she was rescued by a gardenercalled Lucier. It is astonishing that
this young girl could have utterly forgottensuch an important event, and that she
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was never able to speak about itwhen she related to the physician the story
of her life and the beginning ofthe disease. It is worthy of note
that the forgetfulness of this fact coincideswith the development of that extraordinary memory on
the same subject that filled her somnambulism. Without any doubt, the forgetfulness of
the idea which plays the greatest partin the monoidaic somnambulism is not always so
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clear, so perfect. But Ibelieve this forgetfulness always exists, more or
less concealed, and the profundity ofthe forgetfulness is in proportion to the depth
the serious nature of the somnambulism itself. According to my belief, the somnambulism
is followed by an amnesia which isretrograde, and which bears not only on
the somnambulism itself, but also onall the facts the memory is related to
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it. I beg the observers whocan study such cases of somnambulism to notice
with great care these troubles of memoryadded to the disease. How can we
understand? How can we picture toourselves the whole of the facts. What
is the essential point which can sumup the observations? I propose to you
the following psychological interpretation an idea,the memory of an event, for instance,
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the thought of a ferocious animal,the thought of a mother's death.
All these form groups of psychological factsclosely connected with one another. They are
certain kinds of systems, comprising allsorts of pictures and all sorts of tendencies
to certain movements. But with astrong unity, these systems in our minds
have their strength and their law ofdevelopment that are peculiar to them. They
have also a great tendency to developmentwhen they are not kept within bounds by
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another power. Allow me to representto you this system of psychological facts,
which constitutes an idea, by asystem of points connected together by some lines
forming a sort of polygon fig.One. The point S represents the sight
of the face of the dead mother. The point V is the sound of
her voice. Another point M isthe feeling of the movements made to carry
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up the body, and so on. This olygon is like the system of
thoughts which was developed in the mindand in the brain of our patient Irene.
Each point is connected with the others, so one cannot excite the first
without giving birth to the second,and the entire system has a tendency to
develop itself to the utmost. Butat the same time, in healthy minds,
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these systems pertaining to each idea areconnected with an infinitely wider system of
which they are only a part,the system of our entire consciousness, of
our entire individuality. The remembrance ofthe mother's death, even the affection Iran
feels for her mother, with allthe memories that are connected with it,
forms only a part of the wholeconsciousness of the young girl, with all
its memories and other tendencies. Letthis large circle p near the little polygon
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represent the whole personality of the girl, the memory of all that happened in
her previous life. Normally, ingood health, the little system must be
connected with the large one, andmust in great part depend on it.
Generally, the partial system remains subjectto the laws of the total system.
It is hold up only when thewhole consciousness is willing and within the limits
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in which this consciousness allows it nowto picture to ourselves what has taken place
during somnambulism. We may adopt asimple provisional resume things happen as if an
idea, a partial system of thoughtsemancipated itself, became independent, and developed
itself on its own account. Theresult is, on one hand that it
develops far too much, and onthe other hand, that consciousness appears no
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longer to control it. That generalremark may still seem to you very vague
and very difficult to understand. Nevertheless, I wished to point it out to
you in a few words, Firstbecause it emerges very clearly out of the
study of the first phenomenon of hysteria. Secondly, because it will serve us
as a clue to understand a thousandother cases of the neurosis. Don't trouble
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about the obscurity of that first remark. After you have repeated it exactly in
the same way with regard to athousand different phenomena, it will not be
long before you find yourself understanding itclearly. End of Section two
Lecture two monoidaic somnambulisms Somnambulism as thetypical form of hysterical accidents. Description of
some cases of monoidaic somnambulisms their essentialpsychological characters. The emancipation the dissociation of
an idea of a partial system ofthoughts. In somnambulism, the several conceptions
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of an illness are characterized by thechoice of the symptoms described first and considered
as the most important ones. Duringa long time, hysteria was considered as
a chiefly physical disease, and consequentlyconvulsions in all appearance deprived of intelligence,
were put on the first line.Hysteria was above all a convulsive illness,
whose most important symptom was the fit. Charcot has still continued that tradition,
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and you know the pains he tookto explain all that illness in taking as
a starting point the convulsive attack.His theory is nowadays considered very artificial,
and his schematic conception of the attackstends to fall into oblivion that lack of
success. So I easily explain throughhis error of the starting point the hysterical
fit of convulsions. Far from beinga simple phenomenon, is, on the
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contrary, a very variable and complexsymptom. The convulsions have all sorts of
meaning. Sometimes they are in connectionwith sensations or ideas, and very complicated
states of consciousness. Sometimes they arenearly deprived of consciousness. In certain cases
they are linked to habits and grimaces, or depend upon moving agitation in connection
with certain voluntary paralysies. It maybe said that for some rather aged patience,
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whose illness has lasted a long time, the convulsive attack sums up all
the hysterical accidents they have had sincethe beginning of the disease. The attack
I consider as a complex phenomenon thatought to be studied rather at the end
of a course of lectures than atthe beginning. To characterize at once the
spirit of my teaching, and tomake you understand how to construe that nervous
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affection from the moral point of view, I ask you to put in the
first line as the most typical Themost characteristic symptom of hysteria are moral symp
that is, somnambulism. The fitof somnambulism, which appears spontaneously in hystericals
This is a new medical conception,which I consider an important one. Somnambulism
has been too long considered as arare phenomenon, impossible to explain that adds
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itself to the habitual troubles of neuropaths. To me, somnambulism is, on
the contrary, extremely frequent under variousforms that may more or less conceal it.
Somnambulism does not add itself to allsorts of neuropathic troubles. It constitutes
the material point of a peculiar neurosishysteria. If one understands somnambulism well,
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one is I believe, capable ofunderstanding all hysterical phases that are more or
less constructed on the same model.But among the various somnambulisms, a type
must be chosen to be first studied. Here we will not choose the form
that occurs most frequently, but thenecessity of teaching will induce us to choose
the simplest form and the easiest tounderstand. This simple form of somnambulism deserves
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to be called monoideic, and thatname will I hope be justified by this
lecture. Thus we have to examinetogether the typical forms of monoideic somnambulism.
We shall then expose its essentially psychologicalcharacter, and we shall end by trying
to sum up in a simple andgeneral conception the character of these somnambulisms.
In order to compare gradually that first'sconception with those we shall draw from the
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study of other hysterical phenomena. One, What, then, exactly is a
somnambulist? Popular observation has answered longago it is an individual who thinks and
acts while he is asleep. Withouta doubt, that answer is not very
clear, for we don't know verywell what sleep is. That answer means
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only that the person spoken of thinksand acts in an odd way different from
that of other people, and thatat the same time that person is in
some way like a person asleep.You will find nowhere a more beautiful description
of this popular conception of somnambulism thanin Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth, Doctor, I
have two nights watched with you,but can perceive no truth in your report?
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When was it she last walked,gentlewoman? Since his majesty went into
the field. I have seen herrise from her bed, throw her night
gown upon her, unlock her closet, take forth paper, fold it,
write upont read it, afterwards,seal it, and again return to bed
it, all this while in amost fast sleep, Doctor, a great
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perturbation in nature to receive at oncethe benefit of sleep, and do the
effects of watching in this slumbery agitation, besides her walking and other actual performances.
What at any time have you heardher say, gentlewoman, that sir,
which I will not report after her. Doctor, You may to me,
and tis most me you should,gentlewoman, neither to you nor any
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one having no witness to confirm myspeech. Interlady Macbeth, with a taper,
lo you here she comes. Thisis her very guise, and upon
my life, fast asleep, observeher stand close, doctor. How came
she by that light, gentlewoman?Why it stood by her? She has
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light by her continually? Tis hercommand? Doctor. You see her eyes
are open, gentlewoman, Aye,but their sense is shut. Doctor.
What is it she does? Now? Look how she rubs her hands,
gentlewoman. It is an accustomed actionwith her to seem thus washing her hands.
I have known her? Continuing thisa quarter of an hour, Lady
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Macbeth, Yet he is a spotdoctor, hark she speaks. I will
set down what comes from her tosatisfy my remembrance. The more strongly,
Lady Macbeth, Out, damned spotout? I say one? Two?
Why then tis time to doot?Hell is murky? Fhi, my Lord
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Phi, a soldier and a fearedWhat need we fear? Who knows it?
When none can call our power toaccount? Yet? Who would have
thought the old man to have hadso much blood in him? Doctor?
Do you mark that lady Macbeth,the Thane of Fife had a wife?
Where is she now? What willthese hands ne'er be clean? No more
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of that, my lord, Nomore of that? You are all with
this starting, doctor, go too, go too. You have known what
you should not, gentlewoman, shehas spoke what she should not. I
am sure of that. Heaven knowswhat she has known. Lady Macbeth.
Here is the smell of the blood. Still all the perfumes of Arabia will
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not sweeten this little hand. Ohoh, oh, doctor, what a
sigh is there? The heart issorely charged, gentlewoman, I would not
have such a heart in my bosomfor the dignity of the whole body.
Doctor. Well, well, well, gentlewoman, pray God it be doctor.
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This disease is beyond my practice.Yet I have known those which have
walked in their sleep, who havedied holily in their beds. Lady Macbeth,
wash your hands, put on yournightgown. Look not so pale,
I tell you yet again, Banquet'sburied. He cannot come out on scrave
doctor. Even so, Lady Macbeth, to bed, to bed. There's
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knocking at the gate. Come,come, come, come, give me
your hand. What's done cannot beundone to bed, to bed, to
bed, exit, Doctor wilt yego now to bed, gentlewoman, directly,
doctor. Foul whisperings are abroad.Unnatural deeds do breed, unnatural troubles.
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Infected minds to their deaf pillows,will discharge their secrets. More needs
she the divine than the physician.God, God forgive us all look after
her, remove from her the meansof all annoyance, and still keep eyes
upon her. So good night,my mind, she has mate it and
amazed my sight. I think,But dare not speak, gentlewoman, good
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night, good doctor eximed. Ourmodern examples are much less dramatic, but
they may be compared as to theirmost striking features. Let me cite a
certain number of cases to impress uponyour minds the idea of this phenomenon,
which to me is a very importantone. Here is a first instance,
a young woman twenty nine years old, called Ghibb, intelligent sensitive. Here's
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one day, abruptly some disastrous newsher niece, who lives next door has
just died in dreadful circumstances. Sherushes out and comes unhappily in time to
see the body of the young girllying in the street. She had thrown
herself out of the window in afit of delirium. Gibb, although very
much moved, remains to all appearancecalm, helping to make everything ready for
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the funeral. She goes to thefuneral in a very natural way, but
from that time grows more and moregloomy. Her health fails, and we
may notice the beginning of the singularsymptoms we are going to speak of.
Nearly every day, at night andduring the day, she enters into a
strange state. She looks as ifshe were in a dream. She speaks
softly with an absent person. Shecalls Pauline, the name of her lately
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deceased niece, and tells her thatshe admires her fate, her courage,
that her death has been a beautifulone. She rises, goes to the
windows and opens them, then shutsthem again, tries them one after another,
climbs on the window, and ifher friends did not stop her,
she would, without any doubt,throw herself out of the window. She
must be stopped, looked after incessantlytill she shakes herself, rubs her eyes,
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and resumes her ordinary business as ifnothing had happened. The curious case
I have lately observed is that ofAy, which I have related with more
particulars in another of my works.That woman, a hysterical thirty five years
old, was taking a walk inthe zoological garden during her menstrual period,
when she was frightened by a lioness, as it was reported, seemed ready
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to rush upon her. When shecame back to the hospital, she had
a fit of delirium that lasted foreight days. After some interruption, she
again had fits of the same odddelirium. In these crises, she runs
on all fours, roars, rusheson people, trying to bite them,
And although she was anarexic before herattack and could eat very little, now
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she pounces on all sorts of food, picks it up with her teeth,
and devours bits of paper and smallobjects she finds on the floor. In
a word, she acts a comedy, wherein she believes herself to be a
lioness. I say that she actsa comedy, for it becomes certain that
she studies her part, and thatshe often replaces real actors by metaphors.
For instance, she looks in adrawer for photographs, generally children's portraits,
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and tries to eat them up withoutany doubt. As she is unable to
devour real persons, she devours themin effigy. I won't insist on the
form here borrowed by the idea rootedin her mind. It is one of
those changes in personality brought about byus suggestion or an invading idea, which
are already well known. At thesame time, we may observe in her
when she is awake, a verycomplete amnesia that spreads not only upon the
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delirium but also upon the walk.At the zoological garden. Third observation,
a man of thirty two some presentsa still more singular case. He usually
remains in bed, for both hislegs are paralyzed. We won't occupy ourselves
with that paralysis to day, althoughit is a very odd one. In
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the middle of the night, herises slowly, jumps lightly out of bed
for the paralysis we have just spokenof as quite vanished, takes his pillow
and hugs it. We know byhis countenance and by his words, that
he mistakes this pillow for his child, and that he believes he is saving
his child from the hands of hismother in law. Then, bearing that
weight, he tries to slip outof the room, opens the door,
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and runs out through the courtyard.Climbing along the gutter. He gets to
the housetop, carrying his pillow andrunning all about the buildings the hospital with
marvelous agility. One must take greatcare to catch him and use all sorts
of cautions to get him down,for he wakes with a stupefied air,
and as soon as he is awake, both his legs are paralyzed again,
and he must be carried to hisbed. He does not understand what you
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are speaking about and cannot comprehend howit happens that people were obliged to go
to the top of the house inorder to look for a poor man who
has been paralyzed in his bed formonths. A fourth and last observation,
for I insist upon relating to youa great number of instructive examples. We
come back to the common story ofa young girl twenty years old called Irene,
whom despair caused by her mother's deathhas made ill. We must remember
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that this woman's death has been verymoving and dramatic. The poor woman,
who had reached the last stage ofconsumption, lived alone with her daughter in
a poor garret. Death came slowly, with suffocation, blood vomiting, and
all its frightful procession of symptoms.The girl struggled hopelessly against the impossible.
She watched her mother during sixty nightsworking at her sewing machine to earn a
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few pennies necessary to sustain their lives. After the mother's death, she tried
to revive the corpse to call thebreath back again. Then as she put
the limbs upright, the body fellto the floor and it took infinite exertion
to lift it again into the bed. You may picture to yourself all that
frightful scene. Sometime after the funeral, curious and impressive symptoms began. It
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was one of the most splendid casesof somnambulism I ever saw. The crises
last for hours, and they showa splendid dramatic performance, for no actress
could rehearse those lugubrious scenes with suchperfection. The young girl has the singular
habit of acting again all the eventsthat took place at her mother's death without
forgetting the least detail. Sometimes sheonly speaks, relating all that happened with
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great volubility, putting questions and answersin turn, or asking questions only and
seeming to listen for the answer.Sometimes she only seized the sight, looking
with frightened face and staring on thevarious scenes and acting according to what she
sees. At other times, shecombines all hallucinations, words and acts,
and seems to play a very singulardrama. When in her drama death has
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taken place, she carries on thesame idea and makes everything ready for her
own suicide. She discusses it aloud, seems to speak with her mother to
receive advice from her. She fanciesshe will try to be run over by
a locomotive. That detail is alsoa recollection of a real event of her
life. She fancies she is onthe way and stretches herself out on the
floor of the room, waiting fordeath. With mingled dread and impatience.
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She poses and wears on her faceexpressions really worthy of admiration, which remain
fixed during several minutes. The trainarrives before her staring eyes. She utters
a terrible shriek and falls back motionless, as if she were dead. She
soon gets up and begins acting overagain one of the preceding scenes. In
fact, one of the characteristics ofthese somnambulisms is that they repeat themselves indefinitely.
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Not only the difference. Attacks arealways exactly alike, repeating the same
movements, expressions, and words.But in the course of the same attack,
when it has lasted a certain time, the same scene may be repeated
again exactly in the same way,five or ten times. At last,
the agitation seems to wear out,the dream grows less clear, and gradually
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or suddenly, according to the cases, the patient comes back to her normal
consciousness, takes up her ordinary business, quite undisturbed by what has happened.
I could tell him many more ofthese examples, for all the events of
life may be reflected in one ofthese scenes. This patient acts over again
a scene wherein he has been bittenby a dog. That one reproduces in
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his dream the emotion he had whenhe was wounded by the falling of the
lift. This little girl fancies ascene of her school life in which she
was severely punished. That young girlreflects a scene of ravishment. A young
boy repeats a quarrel in the street. Another man lives through a chapter he
has read in a novel where thievesget through a latticed window and bind him
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rightly to his bed. This kindof delirium may vary over and over again
in a thousand different ways. Itis, however, very characteristic, and
in all mental pathology you will notfind another delirium that may be compared with
it. It is then necessary tostudy carefully the psychological character of which it
is made up, for the preciseanalysis of this simple delirium will perhaps be
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the starting point, whence we shallproceed to explain the other more complicated states.
Two innumerable studies have been written toanalyze the preceding state in every particular.
I shall only sum up the veryclear result of those studies, and
I shall do it by following thatstate from its starting point to the return
of normal life. There is afirst, very important period, but on
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it we cannot yet dwell. Itis the moment when somnambulism begins the change
from the normal to the second state. When the change is sudden, there
is, as it seems, aloss of consciousness half faint. When the
change is slow, one may easilyobserve the abasement of mental activity. The
patient pays no more attention to exteriorevents. He understands less and less what
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you tell him, and he answerswith difficulty. As absent minded works more
slowly or interrupts his work. Inshort, voluntary activity and close applications seem
to disappear to give place to theexpansion of the dream. When the dream
begins, you may note a verystriking and important characteristic, namely the perfection
and the intensity of its development.All the phenomena in connection with the dream
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seem enormously increased. Undoubtedly, weall take expressions and attitudes in connection with
our thought, but our expressions lookshabby and incomplete in comparison with the marvels
of plasticity. We may sometimes observein somnambulism some of the patients, as
we have already remarked, neither speaknor move, but remain fixed in an
expressive attitude. That form of monoideicsomnambulism is called catalepsy. We have no
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time to dwell on all its variousforms. We will only point out the
perfect expression of those living statues thathave often inspired superstitious wonder. We may
learn by different means what images fillhis consciousness, and we may see that
he has not our dull memory ofthings, but that he sees the object
he speaks of, and really hears, feels, touches them exactly as if
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they were real. The unfolding ofhallucinations is incomparable, and except in some
crises of alcoholic delirium that are alittle like hysteria, we shall never find
in lunacy such abundance and such copiousnessin the hallucinations of all senses. When
the patient speaks, he has afluency of elocution and even an eloquence that
seems superior to his normal powers.Because he gives himself entirely up to the
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idea he means to express when heacts, he has a precision and quickness
in his movements that makes a wonderfulactor of him. And here again he
surpasses his usual powers. The patientwe just spoke of, the one who
believed he was rescuing his child bycarrying his pillow, ran on the housetop
with more agility than he would haveshown in his normal state, even if
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he had not been palsy stricken.One of my patients who does not know
how to write, writes during hersomnambulism, it is no wonder and there
is no mystery about the case.In the somnambulic state, that woman remembered
the writing she had learnt at schoolas a child and had to all appearance
forgotten thirty years ago. The developmentof the somnambulik delirium is not only intense,
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it is also perfectly regular. Thepatient repeats the same words at the
same moments, makes the same gesturesat the same place every time he begins
his performance over again. He seemsto have on that point a marvelous memory.
When he has appropriated his somnambulism toa given room, he remembers all
that he did at each different spot. He knows from what drawer he took,
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the photos he pretends to eat up, in what table he found a
bit of wood that he used asa pistol. He goes directly to that
spot, unhesitating, knowing exactly whathe expects to find there. Sometimes,
in the course of various somnambulisms,the patient, instead of beginning his history
over again, takes up his deliriumat the exact point where he last stopped,
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and seems to remember perfectly at whatpoint he broke off in his last
delirium. You recollect one of Charcot'ssomnambulists who believed himself a journalist and who
wrote a novel. He waked afterwriting two or three pages, which were
taken away from him. In thenext crisis, he began his novel exactly
at the point where he had brokenoff. You see what an important part
regularity and memory play in these scenes. Inversely, the patient's liberty or power
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of will seem to have no sharein these crises, for the scene is
never altered in the way the patientcould wish. This negative character will become
even more striking if we study somnambulismfrom another point of view. In contrast
with the brilliant unfolding of some phenomena, we discover, with amazement, strange
mental blanks. The same patient wholooks as if he had very precise sensations,
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since he can walk on the house'stop, look for objects in a
drawer, and see very clearly thebed where, in his fancy his mother
lies dying, this same patient seemsunable to grasp anything else. This is
what first struck popular observation. Speakto them, and they do not answer.
Try by all sorts of means tomake your presence felt. They do
not seem to feel it. Theobjects you thrust before their eyes do not
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in the least alter their dream,and do not in the least stop it.
As the doctor remarks in the caseof Lady Macbeth, their eyes seem
open, but they are shut toall impressions that are not connected with their
dream. To make yourself heard,you must dream with the patient and speak
to him only words in accordance withhis delirium. As the patient perceives nothing
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except the idea he has possessed of, he remembers nothing except that one idea.
He knows not where he is.He has quite forgotten the changes that
have taken place since the time hespeaks of. He often does not even
know his name. His memory,as well as his sensations, is shut
up in a narrow circle. Thesomnambulism is ended, the patient comes back
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to consciousness. We may then newcharacteristics and see how they add themselves to
the preceding ones. The patient resumeshis former sensations. The memory he has
lost comes back. He knows hisname, knows also where he is,
and remembers all the events of hislife. He has to all appearance his
former character and personality. But thewonderful thing is that in this new personality,
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somnambulism has left a gap. Heappears to have forgotten all that preceding
period that amazed us to such apoint by its dramatic character. He is
not disturbed by it. He doesnot endeavor to apologize for the ridiculous acts
he has just accomplished. He wonderssometimes at the untidiness of the room of
which he is himself the cause,and cannot understand how it came about.
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If you question him try to awakenhis memory by direct questions, either of
two things may happen. In describingwith too much accuracy of what the patient
has just done in his delirium,you will either revive his memory so vividly
that he will fall back again intothe preceding state, be wholly taken up
by that recollection, get that youare there and act the whole scene over
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again, Or, as more frequentlyhappens, you will be unable to recall
to his mind the lost memory.He does not understand what you mean.
All the preceding scene, which inreality is so lively and persistent in his
memory, since it will begin overagain or will enter in the next crisis,
seems at that moment quite out ofhis consciousness. These are the chief
psychological characteristics that come out in somnambulism. During the crisis itself, two opposite
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characteristics manifest themselves. First, ahuge unfolding of all the phenomena connected with
a certain delirium. Second, anabsence of every sensation and every memory that
is not connected with that delirium afterthe crisis, during the state that appears
as normal, two other characteristics appearopposite to all appearance, the return of
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consciousness, of sensations and normal memory, and the entire forgetfulness of all that
is connected with the somnambulism. Letus remember all these notions that he has
seemed very simple, and we shallafterward would see them unfolded in every hysterical
phenomenon. Three. The facts andthe laws of somnambulism we have just described
have been well known for a longtime, and usually they're made up all
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that was studied about this curious state. But I believe we must notice another
interesting fact in order to understand betterthe whole of the monoideic somnambulism. This
fact is usually more or less concealed, but it becomes very apparent and conspicuous
in certain cases. Let us takeup the case of that young girl Irene,
who acts during her somnambulism the sceneof her mother's death with such apparent
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precision. Let us watch her duringthe intervals of her fits, during the
period in which she seems to benormal. We shall soon notice that even
at that time she is different fromwhat she was before. Her relatives,
when she was conveyed to the hospital, said to us, she has grown
callous and insensible. She has soonforgotten her mother's death and does not seem
to remember her illness. That remarkseems amazing. It is, however,
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true, that this young girl isunable to tell us what brought about her
illness, for the good reason thatshe has quite forgotten the dramatic event that
happened three months ago. I knowvery well my mother must be dead,
she says, since I have beentold so several times, since I see
her no more, and since Iam in mourning. But I really feel
astonished at it. When did shedie? What did she die from?
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Was I not buy her to takecare of her? There is something I
do not understand why, loving heras I did, do I not feel
more sorrow for her death. Ican't grieve. I feel as if her
absence was nothing to me, asif she were traveling and would soon come
back. The same thing happens ifyou put to her questions about any of
the events that happened during those threemonths before her mother's death. If you
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ask her about the illness, themishaps, the nightly staying up, anxieties
about money, the quarrels with herdrunken father. All these things have quite
vanished from her mind. If wehad had time to dwell upon that case,
we should have seen these many curiousinstances. The filial love, the
feeling of affection she had felt forher mother, have quite vanished. It
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looks as if there was a gapas well in the feelings as in the
memory. But I shall insist onlyon one point. The loss of memory
bears not only, as is generallybelieved, on the period of somnambulism,
on the scene of delirium. Theloss of memory bears also on the event
that has given birth to that delirium, on all the facts that are connected
with it, on the feelings thatare related to it. This very important
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remark may be extended to all theother cases I have related. Her,
who has the delirium in which shefancies herself a lioness, has not only
forgotten this period of somnambulism, butalso the walk in the zoological garden that
first cause of her delirium. Somewho carries his pillow on the housetop,
believing that he is rescuing his childfrom the clutches of his mother in law,
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does not remember his quarrels with thatwoman, although those quarrels were the
starting point of the actual disease.I have noted down in this connection a
very singular observation in which this retrogradeamnesia accompanying somnambulism is well brought into evidence.
A young girl nineteen years old Leehas fits of somnambulism in which she
speaks about thieves, about a fire, and calls to her help a certain
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Lucier. When awakened, she knowsnothing about all this, and when you
speak to her of what she said, she pretends that in her life there
is no event in which any partwas played by thieves, by a fire,
or by Lucier. As she hadcome alone to the hospital, we
had no other information and were compelledto believe that she had an imaginary delirium.
(27:37):
Six months afterwards, only some relativesof hers, who had come from
the country to see her, toldus of an event that happened three years
before and was the starting point ofher nervous crises. She was a servant
in a country seat which one knightwas robbed and set on fire by thieves,
and she was rescued by a gardenercalled Lucier. It is astonishing that
this young girl could have utterly forgottensuch an important event, and that she
(28:00):
was never able to speak about itwhen she related to the physician the story
of her life and the beginning ofthe disease. It is worthy of note
that the forgetfulness of this fact coincideswith the development of that extraordinary memory on
the same subject that filled her somnambulism. Without any doubt, the forgetfulness of
the idea which plays the greatest partin the monoidaic somnambulism is not always so
(28:23):
clear, so perfect. But Ibelieve this forgetfulness always exists, more or
less concealed, and the profundity ofthe forgetfulness is in proportion to the depth
the serious nature of the somnambulism itself. According to my belief, the somnambulism
is followed by an amnesia which isretrograde, and which bears not only on
the somnambulism itself, but also onall the facts the memory is related to
(28:47):
it. I beg the observers whocan study such cases of somnambulism to notice
with great care these troubles of memoryadded to the disease. How can we
understand? How can we picture toourselves the whole of the facts. What
is the essential point which can sumup the observations? I propose to you
the following psychological interpretation an idea,the memory of an event, for instance,
(29:10):
the thought of a ferocious animal,the thought of a mother's death.
All these form groups of psychological factsclosely connected with one another. They are
certain kinds of systems, comprising allsorts of pictures and all sorts of tendencies
to certain movements. But with astrong unity, these systems in our minds
have their strength and their law ofdevelopment that are peculiar to them. They
have also a great tendency to developmentwhen they are not kept within bounds by
(29:34):
another power. Allow me to representto you this system of psychological facts,
which constitutes an idea, by asystem of points connected together by some lines
forming a sort of polygon fig.One. The point S represents the sight
of the face of the dead mother. The point V is the sound of
her voice. Another point M isthe feeling of the movements made to carry
(29:56):
up the body, and so on. This olygon is like the system of
thoughts which was developed in the mindand in the brain of our patient Irene.
Each point is connected with the others, so one cannot excite the first
without giving birth to the second,and the entire system has a tendency to
develop itself to the utmost. Butat the same time, in healthy minds,
(30:17):
these systems pertaining to each idea areconnected with an infinitely wider system of
which they are only a part,the system of our entire consciousness, of
our entire individuality. The remembrance ofthe mother's death, even the affection Iran
feels for her mother, with allthe memories that are connected with it,
forms only a part of the wholeconsciousness of the young girl, with all
its memories and other tendencies. Letthis large circle p near the little polygon
(30:41):
represent the whole personality of the girl, the memory of all that happened in
her previous life. Normally, ingood health, the little system must be
connected with the large one, andmust in great part depend on it.
Generally, the partial system remains subjectto the laws of the total system.
It is hold up only when thewhole consciousness is willing and within the limits
(31:03):
in which this consciousness allows it nowto picture to ourselves what has taken place
during somnambulism. We may adopt asimple provisional resume things happen as if an
idea, a partial system of thoughtsemancipated itself, became independent, and developed
itself on its own account. Theresult is, on one hand that it
develops far too much, and onthe other hand, that consciousness appears no
(31:26):
longer to control it. That generalremark may still seem to you very vague
and very difficult to understand. Nevertheless, I wished to point it out to
you in a few words, Firstbecause it emerges very clearly out of the
study of the first phenomenon of hysteria. Secondly, because it will serve us
as a clue to understand a thousandother cases of the neurosis. Don't trouble
(31:48):
about the obscurity of that first remark. After you have repeated it exactly in
the same way with regard to athousand different phenomena, it will not be
long before you find yourself understanding itclearly. End of Section two
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