Psychoanalysis

ear, but it does not compel us to do so. There is in sleep a certain amount of compulsion which is not accounted for by th

ates will help us considerably in de

exaggerated variety. The neurosis is the best magnifying glass through which to watch nor

and ten in the morning. In abnormal cases, on the other hand, we see the duration of sleep considerably

of any one falling asleep while witnessing a very amusing play, while in the company

r. His physical and intellectual activities were prodigious. He would, at times, ride on horseback for ten hours at a stretch, then hold conferences with his staff

irst he lost after a series of seventeen victories: He fell asleep after a long, u

tered at Waterloo and he was sent into exile on a remote islan

must have been welcome. That the reaction of defeat must have been more keenly felt by the young man who lost Aspern

rest or recuperation, for his idleness was complete, but the reality of ice and snow

ch sudden fits of sleepiness could be

eriod during which his earnings were offset by his losses, he would go to bed and sleep as much as four days and

countered a defeat of a sexual or egotistic nature. After a quarrel, or whenever a discussi

and brought up in complete solitude, in a small dark room. At the age of seventeen, he had never seen men, animals or plan

r years to the peace, quiet and safety of his cell, he reacted to a new, troublesome and complicated environment as newly born infants do, who i

a sleep which continues for weeks, months or even years, and which sometimes cul

an area of the African continent extending from Senegal to the Congo. Negroes are almost the only sufferers, alt

the sleeping sickness usually appears am

mmunities where the mental development has been retarded, imitation easily spreads the conta

f a fly or appears without obvious physical cause is immaterial.[1] Par

ts of the African sleeping sickness and the lethargic ai

nce, barring certain physical syndromes, being the unusual length o

sy is seldom fatal but has

ably that of Karoline Ollson reported

idden till 1908. For thirty-two years she slept all day and all night, waking up now and then for a few minutes, taking dim notice of happenings in her environment and speaking a few wor

the house. Then she became quiet again and resumed her slumbers. In April, 1908, whe

ked incredibly young. Two weeks after she left her bed she

iod and her awakening coincided with her climacteric. She was a child and wished to remain a child. The first question she asked on arising, 'Where is mama?' shows that she was suffering fr

ne mentions two similar cases she observed personally. Both patients were illiterate and of slow intellect. One of them, a housemaid of nineteen, was a sound sleeper at night and yet, in the day time, one could never be sure of her remaining awake. She fell asleep once in the act of announcing a visitor and while bringing in a tr

t any moment and were liable to leave the patient immobilized in some curious position. It was the weaker part of the population, physically and mentally,

forms of morbid sleep during which hysterics grati

at Mount Sinai Hospital, the course of lethargic encephalitis which is

may all be of a normal character.... From the depth of this seeming slumber, he may respond immediately when questioned and his short but coherent answers show no loss either of memory or of orientation.... His answer given, he straightway resumes his seeming sleep.... His attitude expresses a desire to be let alone, a desire which is sometimes art

re unrelated to the severity of the cerebral lesions.... The extent of the mental disturbance bears no c

lence into which the unconscious complexes force at times a ter

a decided neurotic trend in the subjects affected and reveal circumstances i

ers the sleeping sickness as being "unquestionably an acute organic disease

of the child's death were particularly sad as the mother was not allowed to visit the little sufferer at the hospital on account of the

nty years her senior. She had to go to work in order to help support the household and to liv

hich would drive a neurotic to withdraw his attenti

eep and the sleeping sickness, the reader should not draw th

discussing dream life, between what the human ani

promise that fails, while sleep is a compromise whi