Insomnia; and Other Disorders of SleepLyman, Henry M. (Henry Munson)
Science
Insomnia; and Other Disorders of Sleep
Lyman, Henry M. (Henry Munson)
Dreams; Insomnia; Sleepwalking
“This first cigarette terminated, he prepared to make another, when we
stepped up and began to interpose obstacles.... He searched vainly in his
pocket for his tobacco, as we had filched it. He searched for it in
another pocket, going through all his clothes until he came back to look
for it in the first pocket, when his face expressed surprise. I offered
him his tobacco-pouch, but he did not perceive it; I held it near his
eyes, yet he still did not perceive it; even when I shook it just in front
of his nose, he did not notice it. But when I placed it in contact with
his hand, he seized it and completed his cigarette directly. Just as he
was about to light his cigarette with one of his matches, I blew it out
and offered him instead a lighted match which I held in my own hand; he
did not perceive it; I brought it so close to his eyes as to singe a few
lashes, yet he still did not perceive it, neither did he make the
slightest motion of blinking.... _The patient sees certain objects and
does not perceive others; his sense of sight receives impressions from
all objects in personal relation with himself through the touch, and does
not receive impressions, on the contrary, from things external to him; he
perceives his own match, but does not perceive mine._”
During the course of this observation the patient gave evidence that the
memory of his former occupation as a professional singer had been revived.
He began to hum some of the familiar airs, and then proceeded to his room
in the hospital, where he carefully dressed himself as if for a public
performance. “On his bed he chanced to meet with several numbers of a
periodical romance, which he turned rapidly over without finding that for
which he was searching.... I took one of those numbers, rolled it up, and
putting it into his hand in that condition, satisfied his want by this
semblance of a roll of music, for he then took his cane, and traversed the
ward with a slow step, well contented. When stopped on his way, for the
purpose of taking off the coat he was wearing (which had been foisted on
him by one of the observers), he permitted it without offering any
resistance.... At this moment the sun lit up with a bright ray a glass
window that closed the lodge on the side towards the court.... This ray
must have given him the impression of a footlight, for he at once placed
himself before it, readjusted his toilet, opened the roll of paper which
he carried in his hand, and softly hummed an air, running his eyes over
the pages as he slowly turned them, and marking with his hand a measure
that was perfectly rhythmical. Then he sang aloud, in a highly agreeable
manner, giving his song the correct expression, a patriotic ballad to
which we all listened with pleasure. This first selection terminated, he
sang a second, and afterwards a third. We then saw him take out his
handkerchief to wipe his face. I offered him a wine-glass of a strong
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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