presenting at the time of my examination signs of abductor laryngeal
paralysis (laryngological examination disclosed a right-sided abductor
palsy) and right-sided partial hemiplegia.
For the next two visits the wife accompanied, or rather, brought the patient
to the clinic and I could get but little information and consequently
progressed but little. I asked him, in her presence, to come alone the next
time--which he did. The description of the onset of the attack, which was
furnished me on his previous visits, proved the hysterical nature of the
condition: he had suddenly been attacked by nausea and vomiting, fell to the
floor, lay there, more or less unconscious (as he described it) for five or
ten or more minutes, was assisted to his feet, went to his bed with
practically no assistance, a few hours later found that he could speak
little more than above a whisper, and in another few hours or more his right
side became weak and failed him. He had insisted that the onset came on
suddenly. He had denied any quarrels or trouble at home. Nothing could be
obtained from him as to his thoughts just prior to the attack or as to any
special emotional shocks.
On his fourth visit I asked him to tell me any dream he had had recently and
which had made an impression upon him. He could give me no aid. Nothing
came to mind. I asked him if he had dreamed the night before, and he told
me he had had a dream the afternoon of the preceding day, during an
afternoon nap. Here is the dream: He found himself struggling with a
tremendous snake, the upper part of which was in human form, the features
being very hazy and not at all recalled. The snake was vigorously
endeavoring to enwrap itself about him and to strangle him, and he was
desperately and fiercely struggling to defend himself against it and to free
himself from it--and yet he could not fight it off. In desperation and in
fear he cried aloud for help. This was the end of the dream, for, at this
point, members of his family came rushing toward him to inquire what was
wrong with him, and due partly to shock and his own activity in the dream,
and partly perhaps to the noise of the footsteps and of the conversation of
those who came running toward him to inquire into the cause of his
distressful cries, he awoke.
The thoughts and reveries just preceding the dream and the thoughts and
experiences during the morning preceding the dream, although the true
inciters of the dream, and although concerned with the central figure (his
wife) in this little drama, need not be detailed since the dream has a wider
and more deeply arising significance.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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