Or—what appears very peculiar to him—his thoughts “wander”; they are no longer subject to his will. They attach themselves to problems which, in reality, do not interest him at all but which he is, nevertheless, unable to dismiss from his mind. He imposes perfectly ludicrous tasks upon himself, such as counting the windows along the street. When attending to simple functions, such as mailing a letter or turning off the gas, doubts harass him a few moments later, as to whether he has really dropped the letter into the mail box and whether he actually turned off the gas. Perhaps such a condition is merely annoying at first, but it becomes intolerable when, in advanced stages, it proves impossible to shake off such preposterous ideas as having flung a child under the wheels of a car, or thrown somebody from a bridge into the river, or being haunted by the terrifying doubt of whether he is not in reality the murderer the police are trying to apprehend for the latest spectacular crime. All these delusions are utter nonsense, as he himself very well knows. He has never done any harm to anybody, but if he really were a fugitive from justice, this obsession, this feeling of contrition could not be stronger. To take another case:—this time of a female patient, who is suffering in an entirely different way, presenting entirely different symptoms. We will assume that she is a pianiste, who suddenly experiences cramps in her fingers and discovers herself unable to play. As soon as she thinks of attending a social affair, she immediately feels the necessity of obeying a recurrent natural need, making it impossible for her to leave her own house. Thus, she has been forced to give up mingling with her friends, or attend dances, the theatre, or concerts. At the most inopportune moments, she becomes the victim of headaches or other painful sensations. Eventually, after meals, she feels impelled to yield to nausea, a condition which, if prolonged, may become dangerous. Finally, she becomes absolutely unable to stand any of those little excitements which cannot be eliminated from daily life. Upon such occasions, she readily faints. As these spells are frequently complicated with muscular spasms, such attacks assume the aspect of dreadful afflictions. Still other patients become subject to disturbances in a sphere where bodily functions coördinate with manifestations of sentiment. If men, they find themselves unable to give physiological expression to those tender urges that induce them to gravitate towards the other sex. On the other hand, all these physiological reactions may be at their command when not aimed at the person they cherish most. Then, there are still other cases, when bonds of sensuality will tie them to persons whom they actually despise and of whom they have the most earnest desire to free themselves. Or their sensuality imposes urges upon them whose fulfillment causes them to shudder.