this condition she can talk so seriously, forcibly and convincingly, that one is tempted to ask oneself if this is really a girl of fifteen and a half. One has the impression of a mature woman possessed of considerable dramatic talent. The reason for this seriousness, this solemnity of behaviour, is given in her explanation that at these times she stands at the frontier of this world and the other, and associates just as truly with the spirits of the dead as with living people. And, indeed, her conversation is usually divided between answers to real objective questions and hallucinatory ones. I call this state semi-somnambulism because it coincides with Richet’s own definition. He[1] says: “La conscience de cet individu persiste dans son intégrité apparente, toutefois des opérations très compliquées vont s’accomplir en dehors de la conscience sans que le moi volontaire et conscient paraisse ressentir une modification quelconque. Une autre personne sera en lui qui agira, pensera, voudra, sans que la conscience, c’est à dire le moi réflèchi conscient, aît la moindre notion.”
Binet[2] says of this term: “Le terme indique la parenté de cet état avec le somnambulisme véritable, et en suite il laisse comprendre que la vie somnamblique qui se manifeste durant la veille est réduite, déprimée, par la conscience normale qui la recouvre.”
Automatisms.
Semi-somnambulism is characterised by the continuity of consciousness with that of the waking state and by the appearance of various automatisms which give evidence of an activity of the subconscious self, independent of that of consciousness.
Our case shows the following automatic phenomena:
- (1) Automatic movements of the table.
- (2) Automatic writing.
- (3) Hallucinations.
