returned. He felt, now, entirely unembarrassed toward men, and had a new joy in living.
The following seven days he was hypnotized. Hypnosis is no longer as deep as at first, though the suggestion is always accepted and repeated. However, he is quite profoundly influenced; for, the suggestion given, he sleeps on, in a state of lethargy, for ten minutes, and has to be awakened by suggestion. This always occurs as if from a deep sleep,—slowly, and through a stage of somnolence.
After the eighth sitting the patient found himself well and happy, and in possession of full self-confidence. He had the feeling and the evidence that men had no influence on him.
He thought he could dispense with hypnotic treatment, and gratefully took his leave, with the promise that, should the influence of the suggestion fade, he would come again. Since then, I have heard nothing more of this interesting patient, and I have reason to hope that he remains improved.
The patient is, in all respects, of masculine appearance; beard abundant. Physically, with the exception of slight neurasthenic symptoms, he presents nothing remarkable. Genitals normal. (Personal case. Internat. Centralblatt, etc., Bd. i, Heft 1.)
Case 144. X., aged 33; single; tall. Mentally, of small endowment; comes of tainted family. Paternal grandfather died at thirty-four with a mental disease, which is said to have developed as a result of onanism and spermatorrhœa. His father and brother suffered with disturbances of the sexual functions. There was insanity in the mother’s family; other branches of the family were noted for their irritable and eccentric character.
The patient has too small a head, a retreating brow, abnormal ears, sparse growth of hair, and a hernia, which is probably congenital. Genitals large, and normally developed.
Great impressionability; neuropathic constitution; occasional tædium vitæ. For several years, peculiar, imperative ideas: that he is a locomotive; a horse; a velocipede; and, that he must act accordingly. From his earliest youth, contrary sexual feeling (congenital). Horror feminæ; sexual inclination toward boys; satisfaction by sensual contact, and, faute de mieux, masturbation. One day he had an affair with a boy dressed in gray, which made a deep impression on him. Since then, while masturbating, the image of the boy comes into his mind; and he cannot see gray clothes without having powerful erections. On the advice of physicians whom he consulted, he attempted coitus with women, but was cold and impotent, notwithstanding the assistance of memory-pictures of the boy dressed in gray; and he finally gave up the efforts.
March 27th, first hypnotic sitting. Small result. He resists, and says his fancy keeps him from going to sleep.
