Nostalgic temperament; depression on entering service; rheumatism. A box falls from an airplane near by: Fear and tears; later depression, nostalgia, dreams, hyperthyroidism.
Case 320. (Bennati, October, 1916.)
An Italian private in the infantry was recalled to military service. He was a small farmer, and being disposed to homesickness, grew depressed from the day he left for service. His sleep was disturbed, he was greatly affected by the wet and damp of the trenches, and was in a state of continual fear. Finally, pains, hypersensitiveness, and fever developed.
As an enemy airplane passed over one day, a box fell at the man’s feet and threw him into a profound fear with tears. He was conducted to a tent to rest; his regiment was shortly sent to the rear, and he remained on active service for a few days despite the fever and pains. Finally the swelling of his leg compelled him to take to bed. (Fatigue in antebellum life had always shown itself in aches of the legs.) He had now been in active service about a month and his homesickness overcame him. He was in a state of deep physical and mental depression. It was not his own troubles so much as those of his family which preoccupied him. His knees hurt him so that he had to weep; or if Sardinia was mentioned, he cried, and said, “Oh, how I love Sardinia!” He grew fatigued very easily. He had many dreams about Sardinia, his father, and the war, especially dreaming about being wounded in the legs (question of being stimulated by the joint aches). The reflexes were normal, though slight tremors set up in the legs after testing. The thyroid gland was somewhat swollen, and it appears that the patient had noticed this five days before entering hospital. The patient was rather vagotonic; pulse-rate stood at 56; oculocardiac-reflex, 56-84; Mannkopf negative; Thomayer and Erben marked (56-88 and 88-60); von Graefe marked; Stellwag present.
A shell pitches without bursting: Unconsciousness; stupor; MAMA MIA!; oniric delirium; amnesia. Recovery in five weeks.
Case 321. (Lattes and Goria, March, 1917.)
An Italian soldier of the Class of ’95, a mechanic (mother cardiac; as a boy, pains in joints and heart; since boyhood, no illness), had a big Austrian shell pitch near him, July 23, 1915. The shell failed to explode and injured no one. The patient, however, fell to the ground, unconscious, and remained in the camp hospital for two days, quite immobile. This event followed an advance by his company under very fatiguing circumstances without sleep for a period of four days.
July 26, the patient was observed in profound stupor, non-reactive, constantly and monotonously repeating the phrase, Mama mia!, with fixed gaze and smiling as if at visions. He swallowed food. The pupils reacted poorly to light, and the cornea and nasal mucosa seemed anesthetic. The tendon and skin reflexes were lively. The muscles were hypotonic; bradycardia, 56; no control over feces or urine.