Sleep and Its Derangements

by William A. Hammond

Macario[116] cites from I. Franck the case of a young peasant, aged about sixteen, and endowed with a degree of intelligence above his age and condition, who was rendered somnambulic by the grief caused by the sudden death of his father. A few weeks after this event, he dreamed that he saw two unknown and frightful-looking men who advanced slowly toward his bed, and in menacing language ordered him to rise immediately and accompany them, threatening that if he refused they would return the following night and take him by force. This dream had so strong an effect upon him that he became melancholic. Two days afterward, while he was sleeping quietly, he dreamed that his father’s spirit came to him, accompanied by the two men who had previously visited him, and ordered them to seize his son, notwithstanding his resistance, and to carry him off.

The young man dreamed that he was transported through a delightful country of vast extent; he heard the harmonious sounds from flutes and other musical instruments; he saw young people dancing on the charming plains, and he ate to satiety of delicious viands. Immediately the scene changed; his father’s spirit disappeared, and his ferocious companions carried him high up into the air and then suddenly let him fall into a barrel. The servants returning with the cows, found the young man in the stable shut up in an empty barrel, scantily covered, and almost dead with cold and fright. Restored by frictions and warmth, he had no recollection of anything connected with his situation beside the dream above recorded. At the end of a week, he again rose from bed in his sleep, but finding the door locked, he returned and remained quiet. In a short time the disease ceased entirely.

The same author also quotes from Franck the case of a Jewish tailor, who, during the attacks of somnambulism to which he was subject, recited in a low voice his customary prayers in Hebrew. When he came to certain parts he raised his voice, called out aloud, and imitated the gestures of the rabbis in the synagogues. While thus engaged his eyes were wide open, and the pupils insensible to the stimulus of light. Then his face became pale, he presented the appearance of weeping, his whole body was covered with a cold, profuse sweat, and his pulse rose to 130. This crisis was followed by a tranquil prayer, to which sooner or later another access of fury succeeded; and this series continued for an hour or two, or till his prayers had been repeated for the prescribed period.

When strongly shaken he awoke with a startled manner, but if left to himself fell asleep again, and resumed his prayers at the place where he had been interrupted. When awake he declared that he had no recollection of what had happened during his sleep. The paroxysms appeared every day except Tuesday. The patient had a brother who was also a somnambulist.

These cases will give an idea of somnambulism as it has been witnessed by other observers, or as its phenomena have impressed them. The following instances of the disease have come under my own notice.

A young lady, of great personal attractions, had the misfortune to lose her mother by death from cholera. Several other members of the family suffered from the disease, she alone escaping, though almost worn out with fatigue, excitement, and grief. A year after these events, her father removed from the West to New York, bringing her with him and putting her at the head of his household. She had not been long in New York, before she became affected with symptoms resembling those met with in chorea. The muscles of the face were in almost constant action, and though she had not altogether lost the power to control them by her will, it was difficult at times for her to do so. She soon began to talk in her sleep, and finally was found one night by her father, as he came home, endeavoring to open the street-door. She was then, as he said, sound asleep, and had to be violently shaken to be aroused. After this she made the attempt every night to get out of bed, but was generally prevented by a nurse who slept in the same room with her, and who was awakened by the noise she made in the room.

Her father now consulted me in regard to the case, and invited me to the house in order to witness the somnambulic acts for myself. One night, therefore, I went to his residence and waited for the expected manifestations. The nurse had received orders not to interfere with her charge on this occasion, unless it was evident that injury would result, and to notify us of the beginning of the performance.

About twelve o’clock she came down stairs and informed us that the young lady had risen from her bed and was about to dress herself. I went up stairs, accompanied by her father, and met her in the upper hall partly dressed. She was walking very slowly and deliberately, her head elevated, her eyes open, her lips unclosed, and her hands hanging loosely by her side. We stood aside to let her pass. Without noticing us, she descended the stairs to the parlor, we following her. Taking a match, which she had brought with her from her own room, she rubbed it several times on the under side of the marble mantle-piece until it caught fire, and then, turning on the gas, lit it. She next threw herself into an arm-chair and looked fixedly toward a portrait of her mother which hung over the mantle-piece. While she was in this position, I carefully examined her countenance, and performed several experiments with the view of ascertaining the condition of the senses as to activity.

She was very pale, more so than was natural to her; her eyes were wide open and did not wink when the hand was brought suddenly in close proximity to them; the muscles of the face, which when she was awake were almost constantly in action, were now perfectly still; her pulse was regular in rhythm and force, and beat 82 per minute, and the respiration was uniform and slow.

I held a large book between her eyes and the picture she was apparently looking at, so that she could not possibly see it. She nevertheless continued to gaze in the same direction as if no obstacle were interposed. I then made several motions as if about to strike her in the face. She made no attempt to ward off the blows, nor did she give the slightest sign that she saw my actions. I touched the cornea of each eye with a lead-pencil I had in my hand, but even this did not make her close her eyelids. I was entirely satisfied that she did not see—at least with her eyes.