Sleep and Its Derangements

by William A. Hammond

I held a lighted sulphur-match under her nose, so that she could not avoid inhaling the sulphurous acid gas which escaped. She gave no evidence of feeling any irritation. Cologne and other perfumes, and smelling-salts likewise failed to make any obvious impression on her olfactory nerves.

Through her partially opened mouth, I introduced a piece of bread soaked in lemon-juice. She evidently failed to perceive the sour taste. Another piece of bread, saturated with a solution of quinine, was equally ineffectual. The two pieces of bread remained in her mouth for a full minute, and were then chewed and swallowed.

She now arose from her chair and began to pace the room in an agitated manner; she wrung her hands, sobbed, and wept violently. While she was acting in this way, I struck two books together several times so as to make loud noises close to her ears. This failed to interrupt her.

I then took her by the hand and led her back to the chair in which she had previously been sitting. She made no resistance, but sat down quietly and soon became perfectly calm.

Scratching the back of her hand with a pin, pulling her hair, and pinching her face, appeared to excite no sensation.

I then took off her slippers, and tickled the soles of her feet. She at once drew them away, but no laughter was produced. As often as this experiment was repeated, the feet were drawn up. The spinal cord was therefore awake.

She had now been down stairs about twenty minutes. Desiring to awake her, I shook her by the shoulders quite violently for several seconds, without success. I then took her head between my hands and shook it. This proved effectual in a little while. She awoke suddenly, looked around her for an instant, as if endeavoring to comprehend her situation, and then burst into a fit of hysterical sobbing. When she recovered her equanimity, she had no recollection of anything that had passed, or of having had a dream of any kind.

A gentleman of very nervous temperament informs me that upon one occasion he dreamed that his place of business was on fire. He got up in his sleep, dressed himself, and walked a distance of over a mile to his store. He was aroused by the private watchman, who stopped him while in the act of looking through the grating of the door, under the impression at first that he had caught a burglar.

A young lady who some time since was under my care for intense periodical headaches, informed me that, just previous to each attack, she walked in her sleep, but had never any recollection of what she did while in the somnambulic state. Her mother stated that when her daughter was in this condition, she did not use her eyes, although they were wide open, nor did she appear to hear loud noises made close to her ears.

In relation to the activity of the senses during somnambulism, there is great diversity of opinion among those who have studied the affection. This is doubtless due to the fact that somnambulists differ among themselves as regards the use they make of their senses—some availing themselves of the aid they can derive from these sources, while others do not appear to employ them at all.