DISCOVERY 



49 



Some Examples of 

 Collective Hysteria 



By E. N. Fallaize, B.A. 



Hon. Sec. Rotjal Anihropological Institute 



An interesting case of " mass hysteria " in Vienna was 

 reported in The Times of November i6 last. " Mass 

 hysteria" is a term applied to cases in which, when a 

 group of individuals is collected together, as, for 

 instance, in a factory, the nervous collapse of one is 

 immediately followed by that of others as though 

 subject to contagion. In the instance in question, 

 an ex-soldier and his wife, after waiting in a queue 

 for some hours at the offices of the Municipal Lodgings' 

 Board, were informed that no accommodation could be 

 found for them. The woman broke down and went 

 into an hysterical fit. Her husband followed suit, 

 and six of their neighbours in the queue were similarly- 

 affected. The fits were so violent that ambulances 

 had to be brought to take the sufferers to hospital. 

 The theory has been advanced by medical men that 

 this attack of hysteria was due to malnutrition. 



On the other hand, though malnutrition is probably 

 a contributory cause, the Vienna case may serve to 

 recall the fact that a peculiar form of hysteria is not 

 uncommon in Eastern Europe. In the Balkans, 

 women are said to have been driven mad under the 

 stress of the Turkish regime and to have gone about 

 " barking like dogs." Miss Durham, ^ who had the 

 opportunity of examining one case, said this " mad- 

 ness " was really a peculiar type of hysteria, the so- 

 called " barking " being a form of hiccough. A local 

 cure is to bid the patient attend church on a special 

 saint's day and refrain from making a noise during 

 the service. Similar cases are said to be frequent in 

 Russia. 



The evidence would suggest that such a form of 

 hysteria is one to which certain racial strains are 

 peculiarly liable ; but this aspect of the question needs 

 further investigation. Hysterical and epileptic affec- 

 tions, as is well known, play an important part in the 

 history of religion in connection with the phenomena 

 of " possession " and the function of the oracle and 

 the seer. The medicine man of primitive races is 

 frequently of an abnormal type, and his reputation 

 for magical powers, particularly when his office is 

 hereditary, is connected with mental and physical 

 peculiarities which are probably congenital. In these 

 abnormalities, however, he does not appear to differ 

 markedly from the usual type of hj-sterical or epileptic 

 subject. 



' M. Edith Durham, The Burden of the Balkans (London, 

 1905), ch. vi. (Nelson's Reprint, N.D., pp. 132-3.) 



Mrs. McGovern, in her recently published book. 

 Among the Head-hunters of Formosa,^ says that the 

 priestesses of the Taij'al, in order to drive off the 

 rain-devil, engage in a frenzied dance, gesticulating 

 with knives, while the people stand around and ho\\l 

 and wail. The priestesses " foam at the mouth in 

 their excitement, their eyes look as if they would 

 start from their heads," and at last they fall exhausted 

 m a swoon. The author suggests that this is a case 

 of " arctic madness " (presumably meaning arctic 

 hysteria), and the "almost hypnotic imitation" 

 characteristic of all Mongol and Malay races and common 

 among sub- arctic peoples. It is perfectly true that 

 the " Malay" — not confining this term exclusively to 

 the inhabitants of the Malay Peninsula, but extending 

 it to cover the related peoples of the Indonesian area 

 — appears to possess a peculiarly highly strung and 

 ill-balanced nervous organisation, as is shown in the 

 practice of " running amok " when the subject of some 

 painful emotion endeavours to find relief in killing as 

 many people as possible until himself killed. But it 

 is probably incorrect to describe this as a form of 

 ' ' arctic hysteria ' ' ; nor does the ceremonial of the 

 rain-devil exorcism in Formosa, as described by Mrs. 

 McGovern, suggest, except superficially, that it is a 

 case of this abnormality. The mental and physical 

 condition of the priestess resembles rather that of 

 those who take part in the ceremonial dances of the 

 Veddas of Ceylon. There the shaman, or medicine 

 man, attains a state of automatism in which he goes 

 through a pantomimic dance leading up to a decisive 

 action and then collapses. The bystanders also some- 

 times take part in the dances. Professor Seligman,' 

 who has recorded his observation of these dances, says 

 that the Veddas show no special hysterical or neurotic 

 tendency. 



.\rctic hysteria, in its typical form sometimes 

 associated with " mass hysteria," occurs especially 

 among the sub- arctic tribes of Siberia. It is signifi- 

 cant in connection with the possibility of its asso- 

 ciation with certain racial types, that the pecuhar 

 form of hysteria of Eastern Europe shows some points 

 of strong resemblance to it. Among the Siberian 

 tribes the sham.an is a person of the greatest import- 

 ance, especially in averting or driving away the spirits 

 which cause sickness. As an instance of the procedure 

 followed we may cite the case of the Jakut shaman. ■* 

 He performs the ceremony of exorcising the spirits 



- Published by T. Fisher Vnwin, Ltd., 15s. 



' C. G. and B. Z. Seligman, The Veddas (Cambridge. 19"). 

 PP- I33~5, 3^nd footnote, p. 135. 



* M. A. Czaplicka. .ihoriginal Siberia (Oxioid. 1914). pp. 234 

 fol. For evidence relating to the character and methods of 

 the shaman among other Siberian peoples, see pp. 166 fol. of 

 this work. 



