V ANIMAL AUTOMATISM 227 



afterwards, in hospital at Mayence, the right half 

 of the body was completely paralysed, and re- 

 mained in this condition for a year. At present, 

 the only trace of the paralysis which remains is a 

 slight weakness of the right half of the body. 

 Three or four months after the wound was in- 

 flicted, periodical disturbances of the functions 

 of the brain made their appearance, and have 

 continued ever since. The disturbances last 

 from fifteen to thirty hours; the intervals at 

 which they occur being from fifteen to thirty 

 days. 



For four years, therefore, the life of this man 

 has been divided into alternating phases short 

 abnormal states intervening between long normal 

 states. 



In the periods of normal life, the ex-sergeant's 

 health is perfect ; he is intelligent and kindly, and 

 performs, satisfactorily, the duties of a hospital 

 attendant. The commencement of the abnormal 

 state is ushered in by uneasiness and a sense of 

 weight about the forehead, which the patient 

 compares to the constriction of a circle of iron ; 

 and, after its termination, he complains, for some 

 hours, of dulness and heaviness of the head. But 

 the transition from the normal to the abnormal 

 state takes place in a few minutes, without convul- 

 sions or cries, and without anything to indicate 

 the change to a bystander. His movements re- 

 main free and his expression calm, except for a 



