146 A CONTRIBUTION TO THE PSYCHOLOGY OF ‘*LATATH.,? 
is much more than merely a storehouse of memories of things 
which “ we see but do not perceive.” One of its many other funct- 
ions is to receive material repressed from the conscious mind. In 
the course of our daily life we hear and see much which is utterly 
at variance with our sense of propriety or even decency but which, 
in any case, is not adjustable to the present standards of society. 
Our first and instinctive effort is to escape from the vicinity, but, 
if that is not possible, there is a second line of defence in that we 
can shut out from our minds the offending material or, to be strict- 
ly accurate, we can relegate it to the subconscious, where it would 
await an appropriate association or a sufficiently powerful :mpul- 
sion to let it loose. It would not be illogical to argue that the 
more decorous the individual, the greater the amount of material 
repressed, and thus the richer the subconscious repertory. 
In the present position of our knowledge of psychical pro- 
cesses there does not seem to be any other explanation of this 
contradictory complex possible. We have the initial shock which 
may be visual (the bicycle) or auditory (a command), followed by 
a momentary catalepsy which may be so brief. as to escape notice, 
but which, being a hypnoidal state, suffices to let loose the subcon- 
scious. We sce the repeated efforts to regain control gradually 
gaining power until, at length, the censorship of the conscious 
mind is re-established and the attack is at an end. Favre’s des- 
cription of this type is particularly apropos—“ elles disent tout ce 
qui leur vient a la bouche.” 
Again in Class III we must analyse the procedure. She has 
the “latah” susceptibility to suggestion, by way of the senses, 
greatly exaggerated but her speech is directed, and with point, 
against the experimenter. The insanity (although I dislike using 
the term in relation to “latah”) affects her acts only. A com- 
parison with the cases next to be described will shew that this is 
not hypnotism and the exact grounds for excluding hypnotism are, 
that there is no loss of consciousness, there is no illusion of the 
senses and the return to normal is easy and spontaneous, but there 
remains, after the event, a humihating knowledge of the exhibition 
they have afforded, and a justifiable ‘grndge against the SIE. 
It is an example of the power of inhibiting an impulse being to- 
tally lost. 
TYPE II—I was introduced to a Malay woman of forty years 
of age “more or less,” the mother of many children, who was stated 
to be very “latah.” She was in a condition of intense nervous- 
ness which she was making obvious efforts to suppress, and which 
I attributed to her condition of expectation. Her pulse was very 
rapid and there was a fine muscular tremor. No initial stimulus 
was required, not even a raised tone of voice, and she began at once 
to repeat every word addressed to her in Malay as well as carrying 
out the action suggested. Words spoken in English were fairly 
well repeated but no action resulted unless they were accompanied 
Jour. Straits Branch 
