A CONTRIBUTION TO THE PSYCHOLOGY. OF “‘LATAH.’’ 147 
by pantomime. A rolled-up handkerchief was presented to her 
as an orange, and she at once went through the pantomime of 
peéling it. A wooden stethoscope was put into her hands as being 
a bottle, and she drank from the “ bottle” with evident relish when 
ordered to do so. Not to be prolix, the response to verbal suggest- 
ion was sometimes a little slow, but suggestion by action was in- 
stantly responded to. The visual route was evidently much more 
permeable than the auditory. When it was all over, she was trem- 
bling violently, although any suggestion of an exciting nature had 
been carefully avoided. She remembered nothing of what had 
passed. 
I now avail myself of O’Brien’s case (op. cit. p. 149) which he 
noticed at Kuala Jumpol, when crossing the Malay Peninsula in 
1875—* met a young Malay who was of material assistance to our 
party in pulling our boat across a narrow watershed into the Thi 
Sureting. His comrades told me the man was latah but I could 
see nothing in his conduct or conversation which was not perfectly 
rational. Some twenty-four hours after making his acquaintance, 
one night we let off a signalling rocket for the amusement of those 
who had given us assistance (none of those present had ever seen a 
rocket before). JI was preparing to fire a second rocket myself, 
when the latah pushed me violently aside, snatched the torch ‘from 
my hand, fired the rocket, and fell down on his face making an 
unintelligible noise, to all appearance the expression of fear. I 
was somewhat startled, such rudeness and violence being quite 
foreign to the Malay character. When I sought an explanation 
from the bystanders, I was informed laconically * latah, twan.” 
“ Next morning, when I met this man, I found him perfectly 
rational and perfectly respectful. J saw him standing alone on 
the bank as we put off down stream, and I waved my hand to him. 
‘To my surprise he began waving his hand frantically in return, 
and continued to do so till I lost him at the first bend of the 
stream. I had began to whistle an air. He also began whistling. 
His imitative faculty did not quite lead him to a reproduction of 
the tune, but the fact of an up-country Malay whistling at all is 
sufficiently remarkable. As I rounded the bend, I saw him still 
waving and heard him still whistling. The steersman to who 
I turned, came out with the stereotyped formula “ dia banyak 
latah, tuan. I hope my poor friend’s exertions ceased when their 
exciting cause passed out of sight.” 
The difference between the instances just described and those 
of Type I must be evident to all, those of Type II being due to 
hypnotism pure and simple. There is nothing in the case of the 
woman calling for comment, but a review of O’Brien’s case is very 
instructive. We have the appearance of a white man, of remark- 
able personality, in a locality where such visits were rare. His 
every act would be watched by the lad with absorbing interest and 
thus a condition of expectation aroused. Then comes the loud 
R. A. Soc., No. 85, 1922. 
