e been members of my household, we may work our way to
an understanding of the truth. We give only the barest outline of the
facts, thinking that the cumulative effect of a number of cases will
outweigh a more detailed description of one or two. The most casual
survey shows that whatever it was that burdened these fine men and
women, it was not lack of energy. No matter how extreme had been their
exhaustion, they were able at once, without rest or any other physical
treatment, to summon strength for exertions quite up to those of a
normal person.

The second point that stands out clearly to any one acquainted with
these inner histories is the conviction that in each case the trouble
was related in some way to the unsatisfied love-life, to the insistent
and thwarted instinct of reproduction. In some cases no search was
made for the cause. The simple explanation that there was no lack of
power was sufficient to release inhibited energy. But in every case
where the cause was sought, it was found to be some outer lack of
satisfaction, or some inner repression of the love-force.

=From Prostration to Tennis.= One young woman, Miss A., had suffered
for ten years from the extremest kind of fatigue. She could not walk a
block without support and without the feeling of great exhaustion.
Before her illness she had had a sweetheart. Not understanding her
normal physical sensations when he was near, she had felt them
extremely wicked and had repressed them with all her strength. Later,
she broke off the engagement, and a little while after developed the
neurosis. Within a week after coming to my house, she was playing
tennis, walking three miles to church, and generally living the life
of a normal person.

=Making Her Own Discoveries.= Then there was Miss B. who for four
years had been "exhausted." She had such severe pains in her legs that
she was almost helpless. If she sewed for half an hour on the sewing
machine, she would be in bed for two weeks. Although she was engaged
to be married, she could not possibly shop for her trousseau. Two
years before, a very able surgeon had been of the opinion that the
pain in the legs was caused by an ovarian tumor. He removed the tumor,
assuring the patient that she would be cured. However, despite the
operation and the force of the suggestion, the pains persisted.

After she had been with me for a few days, she sewed for an hour on
the machine. In a day or so she took a four-mile walk in