relief. 10. It may occur in the occupied, but an idle,
purposeless life is conducive. 11. The subject delights in
exciting sympathy and in being fondled and caressed. 12. There is
defect of will and a strong stimulus is required to lead to
action.

Among civilized women, the author proceeds, this condition does
not appear to subserve any useful purpose. "Let us, however, go
back to aboriginal woman--to woman of the woods and the fields.
Let us picture ourselves a young aboriginal Venus in one of her
earliest hysterical paroxysms. In doing so, let us not forget
some of the twelve characteristics previously mentioned. She will
not be 'acting her part' alone, or, if alone, it will be in a
place where someone else is likely soon to discover her. Let this
Venus be now discovered by a youthful Apollo of the woods, a man
with fully developed animal instincts. He and she, like any other
animals, are in the free field of Nature. He cannot but observe
to himself: 'This woman is not dead; she breathes and is warm;
she does not look ill; she is plump and rosy.' He speaks to her;
she neither hears (apparently) nor responds. Her eyes are closed.
He touches, moves, and handles her at his pleasure. She makes no
resistance. What will this primitive Apollo do next? He will cure
the fit, and bring the woman back to consciousness, satisfy her
emotions, and restore her volition--not by delicate touches that
might be 'agonizing' to her hyperesthetic skin, but by vigorous
massage, passive motions, and succussion that would be painless.
The emotional process on the part of the woman would end,
perhaps, with mingled laughter, tears, and shame; and when
accused afterward of the part which the ancestrally acquired
properties of her nervous system had compelled her to act, as a
preliminary to the event, what woman would not deny it and be
angry? But the course of Nature having been followed, the natural
purpose of the hysterical paroxysm accomplished, there would
remain as a result of the treatment--instead of one discontented
woman--two happy people, and the possible beginning of a third."

"Natural, primary sexual hysteria in woman," King concludes, "is
a temporary modification of the nervous government of the body
and the distribution of nerve-force (occurring for the most part,
as we see it to-