man in a bed in the same
ward with herself, or that she should feel frightened and wish to leave
the room.

The mental activity in each case depended on mental content, that is,
memory of past experiences with their intense emotional states which
acted as the driving force and also made the recall of the experience go
extremely easy. The further developments after being placed in the
single room with mattresses on the floor and the window shuttered were
rationalizations also based on mental content, _i.e._, on the memory of
rooms somewhat similar to that in which she found herself and of the use
of such rooms. It is interesting to note also in the first case that in
her wildest delirium during an acute attack she lived through episodes
of her past life. One example may be given. In the course of her
delirium she thought that a "blackbird" had flown to her, touched her
left wrist and taken away all her vitality. This depended on an
experience of her going to Germany when a girl and meeting a young
German officer whom she did not like. A few years later she went to
Germany and met the officer again. Without going into full details I may
say that on one occasion when walking with him he seized her left wrist
with his right hand and attempted to kiss her; she struggled fiercely
and ran from him. Here we see that not only is her delirium based on a
past experience, but that the whole memory is symbolized in the
"blackbird" which was the emblem of the German nation in whose army the
officer was then serving. Connected with this there was also another
unpleasant episode which dated from her tenth year. Much of her delirium
was worked out in such a way that most of the details could be traced
back to experiences of her earlier life.

But however absurd her statement regarding her being touched by a
"blackbird" and all her vitality removed might appear to superficial
observation, it must be admitted that when we know the mental content of
that patient, we cannot but see that at any rate it was not so
irrational. And not only was this recognized by the doctor, but, and
this is much more important, by the patient herself.

It is, therefore, the mental content which must be discovered before
doctor or patient can understand the disability and before any common
ground between the two can be found. And when the mental content is
known it will be easy to recognize the affective condition of the
patient to be a normal response. It w