Wassermann with blood serum negative.

During his sojourn here his conduct has been exemplary. He worked
steadily in Howard Hall workroom and occupied his leisure time in
reading and playing musical instruments, two of which he knows how to
manipulate fairly well. It is significant that as far as known the
patient has not evidenced any tendency to steal since here, although
during the first few days of his sojourn here he experienced the
sensations which usually accompany his stealing escapades. A carefully
kept record of his dreams, in which matter the patient apparently
cooeperated to the best of his ability, likewise failed to reveal any of
the pre-stealing dreams mentioned above.

_Analysis._--The suggestive points in the patient's history are the
repeated commission of a similar offense, namely, stealing,
notwithstanding the frequent punishment received, the stealing when he
actually had no necessity for it, being at times when he stole well
supplied with money, the stealing of objects for which he had no use and
which he could not convert into money, as stated in the Reform School
Records, the patient's belief in his destiny as a thief and the methods
he employed in atoning for his conduct, such as giving one-fourth to
charity, and lastly the peculiar physical and mental sensations which
accompanied the act of stealing. The inquiry was conducted along these
lines. In the first interview the patient could throw very little light
on his difficulties. He stated that he had tried repeatedly to quit
stealing, that he realized he was causing his parents a great deal of
anxiety on account of his habits, and bringing a good deal of trouble on
himself, that he genuinely regretted his past acts and that he believed
he could possibly abstain in the future from stealing. Later interviews
revealed, as has already been stated, that his first theft was committed
upon his father, when he stole ten cents, and it was upon this occasion
that he first experienced the peculiar bodily and mental sensations. He
describes these in his own words as follows, "I begin to feel giddy and
restless and feel as if I have to do something. This feeling becomes
gradually more marked until I feel compelled to enter a house and steal.
While stealing I become quite excited, involuntarily, begin to pant,
perspire and breathe rapidly as if I had run a race; this increases in
intensity and then I feel as if I have to go to the closet and empty my
bowels