down
to this tragedy. She added to the description above given
that, soon after losing her sister, she had a fright at
home. "It was the house in which my father died and one day
when I was in bed I thought somebody came in." But she
denied a vision and could not further explain.
At the _Observation Pavilion_ she was very inactive, so
that she had to be fed and cared for in every way, mute,
often covering her head with a sheet, turning away when
questioned and resistive when the physical examination was
attempted. But at times she smiled or laughed.
_Under Observation:_ 1. For two months the patient was
generally inactive, sometimes lying in bed with her eyes
tightly closed, or with her face covered by the sheets or
buried in the pillow; or she sat inactive, staring, or with
eyes closed, or her head buried in her arms. On one visit
she had to be brought into the examining room in a wheel
chair and lifted into another seat. A few times she was
observed holding herself very tense with her head pressed
against the end of the bed. But this inactivity was often
interrupted by her going quickly into various rooms to
kneel down, though she was never heard praying. Or she ran
down the hall for no obvious reason. Or, again, she was
found lying on the floor face down. She ate very poorly and
had to be tube-fed a considerable part of the time. When
this was done, she sometimes resisted severely, as she did
in fact most nursing attentions. Thus she soon began to
struggle when her hair was combed. She also resisted being
taken to the toilet or being brought back. She did not soil
or drool, however, but sometimes seemed to be in
considerable distress before she finally literally ran to
the closet. This resistance just spoken of consisted
chiefly in making herself stiff and tense. Sometimes at the
feeding she pulled up the cover when preparations were made
and held to it tightly. Quite striking was the fact that
with such resistance she sometimes, though by no means
always, laughed loudly, as she did occasionally when she
was talked to, or even without any external stimulation.
This laughter always was one of genuine merriment and quite
contagious, and by no means shallow or silly.
Usually
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