ary alterations in respiration. He
discovered that the respiratory curve could be changed by calling out
words to her, by odors associated with suggestions, menaces, etc. [This
is suggestive of the dissociation of affect, which we have discussed.]
After two months she recovered, _with complete recollection of the
stupor period_. It was then proven that the absence of reactions was not
the same as the lack of perception of stimuli.

Froederstroem[23] reports a case that suggests hysteria, where the stupor
lasted for 32 years. A girl at the age of 14 fell on the ice, had a
headache, went to bed and stayed there for 32 years. She lay there
immobile, occasionally spoke briefly and took nourishment, when it was
put at a definite place at the edge of the bed. At first (according to a
late statement of her brothers) this consisted only of water but was
soon changed to two glasses of milk a day. After being in this state for
ten years she was placed in a hospital for two weeks, where she was
mute, did not react to pin pricks and had to be fed. It seems that at
home she secretly looked after herself, for she kept her hair and nails
in condition. Sometimes she sat up and stared at the ceiling.

After attending to the patient for 30 years, her mother died. The
patient cried for several days when told of it, and after this she took
nourishment of her own accord. Two years later a brother died. Again she
cried on hearing the news. Her father, who looked after her when the
mother was dead, also died. Then a governess came into the home, who
noticed that furniture was moved about when she was alone.

At the age of 46 she suddenly woke up and asked at once for her mother.
She claimed total amnesia for the period of her stupor, including the
stay at the hospital. She could summon memories of her childhood,
however. Her brothers she did not recognize and said, "They must be
small." She recalled the fall on the ice and coming home with headache,
toothache and pain in the back. Her general knowledge was limited but
she could read and write. Her expression and appearance was that of a
young person, only her atrophic breasts and the fat on her buttocks
betraying her age. She had been well for four years at the time the
report was made.

He thinks that a certain tendency to exaggeration and simulation speak
for hysteria. We would be more inclined to view the fact that she looked
after herself in spite of complete amnesia as evidence of hys