Sketcher. Curious Cases of Somnambulism.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1905, 20 September 1884, Page 6

Sketcher. Curious Cases of Somnambulism.

That persons walk in their sleep and aie uncon&cious of ordinary impressions, but yet retain sensationt, thcie is, w r e all admit, no doubt. One curious instance occuired m a school-girl, who was observed to rise every night about midnight, and walk about her bedroom and the lobby outside her sleeping apartment. After some time, on returning to her bed. she was in the habit of examining it and all about it. and finally selecting for some hours' rest a clothes-basket which the housemaid kept on the flat roof of the cradlo-bcd in which she lay. After carefully examining the clothes-baskef, she climbed up on the head of the cradle-bed, and circling her body as a cat would above the clothes in the basket, she composed hei^elf to sleep, in which she remained for an hour or more, then lose, and returned to her bed. In the morning she awoke at her usual time, having no consciousness of what had occuired during the night. Her sister watched her proceedings, but never interrupted or awakened her, and after some time the nocturnal climbings ceased. The second case that came under my observation was moie vaiicd and more embarrassing. A young lady at school became a somnambulist. She rose from bed and walked in her sleep. The ladies who conducted the pchool became alarmed, partly on the girl's account, and partly for the character of the .school, as it might injure their establishment were lfc known that the young ladies piactised the habit of walking about the lawn in their night-dresses, in the moonlight. Thej r had an impression that if the girl were suddenly awakened, death or immediate dcpiivation of sense might be the result ; and this Jed to the attendance of two maid-servauta, whji, were strictly enjoined to follow thefoottsrcps of the somnambulist, to watch that no mishap should occur to her, and to have all doors opened, and the way kept clear for the return of the sleeping pedestrian. This continued for some time. But at length the somnambulist's fancy took a more adventurous turn. Slaters had come to work on the roof of the house, and the sleeping peripatetic evinced a desire to star-gaze. Accordingly, on the next night she turned to the slaters' ladder, and to the horror of her attendants, ascended it, mounted to the roof, and walked along the gutter, with a sloping roof on one side and a low parapet wall on the other. The attendants now became almost frightened out of their wits, and knew not what to do or think. They feared to call out ; for return to consciousness in such a place would almost inevitably lead to her stumbling on the roof or falling over the parapet. Their terror was, however, not yet at its height. The somnambulist came to a slight obstruction in the gutter-; she paused for a moment, and then, without hesitation, stepped upon the parapet, and continued her walk on the narrow stone coping. A single slip, a false step, would have precipitated her from a height of thirty or forty feet; yet to awaken her would almost certainly have led to the same catastrophe. The sleeping girl continued her walk to the end of the coping, and then turning round, resumed her walk to the dormer window, descended the ladder, reached her bedr room in safety, and lay down in her bed ; awaking in the morning quite unconscious of her midnight clanger and of her narrow escape. I was then a very young praotitioner in

medicine, and was, tip to this period, although the medical attendant of the establishment lor ordinary cases of illness, not consulted on this perplexing case, as it was naturally desired to koep it concoaled ; but after the stroll on the parapet wall, and tho terror created by it, it was thought that, with the object of preventing a recurrence of a nightwalk that might end in some terrible accident, the young lady should be consigned to temporary residence in a private asylum, where there would be always both a night and a day watch. I was taken into consultation next morning, and earnestly discussed the gravity of taking such a step. It would be impossible to keep it secret, and even were it possible, in her waking hours she would look with horror on the coming night, when she should be sent to bed in a strait- waistcoat. In after-years, too, when perhaps she might have a young family around her, tho thought might arise that she had once been an inmate of such an institution ; and the reminiscence would make her miserablo. I duly considered all this, and suggested various expedients, such ai> sedatives 4 , sleeping-draughts, and network to be put round the bed at night. All, however, had been tried in thi3 instance, and all in vain. I then thought for a little, and hit upon the following plan. 1 directed her nightdress to be sewed up at the foot, so that it formed a large bag, and then I had the sleeves lengthened so much that each sleeve, after going round the body) reached the front, where it met the other sleeve, and was securely fastened to it. The whole diess was loose ; but the long sloevcs prevented the hands from being used to get iid of the dress ; while, from the end being sewed up, the feet could not be used in progression. At the same time the dress freely permitted the sleeper to roll about from side to sido in her slumber ; and thus it differed from the hideous strait-waistcoat then in vogue. Night came, and our charge retired to bed in her new-fangled night-dic&R, with which she was amused. The usual hour for the night walk came. Iler attendants were strictly enjoined not to stir. She raised heibelf as usual in the sitting postuie, then stood upright, and commenced to walk. The second step was a trip, for the toot behind held the ] bottom of the bag in which she stood. She stumbled, fell forwaid, and awoke, and was put back into bed, where she soon fell asleep. Next morning there wcie no bad conse- [ quences except that her face was slightly bruised by the fall. I recommended a continuance of the sleeping-chemise for a short time, as a cautionary measure. And now came a curious change in the phases of the affliction. She would still rise from bed each night, but made no further attempt to walk as before. She would stand erect, and keeping the knees perfectly rigid, spring straight upwaid from the floor, and thus dance about the room in what was years afterwards known as a popular music-hall dance under the name of the " Pei feet Cure." This she would continue until thoroughly fatigued, and then rotire quietly to bed and to sleep. I am glad to add the ease did end truly in a pet feet cure without the intervention of i strait- waistcoat or private asylum. This strange state is generally called somnambulism. It is really alternating identity in which the oidinary state of mind i«* suspended, and another identity — I do not know what else to call it — takes posscsbion of tho individual, and like warp and weft, niternates without mixing, the waip presenting continuity at one time, and the weft the same at another, One of these alternations ocelli's most often in sleep, when the ordinary mental power is no longer governing, and hence the attack is called somnambulism. The somnambulist will weave the somnambulism of one night with that of the preceding into a continuous warp or weft, and so with the ordinary mental powei ; and thus the two identities alternate, but do not mix. This alternating identity will, however, occasionally force itself into the waking hours, and thus the two identities divide the unhappy being between them. A young lady under my observation exhibited an instance of this. For Pome time a somnambulist, the alternating identity at length became strong enough to intrude upon her waking hours. Her ordinary percoptivo and voluntary powers would be suddenly arrested during the day, and whether at music or work — no matter how employed — the interruption was sudden and instantaneous. If at the piano or harp, voluntary movement ceased at the moment ; if walking across the floor, she remained in the position in which she was when it occuircd, and remained thus for a longer or shorter time. She would sit at dinner apparently as cheerful and as collected as any one at the table. At the time of which 1 speak, it was customary for guests to take wine with one another. A gentleman would ask her to take wine. She bowed her head, as was usual ; and in raising the glass to her mouth, theie suddenly passed over her face and figure a slight but lndesciibablc shudder. She immediately lost all knowledge of those about her, and would addiess them with names quite foreign to them. This state would continue for two days, until at dinner on the third day she would turn to her relative and say, in her natural tone, " Did you not ask me to take wine ?" Her natural state then returned ; but those alternations became more frequent and more painful, until at length the unfortunate girl was deprived of the society of all but her nearest relatives. [Cases of sleep-walking are by no means ' unfrequont, and the habit sometimes runs m families. In a family with which we are connected, the childien, while young, were all more or less addicted to sleep-walking. One of the younger branches, a girl of fifteen, on one occasion rose from her bed, and walking down staiis, entered the drawing-room, wheic wcie assembled a few guests. Fortunately the girl's habit was known to most of the company, who, instead of evincing a honor of the unwonted visitor, tieatcd the matter in a philosophic spii it, and even maintained their usual conveisatiou, as the girl's i father took her hand and led her quietly upbtans to bed. Had the somnambulist been rudely awakened, the consequences might have been serious ; and the calm demeanor ' of the spectators, and judicious management of the girl's parent on the occasion we have related, may perhaps act as a hint to others who may be similaily situated. Never awake a sleep-walker if it can possibly be avoided. — Ed.] — Chamber.? Journal.