Page:The International Journal of Psycho-Analysis III 1922 1.djvu/59

 A SPERMATOZOA PHANTASY OF AN EPILEPTIC 51

been influenced by psycho-analytical theories or anything of that nature.

The patient's wife consulted me on account of her husband's mental confusion which had existed for two days and which follow- ed three epileptic attacks that had occurred the day before. He had never been confused previously, but according to her de- scription had suffered from typical epileptic attacks for the last eleven years (he smacks his tongue, becomes suddenly unconscious and falls down with tonic convulsions passing into clonic ones, passes urine during the attack, and after the fit is stuporose and gradually falls asleep). He had never had any attacks when he was a sergeant-major, but only since he had been in a civU post. He had had convulsions when a child. For several years he had taken a good deal of alcohol.

On my first visit the patient, who was about forty-five years old, was moderately orientated in time, but he hallucinated music and the audience around him, and occupied himself with an imagin- ary electric wire which was connected with the production of the music. He was afraid that his wife would touch the wire. He was cheerful and fairly quiet except that he continually moved his right arm in order to produce the music from the imaginary wire. According to his wife's account he played all the time with his penis and said that clay came from it. He named objects in- correcdy, and on reading from a paper and writing from dictation he frequenUy misread and misheard. He had no tremors. Briefly, the man showed a delirium of occupation with epileptic and alcoholic features, but we shall see diat the content of this delirium to be ascribed to intoxication was similar to a dream.

The patient who had not slept for two days and nights was given 0.1 00 grammes of luminal and fell asleep in five minutes. When he awoke next morning the delirium had passed. His emotional state on waking is worth noting. He cried with emotion and with such violence that he made a kind of bellowing noise, and assured me that he had recovered. He had retained an accurate memory of his delirium and also of reality; for instance, he immedia- tely recognised me.

He told me quite spontaneously and with evident pleasure, but at the same time as though astonished at something extraordinary, what had happened to him. 'Just think of it, I have been in my father's bowels as a littie seed, as phlegm. The door opened and