The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-10-30
MIND PICTURES BT TELEPHONE:
The MiGtake One Man Made as to Another,
Appearance and the Result.

The Mistake One Man Made as to Another,s
Appearance and the Result.
did you ever notice that when an idea be-
comes fixed in the mind it lie very difficult to
change it. especially in the case OF extremely
sensitive and highly nervous persons?" asked
a Brooklyn expert on nerves. Not long ago
l had a visit from a man who was afraid he was
losing his reason because OF a very simple
persistence OF a certain thought or idea which
he could not shake of. The history of the
case is one often found in cases OF hypochon-
driasis developed from using the telephone.
My patient for about a years time had occasion
to telephone every day to a trade GUS
toner in New York-Manhattan il you like.
Thu New Yorker had a peculiar high tenor
squeak to his voice. and somehow my friend got
to picturlng him as a little chap with q thin
face. This habit grew day after day until the
customer took a real shape and form in the
mind Of my %patient. all based. Of course, upon
little ch %IS% With ~ the TIM face p aHd sGue faat
sf'cf the , once q S'f his d" Kew MY d Pfft'e eSst Sal,ea
and tdu as g. he walked IG;sh into the pIl9sSee and saw
could I'D s sea msg IS eiIeHe Els se eyes. S When oT tba f he
man opened his mouth and talked, my patient
says. the s1ueaky voice with, which he was IA
told the owner of the absurd voice, in View Of
his size. about having pictured him as q little
Jtlll ItINtI.H anu lntTt was " KOOU lHuRn over
the odd difference OF tho reality.
But the next day when my friend used the
telephone and the slueaky voice came to him.
he had to struggle to get away from thinking
OF, his, fat patron as being little and thin. He
talked the matteroyer with his wife and laughed
forgot al about the actual existence Of
wire. Then II was that he came to me,
He feared. he said. that his mind was Civ
ing way, because Of the persistence of the
odd picture Of the thin man. / thought the
case was easily disposed OF. and told my friend
visit his fat customer. This he did. but every
time he telephoned the s0ueaky voice would
bring up the mental picture formed before he
had set eyes on its owner.
j was IN despair and my patient was grow
ing gray from worrying when ! hit upon tho
fat man on the telephone, where the eye OF tho
patient could rest upon IL as he talked. The
result was the disappearance forever of the
thin chap. My patient. in looking at the pie
ture OF the owner OF the Rnueaky voice. got his
mind working upon the same lines that would
TO face the first time he heard his voice. These
cases nro common every day. We form Queerly
opposite pictures OF men and women we hear
over the telephone and never see. but In the
great majority OF Instances the Impression Ia a
momentary one. and it is seldom that the mis-
take Is ever forced unOn us In the startling way
described by the patient j told of.
The telephone. by the way. has produced
very many queer cases Of neurasthenia that
remain unacconntahle excepting on the hypoth-
esis that the new habit brings them into ex-
istencc. j have had vcry, many patients who
whore u had been used to a great extent
before"