The Press. (Stafford Springs, Conn.) 1883-1935, 1907-09-04
TWO QUEER DISEASES
The Fear of Space and the Fear
of Shut-in Places.
BOTH EQUALLY INvETERATE.

They Are Refractory TO Remedies,
They Are RecaIeitrant TO Treatment,
and They Endure For Years and
Often For q Whole Lifetime.
AgoraphobIa, or fear of open spaces,
Is not nearly as common malady as
its antithesis, claustrophobia (fear OF
shut-in places. Both are curious and
somewhat anomalous states of mind, In
which an aversion, known and admit
ted by the subjects of 1t to be irration-
al and absurd, nevertheless dominates
conduct, prompts the execution Of IRA
tional acts and renders certain rational
and desirable acts impossible.
If had to speculate on the origin Of
these curious and spurious instincts,
for such they may be termed, I should
assign them to the revival of instincts
which existed in full force and had
great biological value In our remote
ancestry, but which in most Of US
have long been obsolete. When our
ancestors were arboreal In habit, this
habit was their salvation from ext1nc-
ton. Feeble in body, destitute of weap-
ons and of defensive armOr, devoid OF
means of concealment, their safety
from carn1vorous foes lay in the agil-
ity with which they could climb out Of
reach and In the accuracy with which
they could leap from bough to bough
and from tree to tree. Whenever they
descended to the ground they were in
danger It is on the ground that the
greater carnivora pursue their prey,
| and, adapted as our ancestors were to
arboreal life, their progress on open
ground was less rapid than among the
tree tops and most probably less rapid
than that of their principal foes.
Among the tree tops they were secure.
There no enemy could vie with them
In activity or hope to overtake them,
but on the ground they were at dis
advantage. On the fat they had no
chance against the spring of the pan
Their or the speed and wind Of the
wolf, but once let them attain the Sc
curity of the forest and they could grin
at their enemies below. The farther
they ventured from their secure retreat
the greater the peril they were In; the
nearer their refuge the more complete
their sense of security. Since instincts,
using the term in the sense of mental
cravings, become adapted to modes Of
life, which in turn they dictate, we
may be sure that in the arboreal stage
of their existence aversion existed to
any extended excursion from their
places of security and refuge. Near to
a., Pnkx 90
trees they were in continual danger
and therefore In continual uneasiness.
In such a situation they had an abid-
ing and we'll founded dread and sense
of impending danger. aa
This is the state of mind which, as it
seems to me- is reproduced in similar
circumstances in agoraphObia. The
craving of the subject of this malady
Is to be near, not trees necessarily, it
is true, but near to some tall, vertical
structure. Away from such a struc-
ture he has just the feeling Of dread,
of impending danger, Of imminent dis
aster, of something dreadful about to
happen that man would have who
was walking through jungle infested
by tigers or that a child has when
alone In the dark. have seen a wo-
man affected with agoraphobia get
from one side Of a court to the 9th
er by not only going around by the
wall and touching it all the way. but
squeezing herself up against 1t and
clutching at the bare surface. Suffer
ers from this malady cannot cross an
open space. They cannot venture more
Cuan step or TWO from some vertlcal
surface. They feel no uneasiness in a
colonnade, open all around them
thought 1t be: Their reason tells them
that their dread Is groundless, but rea-
son is powerless against instinct, and
an imperious instinct shouts danger
In their ears.
The opposite malady-claustrOpho
seems to me to reproduce a state Of
affairs OF much later occurrence in our
racial history. When arbOreal habits
at length began to be abandoned and
our anthropoid ancestors began to shell
ter themselves In hollow trees, in caves
and holes In the ground, there must
often have been conflict between the
UNNECESSARILY old. primitive habit Of
roosting under the open sky and the
modern innovation of taking shelter
from the weather. The sense of con-
nnement must have been very irkSome.
We may be sure that there was no sud-
den revolution In the mode of life. The
new habit was adopted very gradual
~. Only In some very violent storm
would the first indwellers creep into a
hole for shelter, and they would soon
find their circumscribed quarters intol-
cradle and brave the elements as soon
as the weather began to moderate
Perhaps the new instinct was first
implanted In the young by the parents
bestowing their tender offspring in
holes during their own absence or
when cold and rain became severe. It
Is not easy to teach an old dog new
tricks, but a young wild rabbit or
squirrel taken at a very early age
from the nest never acquires the I'M
tamable wildness that Is SO conspicu-
Gus feature In the character of the
old. In any case the habit of taking
shelter in more or less closed spaces