Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1907-03-09
TWO QUEER DISEASES
The Fear of Space and the Fear
of Shut-in Places.
BOTH EQUALLY INVETE7ATE.
They Are Refractory to Remedies,
They Are RecaIctrant to Treatment,
and They Endure For Years and
Often For a Whole Lifetime.

and They Endure For Years and
Often For a Whole Lifetime.
Agoraphobia, or fear Of open spaces,
is not nearly us common a malady as
its antthesis, claustrOphobia fear of
shut-in places. Both are curious AMI
somewhat anomalous states Of mind. in
which an aversion. known anu admit
ted by the subjects of it to be irration-
al and absurd nevertheless dominates
conduct, prompts the execution OF IRA
tional acts AMI 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
l'assign them to the revival of instincts
which existed in full force AMI had
great biological value in our remote
ancestry. but which in most Of US
have Ions been obsolete. When our
ancestors were arboreal in habit, this
habit was their salvation from eXtinc-
ton. Feeble in body, destitute of weap-
ons ana of defensive armor, devoid of
means Of c0ncealment, their safety
from carnivGr3us foes lay in the agil-
fly with which they could climb out Of
reach and in the accuracy with which
they could leap from Dough to bough
and from tree to tree. Whenever they
descended to the ground they were in
danger 1t is on the ground that the
greater carnivora pursue their prey,
and, adapted as our ancestors were to
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.
Il 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
trees they were in safety far from
trees they were in continual danger
and therefore in continual uneasinesS.
| al
ing and well founded dread and sense
of impending danger.
! 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 st"uc
ture he has just the feeling of dread,
of impending danger, of imminent dis
aSter, of something dreadful about to
happen that a man would have who
was walking through jungle infested
by tigers or that a child has when
alone in the dark. l have seen wo-
man affected with agoraphOba gel
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 it and
clutching at the bare surface Suffer
ers from this malady cannot cross an
open space They cannot venture more
than a step or two from some vertical
surface They feel no uneasiness in a
colonnade, open all around them
. | 1,n TThnirs r,Oo tolls 4hAe)l
that their dread is grOundless, but rea-
son is powerless against instinct, and
an imperious instinct shouts danger
in their ears
The opposite NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
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 a conflict between the
immeasurabIy old, primitive habit of
rOosting under the open sky and the
modern innovation of taking shelter
| from the weather. The sense of con
finement 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
ly. Only in some very violent storm
would the first indwelIers creep into a
hole for shelter and they would soon
find their circumscribed quarters intoI
cradle and brave the elements as soon
| as the weather began to moderate.
pnrbaDS the navy instinct WAS first
implanted i'll the young by the parents
bestowing their tender offspring in
holes during thor own absence or
when cold and II IN became severe. 1t
is not easy to teach an old dog new
| tricks, but 4 young Wiki rabbit or
squirrel taken at very early age
from the nest never acquires the IN,
| ta1nn HE 1NiIdnasS that is SO cOnSDicu-