New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-09-01
BY DIR. MORTON PRINCE.


to supply men 20 fight.
England is becoming a great fighting
machine in the modern sense OF the
word. As cgards my own particular
work, | have toured the British and
French hospitals investigating numer-
Gus cases of mental disturbance and
shock arising from tn, present war. II
is a mistake 10 think that these cases
are peculiar TO the present struggle.
They have occurred to lesser degree
in intensity in all previous wars, but
have been overlooked. From the medi-
cal point OF view the chief interest lies
in the fact that they approximate
closely the conditions of nervous shock
arising from railroad accidents and
earthquakes. In the majority Of cases
there is no physical injury. Years ago
in railroad accidents such injuries TO
the nervous system were described as
cerebral conclusion. Now it is known
that they are not caused by physical
contact at all.
Effects of Shock Diverse.
In the same way nervous cases are
now treated almost entirely as the re-
suit of a shock. The disease assumes
many forms. In some cases the pa
tients are rendered mute. others deaf
mute. In other cases the patients lose
their memory. not merely regarding
the events Immediately preceding the
shock but perhaps their identity o.
their entire life's history. Other cases
take the form Of somLambulism, in
others the twitching of the face and
head, which is medically termed
ticks" is the dominant feature.
With others the disease takes the form
of a continually recurrent fear -abso-
Lutte dread. in fact that the same eX
perience is about to happen again.
Some patients are afflicted with terri
Bile dreams, Of which they are fire.
quently unaware after waking. | re-
member among others one young SOL
der assuring me he had no dreams,
but man in the next bed SAID, why,
he's jumping out of bed and screaming
half the night" During these times
the patient experiences all the horrors
already suffered.
These cases constitute one long testi-
mony as to the horrors of war. The
everlasting recurrence OF those terrible
Jack Johnsons are sufficient TO drive
any mans nervous system TO the break
ing point. Any one in itself is enough
20 cause the same shock as bad rail
often buried alive by the earth thrown
by an explosion.
Feared Burial Alive.
The effect Of shell fire, too, resembles
that of an earthquake. ! met two ser
geants, professional soldiers, who had
spent their lives in the army and had
experienced many campaigns. One said
TO me:
0u- Jo,,. ,,.or.,- oho,,, oh ranpaI. ;+,e
these Jack Johnsons that upset US"
The other said: eff we wrote letter We
afterward tore il up because it con-
tanned such awful rubbish. We were
suffering from a form of somnambulism
when we wrote the letters, caused by a
terror of beipg buried alive as by an
earthquake" Other military rights
had no effect on him.
All these cases arc now being most
carefully tended and specially classi-
fed In addition to all the usual meth
DDS employed for neurasthenia, the
cases are being given the suggestion
treatment by some army physicians,
while. furthermore, many are being
carefully studied BY psychologists. |
believe that the majority Will recover,
although ! doubt whether any will be
fit again for the firing line. Even al
though they apparently recover. | be-
lieve the trouble would recrudesce II
they were sent to the front | met one
man, a Frenchman, now mute, who ex-
pressed desire TO return to the
trenches. But if he ever returned |
don't think he would remain long. These
nervous troubles affect all classes al
most equally, perhaps the highly strung,
imaginative temperaments worse. An
To- r,,at ~
render the subsequent condition all
the more severe"
DR.. Morton Prince has been engaged
in the practice of medicine in Boston
since 1880. For thirty years he has
treated nervous diseases in Boston
City Hospital. In 1912 he became Pro-
lessor Emeritus of Nervous Diseases
at Tufts College Medical School, hav-
ing been n member of the faculty for
ten years
He is editor Of THE Journal of Abb
normal Psychology" having accepted
that position in 1906. He is mem
Der Of the American Neurological As
sociation, the Association of American
Physicians. the American Psyche
Pathological Association, the Boston
Society of Psychiatry and Neurology.
the Society Of Medical Sciences, the
Massachusetts, Medical Society, the
Boston Medical Society. the Boston So
ciety for Medical Improvement, the
Public Franchise League and the Bos-
ton Chamber of Commerce.
As an author he is known for many
books and monographs dealing with
psychological and philosophical sub
jects. Some of his books are: Mature
of Mind and Human Automatism,'
"Dissociation Of Personality" and
"The Unconscious" He collaborated
in many medical works, among them
Nervous Diseases by American Au-
thors."
DR.. Prince was graduated from Har-
ward in 1879, received his medical de-
gree there four years later and re-
ceived the degree OF Doctor of Let
tiers from Tufts in 1910.
a ANnIECp