Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-10-06
HYPNOTIC DOCTOR
AIDS SHOCK CASE
Boy Who Felt slapped All
Over" Benefits by
Treatment,
BY EUNICE TIETJENS.
Correspondence of The Sunday Star
and the Chicago Daily News.

anu thC NhlSdSO Nc"Ss
WITH THE AMERICAN ARMY IN
FRANCE. August 27.-Into a station
IA short way back from the battle lines
! two orderlies half support and half
carry boy shaking like fox terrier
on frosty day. His whole body
gether furiously.
This is the second stop made by the
wounded between the first aid dress
, ing station and the evacuation hos
pital 1t is too near the front for pro-
tracted treatment and is really relay
station where the men are made as
comfortable as possible for the rest
of the journey. And here the shell
shock cases, which should properly
be called conclusion cases, receive
their first real attention.
The dingy little rooms in a half
destroyed village, converted from the
kitchen and bedroom of a peasant cot
tage, are not much to boast of, but
they seem sufficient. On a stretcher. in
corner the two orderlies lay the
shaking boy.
Josh the Patient.
The doctor arrives in ma jor's uni
form. He is dark with piercing deep
set eyes and compelling personality
He has great success with these cases.
l am told. He strolls in looking very
casual and begins to chat with the
boy. who sits up, leaning against the
wall with his legs thrust forward on
the floor. The orderlies give him hot
coffee-it contains. understand.
something to counterfeit the acidity Of
| the blood-and they Josh" him a lit
tie spontaneously.
The boy seems little frightened,
but is rational and tells his story
through his jerking teeth. He belongs
to an anti-aircraft machine gun crew,
stationed five or six kilometers behind
the front, near the sausage" balloons.
An enemy airplane came over and at
tackled sausage near them. While
| they were getting the gun ready, a
she'll fell right beside them. The boy
was thrown down and covered with
dirt, but not wounded.
Il feel as if I'd been slapped all
| over at once" he finishes. But there's
really nothing the matter with me,
l can't stop this shaking. Look at my
hands! It's ridiculous
The orderlieS drift away. The major
i has listened sympathetically. still with
| his casual air. But now he becomes
! suddenly electrified. He crouches over
!
| his knee and graSping the boys wrists
| firmly. His face is very near the boys
and his eyes, are terribly compelling.
1t is as though an electric spark flew
from him to the shaking youngSter.
Mental Suggestion.
His voice has a peculiar vibrant
quality as he gives a mental SuggeS-
ton that this is nothing. that it will
pass, that this arm and this-holding
| them up as he talks-will presently
stop shaking, that there is nothing to
be afraid of and presently he can go
back to work.
The boy listens. fascinated. Under
the compelling eyes the trembling
grows less, for an instant it stops and
he lies relaxed Then it begins again
| but less violently.
Then. suddenly, the major becomes
casual again. He rises, mods to the boy
and StrollS out. The patient is left tC
rest little before his next journey.
4 The shaking will last probably, with
diminishing violence, for three or four
days. The majority of men recover in
that time. There are, of course, cases
with mental and nervous developments
which are followed by protracted
nervous breakdownS.
But this boy will be back shooting
at boche birds" in a week, 1 feel sure