The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1920-05-18
STRANGE CASE
Is A MYSTERY
TO DOCTORS
Woman Has Hypnotized Her.
self Into State of Rigid
ity, Says Physician

10y 1uCeTuatiOHdi VIEWS oe4''1o/
Denver, May 1S.-Believed at frs
to be a victim of sleeping sickness,
Mrs. Kate Hermann, thirty-flve, o
Hays, Kan, is declared by diagnosti
clans to be in a state of catalepsy re
sulting from "dementiajpraecox' AM
has been in a rigid condition To-
many weeks, lying on her back, handl
crossed over the abdomen, musclel
taut, mouth closed and teeth clench
ed.
Mrs. Herman has been asleep fol
more than two months. During a pc
Rod of eight weeks her eyes open
ed but three times, and she changed
her. posture only once. Milk FED
through her nasal passage, is the
only food that has been administered
during that time.
After physicians in Hays had been
unable to determine her ailment, Mrs
Hermann was brought to Denver
where a dozen specialists had hel
under observation.
DR.. Erward Delehanty, widely
known Denver neurologist and alien
list, after watching the patient many
suffering from Elemental praecox".
''In my opinion" DR.. Delehanty de-
clared, Mrs. Hermann is suffering
from a form Of insanity known as
, ''dementia praecox" and has an ex-
traordinary manifestation in the cat
aleptics state into which. ~ has
thrown herself.
I'm other words, Mrs. Herman is a
victim of auto-hypnosis. She has hyp-
pnotised herself into the belief that
she cannot move muscle and that
she cannot open her eyes. AS long as
her mentality preserves this extraOrd-
mary status she will remain rigid
and will refuse to eat, open her eyes
or recognize her surroundings.
DR.. Delehanty says there are cases
similar to Mrs. Hermann's in medical
annals, but the conditions are rare.
1.-THE cataleptic state into which
Mrs. Hermann has hypotnised herself
is also form of histeria," DR.. Dele
hanty said. This is responsible for
numerous cases of apparent disability
both mental and physical.
Mrs. Hermann is not rigid because
of any rigid disability, but simply
because her mind has directed the
rightly and stimulation of uncon-
seriousness. She is acting, but acting
in good faith"
DR.. Delehanty claims that thous-
ands of victims of shell shock in the
war were suffering from temporary
imaginative arrangement.
And that is the case with Mrs.
Hermann" DR.. Delehanty concluded.
"Som ething occurred to cause the
break in her mentality. She is in the
same cataleptic condition that pro-
,fessional hypotnist can produce in a
subject by the power Of suggestion.
Mrs. Hermann's brain has suggested
that she cannot move a muscle: hence
she remains rigid
Dr. Delehanty thinks Mrs Her.
mann may emerge from her condition,
INT says that she will not be we'll.
1T may be that she will never be
entirely cured" he said, "but this
particular manifestations of her men,
tai arrangement will exhaust itselr'..
1t is said that Mrs. Hermann's
only slightly resem bles
"sleepfng sickness" though it was at
hrst thought she was a victim of that
disease. DR.. Delehanty asserts that
her physical health remains normal,
despite the fact that she is fed only
milk. this diet being considered ample
IN view of the patients total immo-
bility.