Henderson daily dispatch., 1937-10-13
CHAPTER "a

N4E CORONER arranged his
papers following Adams testi-
mony, hesitated a moment. and
then recalled DR.. Harold Ark
wright.
81 understand you. were rela-
tive of the deceased Z"
"She was my niece"
"You were always her medical
adviser?"
Eyes. since she was a child"
Twill you tell me what you know
about this propensity to night
mares?"
"She used to suffer very badly
from them as child" Arkwright
gave an account of Esther's early
weakness, mentioning the shock
which had caused it. LAS she grew
older the trouble seemed to leave
her, as it does with most nervous
children. After the accident it be-
gan to recur, and as she got
stronger the nightmares seemed to
get more violent"
"Were these bad dreams directly
related to the accident ?"
I'm the sense that their return
was caused by the accident, I'M
doubtedly. But the dreams did not
invariably consist of a direct recol-
lection or recurrence Of the acct
dent. I tried to extract as many
details as possible from my niece.
Her remembrance was often vague
and shadowy, but I came to the
conclusion that the common char
acteristics of all of the dreams was
q fear of a heavy object falling or
coming upon her. The object
varied; sometimes it was a tree or
q telegraph pole, sometimes a mo-
tor or a lift or a railway train.
Sometimes she was unaware of the
nature of the object. And in every
case she did not know from what
direction the danger threatened
she knew she had to run to avoid
it, but had no idea where she
should run. That would account
for the frenzied panic and blind
purposelessness of her movements
when under the influence Of these
Dreams
"What reatment did you
adopt?"
81 prescribed sedatives. But they
seemed to lose their effect on her
with abnormal rapidity. I also
tried little simple hypnotic treat
ment and tried to make her prac-
tice self-hypnosis, particularly be-
fore going to bed"
do you mean what is common
liz called 'auto-suggestion' ?"
eyes. What I did on that line
trEas not exactly in professional
capacity. It was more as a rela-
ton and friend. I am not an au-
thority on nervous diseases, and
as it appeared that Mrs. Kennedy
was not improving in this respect,
I suggested a consultation with
specialist. AS Mr.. Kennedy told
you, we had actually arranged an
appointment"
s'Would you agree with Mr.. Ken
nedy's suggestion that these night
mares were caused by taking
heavy meals shortly before retir-
ing?"
II should say that was the occa-
sion rather than the cause. Or, to
put it in another way, the imper-
feet assimilation of food was the
nearer, but not the fundamental
cause. The fundamental cause
was lasting mental shock caused
by the accident, which revived a
tendency that had been latent since
childhood"
"But if the deceased had eaten
lightly in The evening, would the
Nightmares have occurred"
|fAiThat is impossible to say def
nitely. Probably they would have
been less frequent and less severe
if there had been no digestive dis
turbance. The whole digestive APP
paratus is linked up very closely
with the nervous system. 1 ad-
vised my niece to avoid rich food
in the evening as far as possible"
Il see. Tell me, DR.. Ark
wright, have you any opinion,
either from professional or per-