Evening star., 1938-02-20
By THOMAS r. HENRY.


The strange story of men who can't
laugh was told at the annual post
graduate clinic Of George Washington
University Medical School yesterday
by Dr. Paul F. Dickens, associate
professor of medicine.
He showed moving pictures of one
Washington victim of this weird con-
dition of cataplexy. in which any emo
ton may cause the patient to lose
control of the muscles and topple over
helpless on the floor without losing
consciousness. Laughing is suffi-
cient emotional expression to bring
on such an attack
The man pictured by Dr. Dickens
couldn't tell funny story. When he
got to the point of the joke he would
topple over Such falls may result in
severe injuries. Such a man can't
AFFORD to become angry,,or feel intense
sorrow. Fright will cause just such
. collapse. q fact which gives a pos
sible clue to Its genesis.
Cause Of Disease Unknown.
Nobody knows what causes the dis
ease. Certain animals. however. have
the instructive reaction of playing
dead" when they are in tight fix.
The opossum is well-known ex-
ample. 1t may be that this reaction
is very deeply seated in the makeup
of mammals. In man and most other
higher species 1t is subordinated so
that it seldom actually is manifested
In the course of evolution the man,
mails have found better ways of deal
ing with emergencies. But such q
reaction, once acquired. apparently Is
never lost, but buried. In these cases.
it may be, the repression machinery
of the nervous system is out of gear
so that the long disused reflex comes
into play again.
The animals which play dead" of
course, do not laugh. This seems to
be an emotional expression reserved
for men. For the lower animals life is
altogether too serious proposition
for laughter. But mans emotions.
after all, are derived from those of
the lower creatures. however they
may be refined. The cataplexic reac-
ton is to an emotion, however pleasant
or unpleasant, because originally any
emotion was apt to be q response to
danger.
This explanation. however, is only
possibility, DR.. Dickens explained.
There is no rational treatment for the
condition, but administration of thy
roid extract had good empirical re-
suits in this particular case.
Attended by Narcolepsy.
Cataplexy is invariably attended by
another strange condition known as
narcoplepsy. Victims of this condi-
ton suffer from irresistible drives to
fall asleep several times during the
day. Wherever they are they drop
into profound slumber instantaneous
ly-a very dangerous procedure if one
happens to be driving an automobile
or walking across busy street. The
case shown by DR.. Dickens was that
of q Washington clerk, who would fall
asleep at his desk. Another case was
that Of a farmer near Washington,
who would fall asleep while plow-
ing, drop the plow handles and lie
down in the furrow.
The sleep lasts from two or three
minutes to IS or 20. Once the VIC
tim awakens, he goes on with what
he was doing, just as before. There
is no break in ones chain of thought,
such as would come with ordinary
slumber. For this condition also there
is no accepted explanation. Not all
narcoleptics are cataplexics, DR.. Dick
ems said, but all cataplexics are narco-
leptics.
The remarkable effects of insulin
and metrazol in the treatment of the
type of insanity known as .dementia