Shell-shock and other neuropsychiatric problems

An Italian soldier, 25, a foundling, was always off and on in a military prison. At a tavern one night the man unsheathed his sword and threw three bottles at the host. Bystanders overpowered him and carried him to the local police station. Handcuffs were put on to stop the mania. His pupils were dilated and he was sweating profusely. Alcohol could absolutely be excluded from the history of this incident.

Observed in clinic, the patient was rather silent, but on the whole normal and without delusions or hallucinations. It seems that he had committed a number of crimes in the army that were always excused on account of his mental state. He had been strongly alcoholic, although not at the time of the incident mentioned. He was covered with tattooings of an obscene and violent nature.

He showed pharyngeal and conjunctival anesthesia and concentric limitation of the visual fields of unusual degree, and a remarkable hypalgesia. The knee-jerks were lively. The man was, in point of fact, sent back to military service, with, however, the suggestion of reform school.