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HOW SHELL SHOCK MANIFESTS ITSELF The way in which shell shock manifests itself varies greatly in different individuals so that it is not possible to give a description which covers every case caseSometimes Sometimes these symptoms are chiefly mental The man suddenly loses his courage breaks into a cold sweat and cannot think or act He becomes ilased does not ol cy orders feels sleepy and then in a semiconscious condition wanders off not knowing where he is If questioned he can give no account of himself docs not know his name or his regi ¬ ment and has no memory of the past and when taken back to a hospital does not remember any of the past events of his life Shown pictures of his family or letters from his wife lie does not recog ¬ nize them and thus for weeks he may remain in this state of double consciousness as it is called or amnesia incapable of any mental or physical activity Such cases not unknown in civil life but exceedingly rare are common amoiiif these shellshock patients and may last for months after they have been sent home homeSometimes Sometimes the mental state is not one of ob ¬ scured consciousness but rather of excitement The mind is continually on the qui vive for sights and sounds The man starts and runs automatically at any noise jumps or twiches like one with St Vitus dance or trembles like one with shaking palsy Such a man cannot sleep or if he does wakes suddenly with dreams or visions of horrid sights and sounds starts up in a tremble with every sign of intense alarm and in a semiconscious state fights all who try to calm or restrain him He may have vivid hallucinations seeing the sights of trench or battle just as if they were going on about him and manifesting all the emotional effects which these sights would ordinarily awaken A Canadian who had suffered thus and had ap ¬ parently recovered was standing on City Hall steps at a recent parade when an automobile tire suddenly burst with a sound like a gun He immediately lost all control of himself ran shout ¬ ing through the crowd fought the police who tried to restrain him was in a state of intense excite ¬ ment which could not be quieted trembled like a leaf and panted as if exhausted and not for four hours did he come back to his normal state of mind and then he had 110 memory of what had occurred Scribners
