Malignant but not maleficent: acute leukaemia as a possible explanation of disease and death in vampire victims.

BACKGROUND: A considerable amount of research has been put into the explanation of the origin of the vampire myth by focussing on possible symptoms of the vampire; however, very little attention has been given to the victims. AIMS: To elucidate whether the myth of vampire victims follows the course of disease of acute leukaemia. METHOD: We studied three classical vampire novels published 1819-1897, focusing on 8 victims and their symptoms. The novels were chosen based on their iconic status in classic vampire literature, which defined the vampire genre and the symptoms of the victims for many years. The symptoms and course of disease following vampire attacks described in these novels were then compared with symptoms commonly seen in untreated acute leukaemia and other contemporary disorders. RESULTS: The earliest novel (1819) did not provide a sufficient description of any symptoms in detail; however, the later novels (1872 and 1897) both provided elaborate portrayals of symptoms and course of the disease. The patients studied were all factitious-explaining the variation in symptoms; however, they share common features. One case, a young woman named Lucy Westenra, described by Bram Stoker, 1897, mirrors a textbook example of an acute leukaemia patient-despite being described before the time of common acknowledgment of the diagnosis. CONCLUSION: Victims in the gothic vampire novels from the nineteenth century could very likely be inspired by real-life acute leukaemia patients.

Los prodigios del hombre encarnado. Víctor Melcior y la redefinición de la mediumnidad (1901) / The marvels of the incarnated man. Víctor Melcior and the redefinition of mediumship (1901)

A finales del siglo XIX, mediante el estudio científico de los fenómenos espiritistas, nuevos enfoques médicos y psicológicos se aplicaron a la mediumnidad. La idea del médium espiritista fue sustituida por la noción del médium como un ser desequilibrado, capaz de emanar fuerzas psíquicas inconscientemente. Este trabajo analiza la redefinición de la mediumnidad a través de unos polémicos artículos del médico catalán Víctor Melcior. Esta microhistoria sirve, por un lado, para situar el debate local dentro del contexto científico internacional y, así, mostrar las relaciones entre el espiritismo, la medicina y la psicopatología del momento. Por otro lado, permite analizar las reacciones de algunos espiritistas a las teorías de Melcior, así como las consecuencias que este debate tuvo para el espiritismo en general (AU)

Towards the end of the 19th century, new medico-psychological approaches were applied to mediumship through the scientific study of spiritualist phenomena. The spiritualist idea of the medium was replaced with the notion of the medium as an unstable human being capable of emanating psychic forces unconsciously. This paper analyses the redefinition of mediumship through the polemical articles of the Catalan physician Víctor Melcior. On one hand, this microhistory allows the local debate to be placed within the scientific international context, describing the relationships among spiritualism, medicine and psychopathology at that time. On the other hand, it permits analysis of the reactions of some spiritualists to Melciors (AU)

[The machine more than a machine or the automation transfigured. Julien Offray de la Mettrie's anthropology and the reinvention of the medical mechanism]. / La machine plus que machine ou l'automate transfiguré. L'anthropologie de Julien Offray de La Mettrie et la réinvention du mécanisme médical.

In this paper I take into account an image, or concept, that of 'machine', and more precisely one of its most problematic and controversial derivations, that of 'man-machine', which are at the basis of all the representations, and in particular medical representations, of the human action as a result of an 'automatism' as well as of man as an 'automaton'. More in detail, I try to analyse the theoretical framework, the rhetorical structure and the medical derivation of Julien Offray de la Mettrie's concept of the 'man-machine', and to cast light on a double phenomenon of semantic distortion and of individuation of new shades of meaning that the semantic field of the 'mechanical' underwent in La Mettrie's thought.

[The pure being of writing. Ecriture automatique in 19th century psychiatry and early surrealism (Breton/Soupault: Les champs magnétiques)]. / Das reine Sein des Schreibens. Ecriture automatique in der Psychiatrie des späten 19. Jahrhunderts und im frühen Surrealismus (Breton/Soupault: Les champs magnétiques).

Ecriture automatique and psychoanalysis are often lumped together in literary studies, almost as a knee-jerk reaction. However, on closer inspection it can be seen that the discoverers of automatic writing--the surrealists--were more interested in the hysteria research that prevailed around the year 1900 (Pierre Janet, Alfred Binet) and in parapsychology (Frederic Myers). In these two branches of medicine, the theory and practice of automatic writing are based on an experimental constellation in which the relationship between the psychiatrist/experiment organiser and the patient/participant takes centre stage. Here, the latter writes in response to an order or question from the former, mostly while overcoming a physical or memory block. André Breton and Philippe Soupault set up a very similar constellation in the Champs magnétiques, though with some key alterations. Indeed, surrealism liberates the patient engaging in automatic writing from the dictates of the psychiatrist--but only to submit him to a yet more overwhelming force, a pure violence of writing, so to speak: the automatism of a 'higher reality'.

Cerebral automatism, the brain, and the soul in Bram Stoker's Dracula.

Neither literary critics nor historians of science have acknowledged the extent to which Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897) is indebted to late-Victorian neurologists, particularly David Ferrier, John Burdon-Sanderson, Thomas Huxley, and William Carpenter. Stoker came from a family of distinguished Irish physicians and obtained an M.A. in mathematics from Trinity College, Dublin. His personal library contained volumes on physiology, and his composition notes for Dracula include typewritten pages on somnambulism, trance states, and cranial injuries. Stoker used his knowledge of neurology extensively in Dracula. The automatic behaviors practiced by Dracula and his vampiric minions, such as somnambulism and hypnotic trance states, reflect theories about reflex action postulated by Ferrier and other physiologists. These scientists traced such automatic behaviors to the brain stem and suggested that human behavior was "determined" through the reflex action of the body and brain-a position that threatened to undermine entrenched beliefs in free will and the immortal soul. I suggest that Stoker's vampire protagonist dramatizes the pervasive late-nineteenth-century fear that human beings are soulless machines motivated solely by physiological factors.

"Automatism" and the emergence of dynamic psychiatry.

This article is about the clash of two explanatory paradigms, each attempting to account for the same data of human experience. In the first half of the nineteenth century, physiologists investigated reflex actions and applied a recently coined word, "automatism," to describe actions which, although seeming to arise from higher centers, actually result from automatic reaction to sensory stimuli. Experiments with spinal reflexes led to the investigation of the reflex action of the brain or "cerebral automatisms." Reflex actions of this kind were used to explain everything from acting compulsively to composing symphonies. Physiological explanations of phenomena of this kind seemed insufficient to some and, in the 1880s, Frederic Myers and Pierre Janet developed psychological frameworks for understanding these phenomena, positing hidden centers of intelligence at work in the individual, outside ordinary awareness, which produce what came to be called "psychological automatisms." Their attempts to unify this psychological framework with the existing physiological one failed. Nevertheless, their work played a crucial role in paving the way for what Ellenberger called dynamic psychiatry, which accepts the reality of an unconscious dynamic of the psyche.

The misidentification of Clerambault's and Kandinsky-Clerambault's syndromes.

Eponymic terms or eponyms are labels describing phenomena that reflect the name(s) of the person(s) who first described the phenomena. Using a similar term to describe different forms of pathology leads to a muddle. In this paper, we describe "Clerambault's syndrome" and "Kandinsky-Clerambault's syndrome" and discuss and clarify the confusion surrounding these different syndromes.

The evolution and definition of the concept of 'automatism' in Canadian case law.

Legal and psychological perspectives are blended in a review of the evolution and definition of the legal concept of 'automatism'. Despite the oft-cited, succinct definitions such as those provided by Bowlby JA in R v Kasperek [1951] 101 CCC 375, and by Mr Justice Lacourciere (as he then was) in R v K [1971] 3 CCC (2d) 84 which emphasize a lack of consciousness, case law has shown a tendency to emphasize a lack of volitional control. It has also insisted that such a deficit be primarily brought about by an external factor over which the accused either had no control or, if they had control, of which effects they lacked knowledge. Two noticeable omissions are identified. One is a lack of a logical evaluation of expert testimony in terms of the complexity of the criminal acts that have been claimed to accompany an impoverished mental state. The other is the failure to recognize the mental chemistry of the presence of multiple conditions in the same person at the same time. An overriding concern has been protection of the public, and decisions in a number of cases can be regarded as attempts to ensure that this is achieved before permitting the unqualified acquittal that automatism would bring.

Charcot at the Salpêtrière: ambulatory automatisms.

Jean-Martin Charcot, as professor of neurology at the Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris, delivered a series of dialogue case presentations on general neurology in 1887-1889. These cases, never before translated into English, provide a first-hand view of Charcot's renowned teaching method and his opinions on many neurologic topics. One patient with bizarre ambulatory spells probably representing absence status was recognized by Charcot as an epileptic. This otherwise healthy young man, without a history of generalized epilepsy or hysteria, experienced multiple spells during which he suddenly became unaware of his surroundings, rambled throughout Paris and its outskirts, and had complex interactions with other people. As Charcot unraveled the diagnostic mystery, he traced the patient's wanderings and analyzed the differential diagnosis, treatment, and pathophysiology of these intermittent spells.