HISTORY OF MEDICINE * HISTOIRE DE LA MEDECINE

Hysteria, or "suffocation of the mother"

Harold Merskey, DM; Susan J. Merskey, MA, ALA
Objective: To understand or explain the surprising adherence of prominent physicians
throughout the centuries to terms suggesting that the womb could move and cause
suffocation, choking or difficulty in swallowing.
Data sources: Hippocratic writings on hysterical symptoms and the views of subsequent
authors and contexts surrounding such views.
Data synthesis: Physicians who followed Hippocrates repeatedly related difficulties in
breathing or choking and difficulties in swallowing to the uterus, although most
recognized that the womb did not rise out of the pelvis, except partially, when enlarged
by pregnancy. Respiratory and gastrointestinal symptoms were often associated with
anxiety. The effects may have been attributed to the womb, because it was recognized
that the womb, when enlarged, can cause difficulty in breathing. Anxiety was also
reported more often in women and may have been attributed to the womb for that
reason.
Conclusion: The suffocation of the mother can be understood as anxiety with dyspnea,
and globus hystericus reflects anxiety with a choking sensation or difficulty in
swallowing.

Objectif: Comprendre ou expliquer la conviction etonnante de medecins eminents qui,

tout au long des siecles, ont soutenu les affirmations voulant que l'uterus pouvait se
deplacer et entrainer suffocation, 6touffement ou difficultes de deglutition.
Source des donnees: Les ecrits d'Hippocrate sur les sympt6mes de l'hysterie, les
opinions des auteurs ulterieurs et les contextes entourant ces opinions.
Synthese des donnees: Les medecins qui ont suivi Hippocrate ont a diverses reprises
attribuee a l'uterus les difficultes de respiration ou de deglutition et les problemes
d'etouffement, meme si la plupart d'entre eux reconnaissaient que cet organe ne sortait
pas de la cavite pelvienne, sauf en partie et lorsqu'il etait distendu par la grossesse. Les
symptomes respiratoires et gastro-intestinaux ont ete souvent associes a l'angoisse. Les
effets peuvent avoir ete attribues a l'uterus, car on savait que celui-ci, lorsqu'il etait
distendu, pouvait entrainer des difficultes a respirer. L'angoisse etait de plus signalee
plus souvent chez les femmes et pourrait avoir ete attribuee a l'uterus pour cette raison.
Conclusion: La suffocation chez la mere peut etre comprise comme de l'angoisse
accompagnee de dyspnee, et la boule hysterique rend compte de l'angoisse accompagnee
d'une sensation d'etouffement ou d'une difficulte de deglutition.

Sometimes they are seiz'd with convulsions that very throat, due to the movement of the uterus. This
much resemble Epilepsy, and are commonly called the article considers how such a surprising idea arose,
Suffocation of the Womb, in which the Belly and Entrails what it might have meant and whether it is relevant
rise upwards towards the Throat.' today.

F or many centuries physicans considered that Classical writings

hysteria included difficulty in breathing or
swallowing, with the sensation of a ball in the The idea of the womb moving about the body

Reprint requests to: Dr. Harold Merskey, London Psychiatric Hospital, PO Box 2532, 850 Highbury Ave., London, ON N6A 2H1

- For prescribing information see page 447 CAN MED ASSOC J 1993; 148 (3) 399
and causing symptoms is thought to have originated
with the ancient Egyptians. An examination of
translations of the Ebers and the Kahun Gynaecolog-
ical papyri, on which these claims are based, re-
vealed otherwise.2
The collection of writings of Hippocrates (who
is thought to have lived from 460 to 370 BC)
comprises about 68 works. Few sections that deal
with hysteria have been translated into English. The
French collection3 describes several phenomena that
might be diagnosed as "hysterical" and how they
relate to the uterus. Two types of "fits" are included:
in one the patient awoke if the skin of the abdomen
was pinched,4 and in the other headache was attri-
buted to the uterus.5 In most of the descriptions of
uterine disorders flatulence, eructations, rumblings
in the belly, swelling of the limbs, and pains in the
vicinity of the kidneys and the hips were also noted
and are not necessarily of psychologic origin.
It was also said that "hysterical suffocation"
(hysterike pnix) occurred with other symptoms in
patients with fever6 and that spasms without accom-
panying fever occurred readily in women with hys-
terical symptoms.7 Pain in the loins was attributed to
the displacement of the uterus. In addition, if the
womb "went toward the liver" the woman might
lose her voice and have chattering teeth, and her
colour might became dark. Manual pressure was
exerted to spread out the liver, and applications were
placed to the nostrils: a stinking fumigation for the
nose and aromatic fumigations for the womb. Preg-
nancy or marriage was the best cure.8
If the womb caused suffocation, fumigation with
evil-smelling substances was recommended;9 if it was
dry, treatment was a suppository of burnt sulfur and
asphalt in honey;10 if the womb was turned toward
the viscera, with accompanying choking, wine could
be drunk;" and if it was displaced, a fumigation with
wine, barley, straw, tamarisk and deer's horn was
suggested.12 If the womb caused choking as it moved
around, a lampwick was lit and extinguished to
provide smoke under the nostrils, and an aromatic
pessary was applied.'3 Various pains, including those
in the head, stomach and loins, were thought per-
haps to originate from the uterus if there was bile
within it.
This material seems to be the origin of the idea
that the womb could move around the body, block
the channels of respiration and cause "suffocation,"
as well as have some effect on the throat, as
Sydenham noted.' Unpleasant substances were ap-
plied above to drive the womb down and fragrant
ones below to attract the womb into its correct
position. If the womb was out of place downward
(e.g., prolapsed) the reverse arrangement was appro-
priate.
It only takes knowledge of a term pregnancy to
400 CAN MEDASSOCJ 1993; 148(3)
recognize that the womb can be displaced close to
the diaphragm and affect breathing. Likewise, pro-
lapse must be well known in all societies. In the
Hippocratic collection, various steps are described to
treat prolapse.
There certainly was preoccupation with the
womb rising and possibly moving as far as the liver
to cause seizures.8 It is not apparent that the womb
was thought to rise above the diaphragm, but when
situated in the vicinity of the hypochondrium and
the liver it might have affected respiration. Hippo-
cratic theories included the release of fluid
("phlegm") from above, which might be attributable
to climatic or other changes and could be a cause of
suffocation: "angina arises when in winter or spring,
a massive viscid flux occurs from the head into
the jugular vessels. . . . The flux, which is cold and
viscid stops up the passage-ways that carry air and
blood.... Choking occurs."'4 Similarly, in women
who had no sexual relationships and in older women
the lighter womb was thought to be displaced to the
liver, cutting off the channels of breathing and
causing sudden uterine choking: "sometimes at the
same time . .. phlegm descends from the head to the
hypochondria so that the woman chokes."''5 Mean-
while the womb sucked in liquid and returned to its
place.
When suffocation occurred conditions resem-
bling epilepsy could be produced. An association
between pregnancy and eclamptic seizures was ex-
plained by obstruction to the breathing channel in
the abdomen and fluid pouring downward from the
head.'6 Cardiac symptoms were attributed to the
womb's attaching itself to the heart.'7 This is the
highest level the womb was said to have reached.
Examination of references to aromatic sub-
stances and unpleasant fumigations given as treat-
ment failed to provide uniform support for the
"carrot and stick" theory of uterine therapy. There
are 14 places in the literature where such treatment
is mentioned, but there are also four places in the
same books where the treatment described varied
from the usual (e.g., aromatic fumigations offered for
a prolapsed womb;'8 an astringent pessary applied
for an upward displacement;'9 an extract of poppy,
vinegar or wine given to drink, which suggested an
attempt at sedation;20 and pessaries provided to
either irritate or soothe21).
We can assume that in Hippocrates' time a
number of these treatments were not intended for
psychologic conditions and were based on theories
other than the belief that the womb was an organ or
organism that needed to be attracted or repelled. The
fluid hypothesis is one such theory. Still another
viewpoint is the claim that hysteria tended to occur
in virgins and widows and that marriage or pregnan-
cy was a cure.2223
LE 1 cl FEVRIER I199 3
 Scepticism is being expressed increasingly about
the implications of the more fanciful ideas in the
Hippocratic collection. King24 observed that much
modem discussion has focused on the Littre transla-
tions, which introduced headings and labels to orga-
nize the concept of hysteria or hysterical suffocation,
an organization not necessarily justified in the origi-
nal material. Micale25 observed that, indeed, the
Littre edition contains "no coherent clinical syn-
drome in the modern sense but only the most casual
enumeration of symptoms, including laboured
breathing, loss of voice, neck pain, heart palpita-
tions, dizziness, vomiting, and sweating." There is
no clear reference to globus hystericus or to hyperes-
thesia.
From these limited beginnings other classical
authors developed concepts of hysteria that matched
the more mythical aspects of the condition. Plato
(428 to 347 BC) expressed the idea that the womb
was an animal that moved about the body, although
it is uncertain whether he believed this idea. In his
discussion between two participants, one talks about
the penis, saying that "in men the organ of genera-
tion becoming rebellious and masterful, like an
animal disobedient to reason." A famous passage
follows: "the so-called womb or matrix of women.
The animal within them is desirous of procreating
children, and when remaining unfruitful long beyond
its proper time, gets discontented and angry and
wandering in every direction through the body,
closes up the passages of the breath, and, by ob-
structing respiration, drives them to extremity, caus-
ing all varieties of disease."26 This poetic or dramatic
depiction was not offered as part of a biologic
treatise: it embodies some ideas possibly based on
Hippocratic discussions about the suffocation of the
womb but greatly embellishes the original medical
texts.
Later medical writers adhered to such notions.
Aretaeus of Cappadocia, living about 500 years after
Plato, wrote that "in the middle of the flanks of
women lies the womb, a female viscus, closely
resembling an animal; for it is moved of itself hither
and thither in the flanks, also upwards in a direct
line to below the cartilage of the thorax and also
obliquely to the right or to the left, either to the liver
or spleen; and it likewise is subject to prolapse
downwards, and, in a word, it is altogether erratic. It
delights, also, in fragrant smells, and advances to-
wards them; and it has an aversion to fetid smells,
and flees from them, and, on the whole, the womb is
like an animal within an animal.'127
Aretaeus held that, in consequence of the up-
ward movement of the uterus, the intestines might
be violently compressed, the result being choking
and a form of epilepsy but not convulsions. Because
the liver, diaphragm, lungs and heart were quickly
FEBRUARY 1, 1993
squeezed into a narrow space, the patient ex-
perienced loss of breathing and speech, and thus
"the carotids are compressed from sympathy with
the heart, and hence there is heaviness of head, loss
of sensibility, and deep sleep."27 These abnormalities
could be remedied by fetid smells given above and
aromatic fragrances given below, "for it follows after
fragrant things as if for pleasure, and flees from fetid
and disagreeable things as if for dislike. If, therefore,
anything annoy it from above, it protrudes even
beyond the genital organs. But if any of these things
be applied to the os, it retreats backwards and
upwards. Sometimes it will go to this side or to that,
to the spleen and liver, while the membranes yield to
the distension and contraction like the sails of a
ship."28
Soranus of Ephesus, who practised from 98 to
138 AD and who was a near contemporary of
Aretaeus, denied that the womb was an animal29 but
recognized a pattern of illness called hysterical suffo-
cation (hysterike pnix), the same term used in the
Hippocratic collection. The connotation was "ob-
structed respiration together with aphonia and a
seizure of the senses caused by some condition of the
uterus."30 This might have been due to "recurrent
miscarriages, premature birth, long widowhood, re-
tention of menses and the end of ordinary childbear-
ing or inflation of the uterus." In an attack, sufferers
would collapse, display aphonia, laboured breathing,
a seizure of the senses, clenching of the teeth, stridor,
convulsive contraction of the extremities (but some-
times only weakness), upper abdominal distention,
retraction of the uterus, swelling of the thorax and
bulging of the network of vessels of the face. Most
patients recovered quickly and recalled what had
happened. This pattern of illness was related to
epilepsy because of the aphonia and "seizure of the
senses"' (presumably loss of response) but differed
from it and from attacks associated with fever.
Other authors
In the foregoing material there is repeated iden-
tification of the uterus as causing breathing problems
and choking. This identification was accepted by
authors such as Soranus who did not hold the
traditional view of the mobile womb. In the medi-
eval period Paul of Aegina (AD 625 to 690), a
surgeon, wrote an extensive compendium of the
views of the ancients and described uterine suffoca-
tion, or hysterical convulsion, as "a rising up of the
uterus, affecting sympathetically the most important
parts, as the carotid arteries, the heart, the mem-
branes of the brain."3'3 Paul described attacks con-
sisting of weakness, fear, deep sleep, loss of the
senses and of speech as well as contraction of the
limbs, among other symptoms. Improvement oc-
CAN MED ASSOC J 1993; 148 (3) 401
curred with gradual relaxation of the uterus. The
attacks were thought to be due to the uterus being
engorged or from semen or other matter becoming
putrid in it. Most recovered, but some died during
the paroxysms. Young promiscuous women and
barren ones were considered the most liable to such
attacks. During the paroxysms, ligatures were ap-
plied around the extremities, and a strongly fetid
smell, among other "remedies," was applied to the
nose.
Adams3' quoted medieval Arab authors who
treated the complaint in the same way as did Paul of
Aegina. However, Adams made note of Avicenna,
who stated that the affliction arose from the reten-
tion of menstrual discharge or semen, and of Haly
Abbas, who adopted this explanation and stated that
the uterus affected the brain and heart sympatheti-
cally.
Information from the medieval period is rather
sparse, but Green32 traced ancient theories of female
physiology and disease through the early Middle
Ages. Galen's ideas, which were opposed to the
wandering womb, were adopted by writers at the
medical school of Salerno. In the blank space of a
late-9th-century medical manuscript Green de-
scribed a formulaic Christian exorcism of the "wan-
dering womb." The priest commanded the womb to
cease tormenting the afflicted woman: "I conjure
you, womb, by our Lord Jesus Christ ... not to harm
this maid-servant of God . . . nor to hold onto her
head, neck, throat, chest, ears, teeth, eyes, nostrils,
shoulders, arms, hands, heart, stomach, liver, spleen,
kidneys, back, sides, joints, navel, viscera, bladder,
thighs, shins, ankles, feet or toes, but to quietly
remain in the place which God delegated to you, so
that this hand-maiden of God . . . might be
cured."32'33 Although this is an incidental addition to
a medical manuscript it shows that in at least one
instance ancient medical notions about the womb
were mingled with religious and supernatural beliefs.
The implications of this in the late Middle Ages and
early Renaissance period in Europe have been of
interest to many authors who recognize the connec-
tion between alleged witchcraft, demonic possession
and hysterical symptoms.
At the beginning of the 17th century Jorden34
wrote this about the suffocation of the mother: "This
disease is called by diverse names amongst our
Authors. Passio hysterica, Suffocatio, Praefocatio and
Strangulatus uteri, Caducus matricis & c. In English
the Mother, or Suffocation of the Mother because
most commonly it takes them with choaking in the
throat: and it is an affect of the Mother or wombe
wherein the principal parts of the bodie by consent
do suffer diversly according to the diversitie of the
causes and diseases wherewith the matrix is offend-
ed."34 Hunter and McAlpine35 pointed out that
402 CAN MED ASSOC J 1993; 148 (3)
Jorden was treating as natural an illness liable to be
attributed to witchcraft. Jorden's explanation was
that this was a disease with a specific cause found in
women. He used the ancient doctrine of "sympathy"
or "communitie and consent" to suggest that the
womb affected organs such as brain, heart and liver.
Sometimes the instruments of respiration alone
might suffer, or sometimes there would be convul-
sions. The affliction was often blamed on "the
perturbations of the minde" but was apparently
unified through the idea that the uterus, at some
distance, was influencing the situation.
Willis36 and Sydenhaml gave great importance
to the nervous system as a major cause of hysteria.
Willis, in his chapter "Of the Affects which are
vulgarly call'd Hysterical," states that the most
common "Affects" were "a Motion in the lower part
of the Belly, and an Ascent as if it were of some
round thing there, then a Belching or straining to
Vomit . . . an uneven and for the most part a letted
[i.e., hindered or impeded] Respiration, a Suffoca-
tion in the Throat, a Giddiness . .. often laughing or
weeping." Sydenham discussed a variety of physical
and mental symptoms that could ensue from emo-
tional stress. Events that disturbed the mind put the
"animal spirits" into "disorderly motions." He also
referred to the suffocation of the womb, as in the
quote at the beginning of this article, and mentioned
strangulation of the womb, in which the belly and
stomach, and parts toward the throat, swell.37
Hysterical symptoms were inchoate and hard to
sort out, but writers persisted in mentioning suffoca-
tion and the throat. Purcell38 wrote of the sensation
like that of a stick thrust down the throat and of
something rising up the throat. This is the first
mention of a stick or a ball in the throat (globus
hystericus). Blackmore39 wrote of a sensation of a
globe or bowl that ascended from the abdomen to
the throat, where it produced "such a strangling
Grasp or Constriction that the Patient labours under
a Difficulty of Swallowing, as well as Breathing."
Whytt40 reported on the sense of suffocation "as if
from a ball or lump in the throat" and the usual
problems with breathing and palpitations. Pomme41
recognized "a crowd of symptoms," including suffo-
cation, hemoptysis, toothache and hysterical insanity
(ddire maniaque). In one case anorexia, nihilistic
delusions and agitation were combined.
Micale42 observed that "in the 18th century, the
disorder slid imperceptibly into hypochondria, 'the
vapours,' and 'the spleen,' and in the 19th century
it often overlapped with neurasthenia, nymphoma-
nia, general nervousness and out and out insanity.
Many . . . have used the word in reference to any
nervous malady with spastic or convulsive complica-
tion.... Many physicians have complained vocifer-
ously about the vagueness and indefinability of
LE 1ler FEVRIER 1993
hysteria." Despite this, the terms "suffocation of the
mother," "hysterical suffocation" and "fits of the
mother" persisted well into the 18th century. Dubois
D'Amiens43 wrote of a rounded foreign body, or
globus hystericus, and Landouzy44 described a ball
mounting from the abdomen to the neck and con-
striction of the throat. The term globus hystericus is
still used today.
The concept of hysteria, as understood in the
mid- 1 800s, was well defined by Sandras:4s "The
illness to which we have given the name hysteria is a
chronic nervous condition in which at intervals of
varying length, paroxysms appear, characterized by a
particular sensation of choking, a severe discomfort
of respiration, a pain in the head of varying severity,
and clonic convulsions in all, or almost all, the parts
of the body. It is said to be an illness of women;
there is no doubt that it appears in men. I am sure
that I have observed it in men several times with all
its symptoms without any exception." Sandras also
wrote: "Hysterical women feel a ball leaving the
womb? ... The great majority of hysterical women
have never felt this ball and this sensation, when it
exists, arises most often from the epigastrium." He
added that since he had had reports of the sensation
of a ball in the throat from men, that was enough to
dethrone the uterus.
This concept of hysteria, like the 17th-century
and 18th-century notions, could accommodate a
large number of variations of nervous states and was
applicable to patients with anxiety and depression.
Georget46 and Brachet47 thought of hysteria as a
dysfunction of the brain that produced multiple
symptoms in various parts of the body, a point of
view that Briquet summarized well.48 Sandras45
merely stated a common position. Melancholia and
hypochondriasis were also recognized49 but were not
well distinguished from hysteria.
Hirschmuller50 reported that in Josef Breuer's
student days (mid 19th century) hysteria was looked
upon as "a so-called general neurosis," without
definite localization in the nervous system. If there
were psychologic changes it was called a psychosis.
Hysterical insanity5' was also recognized. Romberg52
held that hysteria was a disorder due partly to reflex
nervous effects and partly to sexual "irritation." It
was marked by "spasmodic movements in the mus-
cles supplied by cerebro-spinal as well as by sympa-
thetic fibres, hyperaesthesiae, occurring in parox-
ysms . . . subjection of the mental powers to the
domination of physical reflex action; irritable debil-
ity both of body and mind during the intervals; and
dependence of the disease upon the condition of the
sexual organs." This could affect both women and
men. Spasm of the glottis, bronchi or pharynx,
accompanied by dyspnea and globus, were included
among the symptoms attributed to paroxysms in the
FEBRUARY 1, 1993
range of the vagus and respiratory nerves. Rosen-
thal53 stated that "chronic hysterical psychoses as-
sume the form of melancholia or mania."
Thus, the English, French and German litera-
ture all concur that hysteria was a broad condition in
which multiple psychologic and physical symptoms
occurred. Among the physical symptoms dyspnea
and difficulty in swallowing were prominent.
A simple explanation
For many centuries, rather fanciful ideas seem
to have been accepted as the cause and explanation
of "hysteria." Some may have resulted from misin-
terpretation, beginning with the ideas of Plato, and
persisted, with a failure to understand the inconsis-
tencies and obscurities of the Hippocratic material.
At least some of that material may not have dealt
with what we now call conversion symptoms, much
less hysterical personality. More recently, an errone-
ous interpretation was added to ancient writings by
authors such as Veith54 who overstated the evidence
for hysteria in Egyptian writings. However, it re-
mains for us to wonder why classical writers referred
to the "suffocation of the mother" in connection
with what we now think of as a psychologic illness.
In trying to understand what went on in the past it is
important to identify, if possible, the concepts that
earlier writers used.
The views of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries
help us to recognize that multiple neurotic com-
plaints were defined as hysteria. Today the term is
mainly limited to a type of symptom (conversion or
dissociative), a set of symptoms (somatization disor-
der) and a type of personality. In the past it
represented a broad spectrum of illnesses that in-
cluded various aspects of anxiety and depression.
Feelings of difficulty in respiration, hyperven-
tilation and discomfort in swallowing are particular-
ly common in patients with panic states, generalized
anxiety or depressive agitation. The symptoms may
occur separately or together. Far from being typical
conversion disorders, these symptoms are wide-
spread in almost all forms of neurotic illness and in
depression.
Gelder55 wrote about the common somatic
symptoms of anxiety - palpitations, dry mouth,
nausea, abdominal discomfort, diarrhea, frequency
or urgency of micturition, sweating, impotence, fri-
gidity, and headache and other muscular pains.
"Dyspnoea is also common and over-breathing can
lead at times to faintness, dizziness, pins and needles
in hands and feet and occasionally to hyperventila-
tion tetany." This is typical of the common patterns
of anxiety, frequently observed in clinical practice
and found in numerous other descriptions that list
shortness of breath (dyspnea) or smothering sensa-
CAN MED ASSOC J 1993; 148 (3) 403
tions first among somatic symptoms of panic at-
tacks, followed by dizziness, palpitations, trembling,
sweating, choking, nausea or abdominal distress.56
The idea of the "suffocation of the mother"
could well reflect anxious dyspnea, probable hyper-
ventilation and anxiety, with difficulty in swallow-
ing, a dry mouth and nausea. All of this, which must
have been common 2500 years ago, would impress
physicians as to the importance of blocked channels
of respiration and disturbed swallowing in response
to a nervous condition. But why attribute it to the
womb? That seems to have resulted partly because it
was thought that more of these phenomena occurred
in women, and partly because the womb, when
enlarged, as in pregnancy, can cause greater difficul-
ty in breathing.
Convulsions may occur more commonly in
pregnancy when there is eclampsia. Difficulty in
breathing is also found after major generalized
seizures, which were probably not always well de-
fined in the past, could have been confused with
hysterical "fits" and could have added to the idea
that dyspnea was a feature of hysteria.
Nevertheless, the greater issue is not only to
distinguish conversion symptoms from epilepsy but
also to recognize, under their modern names, other
psychologic symptoms once called hysteria. We can
now understand "suffocation of the mother" as
anxiety with dyspnea and globus hystericus as
anxiety with difficulty in swallowing.
References
1. Sydenham T: Discourse concerning hysterical and hypochon-
driacal distempers. In Dr. Sydenham's Compleat Method of
Curing Almost All Diseases, and Description of Their Symp-
toms, to Which Are Now Added Five Discourses of the Same
Author Concerning the Pleurisy, Gout, Hysterical Passion,
Dropsy, and Rheumatism, 3rd ed, Newman & Parker, Lon-
don, 1697: 6
2. Merskey H, Potter P: The womb lay still in ancient Egypt. Br
J Psychiatry 1989; 154: 751-753
3. Littre E (trans): Oeuvres compktes d'Hippocrate, Bailliere,
Paris, 1839-1861
4. Potter P: Hippocrates: Regimen in Acute Diseases, vol 5,
appendix, Harvard U Pr, Cambridge, Mass, 1988: para 35
5. Littre E (trans): Oeuvres completes d'Hippocrate; Epidemics,
vol 5, Balliere, Paris, 1846: para 64
6. Ibid: para 96
7. Idem: Oeuvres completes d'Hippocrate; Coan Prenotions, vol
5, Balliere, Paris, 1846: para 343
8. Idem: Oeuvres completes d'Hippocrate; Nature of Women, vol
7, Balliere, Paris, 1851: para 3
9. Ibid: para 26
10. Ibid: para 30
11. Ibid: para 73
12. Ibid: para 75
13. Ibid: para 87
14. Potter P: Hippocrates: Regimen in Acute Diseases, vol 5,
appendix, Harvard U Pr, Cambridge, Mass, 1988: para 9
15. Littre E (trans): Oeuvres completes d'Hippocrate; Diseases of
Women, vol 8, Balliere, Paris, 1853: para 7
404 CAN MED ASSOC J 1993; 148 (3)
16. Ibid: para 32
17. Ibid: para 125
18. Idem: Oeuvres completes d'Hippocrate; Nature of Women, vol
7, Balliere, Paris, 1851: para 4
19. Ibid: para 79
20. Idem: Oeuvres completes d'Hippocrate, Diseases of Women,
vol 8, Balliere, Paris, 1853: para 124
21. Ibid: para 130
22. Ibid: para 7
23. Ibid: paras 127-128
24. King H: Once upon a text: the Hippocratic origins of hysteria.
In Rousseau GS, Porter R (eds): Hysteria in Western Civiliza-
tion, U of Cal Pr, Berkeley (in press)
25. Micale M: Hysteria and its historiography: a review of past
and present writing (I). Science 1989; 27: 223-261
26. Jowett B: The Dialogues of Plato Translated into English with
Analyses and Introductions, 4th ed, vol 3, Clarendon Pr,
Oxford, 1953: 779
27. Adams F: On hysterical suffocation (chap 1 1). In On the
Causes and Symptoms of Acute Diseases, in bk 2 of The
Extant Works of Aretaeus, the Cappadocian, New Sydenham
Society, London, 1856: 285-287
28. Idem: Cure of the hysterical convulsion (chap 10). In On the
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30. Ibid: 149
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33. Bernfeld W: Eine Beschworung der Gebarmutter aus dem
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35. Hunter RA, McAlpine I: Three Hundred Years of Psychiatry,
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37. Latham G (ed): The Works of Thomas Sydenham, vol 2, New
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38. Purcell J: A Treatise of Vapours in Hysterick Fits, 2nd ed,
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39. Blackmore R: A Treatise of the Spleen and Vapours, Pember-
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40. Whytt R: Observations on the nature, causes and cure of
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41. Pomme JR: Traite des affections vaporeuses des deux sexes,
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42. Micale M: Hysteria and its historiography: the future perspec-
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Conferences
continuedfrom page 389
Mar. 25-26, 1993: Memory in Normal Aging and
Dementia (sponsored by the Rotman Research Institute
of Baycrest Centre)
Toronto
Education Department, Baycrest Centre for Geriatric
Care, 3560 Bathurst St., Toronto, ON M6A 2E1;
tel (416) 789-5131, ext. 2365
Mar. 26, 1993: Nutrition and Women's Health - New
Perspectives
Toronto
Vitamin Information Program Symposium, Hoffmann-
La Roche Limited, 2455 Meadowpine Blvd.,
Mississauga, ON L5N 6L7; tel (416) 542-5610
Mar. 29-31, 1993: Excellence in Medical and Scientific
Writing
Toronto
McLuhan and Davies Communications, Inc., 167 Carlton
St., Toronto, ON M5A 2K3; tel (416) 967-7481,
fax (416) 967-0646
Apr. 2, 1993: 35th Annual Departmental Research Day
and 13th Clement McCulloch Lecture
Toronto
Dr. David S. Rootman, Department of Ophthalmology,
Toronto Hospital, General Division, 5-311 Eaton
Building, 200 Elizabeth St., Toronto, ON M5G 2C4;
tel (416) 340-4713 or (416) 978-2635,
fax (416) 978-1522
Apr. 3, 1993: 4th Annual Clinical Day - Cardiology for
the Practitioner: Critical Pathways for the 1990s
Toronto
Linda Gray, Division of Cardiology, St. Michael's
Hospital, 30 Bond St., Toronto, ON M5B 1W8;
tel (416) 864-5719
Apr. 4-6, 1993: 1993 Spring Management Conference
Halifax
Canadian College of Health Service Executives'
Professional Services, 201-17 York St., Ottawa, ON
KIN 5S7; tel (613) 235-7218, fax (613) 235-5451
FEBRUARY 1, 1993
London, 1879: 38
54. Veith I: Hysteria: the History of a Disease, U of Chicago Pr,
Chicago, 1965: 2-7
55. Gelder M: Anxiety and phobic disorders, depersonalization,
and derealization. In Russell GFM, Hersov LA (eds): The
Neuroses and Personality Disorders. Handbook of Psychiatry,
vol 4, Cambridge U Pr, Cambridge, Engl, 1983: 212-228
56. American Psychiatric Association: Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III-R), 3rd ed, rev, APA,
Washington, 1987
Apr. 4-7, 1993: Focus on Children - Protecting our
Future
Calgary
Canadian Organization for Victim Assistance/Child Find
Alberta Conference, 256 Ranchridge Crt. NW, Calgary,
AB T3G 1W5; tel (403) 239-2920, fax (403) 270-8355
Du 4 au 7 avr. 1993: L'accent sur les Enfants - Proteger
notre Avenir
Calgary
Conference, Organisation canadienne d'aide aux victimes
et Enfant Retour, Alberta, 256, rue
Ranchridge Nord-Ouest, Calgary, AB T3G 1W5;
tel (403) 239-2920, fax (403) 270-8355
Apr. 4-8, 1993: 13th World Congress on Occupational
Safety and Health
New Delhi, India
Official languages: English, French, Spanish, German and
Japanese
Congress Secretariat, 13th World Congress on
Occupational Safety and Health, National Safety
Council, PO Box 26754, CLI Building - Sion, Bombay
400 022, India; tel 011-91-22-4073285, fax 011-91-
22-4075937
Apr. 5-7, 1993: Technology and Persons
with Disabilities - New Applications in
Environmental Accommodations
Milwaukee, Wis.
Continuing Education/Extension, University of
Wisconsin-Stout, PO Box 790, Menomonie, WI
54751-0790; tel (715) 232-2693, (800) 457-8688,
(715) 232-3300 (TDD), fax (715) 232-3385
Apr. 5-9, 1993: 4th International Meeting on Trace
Elements in Medicine and Biology - Trace Elements
and Free Radicals in Oxidative Diseases (organized by
the Society for Free Radical Research and the Societe
francophone d'etude et de recherche sur les elements
trace essentiels)
Chamonix, France
Official language: English. Simultaneous translation
languages: French-English
Prof. Alain Favier or Mme. Arlette Alcaraz, Laboratoire
de Biochimie C, H6pital A. Michallon, BP 217X, 38043
Grenoble Cedex 09, France; tel 011-33-76-76-54-07,
fax 011-33-76-42-66-44
continued on page 415
CAN MED ASSOC J 1993; 148 (3) 405