ABSTRACT
A collegian of twenty-one, after a violent struggle to accomplish the work at a woman’s college found herself unable to do so, became more and more panic-stricken by her failure, and finding an emotional outburst imminent, and in terror of disgracing herself, induced her people to allow her to leave. She was a healthy, muscular girl of excellent stamina and clear mind; and there were only some minor physiological disturbances which were readily dealt with medically: viz., an elevation of pulse and blood pressure, soon falling to normal, and a roughness of skin and excess of fat soon disappearing with treatment. As a girl, at home, singing in the choir terrified her and she pleaded very hard, without success, to be allowed to leave this conspicuous position, although she did not inform her people of her real reason. Physicians once supposed that the patient’s complaint was imaginary and that the headache was an excuse to avoid the unpleasant.
