ing the impression, and were therefore responsible. I venture to affirm that there are few who have not at some time in their lives felt almost irresistibly drawn to perform an act, make a decision, or utter a word which they knew was not expedient; but the conviction that "it had to be done" predominated, and in many instances they have yielded. Where the consequences are not serious the effects may still be evil, for when the "ego" yields contrary to the judgment its power of resistance is lessened. These imperative impressions, which in the purely insane absolve from guilt, are often seen in their germs in the conduct of children who are dominated by their imaginations and sensibilities.
These are all akin to the state of mind in which presentiments arise.[1]
ANALYSIS OF TYPICAL PRESENTIMENTS
Presentiments concerning hours of death have sometimes been defeated by deceiving their subjects. Well-authenticated instances exist of chloroforming those who had made preparation for death, but whose gloomy apprehension was dispelled when they found that the time had passed and they were still living.
- ↑ Dr. Henry M. Hurd, long the justly distinguished superintendent of the Eastern Michigan Asylum for the Insane at Pontiac, and now superintendent of Johns Hopkins General Hospital, Baltimore, Md., in speaking of imperative conceptions says: "By this term is understood a mental concept or impression, arising in the mind without external cause, or an emotional basis, or logical connection with any previous train of thought, which dominates the will and often compels to actions which are known to be ludicrous or improper, or contrary to the judgment of the individual. The imperative conception differs from the delusion in the fact that it is not elaborated by any process
