Hysterical Adventist.
Case 172. (De la Motte, August, 1915.)
An engineer, 31, in the Landwehr at the outset of the campaign, was first put on sentry service in Berlin on the ground that he was an Adventist. He was later put into the military service and had difficulty because he did not want to serve on Sunday. He was shoved from one company to another. He refused to be inoculated and was arrested therefor. In the prison, he began to hear God’s voice calling to him distinctly to tell his fellow-men that the end of this was going to be the end of all things. Back in the barracks, he again heard a voice—“Come forth!”—“Go!” He went! He had his revelations then published in the form of tracts, and held Bible readings day and night among his friends in Bremen—looking for the signs of the times in the Bible sayings. One of his fellow Adventists finally warned the police, and the military authorities put him under psychiatric observation. He proved to have numerous stigmata of hysteria. He talked freely about his visions, and was aware that he was punishable.
Here, then, was a case of hysterical psychosis, liberated by military service.