AN INSTANCE OF SLEEP PARALYSIS IN MOBY-DICK

It is suggested that picturesque medical conditions can, at times, be encountered in literary works composed prior to their clinical delinea tion. This is true of sleep paralysis, of which the first scientific d escription was given by Silas Weir Mitchell in 1876. A quarter of a ce ntury earlier, Herman Melville, in Moby-Dick, gave a precise account o f a case, including the predisposing factors and sexual connotations, all in accord with modern theory. The details of Ishmael's attack of s leep paralysis, the stresses leading up to it, and the associations ca using him to recall the experience are given here.