f the symptoms--as accurately as
possible.

LATHAM. And this gave you a clue?

NIEMAND. It was the beginning. In most instances patients reported the
attack struck with almost the impact of a physical blow. The prodromal
symptoms were usually slight ... a sudden feeling of uneasiness and
guilt ... hot and cold flashes ... dizziness ... double vision. Then
this ghastly sense of depression coupled with a blind insensate rage at
life. One man said he felt as if the world were closing in on him.
Another that he felt the people around him were plotting his
destruction. One housewife made her husband lock her in her room for
fear she would injure the children. I pored over these case histories
for a long time getting absolutely nowhere. Then finally a pattern began
to emerge.

* * * * *

LATHAM. What sort of pattern?

NIEMAND. The first thing that struck me was that the attacks all
occurred during the daytime, between the hours of about seven in the
morning and five in the evening. Then there were these coincidences--

LATHAM. Coincidences?

NIEMAND. Total strangers miles apart were stricken at almost the same
moment. At first I thought nothing of it but as my records accumulated I
became convinced it could not be attributed to chance. A mathematical
analysis showed the number of coincidences followed a Poisson
distribution very closely. I couldn't possibly see what daylight had to
do with it. There is some evidence that mental patients are most
disturbed around the time of full moon, but a search of medical
literature failed to reveal any connection with the Sun.

LATHAM. What did you do?

NIEMAND. Naturally I said nothing of this to my patients. I did,
however, take pains to impress upon them the necessity of keeping an
exact record of the onset of an attack. The better records they kept the
more conclusive was the evidence. Men and women were experiencing nearly
simultaneous attacks of rage and depression all over southern
California, which was as far as my practice extended. One day it
occurred to me: if people a few miles apart could be stricken
simultaneously, why not people hundreds or thousands of miles apart? It
was this idea that prompted me to get in touch with an old colleague of
mine I had known at UC medical school, Dr. Max Hillyard, who was in
practice in Utica, New York.

LATHAM. With what result?

NIEMAND. I was afraid the result would be that my old roommate woul