Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
since about 2 o'clock i was unable to sleep and felt a strong nervous tension
(as i almost always feel a very strong sensation of tension before storms). The
nervousness, the cause of which i could not explain to myself, increased so
much that i turned on the light. . . . i was then sitting upright in bed, when i
suddenly had a sensation as if someone had grabbed the bedframe from be-
neath and were shaking it back and forth. . . . i understood immediately that
it was an earthquake. . . . i note further that after the event my nerves became
entirely calm again and i soon slept excellently, from which i conclude that
the earthquake announced itself to my nerves ever more strongly for about
1½ hours before its start.
33
Hentig believed that his discovery of the geo-psychic determinants of revo-
lution would allow governments to extract revolution's “poison fang in due
time.”
34
The Wisdom of the Body
Hentig's term “seismopathology” highlighted the difficulty of identifying
a “normal” psychic reaction to earthquakes. ideal conditions in which to
study this question were created by the Crimean earthquake of 1927, at the
height of the tourist season. seismologists collected “normal” reactions from
educated tourists, while doctors examined patients at the local sanatorium
for “pathological” reactions. The analysis by soviet physicians was keyed in
subtle ways to the values of the state. Thus a Moscow psychiatrist paid par-
ticular attention to the drastic fall in the “work capacity” [
Arbeitsfähigkeit
] of
the affected population; he noted too that the ability to withstand psychic
trauma was supported by the “feeling of responsibility” proper to directors
of institutes or state servants.
35
in all, this physician was able to define nine
symptoms of “earthquake syndrome”: “acceleration of the pulse, paleness,
the sensation of ground oscillations, dizziness, nausea, general fatigue, rest-
lessness (anticipation neurosis), insomnia, decreased productivity.” A final
symptom was a new perception of the immediate natural environment.
As one survivor testified, “Nature has acquired greater significance, has let
her power be felt; the horizon is significantly widened.”
36
For many survi-
vors, “The picturesque paths of the Crimea with the mountains looming
overhead no longer offered any pleasure. . . . This blooming and vibrantly
colored Crimea, bright of complexion and rich in the wondrous creations
of nature, this dream of the ill and of those in need of rest, has in an instant
become unpleasant, forbidding, malicious and menacing.”
37
This “Crimo-
phobia” struck even natives, many of whom moved permanently north.
