From the Analysis of a Bed Wetter

Hilda was an unusually large, well-developed and mature looking girl of twelve. In appearance she was striking and pretty, and in demeanor alternately shy and bold. Her mother related a pitiful story about her. Until her third year she had been healthy, and had been fully trained in cleanliness. The family at this time was staying with the child's grandmother in Yugoslavia; and for a time her parents had found it necessary to go away, leaving the little girl in the care of her grandmother. On their return, they found that the child had been through a severe and mysterious illness. No one knew what it was or how it had originated. She had had violent vomiting spells and was thought to have had fever. Thereafter she had wet her bed every night without exception. The energetic and solicitous mother tried everything, severity and gentleness, spankings and promises, but in vain. Returning to Vienna, she took the child from doctor to doctor and followed every recommendation. All sorts of diets were observed. The fluid intake was cut to a minimum, so that for months the child actually suffered thirst. Soporifics and narcotics, ice cold baths, threats, and again whippings and promises were tried. When none of these helped, at the age of nine the child was placed in an institution for bedwetters where again the same procedures were used: thirst, special diets, and in addition, according to report, the child's genitals were frozen with chloratyl every night. The child remained in the institution for two months without showing the slightest improvement. The head physician finally declared that nothing could be done for her, but held out the hope that with