Brill reports the case of an old New England lady whose instinctive life had always been one of an anal sadistic nature. After the death of her manic depressive husband, and after the loss of her fortune, which was an especially hard blow for her, she refused to follow advice to undergo a medical examination. Some months later, before starting on a vacation, she gave up her apartment, put her furniture in storage, listed all her effects, drew up her will, and behaved in every respect as if she expected never to return. Two days after the beginning of her vacation, she fell ill and died of a cerebral thrombosis. The patient had never shown signs of melancholy. Nevertheless, it seems probable to Brill that the instinctive structure was very similar to that of a melancholia, and that her death is to be regarded as an equivalent of suicide.