Among the paroxysmal disorders is a symptom complex occurring in childhood and sometimes in adolescence to which Friedmann drew attention in 1906. The syndrome consists of peculiar attacks, often very frequent, one hundred or more sometimes occurring in a day, and lasting only a fraction of a minute. Friedmann spoke of a short, partial interruption in the thinking and speaking processes and in the voluntary movements. According to him the psyche is in a state of suspension, but there is no real loss of consciousness and no involvement of the mechanism of coordination, even though at times the innervation that regulates the capacity to stand is implicated. He also observed a turning upward of the eyeballs, a blinking of the eyelids and a relaxation of the extremities, though not to the point of a complete loss of muscular tonus.
Friedmann's original publication aroused considerable interest in this syndrome, which he