psychoceramics: Fliess and the nasal reflex neurosis

[Mitchell Porter <qix @ desire.apana.org.au>]

I heard recently from a friend who has been reading the early letters of 
Freud that one of his most important correspondents, Wilhelm Fliess,
was the discoverer of something called the "nasal reflex neurosis",
at the basis of which was a connection between the nose and the 
genitalia. This sounded like it could be on a par with psychoosmology,
the science of smelling the soul (described in Donna Kossy's _Kooks_;
see "Dr Gustav Jaeger"), so I went digging for more information.

In _The Origins of Psycho-Analysis: Letters to Wilhelm Fliess, 1887-1902_
(by Sigmund Freud, edited and authorized by a large number of people,
published by Imago Publishing Company, London, 1954), p4-6, I find
this information: Fliess trained as a nose-and-mouth specialist.
He discovered a syndrome, which he dubbed the nasal reflex neurosis,
typified by many and varied symptoms, all over the body; what they had in 
common was that they could all be brought "temporarily to an end by 
anaesthetizing with cocaine the responsible area in the nose". He
subsequently observed that "neuroses with a sexual aetiology" often
assumed the form of nasal reflex neurosis, and was led to assume a
"special connection" between the nose and the genitalia, particularly
the female genitalia, it seems. In this regard he remarks on the
phenomenon of the "vicarious nosebleed in place of menstruation"...
All of this was apparently detailed in an 1897 opus.

>From my brief perusal I was unable to tell whether the "special
connection" is psychological or physiological; and I have never
heard of the vicarious nosebleed before. The human body does have
unexpected propensities, and perhaps there was something to Fliess'
theory. On the other hand, perhaps nasal reflex neurosis was the
product of something strange in Fliess' own psychology.

My own investigations have been pitifully superficial, and are likely
to remain so for the indefinite future, but I did run across one more
item which may be of interest: Fliess also pioneered the idea that there 
is a 23-day cycle in men somehow analogous to the 28-day menstrual 
cycle of women. Unfortunately, I did not tarry long enough to find
out just what the signs of the cycle are; perhaps susceptibility
to nosebleeds.

-mitch
http://desire.apana.org.au/~qix