The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat: “The Man Who Fell out of Bed”

by Oliver Sacks
In this classic collection of "clinical tales," neurologist Oliver Sacks explores a range of neurological conditions and phenomena.

Here are links to our lists for the collection: Part One Introduction; The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat; The Lost Mariner; The Disembodied Lady; The Man Who Fell out of Bed; Hands; Phantoms; On the Level; Eyes Right!; The President's Speech; Part Two Introduction; Witty Ticcy Ray; Cupid's Disease; A Matter of Identity; Yes, Father-Sister; The Possessed; Part Three Introduction; Reminiscence; Incontinent Nostalgia; A Passage to India; The Dog Beneath the Skin; Murder; The Visions of Hildegard; Part Four Introduction; Rebecca; A Walking Grove; The Twins; The Autist Artist
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. perplexity
    trouble or confusion resulting from complexity
    When I was a medical student many years ago, one of the nurses called me in considerable perplexity, and gave me this singular story on the phone: that they had a new patient—a young man—just admitted that morning.
  2. singular
    beyond or deviating from the usual or expected
    When I was a medical student many years ago, one of the nurses called me in considerable perplexity, and gave me this singular story on the phone: that they had a new patient—a young man—just admitted that morning.
  3. contrive
    make or work out a plan for; devise
    He had somehow contrived to fall out of bed, and was now sitting on the floor, carrying on and vociferating, and refusing to go back to bed.
  4. vociferate
    utter in a very loud voice
    He had somehow contrived to fall out of bed, and was now sitting on the floor, carrying on and vociferating, and refusing to go back to bed.
  5. consternation
    sudden shock or dismay that causes confusion
    His expression contained anger, alarm, bewilderment and amusement—bewilderment most of all, with a hint of consternation.
  6. neurologist
    a medical specialist in the nervous system
    He had no complaints, but the neurologists, feeling that he had a ‘lazy' left leg—that was the very word they had used—thought he should come in.
  7. gingerly
    in a manner marked by extreme care or delicacy
    He felt the leg gingerly.
  8. quip
    witty remark
    It was New Year’s Eve, and everyone was celebrating. Half the staff were drunk; quips and crackers were flying; a carnival scene.
  9. macabre
    shockingly repellent; inspiring horror
    Obviously one of the nurses with a macabre sense of humour had stolen into the Dissecting Room and nabbed a leg, and then slipped it under his bedclothes as a joke while he was still fast asleep.
  10. ashen
    pale from illness or emotion
    But—and at this point his conversational manner deserted him, and he suddenly trembled and became ashen-pale—when he threw it out of bed, he somehow came after it—and now it was attached to him.
  11. revulsion
    intense aversion
    ‘Look at it!’ he cried, with revulsion on his face. ‘Have you ever seen such a creepy, horrible thing?...'
  12. cadaver
    the dead body of a human being
    ‘Have you ever seen such a creepy, horrible thing? I thought a cadaver was just dead. But this is uncanny! And somehow—it’s ghastly—it seems stuck to me!’
  13. ghastly
    shockingly repellent; inspiring horror
    ‘Have you ever seen such a creepy, horrible thing? I thought a cadaver was just dead. But this is uncanny! And somehow—it’s ghastly—it seems stuck to me!’
  14. belligerently
    in the manner of someone eager to fight
    ‘Be calm! Take it easy! I wouldn’t punch that leg like that.’
    ‘And why not?’ he asked, irritably, belligerently.
  15. incredulity
    doubt about the truth of something
    He gazed at me with a look compounded of stupefaction, incredulity, terror and amusement, not unmixed with a jocular sort of suspicion, ‘Ah Doc!’ he said. ‘You’re fooling me! You’re in cahoots with that nurse—you shouldn’t kid patients like this!’
  16. jocular
    characterized by jokes and good humor
    He gazed at me with a look compounded of stupefaction, incredulity, terror and amusement, not unmixed with a jocular sort of suspicion, ‘Ah Doc!’ he said. ‘You’re fooling me! You’re in cahoots with that nurse—you shouldn’t kid patients like this!’
  17. bewilderment
    confusion resulting from failure to understand
    ‘What does it look like?' I asked in bewilderment, being, by this time, as bewildered as he was.
  18. facsimile
    an exact copy or reproduction
    "...If this—this thing—is not your left leg' (he had called it a ‘counterfeit' at one point in our talk, and expressed his amazement that someone had gone to such lengths to ‘manufacture' a ‘facsimile') ‘then where is your own left leg?'
  19. eminent
    standing above others in quality or position
    Since this account was published (in A Leg to Stand On, 1984), I received a letter from the eminent neurologist Dr Michael Kremer...
  20. cardiologist
    a specialist in the structure and function of the heart
    He had atrial fibrillation and had thrown off a large embolus giving him a left hemiplegia, and I was asked to see him because he constantly fell out of bed at night for which the cardiologists could find no reason.
Created on Tue Sep 01 13:13:56 EDT 2020 (updated Wed Oct 28 13:03:58 EDT 2020)

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