who are subject to paroxysms of violent passion and illgoverned emotion. Similar phenomena are observable in cases of insanity. They have been compared to the distorted reflections observed in a troubled piece of water. "Les idées se rétablissent par le repos et la tranquillité, comme une eau qui cesse d'être agitée, represente des images fidèles."

"Dict. des Scien. Méd.," tome xii. p. 99.

CHAPTER XV.

Chronic (Modified) Affections of the
Memory.

REMARKABLE modifications in the operations of the memory are occasionally seen connected with the early symptoms of brain disease, such as recollecting only the Christian name of relations and intimate friends, confounding one name with another, being able only to pronounce words of a certain sound; an inability to remember or articulate (arising from the effects of paralysis and other diseases of the brain) particular letters of the alphabet.

A patient, who had several paralytic seizures, always knew when his attack was approaching by forgetting his own Christian name. When asked to sign a letter, he could only write his surname, and occasionally only half of that. A gentleman, subject to severe attacks of epilepsy, some days before his attacks, invariably signs half of his name, not being able to do so in full!

A lady, in consequence of an attack of acute disease of the brain, lost, for some time, all recollection of her own name, and never could pronounce it unless she saw it in writing.

A gentleman of rank, when in the incipient stage of white softening of the brain, occasionally forgot his name when walking in the public streets, and sometimes lost all notion of his address. He was in the habit of

stopping strangers, and saying, "I live so-and-so, what is my name?" or, " I am Sir So-and-so, where do I reside ?"

A gentleman injured his head by a fall from his horse. He was confined to his bed for several weeks in a state of imperfect consciousness. On his recovery, it was found that all recollection, not only of the accident, but of the circumstances which for some time preceded it, had been obliterated entirely from his mind! A considerable period elapsed before the lost ideas began gradually to recur to the memory. The circumstances of his journey returned by degrees to his recollection. As he repeatedly rode over that part of the country where the accident occurred, the sight of surrounding objects gradually recalled the evanescent trains of ideas. with which they had been connected, to his recollection. He afterwards remembered nearly the whole transaction. Mr. Abernethy has recorded the case of an injury of the head, which happened to a foreigner, twenty-seven years of age, who spoke English perfectly well; during his illness this man could only answer in French, and said he was but sixteen years old.

A man was brought into St. Thomas's Hospital who had received a considerable injury of the head, but from which he ultimately recovered. When he became convalescent, he spoke a language which no one about him could comprehend. However, a Welsh milk-woman came one day into the ward, and immediately understood what he said. It appeared that the patient was a Welshman, and had been absent from his native country about thirty years. In the course of that period he had entirely forgotten his native tongue, and acquired the English language. But when he recovered from his accident he forgot the language he had been so recently in the habit of speaking, and regained the knowledge of that which he had originally acquired and lost.

A French countess, during the Revolution, left her country and resided in England. She had a severe attack of fever, in the course of which she became completely delirious. At this time she was frequently heard to talk and cry out in a jargon, which at first was quite unintelligible to everybody, and seemed to consist of mere sounds without meaning. However, there happened to be in the house a Welsh domestic, who declared that she understood the countess, and affirmed that she spoke correctly in the Welsh language. When the lady recovered from her illness, and again spoke to her friends in an idiom intelligible to them, they related the fact to her, which had excited no small surprise and curiosity. They were then informed, that during her infancy she had been taught the dialect of Lower Britanny, by a nurse who was a native of that country, but had totally forgotten it many years before the attack of fever, which in so curious a manner revived the impressions that had been so long obliterated.*

A lady, fifty-one years of age, of sanguine complexion and plethoric habit, after a fit of apoplexy, which induced a state of unconsciousness, which continued for three or four days, was found to have her faculties in some respects impaired. The remarkable circumstance was, that she had lost the power or aptitude to speak in her native language, which was English. This continued a month, and her nurses and servants were obliged to employ a person to interpret for them. The lady herself spoke to them in French.

An old gentleman was seized with hemiplegia of his right side, associated with profound sleep. The same side was convulsed on the second day. On the ninth day he recovered from the state of stupor, but his facul

The language of Lower Britanny is well known to be a dialect of Welsh.

ties were gone. After several weeks he began to know his intimate friends; then to remember words, to repeat the prayers of his church, and read a few words of German, (instead of French, his native language) every day. While making slow advances in knowledge, he died suddenly of an acute cerebral attack.*

The following facts form good illustrations of that modified condition of memory, of which I am now speaking. After an attack of brain disease, a man had at his command only the first syllable of names, that is to say, he could not finish the pronunciation of one word, although he knew the first syllable of it. An old man forgot the names of persons, but appeared to recollect very correctly, every evening, a remarkable epoch of his life, although it had occurred a long time previously. When sitting with his wife he imagined he was at the house of a lady with whom, many years previously, he was in the habit of spending his evenings. He would then, addressing the wife, say, "madam, I cannot stop any longer with you, for when one has a wife and children, we owe them a good example-I must return home." After this compliment he endeavoured to depart.

There is upon record the particulars of a remarkable case of a patient who had, in consequence of an injury to the brain, forgotten how to read, but who was still able to write fluently and correctly. After two attacks of apoplexy, a man forgot his own name as well as that of his wife, children, and all his friends. He became restless, suspicious, and very irritable. Eventually, his memory was partially restored. He was enabled, however, to repeat only the following expressions-" yes," "no,' "much," very well," "not at all," "it is true," "it

A few of these illustrations are transcribed from Dr. Prichard's treatise "On the Diseases of the Nervous System."