WITHOUT A PAST.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20306, 13 July 1929, Page 3 (Supplement)

WITHOUT A PAST.

MAN'S MEMORY GONE. Hypnotic influence and the administration of drugs have been triad without avail in an attempt to bring back memory of the past to a man in the Belfast union infirmary. Known as " Matt," he is aged more than 50, but his memory only carries him back a year. Beyond that it is a complete blank. Twelvo months ago the man was found wandering in the streets, unable to give any information about himself. Ho now acts as 11 clerk in the institution. A new effort is now to be made to end his plight. A herbal preparation is to bo tried by the hospital authorities which, it is claimed, has been of benefit in similar cases.

Once, during a drugged sleep, " Matt " talked for nearly half-an-hour. His words were taken down in shorthand by a nurse and afterwards read to him. But they touched no responsive chord. Expressions used during that talk suggested that he was an analytical chemist. He was taken to a laboratory, where lie handled chemical instruments with the air of ona trained in their use, but beyond that the effort met with no practical success.

When he entered the institution, " Matt " wore a shirt bearing the name of a London firm, and his tie had tho label of a Kent manufacturer, but these clues also proved useless. " I've nearly driven myself crazy trying to remember things," he said, but it is all in vain. I do not even know; whether I sm married."