LOSS OF MEMORY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21544, 16 January 1932, Page 12

LOSS OF MEMORY

AUSTRALIAN IN SCOTLAND WENT TO THE WRONG PERTH. LONDON, January 6. The Lancet discloses a strange case of a man who went to Perth, Scotland, believing that he was going to Perth, Western Australia. It is an instance of what doctors call hysterical fugue, ip which memory is lost, but a single idea persists. Doctors in charge of the case reveal that the man approached a Perth policeman at midnight and asked, “ Where am I? ” He was greatly surprised when the policeman said Perth. The man replied, “ But this is not Perth. That’s where I live.’’ The man was taken to an asylum. Ho could not recall his name or his past history, though he had in his possession two Bank of England notes of £IOO each, and the business cards of a firm in Perth, Western Australia. Hypnosis was tried without effect, but slowly the man’s memory returned. Then it was discovered that he had been a real estate salesman in Western Australia. Finally his wife was found, and it was revealed that recently they had come from Australia to buy a small business in Somerset. The £2OO was the balance of the purchase price. Apparently the man became terrified at the idea of settling down after the free open-air life in Australia, lost his memory, and took a ticket to Perth, believing that he was going to Western Australia.