MAN WITHOUT A PAST

Taranaki Daily News, 25 July 1929, Page 15

MAN WITHOUT A PAST

MEMORY' COMPLETELY GONE. Hypnotic influence and the administration of drugs have been tried with-, out 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 thirty, but his memory only carries him back a year. Beyond that it is a complete blank. Twelve months ago the man was found wandering in the streets, unable to give any information about himself. He now acts as a clerk in the institution. A new effort is now to be made to end his plight. A herbal prepartion is to be tried by the hospital authorities, which, it is claimed, has been of benefit in similar eases. 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 ho handled chemical instruments with the air of one 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 the label of a Kent manufacturer, but these clues also proved useless. “I’ve nearly driven myself crazy trying to remember things,” v he said, “but it is all in vain. I do not even know whether I am married.”