STRANGE FREAKS OF MEMORY.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XII, Issue VI, 10 February 1894, Page 131

STRANGE FREAKS OF MEMORY.

The phases which those strange maladies, aphasia and loss of memory, may assume form a very entertaining study. During the Tichborne trial the supposed strange forgetfulness displayed by the ‘ Claimant ’ of certain foreign tongues, in which the missing heir to the Tichborne title and estates was known to have been proficient, was sought to be accounted for by his counsel and witnesses on the ground that some species of aphasia might possibly have affected his memory. A French lawyer of considerable note was troubled with complete forgetfulness of the commonest everyday phrases ; he could not ask for bis hat, but when he required it would point to his head ; and so with his umbrella, his gloves, and other personal articles. It was diagonised as a case of partial aphasia. An old English country gentleman who had a number of servants utterly failed to retain any recollection ol the name of any one of them, though many were old retainers, and he formerly had their names at the tip of his tongue. Two of his menservants he distinguished by the whimsical titles of • Old Water ’ and ‘ Young Water,’ and his doctor, of whose name he was equally oblivious, he rechristened ‘Young Knockemdown.’ Certain peisons of rank in the vicinity he distinguished as ‘ the King,’ ‘ the Queen,’ ‘ the Grand Vizier,' their proper appellation being absolutely forgotten by him. If he wished to indicate others of bis acquaintance he managed to do so by simply mimicking some of their personal peculiarities. To ascertain the date he would take a calendar, place it in bis physician’s hand, and say, ‘ What’s o’clock ?’ meaning the day of the month. A new bridge was completed near his residence, and the old

gentleman wanted to visit it ; so he directed his coachman to drive him to * where he had never been before,’ which indefinite direction was correctly interpreted to mean the new bridge. Persons recovered from aphasia have, unfortunately for science, said little upon the point as to whether thought can be carried on without words, though they have said a good deal as to the rest of their experiences while ill. In 1772 Dr. Spalding, a well-known Berlin physician, was sitting in his study writing out a receipt for money, and after writing two words, sudden as a lightning flash he lost all sense of their meaning. He tried to write on, but the sense of the words he had intended to write and that of all other words had deserted him, so at last in despair he threw down the pen and tried to speak, but found he could utter only mono-syllables. A French physician sat in his room reading Lamartine, when suddenly the meaning of the words on the printed page completely left his mind. Much alarmed, he tried to call for help, but discovered that he was tongue tied, whereupon, tearing paralysis, he began to exercise his limbs, and found them all right. Next he tried to write, but bis power to do so was gone. Meantime he was using all his professional knowledge in an effort to reason out the possible cause of the calamity, and when a doctor was summoned he made signs that he wished to be bled. No sooner was this done than he recovered.