room, where he showed an astonishing facility and accuracy in the handling of drugs. This gave a possible clew to his previous occupation. From a label upon a box he recognized the name of a town in Germany, and associated with it the name of another town which was his birthplace. He is fond of children, but his associations with them have not as yet suggested the names of wife and children. He knows that the name under which he was committed to the hospital is not his true name. A prestidigitator came, and had no sooner begun his performance than this patient called for a silver dollar. He made two or three passes and it was gone, no one knew where. Further performances showed that he had been an expert in other tricks of sleight of hand which readily came back by association. Some minor past experiences have been recalled by dreams, but they are retained with difficulty. He enjoys his protracted effort to gather up the thread of his personal history. It is worth while to note the number of secondary automatic memories which abide. He recalls proper names with great difficulty. The past life comes back in sections, as it were. Certain memories remain distinct, while great clefts in his personal history are wholly void of content. This study suggests also the leading rôle which association plays in remembrance. We must conclude, moreover, that memories may for years lie dormant which, when the physical disability

is removed, come back again. It is difficult to decide when a memory has wholly disappeared. Here, as will be seen later, the motor memories are of a very permanent nature. The certainty of his memories, as definite as they are few, and the probable length of the period in which they were inhibited, makes this a truly classical case.16 With this patient the mnemonic recovery is slow, but the following instance illustrates the statement already made that memories temporarily inhibited by traumatism may come back suddenly and the entire mind become clear in a brief period.

It is the case of a young man, 18 years old, a laborer and educated in the common schools. He was temperate and there was no insanity in the family. On the 8th day of October, while standing on the top of a ladder 26 feet in length, it broke and he fell to the ground, striking on the back of his head. When committed to the hospital, six weeks later, he could not speak,

16 William A. White, M.D., who kindly called my attention to this case, has since published an account of it in the Archives of Neurology and Psychopathology, vol. i., No. 4.

By means of hypnoidization many memories apparently flashed out from the subconscious life. Dr. White concludes that "The memory pictures of many years have not been ruthlessly wiped out, but that they still exist in that great unexplored region of the subconscious, buried deep beneath the threshold of his personal consciousness, and separated from it by a gulf which no effort of his can avail to bridge."

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but could write, manifesting every symptom of motor aphasia. From the time of his accident. to the date of admission he was said to have spoken but two or three words. In his written replies he stated that all spoken words seemed. as noises to him, but had no meaning. November 19th he writes: "I have caught cold, and when I cough it hurts my head." At II A.M.: The pain in my head has increased." At 11:30 A.M. he went to bed with both hands pressed against his head. The face was flushed and pupils dilated. Suddenly he removed his hands from his head, looked up like a person awaking from sleep, gazed about the room, looked out of the window a moment, and inquired where he was. These were the first coherent words since his injury. "This patient's mind went back into normal position with a snap, so to speak, just as a dislocated bone returns to its socket when it is set by a surgeon." He did not know where he was and recalled nothing since his fall from the ladder. He exclaimed, "Oh, how it hurt me!" as if he had just been injured. A space of six weeks had been a blank. The headache soon passed away and no symptom of brain or mind trouble returned.17

An analogous experience was that of an alcoholic patient whom the writer examined. Upon

17 From conversation with and pamphlets furnished by Charles S. Kinney, M.D., Middletown, N. Y.

returning from the chapel exercises one Sunday he noticed the bars on his windows. Q. "Did you realize anything during the chapel exercises?" A. "I did not.” He noticed nothing while going from the chapel to his room, but As soon as I reached my room all came back to me." Old things had passed away, and behold, all had become new, or rather old, for the real life had been rediscovered and was reinstated in a moment.

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Loss of memories due to some form of traumatism shows us how completely memories may become lost, as if blotted out, and, if there were evidence of brain lesion, we would conclude that the memories were erased from the mind never to return. Yet, as the patient recovers, the lost experiences come back, perhaps slowly, as in the case of No. III, or as a dislocated bone returns to its socket when it is set by a surgeon." Such experiences suggest that while the physical condition may inhibit memories, it is unnecessary to conclude that it destroys them, and prepare us to consider intelligently the subject presented in Chapter IV. Other cases studied, which are not cited here, show that, while the mind may for a long time remain a blank, the earliest memories may first reassert themselves very fully; then other memories, chiefly retrograde, come back as if to dwell again in a deserted home. A question naturally arises as to the validity of Ribot's Law of Regression. Dur

ing this study I have met not a few physicians skilled in psychiatry who questioned its general application. One hesitates to criticise or question such a writer as Ribot, but there are many exceptions to his law as stated at present. We have already seen that proper names may be remembered better than other experiences, and No. II retained abstract ideas better than concrete. I have interviewed one hundred people between the ages of 65 and 96 to ascertain their earliest memories, and find that a majority of such memories are intellectual with little or no emotional colouring. The memories of No. III have an intellectual cast, and were it possible for him to recall the images of family and friends-memories which are of an emotional tone, his problem would be solved. It is difficult to state the order in which mental abilities or different memories disappear, for, when inhibited, Omniscience alone can tell in what order they will return. It has been suggested that the law of regression has taken refuge under the popular doctrine of evolution and borrowed from the latter a validity not its own. It is quite possible, however, that the law if enunciated in less general terms would remain valid.

An especial interest attaches to those cases of amnesia due to traumatism or toxic influences which become periodic and are attended by a rhythm of consciousness that at intervals varies. in a marked manner. The patient may, as in