Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1874-04-16

which she had lived as girl. So COM
| plelely had she forgotten her English
| that il was necessary to change an English
| for French maid. In some of the cases
of partial loss of memory from injury or
disease of the brain it would be very
| pulling TO account satisfactorily for the
| nature and the very limited extent OF the
| loss. Thus, a fever obiiterated from the
memory of a learned man the letter +,
without apparently committing any other
| injury. A soldier who had undergone
! the operation of trepan, and lost slice OF
| brain-mat,er, lost with it the power to re-
call the numbers 81 and TT and was
| only able TO fix them in his mind by la
| boriousIy learning them lise child. Sir
| BENJAMIN Brodie mentions the case OF a
| groom in the service of George Nv. who
was kicked by vicious horse while be
was in the act of cleaning it. The
groom did not fall, nor was he at
all stunned or insensible; but he entirely
forgot what he had been doing at the time
the blow was inflicted. There was an in
terval oftime blotted out, as it were, from
his recollection. He inferred, in fact,
that during that period he had been
asleep. A young lady who had been
present at a catastrophe in Scotland, IN
which many persons were killed by the
i fall of the gallery of church, escaped
| without injury, but with the complete
loss of the recollection of any OF the cir
cumstances; and this extended not only 10
the accident, but to everything that had
occurred to her a certain time before
going TO the church. A gentleman men
toned by DIR. Beattic lost his knowledge
Of Greek from blow on the head, whilst
his other mental stores were left intact
Sometimes, however, disease appears to
make clean sweep OF all acquired
/ knowledge of every kind. The following
extraordinary case was published in an
American medical work many years ago !:
The patient was clergyman who, at the
termination of severe illness, lost the
recollection Of everything, even the
names of the most common objects.
When his health was restored he began
to acquire knowledge just as child does.
After learning the names OF objects he
was taught to read, and after this began
to learn the Latin language He had
made considerable progress, when, one
day, in reading his lesson with his
brother, who was his teacher, he suddenly
stopped and put his hands to his head.
Being asked why he did. so, he replied;
II feel a peculiar sensation in my head;
and now it appears to me that l
knew all this before" From that time
he rapidly recovered his faculties. II is
recorded by Ballantyne OF Sir Walter
Scott, that when the Bride OF Hammer
moor" in its printed form, was submitted
to him after an illness, he did not recog-
nize as his own one single incident, char
acter, or conversation it contained; yet
the original tradition was perfect in his
mind. When Mrs. Arkwright sang some
verses of Sir Walters one evening at
Lord Francis Egerton's, the author of
them whispered to Lockhart: Capital
words. Whose are they? Byron's, sup
pose; but don't remember them" For
a voluminous author to forget some OF
his own writings does not appear so re-
markable; but one can hardly conceive
OF person failing TO recollect his own
name; but cases are on record OF this ne
Plus ultra Of forgetfulness. A man OF
not very strong intellect, who held an
office the sole duty of which consisted in
signing his own name TO number OF
papers, had one day so much business of
this kind to do that at last he was incapa-
BILE of recollecting the word he ought to
sign. A writer of the last century relates
that Mr.. Won b, Envoy at st. Peters
burg, went one morning to pay number
of visits. Among other houses at which
he called there was one where the ser
wants did not know him, and consequent
ly he was under the necessity OF giving
in his name; but this he found he had
| entirely forgotten. Turning round TO a
gentleman who accompanied him, he
said, with very much earnestness: For
| Gods sake, tell me who / ami" This
odd request excited laughter, but he in
sisted on being answered, adding that he
had entirely forgotten bis name.
The power to recall past impressions is
perhaps more than any other mental
faculty dependent on the physical condi-
ton of the body Sir Benjamin Brod!e,
| in view of this fact, conceived 1t possible
by series of accurate observations TO
| discover the temperament or physical
conditions most favorable to memory.
Some of the conditions conducive to the
exercise of the recollective faculty are
obvious enough. Violent action is
generally inimical to it. To convince
ones self OF this, it is only necessary for
| a person to try 10 recall faded impress
sion while running rapidly. Excessive
| fatigue Is equally incompatible with good
powers of recollection. Sir Henry Hol-
| land mentions that he descended on the
same day two very deep mines in the
| Harz Mountains, remaining some hours
under ground in each, and ut the end was
exhausted both from fatigue and hunger.
81 then felt" says he, the utter impossi-
bility of talking longer with the German
| inspector who accompanied me. Every
German word and phrase deserted my
recollection, and Ii was not till had
taken food and wine, and been some
time at rest, that regained them. :"
/ But in addition TO the physical condi-
tions Of the recollective faculty there
are some mental ones of equal importance.
| Perhaps the foremost of these Ia indicated
| in what Sir Philip Warwick says of Lord
Stafford: Ellis memory was great, and
he made 1t greater by confiding In it."
There is perhaps nothing which more
surely leads to failure Of memory than an
| unreasonable distrust of 1t. The doubt Of
| success begets mental distraction, and
| thus the mind loses its hold OF those links
| of association on which recollection de-
| ponds. Sir Walter Scott had an absolute
| faith In his power OF memory in The morn
ING, when his brain had been refreshed
by sleep. He states, in his diary, that
l Recommendation, har ha frtspA him,