The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1874-06-04

Coming 60 no, and play.worn, to be glad
Atlantic Monthly.
.LAPSES OF MEMORY.
THAT the knowledge of language can
be effectually driven out of the head for .
time is beyond dispute; the difficulty lies
in deciding whether this oblivion is ever
permanent, or whether it is traceable to
temporary mental maladies. Forgetful.
ness Of languages is only one among many
kinds of lapse Of memory, some Of which
are strange and surprising, wholly mex
plicable in the present state Of science.
From the very nature of the phenome-
non most of the recorded instances apply
to persons who know, or have known, two
or more languages; in some cases the ma
tive tongue had slipped out of the mem.
ory. in others that Tor those) acquired later
in life.
A German lady, married to an English
gentleman spoke English during the
greater part OF her married life; but at
one period, during protracted illness,
she used her native tongue, and could not
make herself Ineligible to her English
attendants except through the aid Of her
DR.. Rush mentions the case of an italian
gentleman, who died of yellow fever at
New York, end who underwent remark
able series of mental changes during the
malady which terminated his life. He
spoke English, which had for some time
been his familiar language in America, in
the early stage Of his illness; during the
middle period this was driven out Of his
brain by French, which he had learned
before English; and on the day of his
death he spoke only his own native
Italian.
A case has been recorded by DIR
Pritchard of lady who, when suffering
under an attack Of Gelirium, spoke a
language which nobody around her could
understand. 1t was at length discovered
to be Welsh, or something similar. 'NOne
Of he: friends could form any conception
of the ,imc or manner in which she could
have acquired familiarity with that
tongue; but after much inquiry ii was
aScertaincd that, in her childhood, she had
had Us nurse native of the French prov
ince of Brittany, the dialect of which is
derived from the same Cymric stock as
Welsh. The lady had during those early
years learned good deal of the dialect,
but had entirely forgotten it in later life,
until her attack of illness produced some
ineXplicable change in the mental action.
This case was in every way remarkable;
for the lapse Of memory was in the native
tongue, while the language brought wildly
into action was that which she had only
heard during some of her child.years. In
all probability it was not really Welsh,
but something like it.
Abernethy, the great surgeon, had to
attend man who was born in France, but
had spent the greater part of his life in
England, and had for many years almost
entirely lost the habit of speaking French.
An injury in the head brought him under
the care Of Abernethy. who observed that
the man spoke scarcely anything but
French during his illness; the other Ian
guage was Tor time in oblivion.
psfe ss WAS ease Il 81 wis., as
not merely foreign dialect derived from
the same stock, was resuscitated. A pa
tient was in state Of stupor, owing to an
injury in the head. On his partial recov-
cry he spoke language which nobody in
the hospital understood, but which on
further inquiry was found to be Welsh.
Tracing back the mans history, it was as
certained that he was q Welshman, but
had not been in his native country for
thirty o. forty years. During the greater
part of his life English had driven Welsh
from his mind; but under the influence
of his illness Welsh had reasserted itself
and had in its turn driven out the in
truder.
Sometimes erudite men lose their &C.
quirements, in partial degree and for q
temporary period, in very inexplicable
manner. DR.. Beattie mentions the case
of q gentleman who, when suffering from
the effects of blow on the head, lost his
knowledge of Greek as if it had been .
concrete something which the blow had
knocked out in its entirety. In other in
stances a special foreign language seems
to be selected by the brain, not for expul-
sion, but for intensified reception.
How far man can really forget par
ticular language during all the later half
of his life can never be known unless he
suffers under some kind of malady in the
mind or brain; something else then as
sumes the real mastery over him, and
memory undcrgoes strange evolutions.
DR.. Abercrombie records an instance
of gentleman who uniformly called his
snuf-box . hogshead. When reminded
of the error he probably recognized it,
but his tendency was nevertheless in this
direction. His physician alphabetically
traced the oddly to an early and long
continued association of ideas; the gen
tleman had been a tobacco merchant in
Virginia, and had had his attention we'll
occupied with hogsheads of tobacco and
boxes of snuff. This may not be sufi-
cient explanation, but it was the only one
that suggested itself, as he made no sim
liar blunder with other words Certainly
. greater difficulty was presented by the
gentleman who always called Goals paper
and paper coals-systematically, as 1t
would appear, transposing the meanings
of the two words. Both substances. it Is
true, are used in lighting fire; but this
fact does not suffice to solve the puzzle.
An inability to remember the names OF
things sometimes presents itself in re.
markable way. A gentleman engaged in
extensive agricultural affairs could not
remember the spoken names of things,
but recognized them directly when writ
ten. He arranged his daily duties &C.
cordingly, with q degree of success that
could hardly be expected under such
strange circumstances. He kept before
him in his business room q list of the
words which were most likely to occur in
his intercourse with his workmen. When
any one of his men wished to communi-
cate with him on any subject the master
listened attentively to what was said; the
sound of the words did not convey to his
mind the idea of the things or commOdi-
ties signified, but it did suggest to him
written words, which he therefore pro-
Get ded to consult; the sight of the letters
forming those words at once gave him
the necessary clew to the meaning. The
process was noteworthy: the sound of q
word, when spoken, suggested the shape
suggested the idea or mental picture Of