Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1883-04-20
MEMORY.
Some Queer Freaks that Disease Pays with
Mans Inte-ii yeEce.
ISFLIENCE OF OPICM On TIL
MEMORY.

g Ii does an abnormal cerebral con
! dltlOn. is detrimental. and sometime.
fatal. to memory. Explicit testimony
on this point Is supplied by the ex
perlence of Sir H. Holland. who de
scended. on the same day. two very
deep mines i'll the Hartz mountains
remaining under ground some hour.
III each. He tells us that while in the
second mine. and exhausted botl
from fatigue and inanition. he founC
1t utterly impossible to talk longer
with with the German inspector VIII,
accompanied him: every German
word and phrase deserted his recol
lection. and it was not until he haC
taken food and wine and had beer
some time at rest that he regaineC
them. The cases where that amnesif
has been observed to follow cerebra
shocks are also explained by most
physlologlsts as resulting from de
fective nutrition. 1t has been noted
by Mr.. Spencer that highly nervous
subjects, in whom the action of the
heart is greatly lowered. habitually
complain of loss of memory. a symp
tom which diminishes as fast as the
natural rate of circulation is regained
Again. in feverS. where the rapidity
of the circulation i, excessive. the re-
productive faculty is often raised to a
high point of excitation, the most re-
mote and trivial impressions being
easily recalled. Exaltation of the
memory ensues also when the circu-
lation is increased by stimulants,
such as opium. De Quincy tells us
that under the influence of this drug
he sometimes seemed to live for
seventy OF hundred years in one
night, the minutest incidents of child
hood, or forgotten scenes of later
years. being wildly reproduced. On
the other hand, bromide potassium.
which. taken in large doses, retards
the circulation, produces amnesia;
the case is cited of a clergyman who
was obliged to discontinue the use of
it, having very nearly lost his memo
ry, which returned when he ceased
to take the medicine.
There are cases of temporary am
nesia of destructive character which
seem to be only explicable upon the
theory that the group of cells in
which particular impressions were
recorded have been destroyed or to-
tally transformed. LII such instances
1t is not the reproductive faculty
which is enfeebled, but there is an
actual loss of conversation: some
thing which once existed in the mem
ory. and formed an important part of
its capital, has disappeared. Among
the cases of incurable partial anne
sla where the loss was absolute, and
complete re education was necessary,
is that of young married woman,
who was seized during confinement.
with prolonged syncope, at the end of
which she failed to recollect any of
the events which had occurred stree
her marriage, inclusive of that cere-
mony. She never recovered recol-
lection of this period of her life, and
she accepted, on the testi-
mony of her friends. the fact that she
was married and had son, she was
never able to realize how she gained
a husband and gave birth to child.
Another interesting instance is re-
ported by Prof. William Sharpey.
The patient was a Young married
woman, who for about six weeks re-
in continuous state of SOM
nolence. Upon her recovery from the
torpor the record of her previous ac-
quirements seems to have been COM
pletely expunged from the cerebral
cells, and she had to be completely
re-educated, it being requisite, for
example, in teaching her to read, to
begin with the alphabet. About this
and some analogous cases. however,
there Is an element of obscurity. for
the process of re education common
ly requires but few months. result
which seems to justify the inference
that the old cerebral records were
rather faint than extinct But the
of such temporary peri
DDS of oblivion remains one of the
problems of cerebral
HOUSEHOLD.
When exhausted by severe mental
or bodily strain. nothing restores
tone to the system SO quickly as hot
milk. Though less palatable to some
than cold milk or even alcoholic stim.
ulants, one who has experienced the
refreshing influence which follows
almost Immediately, will not forego
its use for anything more agreeable
to the taste.
JAPANESE TIDES Paste a Japa-
nese picture on a square of white
glazed cambria. then a row of black
velvet overlapping the edges; out
side of this row of bright satin
ribbon and put on a row of white
lace to form ruifle. \ picture