Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-05-05

What you long for is not death, but change
a change of condition. No truer words were
ever spoken than those of Tennyson's:
Whatever crazy sorrow saith,
No life that breathes with human breath
Hath ever truly longed for death.
"What you crave under the name of death
Is forgetfulness. You yourself compressed
the whole truth into a sentence when you
said, 'To live is to remember Your infer
ence was that to die is to forget. 1t is mem
ory which agonizes you. 1t is the past
which lives in memory that handicaps you,
that hangs like milestone around your
neck, and goads you to despair. IF you
could forget, if you could obliterate the past
from your consciousness, you would cease to
suffer LIS not that true?"
True enough, but without significance.
A mere quibble. There is no forgetfulness
except in death-no Lethe save the Styx. !"
"That may or may not be so. How do
you know, for instance, that there is forget
fulness in death? You ignore the possi-
bility of a future lite, the dread of some
thing after death, the undiscovered country.
Suppose beyond the grave you preserve
your identity, that is to say, your memory,
In what respect will you have gained by the
changer"
81 must take my risks. This much I do
know, there is no forgetfulness in life.
There NAV be in death. / will take my
chances. Any change must be change for
the better. 1 am in hell now, if you must
know it. will take my risks"
"You say there Is no forgetfulness in life.
But suppose there were? Suppose it were
possible for you to obtain total and perma-
nent forgetfulness without dying, without
taking those risks, without taking any risk
at all? Suppose somebody should come to
you and say, Seel have it in my power to
bestow upon you total and permanent OBJ
liviousness, so that the entire past, with all
Its events and circumstances, shall be per-
fectly erased from your mind; SO that you
shall not even recall your name, nor your
language; but with unimpaired bodily
health and mental faculties shall begin life
afresh, like the newborn baby, speechless,
Innocent regenerated; another person, and
yet the same: suppose some one should come
10 you and offer thst?"
ait is en- idle supposition. The age Of
miracles has passed"
San idle supposition? You deem it such?
Let us see. Let us consider. To begin
with, answer me this. Have you never
heard or read, in newspaper, medical re-
port or novel, of case where, through an
accident, a human being has had happen to
him exactly the experience which I have
lust described? A case where a lesion of
the cerebral tissues, caused perhaps by dis
ease, or perhaps by concussion of the
brain or fracture Of the skull, has resulted
IN the total annihilation of memory, with
out injury to the other intellectual facul-
ties, so that the patient, upon recovering
health and consciousness, could remember
absolutely nothing of the past-neither his
his name, nor his nationality, nor the face
Of his father or mother, nor even how to
speak, walk, eat, but was literally born
anew, and had to begin life over again from
the start? Surely everybody who has ears
has heard, everybody who can read has read,
Of cases of that nature"
"oh, yes, have read of such cases. Ger
tainly."
every well. You have read of such
cases. Sol Now, then, suppose that an
accident Of that sort happened to you; every
thing you can hope for from death would be |
accomplished, and yet you would live. |
What better could you desire?"
"Ah, but it is not within my power to |
cause such an accident 1t is within nv
power to die"
"Not within your power to cause such an
Rccident2 Not within your power, grant. |
But will you say that it is not within hu- |
man power, not within any mans power? |
Imagine whatever thing you like, which |
can happen by accident; will you tell me of |
any conclusive reason why that thing should |
not be caused by design2 Why man, inyes-
tipatipg the causes OF the thing, enlightened
by his scieE.e esnd employing his skill,
should not be able at will to bring that
thing to pass? Take this very case which |
we have been considering: the total obliter- !
alton of a human beings memory of the |
past A blow upon the head, the result of 4
an accident, can cause 1t; why not blow /
upon the head, the result of mans deliber- |
ate purpose? Insanity, smallpox, consump-
tion, deafness, blindness, paralysis-each of |
these il is within human power to int1ict. /
Why not forgetfulness?"
"I have never heard of its being done. 1 |
once read a novel in which something of the |
kind was related-'Dr. Heidenhof's Pro-
cess'-but even in that novel the author /
had not the audacity to pretend that his
story was possible. It turned out to be
dream. But then that was quite different
thing. II was the obliteration, not of the
whole memory, but simply of the memory
of one particular fact or train of facts The
memory in respect of other facts remained
Sntact."
"Ah, well, that of course it is not within
human power to accomplish. Not as vet.
. cannot it is true, cause you to forget any
pne given fact while leaving your memory
unaffected regarding other facts. But the
Rnnihilation of the whole memory is very
different matter. You say you have never
does that signify? Because have never
heard of things being done. therefore it
cannot be done? No, indeed; non sequitur.
Twenty years ago 1 had never heard of two
men five miles apart being able TO talk to
each other viva voce. Yet to-day the tele-
phone is an established institution. Now
here is the long and short of the matter:
That same obliviousness which, as the ply
sicians' case books bear abundant testi-
nrhl
the, medium of disease or violence, IL
who speak to you-I can produce by means
of surgical operation.
SIT seems incredible" said she.
However it may seem, it is fact. What
q stone striking you upon the head may ac-
complish, ] can accomplish with my instru-
ments. ] can cause depression of one of
the bones of your skull at certain point, so
that when you recover from the effects of
the anesthetic which I administer, you are
returned to the mental condition of infancy.
You remember nothing, you know nothing.
The past is utterly abolished. The future is
before you"
''IfWhat you say is true, you possess a,
terrible power. Are surgeons generally able
70 do this?"
'''I believe-I may be mistaken, but be-
ieve-thst am the only man alive who
knows how to do it. discovered the secret
more tnhn oV Eedfs ago. L nave never e4-
planned my method to anyone else"
"Why not?'
s'You yourself have named the reason. It
Is a dangerous power. 1 have thought it
prudent not to put it into the hands of the
faculty at large. For anght know, how
ever, other men may have discovered it in
dependently."
ever done it?''
ST have performed the operation with un-
varying success upon 20 dogs, horses,
monkeys. Each animal was upward of
years old, intelligentand thoroughly trained.
After the operation each animal was a help
less eub-had even forgotten how to eat
had 70 learn all the lessons of its life anew"
She smiled. "Animals indeedl It is
descent from the sublime to the grotesQue.
Never nnnn q human beinpI'