The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-07-01
A CURIOUS CASE.

If the case of Mrs. Adde B. Redfield Of
Oakland has been carefully watched and
reported it will add something to our
knowledge of the brain. Mrs. Redfield
was thrown from a runaway car On the
Oakland Consolidated line on May 6, and
was so seriously injured that she was
taken to the Fabiola Hospital. where she
remained till she died on Thursday. For
| several days after the accident she was
unconscious. When consciousness re-
turned it was found that she had lost her
memory entirely. Cases Of aphasla. IN
which the patient has lost the power OF
remembering or articulating words. nave
been common enough, but cases where the
loss of memory has been total are rare.
Mrs. Redfie!d did not know that She had
| been married or had child, or. in tact,
anything about herself or her antecedents;
| and vet, after time under sklllful treat
ment her perceptiye faculties were SO Tar
restored that she was able to take short
and easy lessons like child and to learn
the names and uses of things Her friends
were giving her lessons as often as her
| health permitted, and were in hopes that
her second education might be carried on
indefinitely when she died.
Cases are reported in the books in which
LESSONS of the brain were followed by loss
of memory, and 1t has happened that re-
covery was accompanied by a complete
restoration of that and other faculties
There is case of a man who fell from a
height and struck on his head. When he
recovered consciousness he couldn't re-
member his name. Long afterwnrd, when
he was walking through the hospital
grounds, being nearly cOnvalescent. his
name and details af his past life suddenly
flashed upon him. The brain had been
restored to activity, and the man got we'll.
1t is dOubly sad that. in Mrs. Redfield' S
case, death interviewed to prevent the pos
sibility of such mental resurrection.
The scientific problem which such cases
raise is what part Of the cereb rum is
charged with the business Of memory ?
Specialists have extended our knowledge
of the human brain. so that we can feel
reasonably certain of the Office performed
by certain well-defined convolutions of the
organ. The function of speech has been
localized in the convolutons of the
frontal lobes. and the phenomena of
animal magnetism have Deen connected
D.
Aienists believe that they can establish a
direct connection between insanity and
LESSONS in certain parts of the brain. which
can be marked on an anatomical chart and
pointed ont by the scalpe at an autopsy.
1t is evident that this branch Of science is
only in its il fancy. and that by and by the
connecting link between mental processes
and the nerve centers in the brain will be
discovered and located.
A moments thought will reveal the i'm
portance of this branch of investigation.
If the connection between mind and mat
ter is in the brain, it is vital TO determine
how the work of the brain is distributed
which convoluton directs the muscles,
which attends to the perceptions, which
has charge Of the reflective faculty, which
governs the power of comparis on that dis
| tinguishes the sane from the in sane-for.
| if we can designate the particular part uf
the organ that is endowed with the control
! of mental functions, we may be able to
relieve distress in that part by the aid of
! surgery. When we say that man IS mad,
we mean that some particular convolution
of his brain is out of gear, and cannot
| fulfill its functions. When we are BILE to
to restore it to health by surgical opera
ton. as lesion of the kidney or liver OF
bowels is cured. If we knew as much
| about the brain as we do of the lungs or
the liver, there would be fewer insane
asylums, and the American tendency to
insanity which alarmist statlsticians are
so fond of proclaiming might be checked.
We have made little progress in this
branch of physiology since Macbeth in
quired fiercely of the doctor whether he
could minister unto mind diseased, and
Shakespeare's heroes took for granted
that the liver-of all organs-was the seat
Of love. But we are learning, and such
cases as Mrs. Redfeld's. ii properly
studied. are pregnant with information
which should be turned TO account.