The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1894-05-21
. tcoNTINUED.l
CHAPTER l.

ooPYR'oHr sr AMERICAN PRESS ASSOCIATION. 100.

timid trembling Of the pale lips, in the
expression of the delicate nostrils, i'll the
nervous contraction of the brows that
accompany it,
For mind which betrays itself in
countenance such as this, all the posi-
bilities of existence, all that remains Of
life and happiness, can be summed up in
one terrible word-fear Henceforth
this was all that the infinite world of
thought and all the endless pleasure Of
being could mean to this poor creature
In the midst Of the sunshine, the free
air, the song of the birds, the whisper
| of lovers, the voices of friendship, she
must continue to live on as unconscious
of them all as if her life had been mar
rowed down to tho darkest dungeon of
| all inquisition.
To deprive face that beams with
intelligence and beauty of the one light
| that makes it priceless, to blot out in
the twinkling of an eye that unmeasured
/ universe that exists in the brain of an
individual and leave in its place a soli-
tary candle like this glimmering in the
night-what a measureless crimel And
such a crime has been committed. Does
~ uhu tlllhB W tllt utpth VI thC III
| fanny or to the burden of the guilt that
the poor victim was but 10 and had
been struck down in the fullness of
health and strength?
The patient sat on the edge of the bed
from which she had lately arisen in an
alcove chamber opening into large
apartment, furnished like sitting room.
, Two grave and interested physicians,
one gray haired and advanced in years,
the other Of middle age, were watching
her. There was no evidence that either
| of these men comprehended anything of
the unutterable pathos of the situation.
Their problem was purely physiolog-
ical one. The moral aspects of the case
concerned them only where they aided
diagnosis. The ceaseless uneasy mo-
tion Of the poor girls hands, clasping
and unclasping themselves in her lap,
the pathetic cry without an attempt at
articulation, that she uttered from time
to time, these were the matters that in
tercsted them.
~ have observed very curious
thing" the elder physician was saying.
at is possible, of course, that may be
mistaken, but if am not then this girl
possesses a curious power i'll remark
able degree.
The younger man repeated the phrase
with no little wonder, "a curious pow
er?''
eyes, a very curious power, l should
say, of what, for want of a better term,
! will call optical retention. You know
what / mean?"
No"
II mean the faculty of retaining a
scene in the mind after the eyes are
closed or the scene removed We all
have it in varying degrees. You men
tion the writing table ut my office, and
Immediately an image, tolerably dis
tinct, of the size, shape and general APP
pearance of the table rises before my
mental vision. 1 mean simply, if this
girl were familiar with the looks of that
table and she could be made to under
stand what l am talking about, she
would see the object in question SO vivid
ly that it would be to her almost the
reality-perhaps, might say, practical
ly the reality"
The younger physician regarded the
speaker in silent wonder.
You don't take my meaning?"
"Oh, perfectly My term for it is Wis.,
ualization. What puzzles me is that you
should see any evidences of it here.
What has she done to show it?"
mot any one thing so much as every
thing generalize it from a careful OBJ
servation of her movements. "
"Do you call it q symptom?'
"No-that is, don't know 1t may
be abnormal or it may be natural to
her in state of health have studied
several cases. One, o very young child
who could find his way unerringly about
a familiar place blindfolded His family
called it instinct, but it was simply a
phenomenal power of retaining the pie-
ture of the room in his mind, combined
with an accurate idea of distance. I'm
seen by him, disarranged the furniture,
and he lost his head at once" p"
"Yes, but didn't suppose an idiot
could possess such faculty."
Nor l. But is this an idiot?'
"Hum-ha"- The younger physician
was altogether too cautious to commit
himself, but he fixed upon the pale face
of the patient look of doubt and un-
certainty that was plain enough of it.
self He shrank as much as did his gray
haired colleague from the humiliating
confession, Il dom t understand the case
at all. .
The elder physician was certainly in
no haste to pronounce a verdict. Called
for the purpose of aiding his younger
associate to arrive at definite conclu-
sion as to the nature of the mysterious
malady under which the patient suf-
fered he had as yet refrained from ex-
pressing an opinion. and now he spoke
in the most guarded and cautious man.
ner:
ut seems to me, Lamar, that the
problem in this case narrows itself down
to a question as to whether the patients
present condition is due to the blow she
Is known to have received upon the head
or to the purely mental results of the
terror caused by the accident. ="
Surely" said the younger man,
"you do not wish me to understand that
you believe it even possible that such a
condition should be the result of simple
terror rpure mental action of any kind.
1t seems almost certain to me that there
was some structural or functional disor.
der prior to the accident -
Very possibly. did not say to the
contrary. Some of her symptoms almost
indicate q pressure on the brain, but O
long experience in an accident hospital
has made me wary Of jumping to a con.
clusion when the symptoms are so vague
and unpronounced I have known such
widely different and unexpected mental
states to result from the fright incident
to loss of consciousness, under pres.
sure Of excitement, that am almost
ready to attribute any abnormal mental
state to the shock or the terror pure and
simple. Last year we had man who
had been thrown from carriage while
his horses Were running AWAY The man