Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1895-04-12
MYSTERIOUS DISCREPANCIES

Drop Out of Sight appears, says the
Lancet, to afford food for thought, not
only to the student, but even to the
%proverbial ''man in the street." 1.-The
first case mentioned is that of a man,
thrifty and industrious, prosperous in his
business and exemplary In his family re-
l%ations, who left his house one Sunday
reminded by his wife as he went out not
to be late for dinner, which was to be
ready In a few minutes. He did not re-
turn. no trace of him could be found,
and nc reason for his disappearance was
discovered when his affairs came to be
wound up, as they had to be in the
course of time. Two years later, in a
shop in one of the Southern States of
America, a man who had been known as
on industrious, although taciturn, work
man suddenly seemed to wake up and
asked where he was and how he had got
there. Gradually things came back to
him he remembered leaving his house
in the North on a Sunday afternoon two
years before, but everything that hap
peIed subsequently was as if 1t had not
been. Nothing of his wanderings could
be discovered further than that some
months before he had appeared in the
town in which he came to himself and
had asked for and obtained work, which
he had performed diligently and effici-
emily. He was restored to his family,
and at the time the article was written
had resumed his former life. Another
and even more striking case Is related
that of a lawyer, a well-known public
man and politician. of more than usual
ability and in a prominent social and
professional position. One day, while
in the midst of some intricate and i'm
portant legal work, he stepped outside
for a few minutes. He also disappeared.
The most vigorous and thorough search
failed to discover him, dead or alive.
Streams and reservoirs were dragged.
woods were searched and every means at
the disposal of wealth and influence were
used to discover his whereabouts. He
was known to be abstemious in his habits
and happy in his home, and a searching
examination of his business affairs failed
to reveal the slightest irregularity in
them. Several months passed. when at
length word came through government
channels hat the missing man was in
Australia and was applying for means of
establishing his identity and procuring
his transportation home. He was sue
cessful in satisfying his friends of his
identity, money was transmitted to pay
for his passage and in due time he ar
rived. After a short period of rest he
resumed his professional work and has
since continued to be Just as he was be-
fore his sudden and quite unaccountable
disappearance. 1t is an interesting ques-
ton, How are such cases to be accounted
for? The suddenness of the disappear
ance, the absence of motive and the utter
inability of the patients to give even the
slightest account of their experiences
during the time which elapses between
their disappearance and their coming to
themselves, all give "A certain weird
character to these alterations. Are they
of the nature of post-epileptic phenom
ena: Are they lapses into an alter ego,
and if another such lapse occurred would
the patient take up the thread of this
second existence where he had dropped
it to resume his, what we may call, ordi-
nary identity? These are interesting
questions. Unfortunately, they are I'M
answearable. All that we can say is
that these disappearance partake of the
character OF post-epileptic phenomena,
and that in some patients who have suf-
fered from lapses similar to, if not so
severe as, those just described a more or
less definite history of true fits OF epilepsy
has been obtainable. And another thing
is also significant, viz, the very close
resemblancesthat these attacks bear in
their character, if not in their duration
or severity, to sOmnambulism, while the
relation which this bears to epilepsy, if
not very definite, is certainly close. Yet
whatever theory is put forward to eX-
PLAIN such phenomena as those Just re-
ferred to, they remain striking and mys-
FERROUS, interesting IN their psychological
aspect, but in their concrete form full of
practical and medico-legal difficulties"
THE WORLDS FAIR DAIRY TESTS.
Any one familiar with the great tests
between the breeds held at Chicago, from
Nav II to Oct. 90. 1893, will bear testi-
mony to their th%oroughness, their I'M
Partially and the grand work that was
accomplished in the interest of dairy
science. These tests gave TO the cows
and breeds participating therein an OPP
portunity to demonstrate their dairy
characteristics. They were not tests of
a few days or a week, but Sc prolonged
that they exhibited to public scrutiny
the staying qualities of the COWS and
hroads This faatura aanOot ha tOo