2 8 2 COMPARATIVE PHYSIOLOGY OF THE BRAIN 



snow is black. He was once asked the colour of the 

 blood. He opened a little pustule on his hand, and 

 as soon as a drop of blood came out he gave the 

 answer, red. 



It is obvious from these facts that the patient un- 

 derstood every question and was sufficiently intelli- 

 gent to secure those impressions which allowed him 

 to answer the question. He could tell the colour of 

 sugar if allowed to look at it, but this did not help 

 him to tell whether or not sugar tastes bitter. In 

 order to do so he had to put the sugar into his mouth. 

 When a smooth piece of glass was shown to him 

 he could not tell that it was smooth until he had 

 touched it. 



Two things are evident first, the patient was not 

 able to remember any perceptible quality of an ob- 

 ject unless the object was under his immediate per- 

 ception ; and second, he remembered the various 

 qualities only if the specific senses for these qualities 

 were affected. In a normal being the word siigar or 

 the sight of sugar suffices to produce the association 

 of its sweet taste. In this patient only contact with 

 the tongue suggested the word sweet, although he 

 was intelligent enough to know how to arouse the 

 correct association. 



The names of a great many objects may be sug- 

 gested to a normal person through any of several of 

 the senses. For example, we find the word violin if 

 we see the object as well as if we hear it played with- 

 out seeing it. The patient in this case was a violin 



