THE RE-EDUCATION OF THE ADULT BRAIN. 459 



a blush of redness. Some short time after, it became possible to awake 

 her by opening her eyes, and holding anything before them likely to 

 catch her attention, such as a glass of water, a cup, or the like. When 

 awakened in this way, which succeeded best at the times she was 

 getting her food, she generally laughed a good deal and seemed much 

 delighted, and she always bestowed her whole attention on the vessel 

 in which her food or drink was contained, and the person who held it; 

 she, however, did not speak, and paid no attention whatever to the 

 questions put to her. One day about this time, viz., on the 1st of 

 August, in consequence of her usual medicines failing in their effect, 

 she had two or three laxative clysters, and then a small dose of croton- 

 oil, which produced very copious evacuations, but at the same time 

 caused so much griping as to wake her. When suffering from this, she 

 took hold of the blankets of her bed, twisted them in her hands, and 

 applied them over the abdomen, looking wistfully all the while in the 

 faces of the attendants, as if she had recollected the fomentations 

 which had formerly given her relief, and wished them to be had 

 recourse to on the present occasion ; her wish was complied with, with 

 the effect of removing the pain, which seemed to give her great satis- 

 faction. In two or three days after this the torpor was much dimin- 

 ished, and she could be awakened with great ease. She likewise began 

 to take a great liking to the young woman who waited on her, so much 

 so that, when awake, she would hardly allow her to be a moment out 

 of her sight. Now also she would sometimes let herself cautiously 

 down on the floor from her bed, and creep to the fireside, where she 

 would lay herself quietly down on the hearth-rug, as if she wished to 

 enjoy the warmth of the fire. 



At length, after progressively improving for some days, she was by 

 the third week in August almost free from torpor, and slept little more 

 than a person in health. During all this period, except that her feet 

 were sometimes cold, the temperature of her body was very nearly 

 natural. Her face was for the most part pale, but sometimes a little 

 flushed, and the pupil of the eye uniformly contracted on exposure to 

 the light. Her pulse, which had been rendered slow by the digitalis, 

 was observed to be rather higher for some time preceding her recov- 

 ery than it had been even before the use of that medicine. She had 

 undoubtedly lost flesh during her illness, but at this time she was not 

 so thin as she had been a short time before. The catamenia had not 

 appeared since the month of May ; but, with the exception of con- 

 siderable loss of strength, her bodily health was now on the whole 

 tolerably good. 



On her recovery from the torpor she appeared to have forgotten 

 nearly all her previous knowledge ; everything seemed new to her, 

 and she did not recognize a single individual, not even her nearest 

 relatives. In her behavior she was restless and inattentive, but very 

 lively and cheerful ; she was delighted with everything she saw 



