THE RE-EDUCATION OF THE ADULT BRAIN. 461 



began with the most elementary lessons, but made much more rapid 

 progress than a person who had never before been taught. Very soon 

 after the torpor left her, she could sing many of her old songs, and 

 play on the piano-forte with little or no assistance ; and she has since 

 continued to practice her music, which now affords her great pleasure 

 and amusement. In singing, she at first generally required to be 

 helped to the first two or three words of a line, and made out the rest 

 apparently from memory. She can play from the music-book several 

 tunes which she had never seen before ; and her friends are inclined to 

 think that she now plays and sings fully as well, if not better, than she 

 did previously to her illness. She learned backgammon, which she 

 formerly knew, and several games at cards with very little trouble ; 

 and she can now knit worsted, and do several other sorts of work ; but 

 with regard to all these acquirements, as already mentioned, it is re- 

 markable that she appears not to have the slightest remembrance of 

 having possessed them before, although it is plain that the process of 

 recovery has been greatly aided by previous knowledge, which, however, 

 she seems unconscious of having ever acquired. When asked how she 

 had learned to play the notes of music from a book, she replied that 

 she could not tell, and only wondered why her questioner could not do 

 the same. 



She has once or twice had dreams, which she afterward related to 

 her friends, and she seemed quite aware of the difference between a 

 dream and a reality ; indeed, from several casual remarks which she 

 makes of her own accord, it would appear that she possesses many 

 general ideas of a more or less complex nature, which she has had no 

 opportunity of acquiring since her recovery. 



In this way she has continued slowly but progressively to improve, 

 and it is now considerably more than two months since she recovered 

 from her sleep. Her bodily health has since then undergone little 

 change : she is still liable to be fatigued by slight exertion, after 

 which she is inclined to sleep ; but in this state She never remains long 

 except during the night, when she sleeps like another person. The 

 catamenia have twice appeared, viz., in September and in October, at 

 both times to a greater extent than usual ; her bowels still require lax- 

 ative medicine ; but her appetite continues good, and she has evident- 

 ly gained flesh since her recovery. 



Postscript {March, 1879). After a time Mrs. H was able to 



return to her home in England, where she passed the rest of her life 

 happily with her husband, and gave birth to a daughter, who sur- 

 vives her. She was in the habit of corresponding by letter with her 

 friends at a distance, and lived on the most agreeable terms with her 

 immediate neighbors, by whom she was held in much regard on ac- 

 count of her kindly nature and charitable work. Brain. 



