92 ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE 
and made a number of statements, some of which I 
shall repeat in a few minutes. Many of these state- 
ments we were able to verify at a subsequent period ; 
others were undoubtedly inaccurate. Before going into 
details regarding the every-day life of this case of 
lethargy as we saw it, perhaps it would be well to give 
a brief outline of the history of the patient. Unfortu- 
nately, it has not been found possible to get as many 
important facts as could be desired in connection with 
this history, but great care has been taken to eliminate 
all doubtful points. The patient was born in 1820 or 
1821, and when she came under observation was almost 
sixty-nine years of age. The neurotic history was 
pronounced on ‘both sides of the house’; evidence 
going to show that her father had suffered from melan- 
cholia. A reliable person states that the father died 
from ‘softening of the brain ’—possibly general paresis. 
The patient’s mother was subject (a member of the 
family states) to attacks of partial loss of reason, which 
could only be cured by change of air and surroundings. 
It has not been possible to get an accurate account of 
these attacks of ‘partial loss of reason.’ The patient’s 
early history is not well known, but it has been stated 
on good authority that she was “ peculiar,” and in child- 
hood complained of some head trouble that caused her 
to keep her hair cropped short. She was married when 
very young, probably when seventeen or eighteen years 
of age, as she was but twenty-one when her third child 
was born. Three years after the birth of her last child 
she was noticed to undergo a change in disposition and 
acted ‘strangely.’ She could not be depended on, was 
untruthful and whimsical, and worried a great deal 
about trifles.” 
It is from a subsequent period (three years later) 
that the history of this case must be dated. 
The son, the youngest child, says: “The first re- 
