GENERAL RECAPITULATION, PATHOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS. 839 



repeated attacks of Mania, or a long succession of Epileptic seizures. And it 

 is also worth notice that the " picking at the bedclothes/' which is so fre- 

 quently seen towards the close of life, is a purely consensual movement, the 



de novo. Whatever she began, that she continued to work at while daylight lasted ; mani- 

 festing no uneasiness for anything to eat or drink, taking not the slightest heed of any- 

 thing which was going on around her, but intent only on her patchwork. She gradually 

 began, like a child, to register ideas and acquire experience. This was first shown in 

 connection with her manual occupation. From patchwork, after having exhausted all the 

 materials within her reach, she was led to the higher art of worsted-work, by which her 

 attention was soon engrossed as constantly as it had before been by her humbler employment. 

 She was delighted with the colors and the flowers upon the patterns that were brought to 

 her, and seemed to derive special enjoyment from the harmony of colors ; nor did she con- 

 ceal her want of respect towards any specimen of work that was placed before her, but 

 immediately threw it aside if the arrangement displeased her. She still had no recollec- 

 tion from day to day what she had done, and every morning began something new, unless 

 her unfinished work was placed before her ; and after imitating the patterns of others, 

 she began devising some of her own. The first ideas derived from her former experience, 

 that seemed to be awakened within her, were connected with two subjects which had natu- 

 rally made a strong impression upon her ; namely, her fall into the river, and a love affair. 

 It will be obvious that her pleasure in the symmetrical arrangement of patterns, the har- 

 mony of colors, &c., was at first simply sensorial ; but she gradually took an interest in 

 looking at pictures or prints, more especially of flowers, trees and animals. When, how- 

 ever, she was shown a landscape in which there was a river, or the view of a troubled sea, 

 she became intensely excited and violently agitated, and one of her fits of spasmodic rigid- 

 ity and insensibility immediately followed. If the picture were removed before the par- 

 oxysm had subsided, she manifested no recollection of what had taken place ; but so great 

 was the feeling of dread or fright associated with water, that the mere sight of it in mo- 

 tion, its mere running from one vessel to another, made her shudder and tremble ; and in 

 the act of washing her hands they were merely placed in water. From this it may be 

 inferred that simple ideas were now being formed ; for whilst the actual sight or contact 

 of moving water excited them by the direct sensorial channel, the sight of a picture contain- 

 ing a river or water in movement could only do so by giving rise to the notion of water. 

 From an early stage of her illness she had derived evident pleasure from the proximity of 

 a young man, to whom she had been attached ; he was evidently an object of interest when 

 nothing else would rouse her ; and nothing seemed to give her so much pleasure as his 

 presence. He came regularly every evening to see her, and she as regularly looked for 

 his coming. At a time when she did not remember from one hour to another what she 

 was doing, she would look anxiously for the opening of the door about the time he was 

 accustomed to pay her a visit ; and if he came not, she was fidgety and fretful through- 

 out the evening. When by her removal into the country she lost sight of him for some 

 time, she became unhappy and irritable, manifested no pleasure in anything, and suffered 

 very frequently from fits of spasmodic rigidity and insensibility. When, on the other 

 hand, he remained constantly near her, she improved in bodily health, early associations 

 were gradually awakened, and her intellectual powers and memory of words progressively 

 returned. We here see very clearly, as it appears to us, the composite nature of the emo- 

 tion of affection. At first there was simple pleasure in the presence of her lover, excited 

 by the gratification which former association had connected with the sensation. After- 

 wards, however, it was evident that the pleasure became connected with the idea ; she 

 thought of him when absent, expected his return (even showing a power of measuring time 

 when she had no memory for anything else), and manifested discomfort if he did not make 

 his appearance. Here we see the true emotion, namely, the association of pleasure with 

 the idea ; and the manner in which the desire would spring out of it. The desire in her then 

 condition would be inoperative in causing voluntary movement for its gratification ; sim- 

 ply because there was no intellect for it to act upon. Her mental powers, however, were 

 gradually returning. She took greater heed of the objects by which she was surrounded ; 

 and on one occasion, seeing her mother in a state of excessive agitation and grief, she 

 became excited herself, and in the emotional excitement of the moment suddenly ejacu- 

 lated, with some hesitation, "What's the matter?" From this time she began to articu- 

 late a few words ; but she neither called persons nor things by their right names. The 

 pronoun " this" was her favorite word ; and it was applied alike to every individual ob- 

 ject, animate and inanimate. The first objects which she called by their right names were 

 wild flowers, for which she had shown quite a passion when a child ; and it is remarkable 

 that her interest in these and her recollection of their names should have manifested itself 

 at a time when she exhibited not the least recollection of the " old familiar friends and 



