CHAP. XXIX.] SPEECH AND THOUGHT. 631 



word used to the right one ; or it could be discerned that there was 

 some association with the idea he wished to convey ; for example, 

 giving his waistcoat to be put aside, the watch being in his pocket, 

 he said " Take care of the break-fall." He seemed conscious of 

 his deafness, and sometimes spoke of it. One day he said he could 

 neither hear nor read " Only a little, could read the words, but 

 could not take in the meaning." Every morning, notwithstanding, 

 he spent some time as if busily engaged reading the Bible and the 

 newspapers. This was, doubtless, from the mere force of habit ; 

 for on testing him, he read after a fashion, but the words were 

 unconnected and meaningless, and had not even the most remote 

 connection with the text. His powers, both of speaking and writ- 

 ing, were subject to variation at different times. (Lithographs of 

 two letters are given by Dr. Banks which, though made up of 

 properly written words, are almost unintelligible.) Occasionally 

 it was difficult to manage him ; as, if he wished to go somewhere, 

 and it was found impossible to comprehend his wishes, he became 

 very much excited. He continued in much the same condition 

 till the 7th of October, when he had a distinct apoplectic seizure, 

 and became completely hemiplegic on the right side of the body. 

 He lived only a week alter the onset of this more severe 

 attack. 



The great mental defects in this case were unassociated 

 with paralysis. The Visual Centre was evidently much 

 damaged, since the patient could not understand printed 

 or written characters and could only write in an unintel- 

 ligible manner. This same conclusion is strengthened by 

 the fact that he read so badly even worse than he spoke. 

 His amnesic defects of speech, of the incoordinate type, 

 were probably due to some lack of harmony between the 

 higher Intellectual and the Auditory Centres, but this 

 subject will presently be considered more at length. His 

 total deafness, coupled with his ability to articulate fairly 

 well, seemed incompatible with the existence of a grave 

 lesion of the Auditory Centre itself. The fact, how- 

 ever, of the existence of this complete deafness is an 

 exceptional feature, difficult to explain on the otherwise 



