Memory. 677 



ing, still another association of memories is required ; namely, those in 

 the sight tract relating to the shapes of the letters and words, and those 

 in the motor tract for the arm and hand. (See fig. 362. ) So that a per- 

 son might be deprived of the use of the Isle of Reil and the lower tem- 

 poral region, that is, he might be both deaf to the meaning of sounded 

 words, and dumb to their articulation, and yet be able to write. 



We are likewise to understand that these general memory tracts are 

 cut up into subdivisions, each of which relates to a specialized subdi- 

 vision of the general function of the tract. Thus, in the motor mem- 

 ories relating to the arm, are included the memories of many thousand 

 special combinations of movement, which, on the whole, constitute its 

 skill and dexterity. If one little cell in this tract should be deprived 

 of its due nourishment, the memories of the motions, of which the func- 

 tion of this cell forms a part, and which may be numerous, would ev- 

 eryone become distorted and incorrect, or totally abolished as coherent 

 motor elements. But we are to remember that it is only the memory 

 of past or habitual movement that is lost. We still possess the ability 

 to learn the movement over again, provided there are other healthy un- 

 engaged cells in the tract, and provided there is external motive for the 

 repetition of the several actions which differentiate the cell in the first 

 place. 



The following cases I take from Dr. Allen Star's article in the Popu- 

 lar Science Monthly for September, 1884 : A man was brought into Belle- 

 vue hospital in New York, suffering from fever, headache, delirium and 

 stupor, which had developed after a blow upon the head. In addition 

 to these symptoms, he had a paralysis of the muscles on the back of 

 the fore-arm, so that he could not raise his left hand. The general symp- 

 toms indicated the presence of an abscess in the brain. To the surgeon 

 familiar with the anatomy, and with the physiological experiments upon 

 animals, the paralysis of the arm muscles indicated that the abscess was 

 situated in that part of the brain whose function it was to raise the 

 hand. He therefore sawed through the skull, over the supposed site of 

 the abscess, and although the hole which he made was only large enough 

 to admit his little finger, the abscess was found lying just beneath it, 

 and was emptied. 



The following case happened in France : An intelligent gentleman, 

 while playing billiards, suddenly became aware of the fact that he could 

 see but one-half of the ball at which he was aiming. He had become 

 blind in the right half of both eyes. Soon after, on attempting to read, 

 he found, much to his surprise, that he could not read. He could see 

 the letters and words, but they conveyed no meaning to his mind, and 

 appeared to him as so many forms, just as a set of Chinese letters do to 

 us. He had lost the power to recognize written and printed language. 



