238 ROUGH WAYS MADE SMOOTH. 



I felt the utter impossibility of talking longer with the 

 German Inspector who accompanied me. Every German 

 word and phrase deserted my recollection ; and it was not 

 until I had taken food and wine, and been some time at 

 rest, that I regained them again/ 



A change in the mental condition is sometimes a sign 

 of approaching serious illness, and is felt to be so by the 

 person experiencing it. An American writer, Mr. Butter- 

 worth, quotes the following description given by a near 

 relative of his who was suffering from extreme nervous 

 debility. * I am in constant fear of insanity/ she said, 

 * and I wish I could be moved to some retreat for the 

 insane. I understand my condition perfectly ; my reason 

 does not seem to be impaired; but I can think of two things 

 at the same time. This is an indication of mental unsound- 

 ness, and is a terror to me. I do not seem to have slept at 

 all for the last six months. If I sleep, it must be in a 

 succession of vivid dreams that destroy all impression of 

 somnolence. Since I have been in this condition I seem to 

 have a very vivid impression of what happens to my children 

 who are away from home, and I am often startled to hear that 

 these impressions are correct. I seem to have also a certain 

 power of anticipating what one is about to say, and to read 

 the motives of others. I take no pleasure in this strange 

 increase of mental power ; it is all unnatural. I cannot live 

 in this state long, and I often wish I were dead.' 



It must, however, be remembered that persons who are 

 in a state of extreme nervous debility, not only possess at 

 times abnormal mental qualities, but are also affected 

 morally. As Huxley has well remarked of some stories 

 bearing on spiritualism, they come from persons who can 

 hardly be trusted even according to their own account of 

 themselves. Mr. Butterworth's relation described a mental 

 condition which, even if quite correctly pictured as she 

 understood it, may yet be explained without believing that 

 any very marvellous increase had taken place in her mental 

 powers. Among the vivid impressions which she constantly 



