DUAL CONSCIOUSNESS. 277 



have been affected, as it certainly is affected to some degree 

 by any object so placed that // could not but be seen by a 

 short-sighted person. But it is clear that later the sense of 

 sight was restored, supposing, which is not perhaps probable, 

 that it was ever lost in the early stage.] She did not even 

 know her own mother, who attended constantly upon her. 

 Wherever she was placed she remained. Her appetite was 

 good, but [like F.] she ate indifferently whatever she was 

 fed with, and took nauseous medicines as readily as 

 agreeable food. Her movements were solely of the 

 automatic kind. Thus, she swallowed food put into her 

 mouth, but made no effort to feed herself. Yet when her 

 mother had conveyed the spoon [in the patient's hand] a 

 few times to her mouth, the patient continued the operation. 

 It was necessary, however, to repeat this lesson every time 

 she was fed, showing the complete absence of memory. 

 ' The very limited nature of her faculties, and the automatic 

 life she was leading, appear further evident from the following 

 particulars. One of her first acts on recovering from the fit 

 had been to busy herself in picking the bedclothes ; and as 

 soon as she was able to sit up and be dressed, she continued 

 the habit by incessantly picking some portion of her dress. 

 She seemed to want an occupation for her fingers, and 

 accordingly part of an old straw bonnet was given to her, 

 which she pulled into pieces with great minuteness ; she 

 was afterwards bountifully supplied with roses : she picked 

 off the leaves, and then tore them up into the smallest 

 particles imaginable. A few days subsequently, she began 

 forming upon the table, out of those minute particles, rude 

 figures of roses, and other common garden flowers ; she had 

 never received any instructions in drawing. Roses not 

 being so plentiful in London, waste paper and a pair of 

 scissors were put into her hand, and for some days she 

 found an occupation in cutting the paper into shreds ; after 

 a time these cuttings assumed rude shapes and figures, and 

 more particularly the shapes used in patchwork. At length 

 she was supplied with proper materials for patchwork, and 



