Persistence of Conditions Latent in Memory 329 



living in America who had in his congregation a con- 

 siderable number of Germans and Swedes related to 

 Dr. Rush that nearly all a little before dying pray in 

 their mother tongue. "I have," said he, "innumerable 

 examples of it and among them several in which I am 

 sure they had not spoken German or Swedish for fifty 

 or sixty years/' 245 



The following two facts are still more typical: 



A lady in the last stages of a chronic disease was 

 taken from London to the country. Her little daugh- 

 ter, who had not yet learned to talk, was sent to her 

 and after a short visit was sent back to the city. The 

 lady died several days later. The daughter grew up 

 to maturity without remembering her mother. She had 

 then occasion to see the room in which her mother died. 

 Although ignorant of that fact, upon entering the room 

 she started, and when asked the cause of her emotion, 

 she said "I have a distinct impression of having been 

 in this room before. There was in that corner a lady 

 in bed, apparently very ill, who leaned over me and 

 wept." 246 



Similarly, a man of very marked artistic tempera- 

 ment, as soon as he came in front of a castle in Sussex 

 had an extremely vivid impression of having already 

 seen it, and he recalled in his imagination the procession 

 of visitors in all its details. He learned from his mother 

 that he had actually been brought there on an excursion 

 at the age of sixteen months and that the recollection 

 which he had of the visit was very exact. 247 



These examples show then how remarkable can be 



24B Ribot : Les maladies de la memoire. P. 146 147. 

 246 Ribot: Ibid. P. 143144. 

 247 Ribot: Ibid. P. 144. 



