BRAIN TROUBLES. 



275 



"We will begin, however, with a case in which the 

 trouble was only temporary, and, moreover, its cause 

 obviously indicated. 



Sir Henry Holland gives the following suggestive 

 account of a transient loss of memory due to fatigue. 

 It will be seen that the failure of memory belongs to 

 the second class above referred to, that, viz., in which 

 what had been long and well known is suddenly for- 

 gotten. ' ' I descended," ( he says, e ' on the same day, 

 two very deep mines in the Harz Mountains, remaining 

 some hours underground in each. While in the 

 second mine, and exhausted both from fatigue and 

 inanition, I felt the utter impossibility of talking 

 longer with the German Inspector who accompanied 

 me. Every Grerman 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/' This case would seem to show that transient 

 loss of memory, even of this kind, need not be re 

 garded as necessarily an alarming symptom. 



The following case points in the same direction 

 even more decisively. "A gentleman/' says Dr. 

 Win slow, " well known for his intense passion for 

 field sports (living, as may be said, upon the saddle 

 during the greater part of the year), frequently com- 

 plained of transient attacks of loss of memory after a 

 hard day's run with the hounds. His remedy for this 

 affection was half a pint to a pint of port wine at a 

 draught ! The effect of this heroic dose of vinous 

 stimulant upon the depressed energy of the brain was 



T 2 



