BRAIN TROUBLES. 2 Sl 



of such extreme prostration by haemorrhage, that for 

 nearly a week she seemed simply lingering between- 

 life and death. After this she remained for a long 

 time in a state of extreme mental depression and 

 vital prostration. When she was able to articulate, 

 her husband was astonished to find that her memory 

 was paralysed. " She had forgotten where she lived, 

 who her husband was, how long she had been ill, the 

 names of her children, and, in fact, her own name 

 was obliterated from her recollection. She was unable 

 to call anything by its right name. In attempting to 

 do so she made the most singular mistakes. She had 

 been in the habit, before her illness, of speaking in 

 French, her husband being a Frenchman ; but while 

 in the state of mind described, she seemed to have 

 lost all recollection of the French language. When 

 her husband spoke to her in French, she did not seem 

 to understand in the least what he was saying, though 

 she could at this time speak English without diffi- 

 culty. Seven or eight weeks elapsed before her 

 memory began to improve, and months passed before 

 her mind regained its original strength." 



Intense cold seems to have the power of paralysing 

 the memory. During the retreat from Moscow, many 

 of Bonaparte's officers and men found their memories 

 greatly enfeebled. Bonaparte himself was affected, 

 especially as to dates and names. "For a time he 

 was constantly confusing one person with another, 

 and making odd mistakes in dates." In his case 

 the .affection of the memory lasted only a few 



