288 NATUEE STUDIES. 



very extraordinary power the king always exhibited of 

 retaining in his memory the most varied details, or 

 oould cease admiring " (really one could imagine that 

 some few could achieve this, however impossible it 

 might seem to the courtly Liljewalch) "the rapid 

 apprehension, the unerring judgment, and the singular 

 clearness of statement which were exhibited whenever 

 he spoke. But at the same time he could not fail 

 to recollect how the king sometimes, in the middle 

 of a conversation to which he was directing all his 

 attention, would of a sudden appear to be abstracted, 

 and would actually transfer his thoughts to some other 

 subject on which, unless he might be disturbed, he 

 would allow them to rest, usually only for a few 

 moments, but sometimes for many minutes, after 

 which the conversation would be resumed as if it had 

 not been interrupted. The peculiar expression of the 

 king's features particularly his look, assumed on such 

 occasions, and the spasmodic state, or the involuntary 

 movements which at the same time took place in one 

 or other part of his muscular system render it pro- 

 bable that this distraction, which at times was of 

 frequent recurrence, was due to an incipient affection 

 of the central organ of thought. This symptom, 

 referable to the most important organ of the nervous 

 system " (the care and ingenuity with which the court 

 physician avoids any direct statement that the king's 

 brain was effected is worthy of all praise) " was of late 

 years accompanied, as has been already mentioned, 

 with increasing weakness in the muscles of the 



