BEAIN TROUBLES. 291 



all his commercial duties, attended to liis accounts' 

 and wrote letters of business with his usual ability 

 and clearness. His brother informed me that at times 

 he was greatly abstracted and extracted; that whilst 

 engaged in conversation, he would suddenly pause, 

 put his hand to his head, and appeared vexed with 

 himself at having lost all consciousness of what he was 

 saying. This symptom was observed two years before 

 any question arose, or suspicion existed, as to the 

 state of the brain ! The family, judging from the 

 subsequent progress of the case, were of opinion 

 that the cerebral disorder was first exhibited by the 

 sudden lapses of thought to which he was subject 

 for many years previously to the manifestations of 

 other and more unequivocal symptoms of brain dis- 

 ease. Such, also, was my opinion In about 



a year and a half he died, quite paralytic. Consider- 

 able organic disease of the brain was discovered after 

 death." 



In another case, which also ended fatally, an Irish 

 barrister, three years before an attack of acute mania, 

 was observed to stop occasionally while addressing 

 the courts of law, as if for the moment lost. "So 

 marked was this symptom, that a professional friend, 

 often associated with him in the conduct of legal 

 matters, considered it his duty to direct the attention 

 of the gentleman's wife to the fact, considering that 

 such attacks of mental distraction, on occasions when 

 it was of essential importance for the mind to be in a 

 .state of continuous activity, looked suspicious, and, 



u 2 



