BRAIN TROUBLES. 297 



most persons who have occasion to exercise this power 

 freely. The symptom, like others we have dealt with 

 here, is one to be noticed, and its warning voice should 

 be heeded early. This done, there is usually little 

 occasion for alarm, startling though some of the 

 stories now to be related may appear. 



Dr. Winslow relates that "a literary gentleman, 

 whose vocation in life was that of a public lecturer, 

 noticed for nearly eight weeks before he was seized 

 with paralysis, that occasionally whilst speaking he 

 lost for a second or two all power of articulation. 

 This occurred on five or six occasions previously to an 

 attack of decided hemiplegia. This patient had taxed 

 his powers of mind to their utmost by lecturing twice, 

 and often thrice, a day; but independently of this 

 amount of literary labour, he had been exposed to 

 much anxiety respecting family matters, and this had 

 produced restless, and, in some instances, sleepless 

 nights." 



TIL PARTIAL LOSS OF SPEECH. 



Let us consider next a case where the almost com- 

 plete loss of the power of fixing the attention was 

 followed by the partial loss of the power of expression, 

 a sequence which would, we believe, be far more 

 commonly noticed than usual were all the circum- 

 stances of each case carefully noted. The case also 

 illustrates the dangers resulting from the endeavour 

 to over- tax the powers of nature : " I was engaged 

 this morning," says Dr. Alexander Crichtoii, " with 



