300 NATURE STUDIES. 



gentleman, even when his mind had fully recovered 

 its usual health.) " But I found it still necessary to 

 wait a little longer, to exercise myself in the right 

 pronunciation of the few words I had to say, and the 

 first half-hour's conversation I had with her was, on 

 my part, preserved with a slow and anxious circum- 

 spection, until at last I gradually found myself as 

 -clear and serene as in the beginning of the day. All 

 that now remained was a slight headache. I re- 

 collected the receipt I had begun to write, and in 

 which I knew I had blundered, and upon examining 

 it, I observed to my great astonishment, that instead 

 of the words fifty dollars, being one half-year's rate, 

 which I ought to have written, the words were, fifty 



dollars, through the salvation of Bra , with a break 



.after it, for the word ' Bra ' was at the end of the line. 

 I cannot recollect any business I had to transact that 

 could by means of an obscure influence have pro- 

 duced this phenomenon." 



In this case it is obvious that the temporary loss of 

 the power of verbal expression was occasioned by 

 overwork ; but it is noteworthy that the work was of 

 a special character, involving the special exercise of 

 the power which failed first (that of fixing the atten- 

 tion). It may be worth while to inquire whether that 

 kind of mental confusion, which, when it has passed 

 beyond a certain point is followed by impairment of 

 the power of speech, is generally or often a conse- 

 quence of distracting occupations. The following case 

 seems to some degree to bear on this question. It is 



