CuAP. XXIX.l SPEl.CH AND THOUGHT. 651 



M. X — , get. 57. One evening whilst rising from his chair to 

 ehake hands with the curate of the place, he suddenly staggered, 

 stammered, and dropped into the arms of his visitor, who had 

 rushed forward to support him. He remained in a most profound 

 apoplectic stupor for more than ten hours with complete paralysis of 

 the right side. For a few days he gave only obscure signs of intelli- 

 gence; but from the time of this seizure he entirely lost the faculty 

 of speech. A few months afterwards (summer of 1860), he almost 

 completely recovered the power of moving his right leg, but the 

 movements of his right arm have always been impeded. 



In the spring of 1863, M. X — was seen by Trousseau, who gave 

 the following account of him : — " His face was intelligent, cheerful, 

 and full of benevolence. He seemed by his gestures, and especially 

 by the expression of his face, pleased to see me. He could not 

 speak, and only uttered in a faltering voice unintelligible words, in 

 which the monosyllable ' Yes ! ' returned frequently. When I 

 questioned him he answered ' Yes .' * to everything, ev.'^n. when he 

 shook his head in denial. ' How old are you ? ' — ' Yes I ' How- 

 far back do you date your illness ? ' — ' Yes, ' &c., &c. It could be 

 easily seen, however, that he was not satisfied when the word ' Yes' 

 was wrongly applied, for he then made an impatient gesture. He 

 looked pleased, on the contrary, when the word was used appro- 

 priately. He sat to table with us at dinner, used his left hand, 

 and ate with great propriety. He looked after his guests during 

 dinner, and took part in some of the discussions carried on. When 

 the delicate character of the lamb of the country was praised, he 

 nodded assent ; whilst on some of the guests saying that the kid of 

 the country had a better flavour than the lamb, he shook his head 

 in disapproval. He made signs to the servants to hand the wine, 

 and when wine of an esteemed vintage was going round he made 

 signs that it should be drunk in preference to the rest." 



" He played every day at ' all-fours,' hiding his cards behind a 

 pile of books, and using his left hand. He often won when playing 

 with the curate, the doctor, or his son, without their allowing him 

 to do so out of kindness. His son and Dr. Lafl&te declared to me 

 that he played as well as he ever used to do. Sometimes his son 

 sits by his side to advise him, and stops him when he takes a card 

 which seems not to be the proper one, but he insists on playing as 

 he likes, and by winning the game proves to his adviser that if he 

 sacrificed a card it was because he could thus improve his game. 

 Although his son manages all his affairs, he insists on being con- 



