310 EAMBLES OF A NATUEALIST. [Ch. XVin. 



when the next moon came round he had recovered from 

 this singular nyctalopic aifection, which did not return 

 again. 



In this curious instance, the particulars were corroborated 

 by the evidence of all the oificers and men, and the only 

 source of fallacy is the possibility of the man having 

 malingered. But such an idea had no apparent justification, 

 and was unsupported by any circumstapces. He was a well- 

 conducted lad, and the fact that he was placed in serious 

 jeopardy on two or three occasions, owing to his blindness, 

 seems strongly to negative such a supposition. 



Many other instances have been related to me by persons, 

 sometimes medical officers, under whose direct notice they 

 fell; and although some old surg^ns doggedly refuse to 

 give credence to any of them, and condemn them wholesale 

 as malingering cheats, I think such a course, to say the 

 least, unphilosophic in the extreme. 



