14 Mr. Home's Lecture 



giddiness in the head, and a slight degree of numbness in the right 

 side and arm. These feelings went off in a few hours, but on 

 the third day returned, and for several weeks he had returns of 

 the same sensations. It was soon discovered that he had lost 

 his musical ear ; he could neither sing a note in tune, nor in the 

 smallest degree perceive harmony in the performance of others. 

 For some time he himself thought he had become a little deaf, 

 but his medical attendant was not sensible of that in conversa- 

 tion. Upon going into the country, he derived great benefit 

 from exercise and sea-bathing. 



Twenty months after the first attack, he was capable of sing- 

 ing a Scotch air with tolerable exactness, though he could not 

 sing in concert. He continued to improve in his health, and 

 in the course of two or three years completely recovered his ear 

 for music. 



In this case, there appeared to be some affection of the brain, 

 which had diminished the actions of the tensor muscles of the 

 membrange tympani, through the medium of the nerves which 

 regulate their actions ; this gradually went off, and the muscles 

 recovered their former action. 



Case 2. A young lady was seized with a frenzy which last- 

 ed for several years. Previous to her derangement, she was 

 incapable of singing in tune, from the want of an ear for 

 music ; but in the course of her madness she frequently, to the 

 astonishment of her relations, sung a tune with tolerable cor- 

 rectness. 



This case is the reverse of the former ; and, as it arose from a 

 directly contrary affection of the brain, may be considered as the 

 result of an unusual degree of action in the tensor muscles, giv- 

 ing the membrane a more correct adjustment than it had before. 



