On Memory. 503 
upon the questionof defective or diseased memory, but as the 
assertion has been made that nothing oncelearnt isever really 
lost, it may be well to mention one or two cases which bear 
out this view. Sir Astley Cooper relates a case of a sailor 
who was received into St. Thomas’s Hospital, in a state of 
stupor which had continued some months from an injury 
to the head; after an operation he recovered speech, but no 
one in the hospital could understand his language; how- 
ever a Welch milkwoman who happened to come into the 
ward answered him, for he spoke Welch, which was his native 
language; he had been absent from Wales more than thirty 
years, and prior to the accident had apparently forgotten 
Welch, although he nowspokeit fluently, and could not recol- 
lect aword of any other tongue; on his perfect recovery he re- 
gained his English, and lost his Welch, or rather it was again 
buried. Dr. Abercrombie relates the case of a child four 
years old, who was trepanned while in a state of profound 
stupor from fracture of the skull; after recovery the child 
retained no recollection of the accident or the operation, yet 
at the age of fifteen, during the delirium of fever, he gave 
his mother an accurate description of the operation, and the 
persons present, their dress, and other minute particulars. 
These cases might be multiplied, but they are sufficient for 
the purpose, and we now pass on to offer a few remarks on 
the temporary failure of memory which occurs in many 
Ways. Sometimes it is general and extends to every subject, 
but usually it is manifest on some subjects more than others. 
Salmuth mentions a case in which a person forgot to pro- 
nounce words but could nevertheless write them. The 
celebrated surgeon, John Hunter, was suddenly attacked 
with a singular failure of memory ; while visiting ata friend’s 
house he forgot what part of the house he was in, and did 
not know the name of the street when told it, nor where his 
own house was ; he had no conception of anything existing 
beyond the room he was in, though perfectly conscious of 
the loss of his memory ; he was also quite alive to im- 
pression upon the senses, and looked out of the window, 
though it was rather dark at the time, to see if he could 
become sensible of the situation of the house. The loss of 
memory gradually went off, and in less than half an hour he 
perfectly recovered ; it is probable that this might have been 
connected with a gouty habit, although he was not then 
labouring under a paroxysm; bearing in mind the above 
case, we can credit the story told in the Physiological 
Magazine, of a German who called upon a friend, and being 
