through the same movements. He reflected for a time, but was entirely unable to reproduce a mimicry so simple."

Reviewing what we have gone over in this section, we see that amnesia of signs progresses from proper names to substantives, then to adjectives and verbs, then to the language of the emotions, and finally to gestures. This destructive movement does not take place at random; it is governed by a rigorous principle-from the least organized to the most organized, from complex to simple, from the least automatic to the most automatic.* What has been said above with regard to the general law of reversion of memory might be repeated here, and it is not one of the least significant proofs of its exactitude that it should be verified in cases of partial amnesia, the most important, the most systematic, and the best known of all affections of the memory. There is still space for a counter-proof. When amnesia of signs is complete and recovery begins, do they return in inverse order to that in which they disappeared? Illustrations are rare. I find, however, a case recorded by Dr. Grasset of a man who was seized with "complete inability of expressing his thoughts either by speech, by writing, or by gestures. After a time the faculty of

*It is a remarkable fact that many subjects of aphasia who are unable to write are still capable of signing their names.

expression returned little by little, first manifesting itself through gestures, then through speech and writing." 99 * It is probable that other examples of this kind might be found if special attention were given to the subject by qualified ob

servers.

* "Revue des sciences médicales," etc., 1873, t. ii, p. 684.

CHAPTER IV.

EXALTATIONS OF MEMORY, OR HYPERMNESIA.

Up to this point our pathological study has been limited to forms destructive of memory; we have thus seen its diminution or effacement. But there are cases entirely opposite in character, where functions that were apparently obliterated are revived, and vague recollections attain to extraordinary intensity. Is this exaltation of memory, which physicians term hypermnesia, a morbid phenomenon? It is, at least, an anomaly. And, as it is always associated with some organic disorder, or with some curious or unusual condition, there can be no doubt that it comes within the province of this work. Its study is less instructive than that of amnesia, but a monograph should neglect nothing that may throw light upon the subject in hand. We shall see, moreover, that it teaches us something with regard to the persistence of recollections.

tial.

Excitations of memory are general or par

I.

General excitation of memory is difficult to define, since the degree of excitation is entirely relative. It would be necessary to compare memory with memory as existing in the same person. The power of memory varying with the individual, there is no common measure; amnesia with one may be hypermnesia in another. It is, in fact, a change of tone produced in the memory as in all other forms of psychical activity, thought, imagination, sensibility. Moreover, when we say that excitation is general, we only state a reasonable induction. As memory is subject to the condition of consciousness, and as consciousness is only evolved in the form of a succession, all that we can say is that, during a greater or less period of time, a multitude of recollections spring up on every side. General excitation of memory seems. to depend entirely upon physiological causes, and particularly upon the rapidity of the cerebral circulation. Hence, it frequently appears in acute fevers. It is still more common in maniacal excitation, in ecstasy, in hypnotism; sometimes it appears in hysteria and in the early stages of certain diseases of the brain.

Aside from these cases which are distinctively pathological, there are others of a more extraordinary nature, which probably arise from the same

cause. There are several accounts of drowned persons saved from imminent death who agree that at the moment of asphyxia they seemed to see their entire lives unrolled before them in the minutest incidents. One of them testifies that "every instance of his former life seemed to glance across his recollection in a retrograde succession, not in mere outline, but the picture being filled with every minute and collateral feature,” forming “a kind of panoramic picture of his entire existence, each act of it accompanied by a sense of right and wrong." An analogous case is that of "a man of remarkably clear head," who "was crossing a railway in the country when an express train at full speed appeared closely approaching him. He had just time to throw himself down in the center of the road between the two lines of rails, and as the vast train passed over him, the sentiment of impending danger to his very existence brought vividly into his recollection every incident of his former life in such an array as that which is suggested by the promised opening of 'the great book at the last great day.'"* Even allowing for exaggeration, these instances show a superintensity of action on the part of the memory of which we can have no idea in its normal state.

* For these cases, and others of like nature, see Forbes Winslow, op. cit., p. 303, et seq.