Diseases of memory : an essay in the positive psychology / by Th. Ribot ; tr. from the French by William Huntington Smith.

  • Théodule-Armand Ribot
Date:
1882
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Diseases of memory : an essay in the positive psychology / by Th. Ribot ; tr. from the French by William Huntington Smith. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    cian a detailed history of his case clearly ex- pressed and in a legible hand. We also have the testimony of patients themselves after recovery. I had forgotten all the words I knew, said one of them, '' but I retained fnlly my consciousness and will-power. I knew very well what I wanted to say, yet could not say it. When you [the physician] questioned me, I understood perfectly ; I made every effort to reply, but it was impossi- ble to remember a word.* Rostran, a physician, suddenly attacked, was unable to speak or write a single word, but ana- lyzed the symptoms of his malady and sought to connect it with some special lesion of the brain, as if he were in attendance at a medical consultation. In another case, that of Lordat, the patient was capable of comprehending a lecture and of classifying its heads in his mind, but, when his thoughts sought expression in speech or writing, he was helpless, although there was no paralysis. f 2. Does this amnesia depend, as suggested above, especially upon the motor elements? In establishing the necessary existence of motor * Legroux, De l'aphasie, p. 96. t For details, see Trousseau, op. cit. Lordat was an ardent spiritualist, and from that point of view drew conclusions with regard to the independence of the mind. He deceived himself. In the judgment of those who knew him, he did not regain his original faculties after nominal recovery. See Proust, op. cit.