We read, in an American journal, that a man, previous to an attack of mania which lasted several years, had placed his work tools in the hollow of a tree. To them no allusion was made during the period of his disorder. When, however, this passed off, he directed his son to fetch them, believing that he left them only yesterday.
In the same book, too, we learn of that lady who became maniacal as she was engaged in needle-work. For seven years she thought not of this; but directly she recovered, she asked for her needle-work and canvass. The same may occur in intoxication also, which is but another form of delirium. In Mr. Combe’s work we are told of a drunken man who left a parcel at a wrong house. When sober, he recollected nothing of the circumstance; but when again intoxicated, he soon remembered his error, and reclaimed the parcel.
Astr. These cases form high contrasts with Hamlet’s proof of insanity:
——“Bring me to the test,
And I the matter will reword, which madness
Wou’d gambol from.”
Ev. Yet if you analyze their nature you will find them even proofs of derangement; for you thus see that the faculty of memory is changed according to the state of mind. In the following case, by Dr. Abercrombie, we shall find the same variation in impression and taste. A girl, in her early youth, expressed her abhorrence of tunes played on the violin, which she termed a discordant fiddle. She was after this introduced into more refined society, and became a somnambulist. During her paroxysm she imitated the beautiful airs which she said she had formerly heard on this same violin.
Lieutenant C—— was once my patient, and died a maniac. The insanity arose from thwarted ambition, and was confirmed by his notion that he had seen his death-fetch. For some time he walked and talked in his sleep; subsequently he would walk for an hour round the table unconsciously. In him, too, was this change of feeling. He once talked little, and cared less for his child; but now he would caress it fondly, and expressed the deepest anxiety for it. It was difficult to decide, at times, whether this gentleman was awake or not; indeed, these states of mania, which have been termed “melancholia errabunda” by Bellini and Montalti, are closely allied to somnambulism, for the walker is absorbed in deep thought, and totally unconscious of his actions. And the analogy appears to have been recognised by the law. It is well known that the brother of Lord Colepeper, who was a great dreamer and somnambulist, shot a guardsman and his horse. He was found guilty; but he was pardoned on the ground of his complete unconsciousness in his somnambulism.
We do not wonder more to see the perfection with which these unconscious labours of the somnambulist are performed, than at the ease and power which is evinced, and the very slight fatigue which ensues; although the occupation might have been most laborious.
As in chorea the most delicate girls will dance incessantly for twenty-four hours, resting merely for one sole hour; and yet they will sit down perfectly cool and free from fatigue.