Note 257 — Chapter XIV · THE DECAY OF THE AFFECTIVE LIFE.

Ireland (Journal of Mental Science, July 1894) has published some observations which tend to favour the idea of this slow retrogression in dementia. He gives the case of a patient, sinking into dementia, who not only retained her musical ability, but could even pick up new tunes; and mentions cases where the patient, seated before a piano, could play old melodies though incapable of anything else. A girl, aged fourteen, became demented through brain fever and had ceased to speak, save a few words, but was still fond of music and would play fragments of tunes.tunes. Two lady patients, though incoherent in speech, played with great accuracy on the piano—one by ear only, the other from musical notes, although she was quite unable to read a book, etc. (Perhaps in this last case there was “word-blindness” applying to words only.)