Lasting Memory Research Articles

The transient global amnesia syndrome. A defect in the second stage of memory in man.

IN 1964 C. Miller Fisher and Raymond D. Adams reported in detail 17 cases of a new syndrome which they called transient global amnesia, 1 characterized by a sudden loss of ability to lay down lasting memory traces of any kind, essentially without other neurological impairment, lasting for a period of hours with apparent complete recovery. These authors were able to find only one previous report describing a group of 12 patients who probably also represent examples of this syndrome. 2 Since then, we have been impressed with the relative frequency of occurrence of this phenomenon. In the space of one year, seven cases have been referred to the Division of Neurology, four of these while the patient was having an attack. Four patients were seen personally by one of us (E.C.S), two of them during the attack. Aside from the question of etiology, which has not yet been

Loss of recent memory after bilateral hippocampal lesions.

Bilateral medial temporal lobe resection in man results in a persistent impairment of recent memory whenever the removal is carried far enough posteriorly to damage portions of the anterior hippocampus and hippocampal gyrus. This conclusion is based on formal psychological testing of nine cases (eight psychotic and one epileptic) carried out from one and one-half to four years after operation. The degree of memory loss appears to depend on the extent of hippocampal removal. In two cases in which bilateral resection was carried to a distance of 8 cm posterior to the temporal tips the loss was particularly severe. Removal of only the uncus and amygdala bilaterally does not appear to cause memory impairment. A case of unilateral inferior temporal lobectomy with radical posterior extension to include the major portion of the hippocampus and hippocampal gyrus showed no lasting memory loss. This is consistent with Milner and Penfield's negative findings in a long series of unilateral removals for temporal lobe epilepsy. The memory loss in these cases of medial temporal lobe excision involved both anterograde and some retrograde amnesia, but left early memories and technical skills intact. There was no deterioration in personality or general intelligence, and no complex perceptual disturbance such as is seen after a more complete bilateral temporal lobectomy. It is concluded that the anterior hippocampus and hippocampal gyrus, either separately or together, are critically concerned in the retention of current experience. It is not known whether the amygdala plays any part in this mechanismi, since the hippocampal complex has not been removed alone, but always together with uncus and amygdala.

The Twenty-Fifth Maudsley Lecture—Henry Maudsley: His Work and Influence

The keen pleasure I felt when I was invited to deliver this lecture arose not only from the honour which it conferred, but also because it offered an opportunity to link again the lecture founded in Henry Maudsley's memory with the hospital which is the living witness to his wisdom and generosity. The first Maudsley Lecture was given by Sir James Crichton Browne, a contemporary and friend of Maudsley; the second was given at the Maudsley Hospital by Sir Frederick Mott, who had seen much of him during the last decade of his life. Since then very few of those called to give this lecture had had any personal contact with him, and it seems appropriate that now, a hundred years after Maudsley entered University College Hospital as an apprentice, when he has become for most of us a shadowy figure of the Victorian past, I should attempt to revive the memory of what he did during his life and consider how his work lives on after him—most of all in the hospital and school where I, and so many more, have the privilege of working. Before I do this I would like to recall that on the list of Maudsley lecturers there is the name of Edward Mapother, a man singularly close to Maudsley in temperament and outlook, who carried forward the Maudsley Hospital in the spirit of its Founder's intention, and who would have been ideally fitted, in the 1939 lecture entrusted to him, to deal with the theme I am entering upon; unfortunately the war and his failing health came between, and Prof. Mapother never delivered the lecture. Sir James Crichton Browne compared Maudsley with Mercier; I compare Maudsley with Mapother, and recognize that in each generation there are men of rare gifts, severe in self-discipline, with strong and consistent purpose, who, in psychiatry as in other fields, accomplish much good and leave behind a lasting memorial.

The American Institute of Electrical Engineers

IN commemoration of the fiftieth anniversaryof its foundation, on May 13, 1884, the American Institute of Electrical Engineers has issued a very interesting memorial number of Electrical Engineering, representing the official monthly journal and trans actions. This number, published in May, and con taining more than two hundred pages, is dedicated “To the lasting memory of those public spirited leaders who founded and built to its, present eminence the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, and to the inspiration of those of the present and future generations who will continue the constructive leader ship of this agency for professional development”. Among the famous names of contributors to this issue arethose of A. E. Kennelly, who writes on “The Work of the Institute in Standardization”, C. A. Adams on “Some Major Events in the Life of the Institute”, E.W.Rice, Jr., on “A Century of Progress in 50 Years”, M. I. Pupin on “The Equation of Electrical Propagation”, while Elihu Thomson and D. C. Jackson deal respectively with “Some High Lights of Electrical History” and “The Evolution of Electrical Engineering”.

Dr. William Carruthers, F.R.S

DR. WILLIAM CARRUTHERS, who died on June 2 at the age of ninety-two years, was a familiar figure in the botanical world in the latter half of the last century. He was born at Moffat, Dumfries, in 1830, and educated at Edinburgh with the view of entering the Presbyterian ministry, but decided in favour of a scientific career. In 1859 he was appointed assistant in the Department of Botany of the British Museum to J. J. Bennett, who had recently succeeded Robert Brown as Keeper of the department. In 1871 Dr. Carruthers followed Bennett in the Keepership, which he held until his retirement in 1895. His tenure of office was marked by a great development of the department. The removal of the natural history collections to the new museum in the Cromwell Road in 1881 afforded a unique opportunity for improvement and expansion; and the arrangement and equipment of the suite of galleries assigned to botany, including the great herbarium and the excellent botanical library, approached through a fine exhibition gallery, are a lasting memorial of Dr. Carruthers's knowledge and skill. The development of the Cryptogamic Herbarium, with the help of Mr. George Murray, and of the special British Herbarium, based on the collection of his chief assistant, Dr. Henry Trimen, the arrangement of the valuable collection of original botanical drawings and manuscripts, the planning of the exhibition galleries, and the initiation of a series of botanical monographs, such as Crombie's Enumeration of the British Lichens and Lister's Monograph of the Mycelozoa, may be recalled as incidents of his tenure. A fuller appreciation of these activities by another colleague, Mr. James Britten, will be found in the Journal of Botany, 1895.

The Celebration of the Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the Royal Society of London, July 15-19, 1912

THE interesting events in connection with the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the RoyaJ Society in July, 1912, were reported in these columns at the time, and the contents of this volume consequently cover ground familiar to our readers. This permanent record of the proceedings contains a full list of delegates and verbatim accounts of the addresses, speeches, telegrams, and letters addressed to the Society from learned societies and other bodies throughout the world. With the new edition of the “Record” of the Society, and the facsimile reproduction of the pages of signatures of the fellows in the Charter book, from that of the Royal founder down to those entered in the summer of 1912, it will form an appropriate and lasting memorial of a noteworthy celebration.

The Spectra of Bright Southern Stars 1

THE well-known researches on stellar spectra which have been carried on for many years at the Harvard College Observatory under the direction of Prof. E. C. Pickering have now reached another very definite stage. The publication of the Draper Catalogue in 1890 put us in possession of the general characteristics of the spectra of more than 10,000 stars, and this work will long remain a monument to the skill of Prof. Pickering, besides fulfilling its original purpose as a lasting memorial of Dr. Henry Draper (NATURE, vol. xlv. p. 427). Following this, a detailed description and classification of the spectra of 681 of the brighter stars north of –30°, based upon photographs taken with relatively large dispersion, was published in 1897 (NATURE, vol. lvi. p. 206). The establishment of a branch observatory in the southern hemisphere, at Arequipa, Peru, has enabled Prof. Pickering to extend the inquiry to the southern stars, with results described in the volume under notice.

A Monument to a Famous Japanese Cartographer and Surveyor

A Monument to a Famous Japanese Cartographer and Surveyor