two years, with the intelligence of a child of five. He is the eldest 
of three children, the brother and sister being strong and healthy, 
both mentally and physically. Family history good, with no trace 
of nervous or mental disease. The parents, people of exceptional 
refinement and intelligence, are distantly related, the maternal grand- 
mother and paternal grandmother being cousins german. Paternal 
grandfather died of some kidney trouble (form unknown) aged 
forty; maternal grandmother of some heart disease (form also un- 
known) aged sixty-seven. Father thirty- two and mother twenty 
at time of this child's birth. Born at full term, ordinary labor, 
nursed by mother ; had no peculiarities beyond an unusually large 
head, and a perfectly healthy infant up to sixteen months showing, 
the father says, no indication of mental disease ; during teething he 
had petit tnalj gradually followed by prolonged spasms, and at the 
age of four developed true epilepsy, any excitement precipitating an 
attack. He began to talk with the ease of a normal child, but early developed a habit of peculiar repetition ; learned the alphabet and to 
repeat with facility Mother Goose rhymes, which he craved to have 
sung to him daily. His precocious memory just at this period, 
coupled with these abnormal repetitions, first attracted the attention 
of those about him as evidencing something wrong. 

In disposition he was gentle, easily governed, social, liking the 
presence of other children although not joining in their plays, would 
spend hours apart amusing himself with blocks or by weaving 
strings. 

He had the usual diseases of childhood ; a severe attack of diph- 
theria was followed by vasomotor paralysis of the left side of the 
face, which gradually yielded to treatment. 

Upon first entering school, he cried a great deal and talked con- 
stantly about " a nice packer o' pins and a buggy and wagon." Sight 
and hearing good, speech limited, and enunciation slightly defective ; 
nervous, restless, and self-willed, working himself into a fury when 
thwarted ; muttering incoherently to himself, he spent a great deal of 
time twirling and untwirling a string until at last his nervous fingers 
found employment in knitting ; in this he accomplished quite difficult 
patterns without assistance, himself setting up the required number 
of stitches and adding as directed. 

He can now count to fifty ; is fond of music ; is unable to read and 
write, but household service has proved a means of development 
for him, as he has learned to wash dishes, sweep and dust, and is 
orderly and methodical to a degree quite remarkable for one of his 
intellectual grade; thus he will voluntarily gather up all the litter 
from the floor, winding the strings into a ball, and on leaving the 
school-room never forgets to say : " Kirtie come to school this after- 
noon !" " Kirtie come to school to-morrow !" " Kirtie come to school 
Monday morning !" as the period may be, without once misplacing 
time or event. This he does day after day, invariably speaking of 
himself in the third person. 

From this it will be seen that he has a certain degree of intelli- 
gence, although he still passes much time in a corner smiling and 
muttering vacant repetitions ; repeating whatever he hears, his 
thoughts are those of others and his speech is automatic. When 
addressed, he rarely fails in repetition before reply. Thus one mayask: "How old are you, Kirtie?" and he will immediately repeat, 
taking words and tones, " How old are you, Kirtie ?" But here may 
be noted a departure from the habit of precision before mentioned. 
He is now twenty-two years of age, and yet to the question, " How 
old are you, Kirtie ?" following the invariable repetition, " How old 
are you, Kirtie?" comes the answer, "Twelve." Though accepting 
the suggestion that he is now twenty-two, he will, after a few 
moments, give the same reply, " Twelve." This is the only indi- 
cation he gives of any loss of memory, and, indeed, I think it may 
show rather the presence of some strong overlaying association with 
that number. His keen sense of association is shown further in the 
following instance : A companion of whom he was very fond died, 
and some four years later, after attending a service of song, on being 
questioned as to where he had been he replied, " Heaven, heaven — 
home, Joe Zun — die song — heaven," the hymn, " Heaven is my 
Home," evidently recalling his loss. 

His memory is, indeed, phenomenal. He recalls not only the 
visits of his parents and other incidents occurring during the year, 
but also the names of boys and attendants he has neither seen nor 
heard of for years, and he will sit talking to himself of them. He 
catches readily both the words and music of all the popular songs at 
first hearing, repeating the words almost verbatim, or, if substi- 
tuting, giving equivalents. 

One of the most interesting experiments with him appears all the 
more wonderful when we consider his low mentality. As before 
stated, he not only repeats words, but also imitates the voice and 
tone of the speaker and frequently follows accurately in pantomime 
every movement. One afternoon I gave him, in rapid succession, 
words and sentences in nine different languages : English, French, 
German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Greek and Norwegian, 
and each time, I found that although the words were unfamiliar and 
would have been difficult for an ordinary person, certainly for a nor- 
mal child, Kirtie took the pronounciation with facility, his voice 
keeping pace with mine as I repeated : 

" I am here with thee and thy goats, as the most capricious poet, 
honest Ovid, was among the Goths." 

" Liberty ! Freedom ! Tyranny is dead ! Run hence, proclaim it 
— cry about the streets, liberty, freedom, and enfranchisement!"

" Pas a pas on va bien loin."

" Wir seufzen im nachtlichen Winde. Vom Zweige ein Wink 
so fern." 

" Superabundantissimente." 

" Vedi ! le fosche notturne spoglie, de'cieli sveste I'immensa volta." 

" Namu mio ho ren ge Rio." 

" Potentissimus est qui se habet in potestate." 

" Zoe mou sas agapo." 

" Min norske vinter er s vakker, med hoida snebedakte bakker 
og gronne gran med pudret haar." 

On another occasion he followed me in the same words through 
three different tones and inflections of voice — the first a mere 
whisper, the last amounting to a shout, his voice always keeping 
tally with mine. "How do you do, Kirtie?" "How do you do, 
Ivirtie ? Pretty well." I repeated the question in the same voice, 
then suddenly changing, I asked the question in a loud voice : 
" Are you well, Kertie ?" He, expecting the other question, shouted 
back, "How do you do, Kirtie? Pretty well." I, realizing that his 
answer was automatic and that there was no reasoning in it, 
repeated the question three times before he grasped the change, 
when he replied, " Are you well, Kirtie ? Yes." Placing my hat on 
the floor, I said, " Go get my hat, Kirtie." This the boy repeated 
three times without attempting to move from his seat, seeming not 
to understand. Finally, picking up the hat and tossing it from me, 
I repeated the request, and, as if aroused by the action, he brought 
it, still repeating, " Go get my hat, Kirtie." " Thank you," I said, 
" Thank you, thank you, thank you ; you are welcome," he replied. 
" What did you take out of Miss Annie's room ?" " What 
did you take out of Miss Annie's room? Pins. Must not steal 
pins to put in coat." " What did B. B. do on the base-ball 
field?" " What did B. B. do on the base-ball field? Ran away home. 
Bad boy," and so on, with infinite repetition. 

He is extravagantly fond of blocks, with which he will amuse 
himself for hours. Some years ago he contracted the habit, when 
irritated, of deliberately tearing his clothing to pieces, especially his 
stockings. The deprivation of his favorite plaything was found to 
be the best discipline for this offense. Now, when his nurse attempts to put away his blocks, he will say, " Do not take away blocks ; will 
not tear any more." If asked if he will loan or give a block, he will 
reply after repeating the question, " No, no, I will not tear my 
clothes," and when asked what clothes, replies, " My stockings." Oc- 
casionally, if his play is interrupted by a spasm, the blocks will be 
scattered, but on regaining consciousness he immediately gathers 
them up, knowing exactly both their position and their number. 

Attention is here called to the fact that this case is associated with