5. CHAPTER V.
DR. DIGGS'S STATEMENT.
My name is David Diggs. I am a surgeon living
at No. 9 Tottenham Court. On the 15th of June,
1854, I was called to see an elderly gentleman lodging
on the Kent Road. Found him highly excited,
with strong febrile symptoms, pulse 120, increasing.
Repeated incoherently what I judged to be the popular
form of a conundrum. On closer examination
found acute hydrocephalus and both lobes of the
brain rapidly filling with water. In consultation
with an eminent phrenologist, it was further discovered
that all the organs were more or less obliterated
except that of Comparison. Hence the patient was
enabled to only distinguish the most common points
of resemblance between objects, without drawing
upon other faculties, such as Ideality or Language,
for assistance. Later in the day found him sinking
—being evidently unable to carry the most ordinary
conondrum to a successful issue. Exhibited Tinct.
Val., Ext. Opii, and Camphor, and prescribed quiet
and emollients. On the 17th the patient was missing.
