It  is  extraordinary  how  acute  the  sense  of  hearing
occasionally  becomes  in  certain  forms  of  delirium.  I
was  informed  by  a  distinguished  living  physician  that
he  was  able,  when  in  a  state  of  cerebral  exaltation,  whilst
occupying  a  room  at  the  top  of  the  house,  to  hear  with
remarkable  clearness  the  conversation  taking  place  in  the
kitchen.  I  have  witnessed  some  remarkable  instances  of
this  phenomenon  in  the  early  as  well  as  advanced  stages
of  brain  disease.
Dr.  Elliotson  attended  a  gentleman,  about  forty  years
of  age,  who  had  suddenly  an  attack  of  hemiplegia,  and
whilst  in  bed  he  heard  the  least  sound  at  the  bottom  of
the  house  with  an  acuteness  which  surprised  him ;  and
could  tell  the  hour  by  a  watch  placed  on  a  table  at  such
a  distance  from  his  bed  as  to  have  rendered  it  impossible
for  him  to  distinguish  the  hands  when  he  was  in  health.
1  \ ALTAT10N    OF    THE    SENSE  OP  HEARING.  595

A  patirnt,  for  nearly  a  week  previously  to  an  attack
of  inflammation  of  the  brain,  complained  to  those  imme-
diately about  him  of  great  exaltation  of  the  sense  of
hearing.  In  another  case,  for  a  few  hours  prior  to  an
apoplectic  seizure,  the  patient  remarked  to  his  son  that,
when  in  a  distant  part  of  the  house,  he  could,  and,  in  fact,
did  hear  distinctly  a  conversation  that  was  taking  place
in  the  dining-room  at  a  time  when  no  one  else  could  dis-
tinguish the  sound  of  human  voices !

I  have  often  witnessed  in  the  brain  affections  of
children,  particularly  in  scrofulous  diseases  of  this  organ
and  its  investing  membranes,  a  sudden  acuteness  of  this
sense  preceding  the  manifestation  of  more  formidable
and  fatal  cerebral  symptoms.
