for by the assumption that the malaria had affected the cerebral
centres, and in particular, the nerve-cells of the memory; that
such consequences of severe continuous fever were by no means uncommon,
and might last for an indefinite period. Meanwhile the young man
was now, by slow and painful application, doing his utmost to recover
his lost power and skill. Naturally, the subject was distasteful
to him, and he shrank from discussing it. Here the voice again spoke
to me through the tube, telling me to observe the young man, and
especially his face. On this I scanned his countenance with attention,
and remarked that it wore a singularly odd look,--the look of a
man advanced in years and experience. But that I surmised to be
a not unusual effect of severe fever.

"How old do you suppose the patient to be?" asked the interrogative voice.

"About twenty years old, I suppose," said I.

"He is a year old," rejoined the voice.

"A year! How can that be?"

"If you will not allow that he is only a year old, then you must admit
that he is sixty-five, for he is certainly either one or the other."

This enigma so perplexed me, that I begged my invisible informant
for a solution of the difficulty, which was at once vouchsafed in
the following terms:--

"Here is the history of your patient. The youth who was the proficient
and gifted student, who astonished his masters, and gave such brilliant