WRONG PERTH

Hokitika Guardian, 15 January 1932, Page 6

WRONG PERTH

AUSTRALIAN LOSES MONEY. LONDON, Jan. 7. “The Lancet” discloses a strange case of a man who went to Perth, Sect.* land, believing that lie was going; to Perth, West Australia. It is an instance of what doctors call hysterical fugue, in which memory is lost, but a single idea persists. Doctors in dial go of the case reveal that the man approached a Perth policeman at midnight and asked, “Where am TP He was greatly suprised when the policeman said Perth. The man replied, “But this is not Perth. That’s where I live.”

The man was taken to an asylum. He could not recall his name or his past history, though he had in his possession two Bank of England notes of £IOO each, and also the business cards .of a firm in Perth, West Australia.

Hypnosis was tried without effect, hut slowly the man’s memory returned. Then it was discovered that he had been a real estate salesman in West Australia. Finally his wife was found, and it "'as revealed that recently they had come from Australia to buy a small business in Somerset. The £2OO was the balance of the purchase price. Apparently the man became terrified at the idea of settling down after the free open-air life in Australia, lost his memory, and took a ticket to Perth, believing that he was going to West Australia.