MAN WHOSE MENTAL GROWTH MUST BEGIN AS FROM BABYHOOD

Shannon News, 12 July 1929, Page 1

MAN WHOSE MENTAL GROWTH MUST BEGIN AS FROM BABYHOOD

Miracle of Surgery

MEMORY DESTROYED IN MOTOR ACCIDENT

SYDNEY, Juno 27. A man with the brain of a child, learning to read and write, an old soldier, yet with no recollection of any of his life beyond the past few monthssucdi, in brief, is the record of James Madden, of Station street, StratWield, v/bose case is at once a living tragedy and a marvel of modern surgery. In March, 1928, Madden's body was found in a huddled heap at the foot of a 50ft. cliff between Cooktown and Gairns, in Queensland. There was ample evidence that the car he had driven at fast speed had skidded, hit a pole,, and Taken him over the awful drop. His skull Avas frightfully shattered, the left side being crushed in, and the wonder was that he was" even alive.

For fouV months lie lay in a noarby house in a Stupor, without having regained conscious life, and doctors, seizing a faint hope, had him removed carefully to Cairns. From there, in the hope that specialised' treatment might restore his senses,, he Avas brought to Sydney and admitted to Sydney Hospital, where 19 specialists in all looked over him and pronounced the case hopeless. His brain aauis functioning automatically, but only, like that of a lower animal, his right side was paralysed, and he was gradually losing his eyesight. He became a medical ‘ ‘ exhibit|” and the opinion avhk that he must eventually become insane and die. He Avas at this time like a feeble minded idiot, and caused many a sensation by wandering out into the street and demanding food. Desperate Surgery.

As a last desperate venture it was decided to operate, and a skilful Sydney surgeon lifted all the bone which was depressing the brain, cut it away, and left the brain covered only by its membrane and the skin of the scalp. It was necessary to lift half the scalp like a flap, and to handle the very brain itself.

The operation was carried out last Pccember, and it is from that point that Madden actually dates his whole life. Beyond that he cannot go, though he knows everything that has happened since. He had to be taught to eat and use his, fingers, to talk, to road, and to write again. His friends have visited him, but, beyond accepting them at their face value, his blank memory holds for them no place. Ho does not even remember that lie was a prominent business man in New yout! Wales before the accident, or that lie went to the war and won a medal Tor bravery. The alphabet came easily to bun, but he finds it most difficult to read and form his words. He learns the multi plication tables as a difficult feat, though before the accident he was regarded as an expert at figures. His position is remarkable in that, at an age between 30 and 40 years, lie is still only six months old. A week ago he had a fall and sut fered acute head hemorrhage. That he did not die is a miracle again, for the left side of his head is boneless, and a heavy knock there certainly relegate him to mental twilight again, specialists believe. They agree that, suddenly, memoiy may return to him like a flash; but it is 'more likely that continuous treatment. by mental specialists will be necessary to bring him to true realisation of what has gone before. Cases have been known in Sydney where lost memory has been regained as a result of a severe shock, but it is considered that in this instance prolonged courses of auto-suggestion an.l psycho-analysis will get better results. Madden, in the meantime, is a man with a one-way memory, and it will not travel backward. He is still a medical curiosity m Sydncy, and submits to examination by wondering surgeons without the slightest sign of self-consciousness.