Neglected
How unfortunate would be
a beautiful little poem,
composed by an old poet
who forgot to save it
on the computer
and his Alzheimeric mind!
a beautiful little poem,
composed by an old poet
who forgot to save it
on the computer
and his Alzheimeric mind!
The Lost Poem -- Curtis Ripley
While Aloysius Alzheimer was working at the "Irrenschloss" (Castle of the Insane), as the Städtische Anstalt für Irre und Epileptische (Asylum for Lunatics and Epileptics) in Frankfurt am Main was known, he studied "Auguste D," a patient in her early 50s who displayed a loss of short-term memory, delusions, temporary vegetative states and other strange behavioral symptoms. Alzheimer concluded that she had no sense of time or place; she could barely remember details of her life and frequently gave incoherent answers that had nothing to do with the question; her moods changed rapidly between anxiety, mistrust, withdrawal, and whininess; and she could not be permitted to wander around the wards because she would accost other patients, who would then assault her, though she seemed to conscious of her mental deterioartion. His work with her began in 1901 and continued even after he joined his mentor Emil Kraepelin at the Royal Psychiatric Hospital in München, until her death in 1906 from sepsis caused by an infected bedsore. Having arranged to have her records and brain sent to him in München and found senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, which became the hallmarks of what he called the "Disease of Forgetfulness." He 1st presented his findings to a meeting of the Southwest German Psychiatrists held at Tübingen, but the attendees did not bother to ask any questions or make any remarks apparently they were preoccupied in anticipation of the next presentation, on compulsive masturbation. In 1907 he published a paper detailing the disease and his findings, but he never authored a book. Kraepelin dubbed it Alzheimer's disease in 1910 in his chapter on "Presenile and Senile Dementia" for the 8th edition of his "Ein Lehrbuch der Psychiatrie" (A Textbook: Foundations of Psychiatry and Neuroscience). Alzheimer was appointed professor of psychiatry at the Universität Breslau in 1912 but collapsed en route to the appointment and died 2 months later at 51.
ReplyDeleteParts of his examinations of Auguste Deter were published in 1996:
"What are you eating?"
"Spinach." (She was chewing meat.)
"What are you eating now?"
"First I eat potatoes and then horseradish."
"Write a '5'."
She writes: "A woman"
"Write an '8'."
She writes: "Auguste" (While she is writing she repeatedly says, "I have lost myself, so to say.")
....
"What is your name?"
"Auguste."
"Family name?"
"Auguste."
"What is your husband's name?" - she hesitates, finally answers:
"I believe ... Auguste."
"Your husband?"
"Oh, so!"
"How old are you?"
"Fifty-one."
"Where do you live?"
"Oh, you have been to our place."
"Are you married?"
"Oh, I am so confused."
"Where are you right now?"
"Here and everywhere, here and now, you must not think badly of me."
"Where are you at the moment?"
"We will live there."
"Where is your bed?"
"Where should it be?"
Thank the wonderful editor, Duane, for such a discriptive comment and scientific history of Alzheimer's.
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