2 Losses 4 poignant situation, In hospital he eould recognise nobody en Fothing, and warinan amostoxaels fienzy ofdisrientation, But tyhen his wife took him home, tas house which was in elect 2 ime cap! of his pe-amnesia das, hefeltinsantly at home, He recognised everthing tapped the barometer, checked the therrno- at, took his favourite armchair, as he used to do. He spoke of neighbour, shops, thelocal pub, aneatby cinema, asthey had been in the mi-Seventies, He was ditresed and puzaled ifthe smallest changes were made inthe house (You chang the cutainstoday he once expotulated to his wife, How com? So suddenly? They ‘sere green this momingButthey had not been geen since 1976.) He recognised mot of the neighbouring houses and shops—they had changed itl between 1978 and 1983—but was ewidered by the replacement ofthe einem (How conld the tear it down and itu asupermacket oemight), He recognise ends and neigh touss—but found them ody older thin he expected (Old sorand so) He’ realy showing his age, Never noticed itbefore, How come ‘everyones showing their age today?) But the real poignancy, the Fhoror, would accarwhen hiswafebrought him back brought him, ina fantastic and unaccountable manner (so he fl), to a strange home he had neverseen, fll of tanger, and then lfthim. ‘What fare you doing? he would scream, terrified and confuse, What in the hel is this place? What heels going on” These scenes were imo nbeatable to Watch, and must have seemed like madness ‘or nightmare, to the patent. Metifilly ethaps he would forget them within couple of minutes Such patients, fsslited inthe ps, can ony beat home, oi ented, in the pst. Time, for them, has come fo 2 stop. Theat Stephen Rsiteaming with tertoe and confusion when he re turne—tereaming for 4 past which no longer exists, But what can ‘we do? Can we create a time-capile, a foton? Never bave [ Town a patient so confonted, v0 tormented, by anachronism, tues if as the ‘Rose Rf Avatenings (see ‘incontinent No talgia’, Chapter iste Himimie hs reached a sort of calm William (Chapter Twelve) continually confabulte, but Stephen ha a gaping time-weund, an agony that will never heal The Disembodied Lady ‘The aspects of things that are mest important for vs ate hidden because of thet simplicity and fmiaity, (Ones tunable to notice something because it lvays before one's eyes) The real foundations of bis enquiry dant se 2 man at all Wittgenstein ‘What Witgestin wits ee of epistemology, might apy spec of o's olla and pechology-epecally in real eg ieee rea tree eG that continuous but unconseios sens How rom tbe mevabe Fats of our bly (muscle, tendons, js), by Which hel pe ad he apd ote ae cont val mentored atl da Tats vay whlch i idden om us baru gaara (Ota gRe aera elena es eee ee Serer Manica tchiyeen tngtn, inthe 189 He named t‘proproceptn te danas it fom “xteroepion’ and intercept, al atonal, be cause of i inp for our sete of ours fr tony By enue of ropicetion, soo peak that we ee! out boll 2 proper to sa out ope ae Cur ov Sherngon 1506, ih) ‘Wet more inperant for at ay lsmeral eel bar contol, the owning and epention, of aus ov pia see And yeti sutomati, we lay, we never ge ita toug onal Miler produced beaifoltlenson tie The Bod) ## Losses In Question, But the body, normally is never in question: our bodies ate beyond quetion, oF perhaps benesth queston—they ate simply, unquestionably there, This unquestionably of the body, its certainty, is, for Witgenstein, the start and bass of all ‘knowledge end certznty. Thus in his last book (On Certaint), he opens by saying: ‘Ifyou do know that hee is one hand, well grant you al he ret” But then, in the same breath, onthe ame ‘pening page: "What we can ak is whether it can inake sense to doubt it 'j and, litle later, ‘Can T doubt if? Grounds for ‘doubt are lacking! Indeed, his book might be tiled On Doub, frit is marked by outing, no les than affuing, Specials, be wondes-—and fone in Sin may wonder whether thee thoughts were perhaps ‘lied by his working with patients in a hospital, in the watr= Fhe wonders whether there mist be situations or conditions which take avay the certainty ofthe body, which do give one grounds to doubt’ one body, perhaps indeed to lose one's entire bod in teal dub, This thought seems to haunt his lst book like a nightmare (Christina wae a strapping young woman of enty-seven, given to Hockey and riding, selfassured, robus, in body and mind. She Jnsd two young children, and worked ata computer progtmmet at home. She vas intliget and eulthated, fond ofthe ballet, nd of the Lakeland poets (but not, 1 would think of Witgen- Sein). She had an active, fll life--had sercely known a day's illness. Somewhat to her surprise, afer an attack of abdominal pain, she was found to have gallstones, and remoral of the eal: bladder ws avec, ‘She was admited to Hospital three days before the operation date, and placed on an antibiotic for microbial prophase, This svas purely routine, a precaution, no complications of any sort ‘being expected at ll. Christina understood this and being a sea sible sul had no seat anaes. ‘The day before surgery Christina, not usually given to fancies ‘or ears, hada disturbing dream of peculiar intensity. She was saying wilds, in her diam, very unsteady on her feet, could hat fel the ground Beneath het, could harly feel anything in ‘The Dsemboid Lady 5 her ha found then Bling a oping hater she picked up. Nenana She was drsed by thi drum, (1 never a one ie she sil Get of ny md} esl at we The collapse of tne and muscle pete, fo tp to tore sndring of her handy hich she eed wnat healing ail oreo th wee eating no matin Hom he psp 8 the cota lee for ane and moet he ccatastrophically broken dawn. i e ted i a snge stewent Lal othe resents 1s alnot Iposibe agin what mi role sch sateen "Butts hye Dr Sacked the phi 0 Ye he i. Buthave you ee sen «teak et Think phenomenleill= take what you ses ene penonenc In which her tected and atm ate nl feos, nd6 Losses 4 prvehophical whole, Could anything give such a picture of “undermined Body and mind? "Van not testing you,’ | add. ‘Yin as bevridered as you are Tye neser seen or imagined anything gute Like this before thouelit, and they thought, we thought together. “Could it be bipatietalevndcome” one of therm asked “its an "as iP {answered au ifthe parietal lobes were not ectng their ual sensory information. Le’ do some sensory ts ‘nga test parietal lobe Function, to. ‘We did so, and a picture began to emerge, There seemed to bea very profound, almost total, proprioceptive deft, gong from the tvs of her toes to her head—the parietal lobes were working Fut had nothing to work with Ghrsana might have hysteria, but she had a get del more, of soe which none of us had ever seen or conceived before, We put in an emergency call now, not to the psychiatrist, but to the physical medicine seca, the pst i He artived promptly, responding to the urgency of thé call. He opened hit eyes very we when he saw Cheistna, examined her ‘vit and comprehensively, and then proceeded oeecrical ets Gf nerve and rule funeton, "This & quite extaoednary,” he ‘aid. have never seen of tead about anything like this before She hat lot all proprioception—you'te iht-—rom top to toe. She has si muscle or tendon of joint sense whatever, There i slight loss of other sensory molives—to light touch, tempera ture, and pain, and light involvement ofthe motor bes, too. But it predominant postion-sense—propdocepion—which has sustained sich damage ‘What’ th cause? we asked. ‘Youre the neurologiss, You find cut By afternoon, Christina was lll worse, She ay motionless and ‘oneles even her breathing was shallow, Her Stuston was grae— sve thought ofa respiatoras well as strange “The picture reveled by spinal tap was one of an acute pol nets, but 2 plyneusits of a most exceptional type not lke Guillain-Barré syndrome, with its overwhelming motor inoliex rent, Buta purely for simost pels) sensor’ neuritis, affecting ‘The Disebied Lacy v the sensory oot of spinal and cranial nerves throughout the neu- Operation was defered; it would have been madness a this time. Much move pressing were the questions ‘Wil she survive? What can we do ‘What's the verdict?” Christina sted, with a faint voice and fainter smile afer we had checked her spinal fluid ‘You've got this inflammation, this neuritis..." we began, and fold ber all we knew. When we forgot something, or hedged, her clear questions biought us back "Will get bette?” she demanded, We looked at each other, and at hen "We have no ides ‘The sense ofthe body I fold er, isgver by thre things vison, balance organs ithe vestbulae stem, and prpsioception-—vhieh shed lost. Normally all of thee wotked together Ione fled, the others could compensate, of substitute-to a degree. In pt tiula, [told of my patient Mr MacGregor, ho, unable to er ploy his balance organs used his ejes instead sce below, Chapter Seven), And of patients with neuteryphil, aber donalis, who had similar symptoms, but confined to the leg-—and how they too ad fo compensate by use of their ees ce Positional Ph toms! in Chapter Six), And how, iLone asked such a patient to move his Tes, he was apt to say ‘Sure, Doo, as saon as I id them, Cristina litened closely, with a sont of desperate anton. ‘What I must do then,’ she said slowly, ste vse, use my jes in every situation where f-uied-—what do you eal t— proprioception before Ive already noticed, se added, musing, ‘hat I may “lose” my arm, Tthink he’ ane place and | find they're anther, This “proprioception” slike the eyes ofthe bd, the wav’ the body secs itself. And if t goes, a5 t's gone with me, its ike the boy's blind. My body can't “sce” ise i is ast 3, right? So Ihave to saleh tbe i eyes, Right “Such sce ponerse ct, te me Whe ae a Cie tn ove te bet as Flee whe ie av Ty ate ‘try ssi dated seve ye on re thebestof thedamae Base Sera 1979,