April in Paris (Song)

In the course of a two-hour recording, she raised her finger on three occasions, and each time she did this the EEG pens clattered, and transcribed spikes and sharp waves in the temporal lobes of the brain. This confirmed that she was indeed having temporal-lobe seizures, which, as Hughlings Jackson guessed and Wilder Pen-field proved, are the invariable basis of 'reminiscence' and experiential hallucinations. But why should she suddenly develop this strange symptom? I obtained a brainscan, and this showed that she had indeed had a small thrombosis or infarction in part of her right temporal lobe. The sudden onset of Irish songs in the night, the sudden activation of musical memory-traces in the cortex, were, apparently, the consequence of a stroke, and as it resolved, so the songs 'resolved' too. By mid-April the songs had entirely gone, and Mrs O'C. was herself once again. I asked her at this point how she felt about it all, and, in particular, whether she missed the paroxysmal songs she heard. 'It's funny you should ask that,' she said with a smile. 'Mostly, I would say, it is a great relief ...»