This is a case study taken from Dr. Oliver Sacks book, "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat." (The Lost Mariner). It is the case study of Jimmie G., a healthy, handsome 49 year old man admitted to a home for the aged near New York City in early 1975.

Family history showed a normal happy childhood in a small town in the east. Jimmie graduated from high school and was drafted into the Navy in 1943, where he served as a radio operator on a submarine. He had had little contact with his family since graduation except for a brother he saw from time to time. Jimmie was always amazed when he saw his brother, he looked so old. He always thought he was just a young man.

The following partial transcript of a clinical interview in 1975, taken from Sack's book, illustrates Jimmies problem.

Dr: "What year is this, Mr. G?"

Jimmie: "Forty-five, man. What do you mean? We've won the war, FDR's dead, Truman's at the helm. There are great times ahead."

Dr: "And you Jimmie, how old would you be?"

Jimmie: "Why, I guess I'm nineteen, Doc. I'll be twenty next birthday."

Jimmie, quite simply, had an extreme loss of recent memory; in fact he has little or no memory for events that took place between 1975 and the late forties when he was still in the navy.

Reports from the Navy indicate that he was competent up to the time of his release in 1961. A medical report from Bellevue Hospital in 1971 indicated that he was admitted and was disoriented, and given the diagnosis of advanced orgainic brain-syndrome due to alcohol. Various neurological tests (EEG, scans) found no massive brain damage but did find some atropy in areas of the brain known today to be involved in the storage of long-term memories.

Intelligence tests showed excellent ability and particular apptitude for science and mathmatics. Jimmie was very good a mathmatical computations, but only if they could be done quickly; otherwise he would forget the first part of the problem and even what the question was.

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