Finishing up with Plan C[1]
Having spent several months on the new plan of my Supervisor (Dr Geoff Winter) [2] I had made some progress. I was able to replicate and extend the experimental findings by Laabs (1974). Going further than Laabs I was able to show that an extended movement (distance memory through proprioception) could be disrupted much more by a distraction or another movement compared to location memory (position in space) which was much better remembered and reproduced. This could indicate that position memory was a higher cognitive (hippocampus & parietal lobe?) function; whereas the distance memory was more of a cerebella function.
I was also getting quite knowledgeable on the neuropsychological, anatomical, neurological and physiological aspects of movement and memory disorders (especially apraxia).
Curious College Collections
While I was still living in College as a residential Psychology Tutor (and de facto Clinical Psychologist) I was getting a reputation of someone who could be relied upon for confidential support. Indeed I was now a regular invitee amongst the College in-crowd of Tutors and Alumni. So I had to buy a tuxedo for the formal dinners and high table events, as I was getting to be annoying to my father when I repeatedly borrowed his formal (tails) outfit which he used for his Freemasons’ Lodge ceremonies. It was amongst these high table social circles that I became acquainted with two interesting bits of information:
A) There were passages and under-ground cellars in the College, kept locked and secret from the students and parents but certain of the College elite were permitted to store their wine and spirits collections there.
B) The College had very well established connections with the local wine industry (indeed three of the state’s oldest wine making families had sent their sons to the college and some of their offspring had percolated to the top – including 2 current Senior Tutors and a Warden).
Apart from the social capital attained via these pieces of information I eventually used them for another purpose – crime detection.
Curious College Coincidents – a crime?
This adventure began on a cold foggy work day morning when I was awoken at 6:38am by MAL in her sports gear. As I answered the door she was gasping and starting to swet.
‘Been jogging again?’ I asked rhetorically.
“Come quickly …Caspar please - bring your torch….” MAL spluttered now her left hip sagging as she grasped her left abdomen “Oohh – bloody stitch…” she groaned.
‘Sorry - be with you in a tick’ I awoke suddenly as I kicked off my slippers and put on my shoes then coat as I grabbed my torch and hat. We rushed out along the cloisters into the dark.
The fog was still thick on the Bullpaddock but seemed to be dispersing on the far cloisters of the court yard. We moved quickly in that direction but soon slowed because of the fog. MAL was quiet and leaned on my left shoulder, then tightened her grip as we reached the corner of the bluestone building. She startled and grabbed my left arm.
“Hear that?” MAL whispered pointing to the trees by the corner of the building. I heard faint and irregular rattling then a slight whoosh sound, accompanied by a subtle brightening of the fog in the trees about 30 feet away, but too dim to discern what it was we were struggling to see.
‘What the hell is that?’ I gasped.
Then all was quiet and the fog gradually dissipated into the trees.
‘OK - what’s going on MAL?’
“When I was jogging around the BullPaddock I heard a door bang and saw a glow in the fog over here and heard that strange noise only much louder and more frequent - What is it? I was too scared to go closer to investigate that’s why I went and got you.”
We walked along the bushes in the direction we thought the sound had been.
‘Oh shit -stop !…’ my torch lit up a pile of dog poo just as MAL was about to step in it. ‘Watch it!’ and then a step away was another small piece of the same coloured poo.
“Boy that was lucky - thanks for noticing!” MAL uttered in disgust. “You’d think that round here dog owners would be more responsible”.
‘Maybe - but what if they were trying to pick it up when they heard us coming and had to leave it.’ I speculated.
‘Look the poo was on the left side of the path - trained dogs are expected to keep to the left, maybe the dog was moving and the owner was in a hurry so it wasn’t picked up.’ We followed the path which led to the neighbouring St Peter’s (Catholic) College. There we saw some dog fur caught on a bush just at the verge of the College gate. I noticed it was whispy or silky with a mix of long white, black and light brown fur. Being curious I plucked the fur off the bush and stuffed into my shirt pocket.
Well the lights were coming on and the fog rapidly dissipating; soon the rest of the college was waking up and it seemed that there was nothing we could do. But as we were leaving the St Peters College yard a boy nearly ran into us coming around the corner.
‘Oy – be careful!’ I jumped out of his way.
“Sorry Sir – Oh Mr Pearson is that you?” said the surprised young man.
‘Is that you Simpson?’ suddenly it dawned on me this was one of my first year medical students.
“Yes sir I was just getting in a bit of a run before breakfast and classes….”
‘No doubt – that’s OK – can you tell me are there any dogs in this college?’
“No – not that I know Sir - officially they’re not allowed.”
‘OK thanks Simpson – see later’ – but he was already running down the path.
As MAL was still agitated after my Tutorial, I took her for coffee and walked with her to the University for her usual Physics lecture. She had decided to change her studies to Psychology and Sciences. Her lecturer in Physics 101 (Dr Chris Chalmers) was another residential college tutor, now at St Peter’s college. Indeed he was an old friend of our college’s Senior Tutor (Dr John Burgess). I had met him a few times as the senior Tutor’s guest at high table dinners. On those ceremonial occasions he seemed at ease and collegial, even jovially enjoying friendly banter about his exit from the Anglican College to the rival Catholic College.
It turns out Dr Chalmers & Dr Burgess were fellow science students and friends several years ago because their families were well established wine dynasties from the same wine region in the north of the state. I heard that Dr Chalmers used to Tutor at our college till he got his PhD and then took the Senior Tutor job at St Peter’s then the lecturership in Physics at the University. Meanwhile my colleague, Dr John Burgess had achieved his PhD in Chemistry much quicker and hence was promoted to Senior Tutor at our college (and University lecturer) ahead of Dr Chris Chalmers.
On this occasion I saw Dr Chalmers setting up for his lecture as MAL and I arrived in the lecture theatre. Although we weren’t well acquainted he should have given a friendly sign of recognition when he saw us at the top of the theatre steps. But no - he seemed upset and avoided eye contact. I noticed his left leg was twitching slightly as he turned to the overhead projector (OHP) and his left hand briefly tremored a little when he tried to underline a heading on the slide transparency with which he was going to start his presentation.
‘Hi Chris – ah - Dr Chalmers - I presume you know your student - my friend here, Marie-Anne Lawson, is the daughter of the Professor of Psychiatry’. He suddenly stopped fiddling with the OHP a gave us a weird look.
In his haste to avoid any conversation regarding MAL and her father, he muttered something indistinctly as he moved quickly away to his bag on a chair 10 feet away. As his left leg twitched again I noticed dog hair on the outer left leg of his trousers. Curiosity got the better of me as I followed him to his bag; actually I wanted to observe that dog fur. He quickly turned and stood tall to stop me following him – then facing me in defiance, he challenged loudly (surprising all in attendance):
– “Yes – what’s this about?”
‘Oh nothing I just thought I’d chat about our mutual friend John – ah- who’s having a party next week…’ In hasty response to an unexpected clash I made up a feeble false pretext. Meanwhile I quickly ad-libbed and dropped my bag to use it as an excuse to kneel down to get close enough to his trousers to observe the dog hair – yes it seemed to match that which we saw this morning.
‘Sorry – clumsy – haven’t had my second coffee yet this foggy morning ….’ I smiled embarrassed but growing more curious about this morning’s coincidence.
“Can’t chat! As you can see I have a lecture!” He brushed past me and a few threads of dog fur fell onto the floor. I stumbled on the pretext of tripping over my bag and snatched the fur while picking up my bag. He didn’t take any noticed of me as a student was approaching him and he immediately went into pleasant student consultation mode.
MAL had taken a seat at the top back of the lecture theatre – as she was embarrassed by my brazen attempt to investigate Dr Chalmers’ trousers /leg. As I approached with a smile I held up the snatched threads of dog fur. She motioned to duck her head behind her bag and books. But we both chuckled as I sat next to her, trying to hide behind out bags on the desks. After we had suppressed our somewhat quiet giggling I whispered:
‘Don’t be so obvious – I’ll get out - I’ll see you later then we can conspire against the surprising doggy evidence….’ she smirked.
A detective emerges from the scientific methods
That day I couldn’t concentrate much on my research and preparation for my teaching. At dinner I decided to sit next to Dr John Burgess on the high table. I saw MAL down among the benches, try to catch my eye and beckoned me to catch-up. But I gestured with halt sign and mouthed the words silently ‘Not now – my room later’. She took the hint and sat with her Theolog friends.
‘Hi John – I caught a bit of Chris Chalmers’ lecture this AM when I dropped by the Science department with Marie-Anne Lawson.’ I said pouring the college’s house red wine for him.
“Oh really – how is he?” John was distracted piling chops and sausages on his plate.
‘I was a bit concerned about what seemed to be a tremor of his leg and arm – have you noticed anything like that with him?’
“What – no – haven’t seen him for months – you know since we argued about that bet – you remember you were there at the Warden’s dinner.” He seemed annoyed.
‘Oh sorry – yes wasn’t he supposed to give you some of his family’s Muscat ‘cos he lost the bet about who’d win the Dan Murphy trophy for best red wine this year.’ I recalled. John bet his family’s Burgess best old Tawny Port against the Chalmers’ family old fortified Muscat that the Warden’s family’s Cabernet Sauvignon would win – and it did.
“Exactly – the sore looser … and I lent him my key to the College Cellar to be sure we’d both store the bottles for the bet so we could immediately partake of the proceeds after the Dan Murphy awards dinner.” – he frowned “In fact now I remember the bastard hasn’t given the key back to me yet!”
‘Bugger! --- Oh by the way – I’d love to try those legendary fortifieds if you would indulge me…’ (the not so subtle hint went down like a led balloon because John was tapped on the shoulder by the Warden whom had just sat down for dinner next to him. With the usual din of multiple students and Tutors talking and chairs scraping the noise was quite distracting in the huge hall. I missed most of what the Warden said to John – but they both seemed annoyed. Something about the cellar and missing bottles.
‘What’s up John?’ I asked when I was able to get his attention once the Warden started eating.
“It seems you can get a sticky beak after dinner as I need to go to the cellar and check with Smithy[3] on my stock.” We hurried our dinner accordingly.
FIGURE 1: The College Cellar
The first crime: Theft (Missing bottles)
As the old oak cellar door creaked open, the dank smell of mould and stale moisture blocked our noses. John was a huge man (over 6’6’’with a big barrel chest and despite his age of 37 he had a significant pot belly) so he barely fit into the cellar door in the dark basement of the oldest building of the college. The contrast couldn’t be greater with little old plump Warden and the short ageing spindley Smithy – nevertheless we all eagerly crammed through the cellar door, hastily forming a single file.
‘Chrikie – what a lot of wine!’ I couldn’t help myself staring in the dimly lit basement at the several rows of hundreds of bottles and boxes of wine stacked to the ceiling as if forming walls and four barrels of fortified wines and numerous individual bottles gathering dust on a long trestle.
“Smithy – what did you notice was missing?” asked with Warden. Smith was a bit agitated and jumped ahead to open the tall cupboard on the side wall.
“Well last time we was down ‘ere John says he’d put aside one of his family’s oldest ports and asked me to lock it up in the cupboard with a botl of Chris Chalmers’ family Muscat he give me. So I did… but ‘ere look see the cupboard’s now empty – somean’s took ‘em!” sure enough the faint dust on the cupboard shelf left the 2 circles of bare shelf where the bottles must have been.
“Bugger!” shouted John – “I won our bet that you’d win the Dan Murphy, Sir – but Chris never came to me to share the prize we’d put aside”. The Warden and Dr Burgess both stormed out of the cellar with Smithy straggling behind shouting: “Taint my fault sirs! Noffing else’s gone ….” I guessed I wasn’t going to get a chance to sample any of the produce. But the night wasn’t all a loss, as I had more to catchup with MAL about.
As Dr Burgess and the Warden disappeared into the night grumbling about the lost bottles, I got back to my study and brought out my ordinary flagons of fortified Muscat, Tokay & Port for me to share with MAL (now she was of drinking age). After I told her of the events of the evening she shared her news:
“Well I’m surprised you didn’t say anything about Dr Chalmers’ twitching this morning – it got worse as the lecture went on – indeed he seemed quite embarrassed - stuttered on some of his words – held his left arm to his side when it really badly twitched - then hurriedly finished the lecture with an edict that we had to read the whole chapter on forces before next week’s lecture.”
‘Interesting’ I was still distracted by the thought of the missing bottles and puzzled at the effect of loosing the bet may have entailed for Chris Chalmers. I shared my puzzlement:
‘I know the old boy college alumni families have a lot of pride and are hugely invested in the college culture – but would Chalmers steel the bottles of fortified wines rather than admit he lost the bet?’
“Maybe…” was all MAL could offer and she should not have imbibed that second Muscat.
“And what has this got to do with the mysterious sound we heard this morning?” she queried.
‘May be – the dog poo is a clue ….’ We both laughed (as the wine was doing its job).
‘It could be the sound of a dog shaking its collar…’
“Yes but who has a dog in College – we know about St Peter’s ban and they aren’t allowed in here, either”.
Putting on my experimental Psychologist hat I urged cation:
‘Before we jump to any false conclusions let’s think outside this box…. Do you know of any other nefarious activities which might have occurred in the college on the night of the Warden’s dinner last week?’
MAL starred into the air thinking:
'“Oh yes three was a punch up on the stage - the students were having a bit of a Rock & Roll signing contest. Steve Kanealy won, despite the envy of Josh Peters. Josh and Steve were rivals for the affections of Sally-Anne Spencer [4], who favoured Steve after his rousing Mick Jagger impression in a credible rendition of Can’t get no - satisfaction... When Steve suggestively gestured his hip thrusts in time with the satisfaction in the direction of Sally-Anne - Josh jumped up on the stage and whacked Steve.’
‘Yikes - I didn’t know that - but I haven’t seen Steve all week - was he hurt?’
“Not badly - but the Warden suspended them both and their parents were told to take hem home for a fortnight!”
‘Well I’ll have to check up on Steve when he comes to the next Tutorial - but that’s not likely rtelted to the wine theft…. unless they valued fortified wine more than Sally-Anne’ We both laughed.
‘So let’s investigate ?– my hypothesis is that Dr Chalmers is minding a dog – which he couldn’t leave alone in his rooms at St Peters. He had to take it with him when he was miffed that he lost the bet – wanted his family’s lovely muscat back and used the cellar key which he still had - saw the chance so he opportunistically took the port as well.’
“You might be right!” she hesitated “but how the hell would we be able to test this hypothesis?”
To Test the Hypotheses
So now we had our investigative research set out for us. We divide up the tasks:
‘MAL can you catch up with your student friends and check on any gossip about Dr Chalmers at both colleges;
“Yes and you have to connect with your colleagues (especially the Tutors) at the college and the University about Dr Chalmers” offered MAL.
‘Yes and I need to talk to Smithy about who could have access to the cellars and the locked cabinet where the fortifieds were stored’.
And so we proceeded and found the following confirmation of our guesses:
Dr Chalmers health was highlighted in all the gossip from Tutors’ high tables and students’ benches in both of the colleges. It seems he had suddenly developed twitches and an irritable demeanour; to the dismay of all concerned he seemed forgetful and disorganised, in his college life and his lectures.
Smithy swore black and blue that he knew of no other explanation for the missing bottles than Dr Chalmers’ use of the keys John Burgess had lent him.
‘So what to do now?’ both MAL and I muttered almost in unison (we laughed at the coincidence).
“Maybe I can test his mental state by asking him about my assignment – he hasn’t returned his marking yet….”
‘Yes that’s appropriate, but be careful – don’t provoke him; maybe I can accidentally bump into him and ask him about the port?’ I pondered.
We set about our second round of investigations.
That night I went to the St Peters college dining room supposedly to catch up with my Psychology colleague (Dr James Borden), to congratulate him on his appointment as the College Psychologist (their Warden had copied my Warden’s idea).
‘Hey Jimmy! – you happy to trail on my coat tails…?’ I tried friendly rivalry to get him to invite me to dinner.
“Get outa ‘ere Pearson – you’re just angling for a free dinner!” chided Dr Borden.
‘Got me – you clever boy!’ we laughed.
‘Seriously – good on you mate for working the Warden ….’
“Hold on now - quit the suspicious innuendo – I was invited out of the blue – mind you getting my PhD now must have made the difference”. James pointed out.
‘OK you and I both know they need someone of your calibre here – I heard their Psych students aren’t doing so well lately.’ We both nodded.
Once we had settled down at high table for dinner I started my enquiry.
‘Hey I hope there’s no fuss - I presume you’ll have to let the Senior Tutor know I’m a ring in - I’ve met the Senior Tutor– ah Dr Chalmers isn’t it?’ I asked.
“Yeah – but he wouldn’t notice – as he’s been absent a lot these days, supposedly having meals in his rooms because he’s minding his family dog, but I’ve heard he’s really quite off lately;” he offered.
‘Isn’t having a dog in college a breach of rules?’ I said surprised.
“Of course!- but if you can keep it quiet and get away with it behind the Warden’s back no one will dob you in” he conceded.
Sure enough after dinner, when I wandered around the court yard of St Peters college I heard a dog bark. I went to the door and knocked (it had the name plate: SENIOR TUTOR: Dr Christopher Chalmers). The barking turned to growling, as the door slightly opened.
“Whose there! – Oh you – what do you want?” came the angry inquiry from behind the door being drowned out by loud barking of a biggish dog.
‘Sorry Dr Chalmers I heard the dog barking – I was told by my students that they were annoyed by dog poo along the path between our colleges. You know dogs aren’t allowed in College so I came to investigate.’
“None of your business”! he slammed the door.
‘Sorry Chris – you know I’m a Psychologist I can help pacify your dog for you….’ I shouted at the door. I must have been audible over the barking as the door opened a bit wider this time – enough for me to see a beautiful Australian Shepherd being restrained on a tight lead.
‘Hello sweety – who’s a good dog …’ I smiled and called to the dog in a high pitched voice as I reached out my right hand (back of the hand with my knuckles first). The dog stopped barking almost immediately, and the door opened wider accordingly. Fortunately I’d handled some chicken wings at dinner and didn’t get to wash my hands yet. So that faint smell of chicken was enough to get the attention of the dog.
Dr Chalmers opened the door wide enough for me to kneel down and put my hand out for the dog to sniff it – instead the dog put its paw up as if to do a high 5 (see FIGURE 1).
‘So friendly – what’s her name?’ I guessed female as the dog wasn’t quite as big as some shepherd dogs I’d seen.
“Maddie – how did you know?” Dr Chalmers was completely disarmed now and opened the door and gestured for me to come in.
‘Thanks – yes good girl Maddie’ (I was allowed to pat her ample head – which seemed to smile with the benefit of licking my fingers).
“You do have a gift! – How do you do it? – I can’t keep her quiet – even though we’ve know each other for a year since I got engaged to her mistress.” Dr Chalmers confessed.
FIGURE 1: A friendly Maddie
DEMENTIA DIAGNOSED
As I was patting Maddie Dr Chalmers again exhibited the twitching MAL had observed.
‘Say that looks ominous ….’ I nodded at his hand which was twitching even more that before.
“Get out of here!” He shouted and Maddie started barking again.
‘Sorry Chris – you have a myclonus – it’s a sign of a serious neurological disorder – you need to have it investigated.’ I urged over the dog barking.
As he was attempting to push me out of his door Maddie’s lead got tangled in my legs and his hand twitching let go of the lead. He lunged forward to catch the dog but fell down and started convulsing. I quickly tied Maddie’s lead to the nearby table leg. Helping him up was difficult as he was both resisting and convulsing. The noise was enough to bother the neighbours who came quickly to the door.
“Hey – shut up – all this racket - I’m trying to study!” Yelled a boy in pyjamas.
‘Sorry- Dr Chalmers is very ill - please call the College Nurse or dial an ambulance.’ I urged. The barking dog was probably enough to scare away the student. I pulled the twitching body of Chris Chalmers over on his side to the edge of the bed. There I held him to stop him biting his tongue. But it didn’t seem to be an epileptic seizure as he was sporadically talking to me:
“Don’t – hurt me! - Please look after Maddie….”
In the 10minutes it took to get help I was looking round his College study I eventually saw (covered by some books) the tops of two bottles, which I couldn’t quite discern -but they could be the missing bottles of fortified wine. Then there was a knock on the door – an old woman in a dressing gown with a medical bag.
“What’s the problem here?” She barged into the room showing a name badge (I barely saw it but it looked like: Nurse Marge Murdock). I had put Dr Chalmers up on his chair now he was more composed, he saw her and extended his hand in recognition:
“Marge – Marge please help me…. Get him out of here!” Even the dog quietened down as Marge came up to him and checked his pulse and forehead.
‘I’m a NeuroPsychologist at the Psychiatry Department and I think he needs help’.
That got her attention,
“Maybe - he has really rapidly succumbed to these twitches”
‘Yeah these are myclonus – a serious neurological symptom – which I can help diagnose – if we get him to hospital now.’ I urged.
“OK – I agree with him getting such help – we’ll get the ambulance to get him there.”
“No – please leave me alone” pleaded Dr Chalmers. The dog began barking again because the ambulance siren was getting louder. After it stopped the door was knocked again.
“Who needs us?” Entered the two ambulance officers, much to the anxiety of Maddie who was now barking loudly and jumping up and down pulling on her lead. By now the whole college was awake and so entered the Warden.
“What’s going on? – who brough this dog in here” – fortunately Maddie could go back to her owner who didn’t know Dr Chalmers had taken her. It turns out she was trying to breakup with Dr Chalmers because of his erratic behaviour – then she found her dog missing.
Eventually we got him to the hospital. There I got Dr David Dennison and Prof Lawson to observe him. When we conferred they had a potential diagnosis, according to Prof Lawson:
“Luckily you got him here as his rapid deterioration is indicative a severe case of CJD[5]”
‘You mean he has Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease?’ I was shocked - I had only briefly read about this horrific fatal type of dementia.
“Yep – he’s a gonner…” signed Dr Dennison.
‘Would that explain his erratic behaviour?’ I was puzzled.
“Like what?” Dr Davison asked
‘Ah- thefts – such as vintage port from a friend’s college cellar; unprovoked anger; unreasonable jealousy – he lost an amicable bet and reneged on his part of the pot;…’ I was listing my suspicions.
“Yeah that sounds right – CJD is a strange and severe dementia affecting all parts of the brain but the frontal lobes would probably be the first to show direct symptoms, such as changes in personality including lying, thieving and paranoia.”
Eventually we got his family to visit him in the Neurology ward and they gave us access to his rooms in college. There we found Chris had taken John’s port along with his own Muscat. He had taken the dog Maddie from his girlfriend’s yard despite having no place to keep her. His twitching was called myoclonic jerking (spasmodic movement of a group of muscles).
Unfortunately Dr Chalmers was not long for this world and he died a few weeks after we heard him walking the dog that foggy night.
The moral of the story?
I was introduced to a dangerous clinical case by accident. It turned out that MAL and I made quite good detectives. It was basically the use of the scientific method and old fashioned curiosity.
[1] I write these notes so that others may learn from my experience and reflect on my lessons learned from these cases from a burgeoning practice of psychology. I share these events and analyses of the people and psychology – recounted as best I can recall, given the efflux of time and the constraints of confidentiality. So the names and places which appear herein have been changed to cover for the concerns of clients and institutions.
NOTE: Unless stated images are from Substak.com photo gallery or of my own camera.[2] Caspar’s cases #6: Apraxia or not Apraxia and the Impairment of the patient see https://casparalexanderpearson.substack.com/p/caspars-cases-6-apraxia-or-not-apraxia and Caspar cases #8 & #9
[3] The stalwart Able Smith (aka Smithy) was the College’s senior porter and custodian of the buildings, including the only other person allowed a key to the wine cellar.
[4] Sally-Ann Spencer is one of the debutent beauties who hand around the college parties – usually on the guest list of the college boys for the wether families, such as Steve Kanealy (a 6’4’ football captain and stutterer who could sing quite well) and Josh Peters (both boys from the same Private School - Peters was the slim trim Soccer team captain).
[5] The deadly Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) is a quickly debilitating neurodegenerative disease, with first symptoms being myclonus followed by general confusion, forgetfulness and other signs of dementia. It is difficult to determine causation, although post mortem histopathology usually shows an abnormal isoform of a cellular glycoprotein known as the prion protein