question:  What caused Macklin to lose his intelligence?
context: But Macklin is exactly what we need for a quick, dramatic test. "But now Macklin—" Elliot Macklin had inherited the reputation of the late Albert Einstein in the popular mind. No one knew whether his Theory of Spatium was correct or not because no one had yet been able to frame an argument with it. The government took up a lot of his time using him as the symbol of the Ideal Scientist to help recruit Science and Engineering Cadets. For the past seven years Macklin—who was the Advanced Studies Department of Firestone University—had been involved in devising a faster-than-light drive to help the Army reach Pluto and eventually the nearer stars. Despite his impressive body, some years before he had suffered a mild stroke ... or at least a vascular spasm of a cerebral artery. "No, Harold, it isn't," Macklin admitted. "I would have said the common cold," Macklin replied, "but I suppose from what you have said you mean headaches." "Aspirins would still be used to reduce fever and relieve muscular pains," Mitchell said. "There are a number of different causes for headaches—nervous strain, fatigue, physical diseases from kidney complaints to tumors, over-indulgence—but there is one effect of all of this, the one real cause of headaches," Mitchell announced. "That is, the constriction of blood vessels in the telencephalon section of the frontal lobes. "The virus," Ferris explained, "can easily be localized and stabilized. A colony of virus in the brain cells will relax the cerebral vessels—and only the cerebral vessels—so that the cerebrospinal fluid doesn't create pressure in the cavities of the brain." Unless we can produce quick, conclusive and dramatic proof of our studies we can get no more financial backing. "When your heart stops, your blood pressure goes to its lowest point," Mitchell said. A dew of perspiration had bloomed on Macklin's forehead. Ferris and I are confident that there is no danger....
output:  His brain cells were not working properly
options:  He had suffered a stroke  His brain cells were not working properly  He was using heroin  He was only pretending