The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1880-11-19

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of palsy, recovered the use OF his hands
and feet. He was able 10 speak distinctly
words which he made no effort to speak,
or which were slowly and loudly repeated
to him. But when he tried to speak.
only an unintelligible murmer was heard
He could read aloud from book or pa
per without the slightest impeachment,
but If the book or paper was taken away,
he could not repeat single word OF what
he had 30 distinctly read a moment be-
fore. In this case it is to be presumed
that when the words came by way OF the
eve or ear they stimulated the word-cen-
tiers to tho extent of bringing into play
the organs of speech, which, without this
stimulus. the mans brain could not do.
THE HUMAN PARROT.
Sometimes speech is wholly limited In
merely repeating the words spoken to
the presence of the patient, who is en-
tirely unable to volunteer statement.
A woman who was born in Italy, and had
lived i'm Spain and France, was, by dis
ease of the brain, deprived OF her use OF
italian and Spanish, and could speak but
little French. She only repeated like
an echo and without attaching any mean
ing to them, the words pronounced in
her presence. Another woman who had
this initiative trouble, repeated words,
even in foreign tongues, she had never
heard before. In the hospital when one
patient coughed she would initiate the
cough ut once, and repeated everything
that was said to her. A man suffering
from trouble of this sort always replied
''my faith" or when pressed hard looked
impatient, and uttered a fantastic oath
he had invested" BY the Christen'
name of my heart!" 81 asked him his
name and occupation" says the physi-
clan; she looked at me and answered,
my faith = I insisted, bat in spite OF
his efforts, he only shook his head with
nm impatient gesture, exclaiming, by
the Christen' name of my heart = AS L
wished to find out how many words he
Ind at command / asked him, Are you
from q Northern Province?' He re-
peated hike an echo, Northern Prov
ince.' Whats your name?' North
ern Province?' Your profession? North
ern Province But your name is Mar
TIM? Yes, sir. You are sure it is
Martini Yes, sir. What part OF the
country do you come from? Martin.
NO, that's your name. But with an
nm impatient gesture he exclaimed, BY
the Christen' name of my hearth
UNABLE TO WRITE.
In other cases the power OF writing and
spelling is very much impaired, whilst
that of speech is affected only to a trihing
extent. After series of epileptic fits
young man first lost, but afterwards re-
covered, his powers of speech. And his
great trouble was in writing. His pen
manship was excellent, but he could not
readily find the proper words and spelled
them badly. He was able to copy cor
rectly from printed book, making only
one or two trivial errors; but in writing
from dictation could not spell at ALL He
could repeat perfectly the most difficult
sentences when they were read to him,
but when he attempted to read them
aloud himself he could not succeed at all,
wrongly pronouncing almost every word
of two or three syllables. Perhaps the
difficulty which some very intelligent and
well-educated person find in spelling cor
rectly, arises from an imperfectly devel-
oped "visual word sense"
USING THE WRONG WORD.
An elderly gentleman was stricken
with paralysis which made him COM
pletely deaf, but did not interfere with
his powers of motion or his vision. But
in speaking he used wrong words, so as
to be unintelligible. He recognized the
Doctor and was glad TO see him, but in
trying to call him by name spoke only
gibberish. He did not comprehend
writing. He looked at the sentence,
care You in pain?" and exclaimed: Good,
good, God. He attempted to write let
tiers; the address was written two or three
times at the head of the sheet, but "My
dear SIR was written correctly. The
sheet was filled with writing, but no word
except wife was Ineligible, the rest be-
ing utterly meaningless. Some letters
were correctly formed, but no words un-
til the end, where his name was signed
with steady hand and in his usual man
ner. In April remittance being due
him he was greatly excited, vainly trying
to make himself understood At length
the letter announcing the remittance
was shown him, and it pleased him, but
he was not quite satisfied until the money
was brought and counted before
him. In asking for n bottle of
hniment he said: Bring the cord"
In speaking of pills he had been taking,
he said he had been taking potatoes
There was often an association between
his ideas and words, as when he saw them
moving his vest with his watch in it, he
said, "Take care of the break fall" An
other patient, an old lady, spoke words
very distinctly and exactly, but the words
either had no application or were ludi-
crously inappropriate. She would rise
very politely to receive visitor, and
kindly motioning to chair, say: "You
pig, you animal, you nasty beast" mean
ing by this that they were to take q seat;
and was wholly unconscious of her in
sulting words.
In another instance q man insisted on
calling his bed his garden, and not until
the words were written out could he he
made to understand his mistake. Still
another, after an attack of paralysis, al
ways transposed the letters of word, ms
in calling the word flute tufe, puc for
cup, gum for mug. A woman could
write "London with her left hand, but
not "cat " or dog even after hearing