Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1886-08-14
VARIOUS FORMS OF ApnAslA.
The Incurabie. Mysterious Disease THAT
Danies Human knowledge


Dafios Human knowledge.
There sighSar forms Of aphasia which
coexist, or which may be found isolated:
% The loss Of the power of understand
Ing spoken words. or, as 1t has been
named, rather improperly, since thefail-
ure is not physical but mental, verbal
deafness; q, verbal blindness or the in
ability to read; CD motor aphasia, or the
loss Of the power OF articulate speech;
AZ agTaphia 20 term invented, we be-
lieye, by the English physician, DR.. Ogle),
or the loss Of the power Of writing. An
instance Of the loss Of the faculty Of UNI
derstanding spoken words while that OF
understanding words written remained,
Is quoted by M. Ballet from Abcrcrom-
bic. 1t is that of gentleman farmer in
Scotland, who recognized the sounds OF
spoken words without understanding
their meaning, and who, to make COM
munication with his laborers possible,
had written list in his room of the most
ordinary terms. On hearing without in
the least comprehending the spoken
words, he turned to his list, and his per-
ception Of what was said became clear
OF verbal blindness las it is called, NJ.
Ballet gives an instance of French mer-
chant, whom he calls III. P, man of
fair cultivation, and more or less Of a
reading habit, who, through an accident
in hunting, lost the faculty of reading.
M. P. understood perfectly everything
that was said to him, answered questions
with much precision, and expressed him
self with certain degree of facility.
Moreover, he wrote with ease, not only
his name and address, but long letter,
and that without any notable mistake in
photography. The interesting fact is
that, though he could write, and did 1t
with certain ease, he was incapable of
reading. 4 write, he said, 'as if with
my eyes closed; / do not read what !
write In fact, he was wholly unable to
re-read the words which he had traced q
few seconds before" The letters them
selves written in this condition were
quite equal to those which he had writ
ten before the accident befel him.
OF motor aphasia, or the inability to
use articulate speech, N. Ballet gives in
stances Of a patient at the Saltpetriere,
whose reply to all questions consisted Of
the word "Macassa, macassa;" Of another
who could only say "Monomomentif;" OF
third who was reduced to the expires
sion "Iqui phophoiqui;" and Of fourth
whose vocabulary did not go beyond
"Badeu, abaden badena." The poor
Baudelaire could say only "Cre nom, ere
nom," being in this respect inferior to a
very distinguished lady, whose converse
tional powers extended to, though not
beyond, the entire phrase of which Bau-
delaire gave the usual abbreviation. Still
more advanced was another lady, who
repeated at every moment, Madame
etc, mon Dieu, est il possible, bonjom
Madame"
In the earlier stages of the malady
proper names were forgotten. An emf.
nent man Of science was reduced to des-
ignate the person Of whom he spoke as
my colleague who invented such anC
such thing" Next common nouns dis
appear. When the Able Perier asked
for his hat he said: "Give me my--what
one puts on ones" His coat was
What is worn to be dressed in" Scis
sors, with another patient, were the
things one cuts; the window, what one
looks through, what gives light. Wha
can not be said by people affected will
motor aphasia can sometimes be sung by
them. An officer who could not pro
nounce the words @enfant" and "patrie,
whose powers of speech were confined
to the word "pardi" and the letter "b,
was capable Of singing with perfect ar
ticulation the first couplet of the "Mar
| seillaise." A farmer, "du comte de WIKI
low don't parle Graves" could not pro
nounce the names of his wife and chill
dren except by reading them. A strik
ing instance of agraphia 10 that of Rus
sian officer, well acquainted will
Russian, French and German, who
having been afflicted with motto
aphasia, as regards French and German
afterward became subject to aSraphia a!
regards all the three languages, though
he retained or regained the power o.
reading and speaking them. A woman
being asked to write her name, produced
the words "sumil siclaa satreni" ant
gave her address as "Sunesr nut to me
linu lain." An English naval officer,
wishing to write "Royal medical office
belonging to the admiralty" was con
| strainnd IN add tho tarn,iu alton 1dondd