The Opelousas courier., 1886-08-07
APHASIA.
Some Abnormal Pecultarities
OF the Faculties.
of Reading and Writing.

There are four forms Of aphasfa which
may ~co-exist, or which may befound iso,
lated: ~ the loss of the power of under.
standing spoken words, Or, as it has
been named, rather improperly, since the
failure is not physical but mental, verbal
deafness; (2) verbal blindness, or the in.
ability to read; 81 moter aphasia, or the
loss OF the power of articulate speech
az agraphia "a term invented, we believe,
by the English physician, DIR. Ogle) OF
the loss of the power Of writing. An
instance of loss of the faculty of under.
standing spoken words, while that of I'M
Outstanding words written remained is
quoted by M. Ballet from Abercrombie.
1t is that of a gentleman-farmer in Scot
land, who recognizing the sounds of
spoken-words without understanding
their meaning, and who, to make COM
munication with his laborers possible,
had a written list in his room of the most
ordinary terms. On hearing without in
the least compromising the spoken
words, he turned to his written list, and
his perception of what wa said became
clear. OF verbal blindness Gas it is
called) M Ballet gives the instance of a
French merchant, whom he call NJ. p, a
man of fair cultivation and more or less
of a reading habit, who through an acct
dent in hunting lost the faculty of read
ing. IN. P. understood perfectly every
thing that was said to him, answered
questions with much precision and ex-
pressed himself with a certain degree of
facility. Moreover, he wrote with ease
not only his name and address, but a
long letter, and hat without any nota-
Bile mistake in photography. The inter
esting fact is that, though he could
write, and did it with a certain ease, he
was incapable of reading. 4 WRITE he
said, 'as if with my eyes closed; 1 don't
read what / write In fact, he was
wholly unable to re-read the words
which he had traced a few seconds be-
FORE" The letters themselves written i'm
this condition were quite equal to those
which he had written before the acct
dent bcfel him.
OF motor aphasia, or the inability to
use a~rticalate speech, NJ. Ballet gives in
stances of a patient at the Saltpetriere,
whose reply to oil questions consisted of
the word stMacassa, macassa";; of anoth-
er who could only say "Monomomentif";
of a third who was reduced to the ex-
preston 'sIqui phophoiqui"; and of !
fourth whose vocabulary did not go be-
yond Baden abaden badena.n The
poet Baudelaire could say only, t'Cre-
nom, ere nom," being in this respect in
ferior to a very distinguished lady,
whose conversational powers extended
to though not beyond, the entire phrase
Of which Baudelaire gave the usual alb
breviation. Still more advanced was an
other lady who repeated at every mo-
ment, madame, etc. mon Dieu, est il
possible, bonjour Madame
In the earlier stages of the malady
proper names are forgotten. An eminent
man of science was reduced to designate
the person of whom he spoke as 'sMy
colleague who invented such and such a
thing" Next common nouns disappear.
When the Able Perier asked for his hat
ne said: "Give me my-what one puts
on ones" His coat was, ssWhat is
worn to be dressed i'm Scissors. with
another patient, were things one
cuts; the window, what one looks
through, what gives light. What can
not be SAID by people affected with mo
tor aphasia a sometimes be sung by
them, An officer who could not pro-
nounc the word ssenfant" and "patre,"
whose power of speech were confined to
the word s'pardi' and the letter Sd, !"
was capable of singing with perfect ar
ticulation the first couplet of the sshIar
sellaise.n A farmer, sdu comte de WIKI
low don't parle Graves, " could not pro-
nounee the anne of his wife and child
rem except by reading them. A striking
instance Of agraphia is that of a Russian
officer, well acquainted with Russian,
French and German, who, having been
afflicted with motor aphasia as regards
French and German, afterward became
subject to agraphia Is regards all the
three languages though he retained or
regained the power of read ng and speak
ing them. A Woman being asked to
write her name, produced the words,
"sumil siclaa %satreni,n and gave her adj
dress as t'Suuesr nut to mer linu lain. y
An English naval Office belonging to the
Admiralty wa constrained to add the
terninator stdenddo to each word, and
to write, .Royondendd navendendd
Eorendendd [sicl belondendd, I etc.
Saturday Rseieso.
Il
H& &&H E4I