466 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



There are various remarkable phases of this inability to arlieulate. 

 One man in the Paris asylum would say '' Consisi ;'''' and it might be 

 expected that lie could easily say ^'con-con'''' or '' sisi,^'' but it was 

 only after several days' trying that Dr. Trousseau got him to say 

 the former, and he never could say "s^5^" alone. Another aphasic 

 patient, a woman, could say very well, ^^ Bonjour, monsieur ;'''' but 

 could never be got to say " Bonbon.'''' 



Aphasic patients are, as a rule, beneath the average of other men, 

 as regards intelligence, and considerably beneath their former selves, 

 when the comparison can bo instituted. There is, however, a very 

 rare form of aphasia in which the intellect is unaltered, memory is 

 good, the patient writes easily, and expresses his thoughts correctly 

 in writing as educated deaf-mutes do. The recovery of the art of 

 writing (where it is recovered) is gradual. 



The physiology of aphasia is a subject that has been a good deal 

 controverted, but it now appears possible to explain most of the phe- 

 nomena by the nature of lesions, and by the very constitution of the 

 nervous system. The following representation of the facts (which we 

 take, in the main, from an eminent French observer, M. Chai'les 

 Richet) will convey some idea of what medical men hold on this 

 subject . 



The nervous system (let it first be understood) is formed of a cen- 

 tral part, the brain and spinal cord, and of a peripheric part, the 

 nerves. The nerves are simple conductors, while tlie central part per- 

 ceives sensations and determines movement. Now, in this central 

 part, the cerebro-spinal, inclosed by the cranium and vertebral col- 

 umn, as in a case, there are two distinct elements ; an active element, 

 and a conducting element. The white substance is the conducting: 

 element ; the gray substance the active. The gray substance forms 

 a thin column, which is the central j^art of the spinal cord, and is con- 

 tinued into the brain Avhere it enlarges. The whole of this column is 

 surrounded by white substance ; and in the higher types of vertebrates 

 we find added the so-called " cerebral convolutions." Here the white 

 substance of the brain is folded in various directions, and its entire 

 surface is covered with a thin layer of gray substance. To this ele- 

 mentaiy exposition it need only be added that the gray substance in 

 brain or cord seems to be formed, not by a single cord, but by a series 

 of nuclei, or centres, placed end to end and connected together. These 

 are sometimes called ganglions. It is in the outer gray substance that 

 will, intelligence, instinct, seem to reside. If the upper part of the 

 cerebral hemispheres be cut in a pigeon, the bird loses all activity : it 

 is incapable of moving voluntarily. It is an automaton which flies 

 when thrown into the air, which swallows when a grain is placed in 

 its throat ; but which is without consciousness. Its existence is purely 

 vegetative. 



If, instead of the superficial part of the brain, it be the gray axis. 



