216 PHYSIOLOGY OF CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM. 



lesions in this region involve the sense of smell. Thus Carbonieri 

 records that a tumor in this portion of the temporal lobe occa- 

 sioned epileptic attacks which were accompanied by nauseating 

 odors. 



The Cortical Center for Taste Sensations. — Practically 

 nothing definite is kno^vn concerning the central paths and cortical 

 termination of the taste fibers. The course of these fibers in the 

 peripheral nerves has been much investigated and the facts are 

 mentioned in the section upon "special senses." It is usually 

 assumed, although without much decisive proof, that the cortical 

 center lies also in the hippocampal convolution posterior to the 

 area of olfaction. Experimental lesions in this region, according 

 to Terrier, are accompanied by disturbances of the sense of taste. 

 On embryological grounds Tlechsig supposes that the cortical 

 center may lie in the posterior portion of the gyrus fornicatus 

 (6, Fig. 99). 



Aphasia. — The term aphasia means literally the loss of the 

 power of speech. It was used originally to indicate the condition of 

 those who from accident or disease affecting the brain had lost in 

 part or entirely the power of expressing themselves in spoken words, 

 but the term as a general expression is now extended to include also 

 those who are unable to understand spoken or written language — 

 that is, those who are word-blind or word-deaf. It is usual, there- 

 fore, to distinguish sensory aphasia from motor aphasia. By the 

 latter term is meant the condition of those who are unable to speak, 

 although there is no paralysis of the muscles of articulation, 

 and by sensory aphasia, those who are unable to understand the 

 written, printed, or spoken symbols of words, although there is no 

 loss of the sense of vision or of hearing. 



Motor Aphasia. — A condition of motor aphasia not infrequently 

 results from injuries to the head or from hemorrhage in the region 

 of the middle cerebral artery. The first exact statement of the 

 portion of the brain involved seems to have been made by Bouil- 

 laud (1825), who, as the result of numerous autopsies, attributed 

 the defect to lesions of the frontal lol^e. 



(It is a curious fact that Bouillaud's observations were inspired by the work 

 of Gall. Gall having observed, as he thought, that individuals who are fluent 

 speakers or who have retentive memories are characterized by projecting eyes, 

 concluded that this peculiarity is due to the larger size of the lower part of the 

 frontal lobe, and he therefore located the faculty of speech in this region of the 

 brain. In spite of the vagaries into which he was led by his false methods Gall 

 made many most important contributions to our knowledge of the anatomy of 

 the brain and the cord. The discovery of the location of the center of speech, 

 however, cannot be rightly placed to ius credit, since his reasons for its location 

 were, so far as we know, entirely unjustified. It cannot be reckoned as more 

 than a coincidence that in this particular his phrenological locahzation was 

 afterward in a measure justified by facts.) 



