NORMAL AND ABNORMAL MOVEMENTS. 125 



" R. C, aged thirty-three, watchcase-maker, married. No 

 syphilis. Family history bad. A sister, aunt, and grandmother 

 had palsies in middle life; an uncle had epilepsy, and a cousin 

 dementia. He was always nervous and excitable, used no spirits, 

 smoked moderately, and was always well until the summer of 

 1865, when he was two days unconscious from sunstroke, and has 

 ever since been made weak by the heat of summer. About two 

 years ago, in the summer of 1874, he observed that while walking 

 the legs felt weak, and he was obliged to stop, as if to regain 

 power ; after which the right leg would drag for a time. At the 

 same time he began to have pain in the back of the neck and 

 lumbar spine. These pains continue. In January, 1875, he no- 

 ticed a slight but increasing tremor in the left arm, and in two or 

 three months the strange condition which I shall try to describe. 



"When I first saw Mr. C. he was a healthy-looking man, of 

 unusual intelligence, and marvellously patient under his great 

 suffering. In sleep there was no movement ; when he awakened 

 he was conscious of the left hand being rigidly closed. In a few 

 moments it began to twitch, the fingers moving as do those of a 

 violin-player. The slightest movement of any other limb, speak- 

 ing, or eatiug — even if he be fed — causes the left arm to execute 

 a constant motion of striking the bed or his side, the limb being 

 the while extended. When he arose and walked, this action be- 

 came more violent, and so much resembled the steady, rapid 

 movement of a pendulum, that I spoke of it at once to my assist- 

 ants as a case of what might be called pendulum spasms. In fact, 

 its rhythmic regularity was astonishing. Dr. Sinkler timed it, on 

 one occasion, as one hundred and fifty-seven (in a minute) ; and 

 on several others I found it always exactly one hundred and 

 sixty. It was as accurate as the heart in its motion, but certain 

 things always increased either the power or the number of the 

 motions. Thus, if he stood up, having been seated, the number 

 did not alter, but the force of the blow on the thigh increased 

 remarkably. 



" If while standing he elevated and extended the right hand 

 and arm to the shoulder level, instantly the rhythm mounted to 

 two hundred ; and when the right arm ceased to act the number 

 fell again speedily to one hundred and sixty. 



" When there was no pendulum spasm he could perform with 



