126 A STUDY OF SOME 



the left arm any voluntary act not involving the hand, which 

 itself never ceased to twitch ; but while the swinging spasms 

 lasted he could execute no volitional act, and the effort to move 

 the limb enormously increased the spasms. 



" Excitement and emotion and all forms of electricity added 

 to the force of the motions, but voluntary movements of other 

 limbs increased the number more than the force. Attempts at 

 passive motion, as the effort to fully extend the partially-flexed 

 fingers, cause intense pain in the occiput, just as the effort to 

 overcome rigid gastrocnemii in certain cases gives rise to pain in 

 the dorsal spine. He has the power to stop the spasms by certain 

 manoeuvres. If he seizes the left hand with the right and, flexing 

 the left arm, holds it, there is a kind of general spasm ; the left 

 hand for a moment seems to struggle with increasing violence; 

 he totters ; the face is convulsed ; there is horrible pain in the 

 back of the head. Then he gently releases the left arm, which, 

 save for a slight tremor or twitching of the unquiet fingers, re- 

 mains at rest, and may not move in violent spasm for an hour or 

 more, and is sometimes nearly still for twelve hours. 



" He avoids the use of one hand to stop the other, because of 

 the great pain it causes in the head. When he stops the hand 

 with his leg he has little head pain, but it is altogether so un- 

 pleasant for him to check it that he rarely does so. When stand- 

 ing, if he wishes to stop the pendulum spasm, he throws the left 

 leg back so as to trip the toe ; the arm then falls in as it moves, 

 and he brings the leg forward so as to catch the arm against the 

 thigh, where its own spasm holds it. Then there is a general 

 convulsive movement of the entire body, and the limb is at rest. 



" When the arm is hanging quiet at his side, it begins to move 

 if he walks a few steps, or if he lifts the right arm, in which at 

 times — especially after sudden arrest of the spasm — I noticed 

 some large tremor. 



" In all of this strange set of symptoms there is no loss of con- 

 sciousness, no anaesthesia, no ocular trouble or spasm, no aural 

 defect. When he walks long or fast the legs have some dis- 

 position to become rigid, but this is an inconstant feature." 



Since this graphic account was published, the phenomena pre- 

 sented have undergone some changes. The simple pendulum 

 movement is now replaced by a more complex rotary movement, 



