Diseases of the Internal Senses. 741 



300 idiots, it was ascertained by Dr. Howe that the parents of 145 were 

 habitual drunkards. ' ' In one instance, in which both parents were 

 drunkards, seven idiotic children were born to them." 



It happens quite frequently that the commissures, or some of them, 

 are deficient, reducing the brain, in this respect, to that of the marsu- 

 pial. A case is cited of a servant girl, in whom, after death, it wag 

 found that ' ' the middle portion of the f ornix, and the whole of the 

 septum lucidum, were absent ; and in place of the corpus callosmn there 

 was only a thin fasciculated layer of fibrous matter, one-fourth of an 

 inch in length, of which, however, the fibres extended to all the parts 

 of the brain into which the fibres of the healthy corpus callosum can 

 be traced. The middle commissure was very large, and the lateral part 

 of the f ornix, with the rest of the brain, was quite health}'. " There 

 was nothing peculiar about the mental manifestations of this girl, ex- 

 cept a want of forethought and power of judging of the probable event 

 of things. Her memory, morality, temper and disposition were good, 

 and her information equal to that of others of her class. 



Another case is on record 

 in which the anterior part of 

 the corpus callosum was de- 

 ficient, together with the mid- 

 dle and anterior portion of the 

 fornix, and the whole of the 

 septum lucidum. In this case, 

 there was marked intellectual 

 deficiency, accompanied by 

 dullness akin to stupidity. 

 (Carpenter. ) 



FIG. 375. Base of brain of an in- 

 sane woman, showing atrophy of 

 the front end of left hemisphere B, 

 accompanied by degeneration of the 

 right lobe of the cerebellum C. 



Figure 375 shows the ap- 

 pearance of the base of the 

 brain of " a woman who, af- 

 ter the age of thirty, became 

 suddenly aphasic and hemi- 

 plegic on the right side. She 

 became insane, murdered her 



two children, and was com- FIG. 375. 



raitted to Broadmoor Asylum, where she died twelve years after the oc- 

 currence of the paralysis. The whole of the cortex in the front end of 

 the left hemisphere, together with the corpus striatum, had entirely dis- 

 appeared, and been converted into a cyst full of fluid." The pyramidal 



