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of the localization of speech in the anterior lobes; but I have 

 still further evidence to adduce. M. Peter has recorded the case 

 of a man who fractured his skull by a fall from a horse. After 

 recovery from the initial stupor there succeeded a remarkable 

 loquacity, although after death it was found that the two frontal 

 lobes of the brain were reduced to a pulp {reduits en bouillie). 

 Again, Professor Trousseau relates that in the year 1825, two 

 officers quartered at Tours quarrelled, and satisfied their honour 

 by a duel, as a result of which, one of them received a ball 

 which entered at one temple and made its exit at the other. 

 The patient survived six months without any sign of lesion of 

 articulation, nor was there the least hesitation in the expres- 

 sion of his thoughts till the supervention of inflammation of 

 the central substance, which occurred shortly before his 

 death, when it was ascertained that the ball had traversed the 

 two anterior lobes at their centre. 



Here are three cases in which the two anterior lobes, the 

 presumed seat of speech, according to Bouillaud, were both de- 

 stroyed or very extensively injured. What does a conscientious 

 analysis of them teach us? In M. Peter^s case we have seen 

 that speech was preserved, although both frontal lobes were 

 reduced to a jelly; in Professor Trousseau^s case, a ball had 

 traversed the two anterior lobes at their centre, entering at one 

 temple, and making its exit at the other, and speech was also 

 unaffected ; whilst in the third case, that of M. Velpeau, although 

 a tumour had actually taken the place of the two anterior 

 lobes, instead of being speechless, the man was remarkably 

 loquacious. 



These three cases, to which I could add others, seem to me 

 to upset M. Bouillaud's theory, by showing that a profound 

 lesion may exist in both anterior lobes without impairment of 

 articulate language. 



The next theory for brief consideration is that of M. Dax, 

 who placed the seat of speech in the left hemisphere, to the ex- 

 clusion of the right. The brain, as a whole, has hitherto been 

 considered as a symmetrical organ, even by those who regarded 

 it as an assemblage of lesser organs arranged in pairs with cor- 

 responding functions. M. Dax, however, assigns a function to 

 the left hemisphere, which, according to him, is not shared by 

 the right. Without entering into any details, I will just mention 

 three cases, which prove the untenability of M. Dax^s views, 

 these cases being recorded by French physicians of great 

 eminence. It will be observed that I have drawn most largely 

 upon French literature, for our Gallic neighbours have been 

 most indefatigable workers in the field of observation with 



