84 
much support, has been rejected by most physiologists of the 
present day.* 
I now arrive at the consideration of certain theories which 
will demand a much more minute examination, as having a 
more direct reference to the objects of this Institute, — I mean 
those which locate speech in the anterior lobes of the brain, or 
in some particular fold of these lobes. 
As far back as 1825, Professor Bouillaud placed the faculty of 
articulation in the anterior lobes of the brain, which he con- 
sidered to be the organs of the formation of words and of 
memory ; and he stated that the exercise of thought demanded 
the integrity of these lobes. He supported his position by refer- 
ence to 114 cases in which loss or impairment of speech coin- 
cided with disease of the anterior lobes. Such was M. Bouil- 
laud's confidence in his theory, that he offered a prize of 500 
francs for any well-authenticated case in which the two anterior 
lobes were destroyed, or more or less seriously injured, without 
speech being affected. This challenge remained unaccepted 
for many years, till the occurrence of a celebrated discussion 
on the seat of language, at the Academy of Medicine of Paris, 
when M. Yelpeau said he should claim the prize on the faith 
of the following case observed by himself. 
In the month of March, 1843, a barber, sixty years of age, came under 
M. Velpeau’s care for disease of the prostate gland. With the exception of 
his prostatic disorder, he seemed to be in excellent health, was very lively, 
cheerful, full of repartee, and evidently in possession of all his faculties ; one 
remarkable symptom in his case being his intolerable loquacity. A greater 
chatterer never existed, and on more than one occasion complaints were made 
by the other patients of this talkative neighbour, who allowed them rest 
neither night nor day. A few days after admission this man died suddenly, 
and a careful autopsy was made. On opening the cranium, a cancerous 
tumour was found, which had taken the place of the two anterior lobes ! 
Here then was a man, who, up to the time of his death, presented no symptom 
whatever of cerebral disease, who, far from having any lesion of the faculty 
of speech, was unusually loquacious, and who, for a long period prior to his 
decease, must have had a most grave disease of the brain, which had 
destroyed a great part of the anterior lobes. 
Surely this case alone, recorded by such a high authority as 
M. Yelpeau, ought to be sufficient utterly to subvert the theory 
# The comparative value of this and the various other theories as to the 
Seat of Speeeh, are fully discussed in the author’s work “ On Aphasia, or 
Loss of Speech, and the Localization of the Faculty of Articulate Language.” 
Churchill & Sons, 1870. 
