{31} WORD-DEAFNESS is a special morbid psycho-sensory state in which the sounds of language lose their significance for the patient. The sense of hearing is preserved for common sounds, and even music in certain cases; words are heard, but not understood. A patient of mine having this symptom used to say, “If I go to a lecture or hear a sermon, I hear the speaker, but what he says is all Greek to me.” On the other hand, this gentleman could go to a concert and understand the musical notes. This condition occurs as a part of the symptom-group aphasia, or it may show itself independently in the course of limited cerebral cortical degenerations. The lesion causing word-deafness is usually found in the left hemisphere, in the first and second temporal gyri, or it may be in the inferior parietal lobule and gyrus supra-marginalis, penetrating deeply enough to injure fasciculi going into the temporal lobe. It would appear, from the evidence now before us, that the centre for psychic hearing is in the caudo-dorsal part of the temporal lobe. WORD-BLINDNESS, or alexia, is another special morbid psycho-sensory state, in which the visible signs of language lose their significance for the patient. Usually there is no impairment of sight; the patient can see the letters and words as objects, but he cannot read them at all, or must do so letter by letter. Even numerals and pictures of objects in some cases become unintelligible. In testing for this condition a possible confusion with verbal amnesia must not be forgotten. In such a case the patient knows the word or object, but cannot name it; usually he can, however, inform us by signs or indirect expressions that he takes proper cognizance of the object. Alexia is present in a certain proportion of cases of aphasia, and it may be complicated with lateral hemianopia. The exact seat of the lesion producing alexia is at present unknown. Theoretically, however, we must place it in the course of paths from the cortical visual area (cuneus and adjacent gyri) to the general speech-centre. Psychic blindness for objects in general (soul-blindness of the Germans) is now quite conclusively proved to be due to degeneration of both occipital lobes, more especially their mesal gyri, where the visual centres are. This psycho-sensory state, with the accompanying cortical changes, has been demonstrated in cases of dementia paralytica.