The patient, who had come to consult Professor Marie at Bicêtre in
December, 1899, was presented to the Society in the first instance
by M. Crouzon.[68] He entered the room with his eyes fixed on the
floor, but in a few seconds they had resumed their normal position
in the horizontal plane. At frequent intervals he raised them
upwards, or inclined his head so as to bring the pupils into
contact with the upper lids, the natural position of rest of the
globes being regained by a voluntary effort after each
displacement. When interrogated, he complained of not being able to
distinguish objects in an area of his visual fields limited by an
imaginary line drawn from his eyes to strike the ground at a point
six feet in front of him; otherwise his sight was excellent. The
history he gave was to the effect that five months previously, in
the enjoyment of perfect mental and physical health, he had had a
sudden stroke, and been unconscious for seventeen hours. No
sinister results ensued till four days later, when he lost his
vision, began to articulate very indistinctly, and failed to
recognise his wife, continuing in that state for the next two
months. Gradual recovery of speech and sight then commenced, but
the habit of looking upwards persisted. The absence of injury to
the visual apparatus, coupled with the presence of admitted
psychical disorders, decided Crouzon in his consideration of the
condition as a functional disturbance of the ocular muscles
analogous to tic.
In this connection the significant observation was made by Joffroy
that in the recumbent position the patient's eyes assumed their
ordinary place, suggesting a comparison with those dolls whose eyes
open or close according as they are held vertically or
horizontally. In his opinion, the eye mobility negatived any idea
of contracture consequent on central lesions.
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