M. Cruchet, of Bordeaux, to whom frequent reference is made in this volume, has in several communications on tic expressed himself at some length, and some of these have made their appearance since the publication of _Les tics et leur traitement_. According to him, the original meaning of the word "tic" is a movement arising in a "bad habit," and there would never have been any confusion had the term "tic douloureux" not been introduced. We know well enough the exact significance of this term, but its use led to, the adoption of the cognate term "tic non-douloureux," and in the latter group two absolutely different conditions have been confused--viz. true tics, and spasms in Brissaud's sense. The difference between the two is now recognised everywhere in France; but in England and America, as Risien Russell points out in his article in Clifford Allbutt's _System of Medicine_, tic is still applied to such conditions as facial spasm and the involuntary movements of trigeminal neuralgia, whereas it should be reserved for what we usually call "habit spasm" and "habit chorea." The advantage of the word "tic" over these rather cumbrous terms must be patent to the unbiassed mind. It is, however, in his persistent affirmation that a tic, to be a tic, must be clonic, that Cruchet disagrees with the tenets of Meige and Feindel. He has abandoned the use of the term "organic tic" in favour of spasm; and he maintains that "tonic tic" and "tic of attitude" should give place to "habit attitude" and "convulsive attitude," as the case may be. His definition of tic is in the following terms: Tic consists in the execution--short, abrupt, sudden, irresistible, involuntary, inapposite, and repeated at irregular but frequent intervals--of a simple isolated or complex movement, which represents objectively an act intended for a particular purpose. Curiously enough, however much this definition emphasises the clonic element in tic, Cruchet makes a subdivision into habit tics and convulsive tics, of which the former "are exactly comparable to normal movements, except that they are involuntary at the moment of their execution, are performed for no reason or purpose, and their frequency is unusual." Their difference from convulsive tics is merely one of degree; a habit tic may become a convulsive tic, and some are convulsive from the beginning. A habit tic, if the movement be a slow one, is closely allied to the "attitude"; and it is not always practicable to draw a distinction between them. Thus Cruchet himself admits that the clonic element in tic may be minimal, so that the differences between him and our authors are by no means so insuperable as might be imagined. What he calls a habit tic is equivalent to the stereotyped act of the others, who hold, it will be remembered, that the movement of tic differs from the normal movement not merely by being involuntary, irresistible, inapposite, and so on, but also by being exaggerated.