The motor reaction may be either _clonic_ or _tonic_ in type. Clonic
tics are distinguished by more or less abrupt contractions, separated by
longer or shorter intervals of relaxation or repose. The duration of a
clonic tic convulsion may be exceedingly brief, though perhaps not so
brief as the instantaneous "electric" twitches of a spasm, which have
the extreme rapidity of pure reflex phenomena. Exception ought to be
made for the face, no doubt, seeing that the suddenness of the
movements in facial tic is precisely what complicates the diagnosis
between it and facial spasm, as we shall see. In the limbs, the
variations appear to stand in close relation to the nature of the
primary factor, the mental condition of the patient, and the mode of
reaction peculiar to him. The quickness with which the reaction occurs
increases in proportion to the length of time the tic has existed,
although once it has become habitual, any further change is rather in
the direction of additional complexity.
Sometimes a relative deliberateness of execution raises suspicions as to
the accuracy of the diagnosis. In the case of a child with several tics,
one affecting the mouth in particular, Guinon was struck by the slowness
of the muscular contractions.
To begin with (he says), the mouth was opened gradually, but as
soon at the limit of separation of the maxillæ was reached, it was
immediately closed, without remaining even for a moment in the
extended position, as one would have expected had there been a
tonic contraction of the infrahyoid muscles.
Cases of this kind, however, are not really instances of the tonic
variety.
One of us has had the opportunity of observing a young woman afflicted
with a curious combination of motor disorders, akin no less to the
clonic form of tic than to the gesticulations of chorea and the
undulatory movements of athetosis. Their resemblance to the clinical
type described by Brissaud under the name of _variable chorea_ is
noteworthy, a distinguishing feature, however, being the sluggishness of
the muscular contractions, which may well be a reflex of the patient's
mental inertness.
Mademoiselle R., a young woman twenty-six years old, is a small and
delicate creature with slender limbs and tapering fingers. She is
extremely myopic, but her general health is excellent, and there
is nothing to suggest that she is suffering from organic disease
of the nervous system. Apart from the fact that her parents are
rather "nervous," the family history is negative.
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