Sometimes the mouth is drawn directly and completely to the left,
more usually to the right; at other times simultaneous contraction
of the upper and lower lips takes place, constituting a
sufficiently faithful reproduction of the grimace made by a child
in the attempt to refrain from crying; at other times still,
imperfect closure of the lids and upward deviation of the eyes bear
a resemblance to children's imitation of a blind man. Displacement
of the mouth to the right is the movement of longest duration, and
while it persists the patient is capable of stuttering speech,
without relaxing her lips. The other tics last but a few seconds,
while all vanish if she laughs or opens her mouth wide to exhibit
her tongue. They follow each other at irregular intervals, and
during the moments of rest the face resumes its normal expression.
Cruchet, as has been already remarked, has criticised the use of the
term attitude tic, on the ground that the adoption of an attitude,
however vicious it be, need not be the outcome of a convulsion.
Doubtless; but it is no less true that a tonic convulsion may "take
shape"--_e.g._ the _arc de cercle_ of hysteria, the phenomena of
catatonia and catalepsy, etc. Of course if the word tic is to be
synonymous with _intermittent_ twitching, then it is inapplicable in
this class of case; but if our connotation of the term be accepted, we
must find an expression that will serve to differentiate between tonic
and clonic varieties. We are not aware of any particular advantage in
describing the condition as a permanent contraction, for the obvious
result of a permanent contraction, whether it be clenching of the jaws,
occlusion of the eyelids, or rotation of the head, is the production of
an attitude, a "position in which the body is kept" (Littré). No other
designation could therefore be more appropriate than attitude tic, or
could indeed be imagined, seeing that Cruchet himself ranges mental
torticollis among the tics, and describes it as "an attitude of defence
and of repose."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account