She could
not stand or walk, but was able to move her arms and legs. Her
sight and hearing were normal. She was quiet and obedient, and
sat most of the time in her chair. She paid no attention to her
bodily needs. She could not speak and had to be fed with a
spoon. After six months she became a little more intelligent,
made an attempt to speak, and muttered something indistinctly.
She would stretch out her hand when told to give it, and she
recognized with a smile her nurse and the physician. Some four
months later she would grind her teeth when in a pleasant mood,
and would act as if she were shy when spoken to, holding her
hand before her eyes. She was fond of her nurse. Thus there was
capacity of observation, there were attention, memory,
affection, and some power of voluntary movement. She died in
January, 1876. Her brain weighed, two days after her death,
seven ounces. It is minutely described by the author--but after
it had been preserved in alcohol for six years, and it then
weighed only two ounces. The author found a number of
convolutions not so far developed as in the foetus of six
months, according to Gratiolet, and he is of opinion that the
cerebellum was further developed after the cerebrum had ceased
to grow, so that there was not an arrest of the development but
an irregularity. The cerebral hemispheres were asymmetrical, the
frontal lobes, corresponding to the psychical performances in
the case, being relatively pretty large, while the posterior
portion of the third convolution on the left side, the island of
Reil, and the operculum were very small, corresponding to the
inability to learn to speak.
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