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Topical Approach To Lifespan Development 7th Edition Santrock Solutions Manual Instant Download

The document discusses the development of language throughout the lifespan, detailing stages from infancy to adulthood, including milestones such as babbling, first words, and the transition to complex sentences. It emphasizes the biological and environmental influences on language acquisition, highlighting the importance of social interaction and parental communication. Additionally, it addresses the effects of aging on language abilities and the role of bilingualism in cognitive development.

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100% found this document useful (2 votes)
15 views56 pages

Topical Approach To Lifespan Development 7th Edition Santrock Solutions Manual Instant Download

The document discusses the development of language throughout the lifespan, detailing stages from infancy to adulthood, including milestones such as babbling, first words, and the transition to complex sentences. It emphasizes the biological and environmental influences on language acquisition, highlighting the importance of social interaction and parental communication. Additionally, it addresses the effects of aging on language abilities and the role of bilingualism in cognitive development.

Uploaded by

falsophyfedw
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
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CHAPTER 9: LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

Chapter Outline

Please note that much of this information is quoted from the text.
I. WHAT IS LANGUAGE?
A. Defining Language
• Language is a form of communication, whether spoken, written, or signed, that is based on a
system of symbols.
• Infinite generativity is the ability to produce an endless number of meaningful sentences
using a finite set of words and rules and is a basic characteristic of human language.
B. Language’s Rule Systems
1. Phonology: The sound system of language. A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a
language.
2. Morphology: Word formation based on meaning. A morpheme is the smallest unit of sound
which carries meaning in a language.
3. Syntax: The way words are combined for acceptable phrases and sentences.
4. Semantics: The meaning of words and sentences.
5. Pragmatics: The use of appropriate conversation and knowledge underlying the use of
language in context.

II. HOW LANGUAGE DEVELOPS


A. Infancy
1. Babbling and Other Vocalizations
• Early vocalizations are to practice making sounds, to communicate, and to attract
attention.
• A universal pattern is observed: newborn cries, cooing at 2 months, babbling by 6 months
(deaf babies babble with their hands and fingers), and gestures by 8–12 months.
2. Gestures
• Pointing is considered by language experts as an important index of the social aspects
of language.
• The absence of pointing is a significant indicator of problems in the infant’s
communication system.
3. Recognizing Language Sounds
• Infants can recognize all phonemes of all languages up to about 6 months of age. After
this time, infants become more adept at recognizing the sounds of their native language
and lose the ability to recognize sounds of other languages that are not important in their
native language.
• Infants must identify individual words from the nonstop stream of sound that makes up
ordinary speech. Finding the boundaries between words is a difficult task.
4. First Words
• Between about 8 to 12 months of age, infants often indicate their first understanding of
words.
• The infant’s first spoken word usually occurs between 10 to 15 months of age.
• Long before babies say their first words, they have been communicating with their
parents, often by gesturing and using their own special sounds.
• First words include names of important people, familiar animals, vehicles, toys, body
parts, clothes, familiar items, and greetings.
• Single words are often used to express various intentions.

© 2014 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any
manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

The first words of infants can vary across languages.

Receptive vocabulary refers to the words an individual understands. Receptive
vocabulary precedes and exceeds spoken vocabulary (words that the child uses).
• The rapid increase in vocabulary that begins at approximately 18 months is called the
vocabulary spurt.
• Cross-linguistic differences in word learning are apparent, with infants learning an Asian
language acquiring more verbs earlier in their development than do children learning
English.
• Some children use a referential style, others an expressive style, in learning words.
• Overextension is the tendency to apply a word to objects that are not appropriate for the
word’s meaning.
• Underextension is the tendency to apply a word too narrowly for the meanings of words.
5. Two-Word Utterances
• By 18 to 24 months of age, two-word utterances begin to occur, which rely heavily on
gesture, tone, and context in order to provide meaning:
— Identification: “See doggie.”
— Location: “Book there.”
— Repetition: “More milk.”
— Nonexistence: “All gone thing.”
— Possession: “My candy.”
— Attribution: “Big car.”
— Agent-action: “Mama walk.”
— Question: “Where ball?”
• Telegraphic speech is the use of short and precise words to communicate and is
characteristic of young children’s two- or three-word utterances.
B. Early Childhood
• Language develops rapidly in early childhood.
• Between 2 and 3 years of age, children begin the transition from saying simple sentences
that express a single proposition to saying complex sentences.
• As young children learn the special features of their own language, there are extensive
regularities in how they acquire that specific language.
• Some children develop language problems, including speech and hearing problems.
1. Understanding Phonology and Morphology
• During early childhood, most children gradually become more sensitive to the sounds of
spoken words and become increasingly capable of producing all the sounds of their
language.
• By the time children move beyond two-word utterances, they demonstrate a knowledge
of morphology rules.
• Use of plural and possessive demonstrates knowledge of morphological rules.
• Jean Berko’s research using sentence completion of a missing word relating to a story of
creatures called “Wugs” also provides evidence of morphological rule use.
2. Changes in Syntax and Semantics
• Preschool children learn and apply rules of syntax.
• Gains in semantics also characterize early childhood.
• Vocabulary development is dramatic.
• Some experts have estimated that between 18 months and 6 years of age, young children
learn about one new word every waking hour.
• The speaking vocabulary of a child entering first grade is approximately 14,000 words.
• One way children may increase their vocabulary so quickly is through fast mapping.

© 2014 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any
manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

Research in Life-Span Development: Family Environment and Young Children’s
Language Development
• Socioeconomic status has been linked with how much parents talk to their children
and with young children’s vocabulary.
• Other research has linked how much mothers speak to their infants and the infants’
vocabularies.
• Maternal language and literacy skills are positively related to children’s vocabulary
development.
• Mothers who frequently use pointing gestures have children with greater vocabulary.
3. Advances in Pragmatics
• Pragmatics or rules of conversation also show great improvement. Indeed, by 4 or 5 years
of age, children can suit their speech style to specific situations (e.g., they speak
differently to younger and older children).
C. Middle and Late Childhood—
• Children gain new skills as they enter school that include increasingly using language to
talk about things that are not physically present, learning what a word is, and learning
how to recognize and talk about sounds.
• It is important for children to learn the alphabetic principle (that the letters of the
alphabet represents sounds of the language) is important for learning to read and right.
1. Vocabulary, Grammar, and Metalinguistic Awareness
• The process of categorizing becomes easier as children increase their vocabulary.
• Vocabulary increases to about 40,000 words by 11 years of age.
• Children make similar advances in grammar.
• Elementary school children, due to advances in logical reasoning and analytical
skills, can now understand comparatives (e.g., shorter, deeper) and subjunctives (e.g.,
“If I were president,…”).
• The ability to understand complex grammar increases across the elementary school years.
• Children learn to use language in a more connected way (producing descriptions,
definitions, and narratives), which allows for connected discourse.
• Children must be able to do these things orally before they can deal with written
language.
• Metalinguistic awareness is a term that refers to knowledge of language, cognition
about language.
• Metalinguistic awareness improves over the elementary-school years; children define
words and learn how to use language appropriately.
• Children also make progress in understanding how to use language in culturally
appropriate ways – pragmatics.
2. Reading
• Before learning to read, children learn to use language to talk about things that are not
present; they learn what a word is; and they learn how to recognize sounds and talk about
them.
• The larger a child’s vocabulary, the easier it is for him/her to learn to read.
• Vocabulary development plays an important role in reading comprehension.
• The whole language approach stresses that reading instruction should parallel children’s
natural language learning. Reading materials should be whole and meaningful.
• The phonics approach emphasizes that reading instruction should focus on phonetics,
and its basic rules for translating written symbols into sounds. Early reading instructions
should involve simplified materials.

© 2014 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any
manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

Researchers have found strong evidence that direct instruction in phonics is a key aspect
of learning to read.
3. Writing
• Early scribbling in early childhood is a precursor for writing.
• Most 4-year-olds can print their first name, and most 5-year-olds can copy several short
words, although some letter reversal may still be evident. As they begin to write, children
often invent spelling of words.
• Advances in language and cognitive development provide the underpinnings for
improved writing. Providing many opportunities for writing is helpful.
• There is growing concern over the writing ability of youth and young adults.
• As with reading, teachers play a critical role in students’ development of writing skills.
4. Bilingualism and Second Language Learning
• Sensitive periods for learning a second language likely vary across different language
systems.
• Children’s ability to pronounce words with a native-like accent in a second language
typically decreases with age, with an especially sharp drop occurring after the age of
about 10 to 12.
• Some aspects of children’s ability to learn a second language are transferred more easily
to the second language than others.
• Students in the United States fall behind students in other countries when it comes to
learning a second language.
• Bilingualism—the ability to speak two languages—is associated with cognitive
development.
• Subtractive bilingualism is the term used when a person learns a second language and
ceases to use their native language.
• Contexts of Life-Span Development: Bilingual Education
• Bilingual education aims to teach academic subjects to immigrant children in their
native languages while gradually adding English instruction.
• Proponents argue that if children who do not know English are taught only in
English, they will fall behind in academic subjects.
• Recent research shows that it takes immigrant children approximately three to five
years to develop speaking proficiency and seven years to develop reading proficiency
in English.
• Critics argue that many more years of bilingual education are needed than received
resulting in these children failing to become proficient in English, placing them at a
disadvantage.
• Drawing conclusions about the effectiveness of bilingual education programs is
difficult because of variations across programs in the number of years they are in
effect, type of instruction, qualities of schooling other than bilingual education,
teachers, children, and other factors.
D. Adolescence
• Adolescents are generally more sophisticated in their language abilities, including:
— Metaphor: An implied comparison between two ideas that is conveyed by the abstract
meaning contained in the words used to make the comparison.
— Satire: Refers to a literary work in which irony, derision, or wit are used to expose folly
or wickedness.
— Young adolescents often speak a dialect (language distinguished by its vocabulary,
grammar, or pronunciation) with their peers, characterized by jargon and slang.

© 2014 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any
manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.
— Nicknames that are satirical and derisive also characterize the dialect of young
adolescents.
E. Adulthood and Aging
• Language abilities are thought to be maintained throughout adulthood.
• A distinct personal linguistic style is part of one’s special identity.
• Vocabulary can continue to increase throughout most of the adult years.
• Decrements may appear in late adulthood.
• Because of a decline in memory skills, older adults may have difficulty in retrieving
words from long-term memory. This often involves the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon.
• Older adults report that in less than ideal listening conditions they can have difficulty in
understanding speech.
• Some aspects of phonological skills of older adults are different than those of younger
adults.
• In general, though, most language skills decline little among older adults if they are
healthy.
• Researchers have found conflicting information about changes in discourse with aging.
• Nonlanguage factors, such as processing speed, may be responsible for some of the decline in
language skills in late adulthood.
• Alzheimer disease can affect language skills.

III. BIOLOGICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES


A. Biological Influences
• Evidence of biological influence is that children all over the world reach language milestones
at about the same time developmentally and in the same order despite the vast variation in the
language input they receive. The fact that such a difficult feat is done so quickly also points
to biology.
• Evolution and the Brain’s Role in Language:
• In evolutionary time, language is a recent acquisition. The brain, nervous system, and
vocal apparatus of our predecessors changed over hundreds of thousands of years.
• There is evidence that the brain contains particular regions that are predisposed to be used
for language, mainly in the left hemisphere.
• Broca’s area is an area in the left frontal lobe of the brain involved in producing
words.
• Wernicke’s area is another area of the left hemisphere involved in language
comprehension. Individuals with damage to Wernicke’s area often babble words in a
meaningless way.
• Damage to either of these areas produces types of aphasia, which is a loss or
impairment of language processing.
• Chomsky’s Language Acquisition Device:
• The language acquisition device (LAD) is a theoretical construct developed by Noam
Chomsky, which proposes that a biological endowment enables children to detect certain
language categories, such as phonology, syntax, and semantics.
• Chomsky’s LAD is a theoretical construct, not a physical part of the brain.
B. Environmental Influences
• Behaviorists view language as a behavior that is learned like any other behavior with the use
of reinforcement for correct responses and productions. There is no real support for this
position.
• Children are typically immersed in language through their social environment.

© 2014 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any
manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.
• Michael Tomasello stresses that children are intensely interested in their social world and that
early in their development they can understand the intentions of other people.
• Tomasello’s interaction view of language emphasizes that children learn language in specific
contexts. Through joint attention and shared intentions, children are able to use their social
skills to acquire language early in life.
• Child-directed speech is often used by parents and other adults when they talk to young
children. It has a higher-than-normal pitch and involves using simple words and sentences
• Adults use other strategies that may enhance language acquisition:
• Recasting: rephrasing something the child has said in a different way, perhaps turning it
into a question.
• Expanding: restating in a linguistically sophisticated form what a child has said.
• Labeling: identifying the names of objects, which children are asked over and over—
“the great word game.”
• Applications in Life-Span Development: How Parents Can Facilitate Infants’ and Toddlers’
Language Development
• For Infants:
• Be an active conversational partner
• Talk as if the infant understands what you are saying
• Use a language style with which you feel comfortable
• For Toddlers:
• Continue to be an active conversational partner
• Remember to listen
• Use a language style with which you are comfortable, but consider ways of
expanding your child’s language abilities and horizons
• Adjust to your child’s idiosyncrasies instead of working against them.
• Avoid sexual stereotypes
• Resist making normative comparisons
C. An Interactionist View of Language
• An interactionist view of language emphasizes the contributions of both biology and
experience in language development.
• The interaction of biology and experience can be seen in the variations in the acquisition of
language.
• Jerome Bruner developed the concept of a language acquisition support system (LASS) to
describe how parents structure and support the child’s language development.
• While most children acquire their native language without explicit teaching, caregivers can
greatly facilitate a child’s language learning.

Learning Goals

1. Define language and describe its rule systems.


• What is language?
• What are language’s five main rule systems?

2. Describe how language develops through the life span.


• What are some key milestones of language development during infancy?
• How do language skills change during early childhood?

© 2014 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any
manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.
• How does language develop in middle and late childhood?
• How does language develop in adolescence?
• How do language skills change during adulthood?

3. Discuss the biological and environmental contributions to language skills.


• What are the biological foundations of language?
• What are the environmental aspects of language?
• How does an interactionist view describe language?

Key Terms
Language Fast mapping Wernicke’s area
Infinite generativity Metalinguistic awareness Aphasia
Phonology Whole-language approach Language acquisition device
(LAD)
Morphology Phonics approach Child-directed speech
Syntax Metaphor Recasting
Semantics Satire Expanding
Pragmatics Dialect Labeling
Telegraphic speech Broca’s area

Key People

Patricia Kuhl Todd Risley Roger Brown


Jean Berko Janellen Huttenlocher Michael Tomasello
Kathy Hirsh-Pasek Ellen Galinsky
Roberta Golinkoff Kenji Hakuta
Betty Hart Noam Chomsky

Lecture Suggestions

Lecture Suggestion 1: Environmental Influences on Literacy

This lecture examines research findings related to environmental influences on children’s literacy.
Santrock addresses the controversy between the phonics method and the whole-word method to teaching
reading. While these methods obviously factor into children’s learning to read, early experiences also
influence this ability. Considerable research has examined adults’ conversations with children and the
influence of parent-child interactions on literacy and language development (Crain-Thoreson & Dale,
1992; Huttenlocher, 1997; Snow, 1993).

• Reading development is influenced by early literacy activities such as “reading” picture books and
storytelling. Parents who ask their child to retell a story are facilitating the young child’s ability to
read. Snow found that children’s vocabulary is enhanced by exposure to adults who use relatively
uncommon words in everyday conversations with the child. Family contexts, especially adult-child

© 2014 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any
manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.
conversations, increase the likelihood of the child developing a larger vocabulary and ability to
recognize the words in print, thus providing a strong foundation for literacy.
• Crain-Thoreson and Dale found that parental instruction in letter naming, sounds, and frequency of
story reading was predictive of reading precocity at age 4 (knowledge of print conventions, invented
spelling, and awareness of phonology).
• Huttenlocher reports that mothers influence children’s vocabulary and grammatical structure as well.
Children of “chatty” mothers averaged 131 more words than children of less talkative mothers by 20
months (by 24 months the difference was 295 words). There are differences in complexity of sentence
structure relative to children’s environments as well. Children who are exposed to their mother’s use
of complex sentences (dependent clauses, such as “When…” or “because…”) are much more likely to
use complex sentences. These early experiences impact a child’s ability to read.

Sources:
Crain-Thoreson & Dale, P. S. (1992). Do early talkers become early readers? Linguistic precocity,
preschool language, and emergent literacy. Developmental Psychology, 28, 421–429.
Huttenlocher, J. (1997). In S. Begley, How to build a baby’s brain. Newsweek, spring/summer, 28–32.
Snow, C. E. (1993). Families as social contexts for literacy development. New Directions in Child
Development (61, 11–25). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Lecture Suggestion 2: Infant Speech Perception—


Use It or Lose It?

Create a lecture on the speech perception abilities in young infants and the contribution of biology and
experience to this ability. Discuss research evidence of categorical perception (the ability to discriminate
when two sounds represent two different phonemes, and when they lie within the same phonemic
category). Young infants have the ability to discriminate speech contrasts that are found in languages they
have not heard (Best, McRoberts, & Sithole, 1988), which suggests that categorical perception is an
innate ability and universal among infants.

The biological component of speech perception is complemented by the experiential component.


Experience plays an important role in the development of speech perception and language. The lack of
exposure to various sounds thwarts speech perception abilities. The Japanese language does not have a
phonemic distinction between r and l sounds. Your students may well have noticed that native Japanese
speakers have trouble pronouncing and discriminating between r and l sounds. Interestingly, Japanese
infants have no trouble discriminating between these sounds (Eimas, 1975). Research suggests that
infants gradually lose their ability to discriminate sound contrasts that they are not exposed to (Werker &
Lalonde, 1988). Consider showing the Development video from The Mind series because it demonstrates
Werker’s research.

Sources:
Best, C. T., McRoberts, G. W., & Sithole, N. M. (1988). Examination of perceptual reorganization for
nonnative speech contrast: Zula click discrimination by English-speaking adults and infants. Journal
of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 14, 345–360.
Eimas, P. D. (1975). Auditory and phonetic coding of the cues for speech: Discrimination of the r-l
distinction by young infants. Perception and Psychophysics, 18, 341–347.
Werker, J. F., & Lalonde, C. E. (1988). Cross-language speech perception: Initial capabilities and
developmental change. Developmental Psychology, 24, 672–683.

Lecture Suggestion 3: Auditory Skills and Language Development

© 2014 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any
manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.
This lecture extension highlights how the sensation of hearing affects the development of language in
children. It should come as no surprise that language development is intimately linked to auditory
perception. Let’s face it, how can one develop language, or vocabulary for that matter, when one is
unable to hear speech? This becomes an issue for young children who experience multiple ear infections
in early childhood. Language development is delayed if the auditory system is blocked and hearing is
muted or nonexistent. Recent research suggests that it is not only the sensation of hearing that is
important for language development, but also one’s ability to process that auditory information.
Specifically, the ability to process multiple stimuli in a rapid and successive fashion is believed to be a
cornerstone for language acquisition (Benasich, Thomas, Choudhury, & Leppaenen, 2002). Further,
individuals with developmental language disorders demonstrate deficits in rapid processing of both verbal
and nonverbal information.

Source:
Benasich, A. A., Thomas, J. J., Choudhury, N., & Leppaenen, P. H. T. (2002). The importance of rapid
auditory processing abilities to early language development: Evidence from converging
methodologies. Developmental Psychobiology, 40(3), 278–292.

Lecture Suggestion 4: Birth Order and Language Development

There is some evidence that suggests that language development in firstborn children is more advanced
than that of laterborn children. One study found that firstborn children had more advanced lexical and
grammatical development, whereas laterborn children had more advanced conversational skills (Hoff-
Ginsberg, 1998).

We know from Santrock’s text that the verbal communication that parents have with their children affects
the children’s language development. Thus, it is not surprising that birth order may affect language
development given that parents most likely communicate with firstborn and laterborn children in different
ways. Indeed, research suggests that mothers use different categories of language (e.g., social-regulative
versus metalingual language) when interacting with one child than when interacting with two children
(Oshima-Takane & Robbins, 2003). Further, this research also found that older siblings also use different
categories of speech when interacting with both their mother and younger sibling and when interacting
with their younger sibling alone.

Although there is some evidence that the language development of firstborn children is more advanced
than that of laterborn children, not all of the research supports this claim. A relatively recent study found
that the language competence of firstborn children was more advanced than that of laterborn children only
in maternal report, not in measures of children’s actual speech or in experimenter assessments (Bornstein,
Leach, & Haynes, 2004). Thus, the relationship between birth order and language development is quite
complex. However, it certainly is mediated by parental communication and how that differs for children
who are firstborn as opposed to laterborn.

Sources:
Bornstein, M. H., Leach, D. B., & Haynes, O. M. (2004). Vocabulary competence in first- and
secondborn siblings of the same chronological age. Journal of Child Language, 31(4), 855–873.
Hoff-Ginsberg, E. (1998). The relation of birth order and socioeconomic status to children’s language
experience and language development. Applied Psycholinguistics, 19(4), 603–629.
Oshima-Takane, Y., & Robbins, M. (2003). Linguistic environment of secondborn children. First
Language, 23, 21–40.

Lecture Suggestion 5: Does Feedback Facilitate Language Learning?

© 2014 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any
manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.
One study examined whether providing feedback would facilitate the immediate and delayed learning of
foreign language vocabulary (Pashler, Cepeda, Wixted, & Rohrer, 2005). Participants in this study were
given a Luganda word with its English translation. Luganda words were chosen for this study because
these words are fairly easy to pronounce, but are unfamiliar to American participants. Participants were
presented with the word pairs in the following way: the Luganda word was printed in a text box, and the
English translation was printed in a box immediately below it. To assess learning, the Luganda word was
presented in a text box, and the text box below was blank so that the participant could write in the English
translation.

This experiment took place online, and participants were randomly assigned to one of five conditions.
After viewing the word pairs two times, participants were shown the Luganda word and the blank text
box and were asked to type in the correct English translation. Following the participants’ response, they
either (1) immediately moved on to the next word, (2) moved on to the next word after a 5-second delay,
(3) saw the word correct/incorrect for 5 seconds, (4) saw the correct answer for 5 seconds, or (5) these
participants were not tested on the words following their presentation. One week later, participants were
sent an email asking them to log on to complete the test again (obviously group 5 didn’t complete it the
first time). No feedback was given after this test session.

Only the correct-answer feedback group (group 4) showed significant improvement from the first to the
second testing session. These results suggest that providing feedback about correct answers may facilitate
language learning.

Source:
Pashler, H., Cepeda, N. J., Wixted, J. T., & Rohrer, D. (2005). When does feedback facilitate learning of
words? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 31(1), 3–8.

Lecture Suggestion 6: Ape Talk

The following is a passage from “Ape Talk—From Gua to Nim Chimpsky” that outlines the history of
attempts to teach apes to talk and sketches the controversy resulting from these attempts:

It is the early 1930s. A 7-month-old chimpanzee named Gua has been adopted by humans
(Kellogg & Kellogg, 1933). Gua’s adopters want to rear her alongside their 10-month-old son,
Donald. Gua was treated much the way we rear human infants today—her adopters dressed her,
talked with her, and played with her. Nine months after she was adopted, the project was
discontinued because the parents feared that Gua was slowing down Donald’s progress.
About twenty years later, another chimpanzee was adopted by human beings (Hayes &
Hayes, 1951). Viki, as the chimp was called, was only a few days old at the time. The goal was
straightforward: teach Viki to speak. Eventually she was taught to say “Mama,” but only with
painstaking effort. Day after day, week after week, the parents sat with Viki and shaped her
mouth to make the desired sounds. She ultimately learned three other words—papa, cup, and
up—but she never learned the meanings of these words, and her speech was not clear.
Approximately twenty years later, another chimpanzee named Washoe was adopted when she
was about 10 months old (Gardner & Gardner, 1971). Recognizing that the earlier experiments
with chimps had not demonstrated that apes have language, the trainers tried to teach Washoe the
American Sign Language, which is the sign language of the deaf. Daily routine events, such as
meals and washing, household chores, play with toys, and car rides to interesting places, provided
many opportunities for the use of sign language. In two years, Washoe learned 38 different signs
and by the age of 5 she had a vocabulary of 160 signs. Washoe learned how to put signs together
in novel ways, such as “you drink” and “you me tickle.”

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Yet another way to teach language to chimpanzees exists. The Premacks (Premack &
Premack, 1972) constructed a set of plastic shapes that symbolized different objects and were
able to teach the meanings of the shapes to a 6-year-old chimpanzee, Sarah. Sarah was able to
respond correctly using such abstract symbols as “same as” or “different from.” For example, she
could tell you that “banana is yellow” is the same as “yellow color of banana.” Sarah eventually
was able to “name” objects; respond “yes,” “no,” “same as,” and “different from”; and tell you
about certain events by using symbols (such as putting a banana on a tray). Did Sarah learn a
generative language capable of productivity? Did the signs Washoe learned have an underlying
system of language rules?
Herbert Terrace (1979) doubts that these apes have been taught language. Terrace was part of
a research project designed to teach language to an ape by the name of Nim Chimpsky (named
after famous linguist Noam Chomsky). Initially, Terrace was optimistic about Nim’s ability to
use language as human beings use it, but after further evaluation, he concluded that Nim really
did not have language in the sense that human beings do. Terrace says that apes do not
spontaneously expand on a trainer’s statements as people do; instead, the apes just imitate their
trainer. Terrace also believes that apes do not understand what they are saying when they speak;
rather they are responding to cues from the trainer that they are not aware of. The Gardners take
exception to Terrace’s conclusions (Gardner & Gardner, 1986). They point out that chimpanzees
use inflections in sign language to refer to various actions, people, and places. They also cite
recent evidence that the infant chimp Loulis learned over 50 signs from his adopted mother
Washoe and other chimpanzees who used sign language.
The ape language controversy goes on. It does seem that chimpanzees can learn to use signs
to communicate meanings which has been the boundary for language. Whether the language of
chimpanzees possesses all of the characteristics of human language, such as phonology,
morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics, is still being argued (Maratsos, 1983;
Rumbaugh, 1988).

Classroom Activities

Classroom Activity 1: Do Animals Have


the Ability to Communicate?

This activity affords students an opportunity to discuss the utility of animal research in the study of
language development. Begin this discussion by describing research studies such as Washoe (the first ape
to be taught sign language) (Gardner & Gardner, 1971) and Koko the gorilla (Patterson, 1978). Following
is some information about Gua, who was the first chimpanzee whom psychologists raised as if human.

In 1933, Winthrop Niles Kellogg, his wife, and their son Donald (10 months old) engaged in an
experiment in which Donald was raised with a chimpanzee (Kellogg & Kellogg, 1933). Robert Yerkes,
Yale’s ape expert, arranged for the loan of Gua, a 7-month-old female chimpanzee. For nine months, the
Kelloggs and Gua lived in a bungalow near Yale Anthropoid Experiment State in Florida. Both Donald
and Gua were cuddled, fed, dressed, and tested. The Kelloggs reported in The Ape and the Child that Gua
learned to walk upright more quickly than did Donald. Gua liked to pull at hangings, such as curtains,
tablecloths, and skirts. Gua also recognized people better than Donald, by the smell of their chests and
armpits, and did better recognizing by clothes than by faces. Donald, on the other hand, recognized faces.
Although Donald liked perfume, Gua did not. Both reacted the same to sweet, salty, and bitter substances,
except that Gua was more likely to enjoy sour things. Gua recognized herself in a mirror before Donald
did, and she was also the first to become interested in picture books; however, Gua did not learn to speak
human words. At the end of the study, the Kelloggs concluded that when Gua was treated as a human
child, she behaved like a human child in all ways that her body and brain structure allowed. Donald and

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manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.
his parents went on to Indiana University; Gua was returned to Yerkes, where she lived in a cage and was
part of experiments.

Have students discuss their opinions regarding the value of language learning studies with primates. What
have researchers learned from animal studies about the development or cause of language? Do they have
any ethical concerns? If they think that animal studies are beneficial for the understanding of language
development, they should describe how they think this type of research should be conducted.

Sources:
Gardner, B. T., & Gardner, R. A. (1971). Two-way communication with an infant chimpanzee. In A. M.
Schrier and F. Stollnitz (Eds.), Behavior of nonhuman primates. New York: Academic Press.
Gerow, J. (1988). Time retrospective: Psychology 1923–1988. Time. 16–17.
Kellogg, W. N., & Kellogg, I. A. (1933). The ape and the child. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Patterson, F. G. (1978). The gestures of a gorilla: Language acquisition in another pongid. Brain and
Language, 5, 72–97.

Classroom Activity 2: Which Comes First? The Chicken or the Egg?

This activity highlights some of the caveats of correlational research. First, share the following research
findings with the class. Vigil, Hodges, and Klee (2005) compared the communication of parents with
toddlers who have a language delay with that of parents of toddlers without such a delay. The results
indicated that both sets of parents produced the same amount of linguistic input, but the type of input
differed. Parents of toddlers with normal language development used more responses, expansions, and
self-directed speech than parents of toddlers with language delays. Ask students to explain this
relationship. The discussion should reveal that it is possible that the differences in parental
communication may contribute to language development, but that it is equally plausible that parental
communication is a function of toddler language. So which came first—parental communication or
language delay?

Students could then be broken down into groups and asked to design an experimental study that examines
the direction of cause.

Source:
Vigil, D. C., Hodges, J., & Klee, T. (2005). Quantity and quality of parental language input to late-
talking toddlers during play. Child Language Teaching & Therapy, 21(2), 107–122.

Classroom Activity 3: Language Development and Multiple Births

Research suggests that there are increased levels of language impairment (e.g., Mogford-Bevan, 2000)
and delay (see Kwong & Nicoladis, 2005; McMahon & Dodd, 1997) in multiple-birth offspring. Further,
it is possible that the extent of the impairment is more significant as the number of children born (e.g.,
quadruplets vs. triplets vs. twins vs. singletons) increases (see McMahon & Dodd). Ask students to use
the three perspectives on language development discussed in the text to formulate explanations for this
finding.

Discussion should reveal that these language delays are most likely due to both genetic and environmental
factors. See Mogford-Bevan (2000) for a discussion of both genetic and environmental factors that can
affect development.

Students should keep in mind that language delay is not a necessary characteristic of multiple births.
Kwong and Nicoladis (2005) found no differences in the linguistic environment of a set of triplets and

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manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.
their singleton cousin. Further, the triplets’ language skills were in the normal range of development by
the end of the study.

Sources:
Kwong, T., & Nicoladis, E. (2005). Talk to me: Parental linguistic practices may hold the key to reducing
incidence of language impairment and delay among multiple-birth children. Journal of Speech-
Language Pathology & Audiology, 29(1), 6–13.
McMahon, S., & Dodd, B. (1997). A comparison of the expressive communication skills of triplet, twin,
and singleton children. European Journal of Disorders of Communication, 32(3), 328–345.
Mogford-Bevan, K. (2000). Developmental language impairments with complex origins: Learning from
twins and multiple birth children. Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica, 52, 74–82.

Classroom Activity 4: Supporting Arguments for


Three Views of Language Development

This activity gives students an opportunity to further their understanding of the three major views of
language development.

• First, have them break into small groups and assign them one of the three positions (biological,
behavioral, and interactionalist). As a group, they should identify the basis of language development
that their theoretical perspective assumes and generate evidence that supports that view using their
textbooks.
• Second, select one group from each perspective to present their theoretical position on language
development to the class. You can have the groups debate their positions or merely present the
arguments and evidence.
• Third, have the students who are not presenting determine which position makes the most sense to
them. If they cannot come to a consensus, or if they dispute all three of the theoretical claims, have
them generate a new perspective on the development of language. The new perspective can include
components of the three perspectives that were provided.

Logistics:
• Group size: Small groups (2 to 4 students) and full class discussion
• Approximate time: Small group (15 minutes) and full class discussion (30 minutes)

Classroom Activity 5: Observation of Parent-Infant Interaction

With this activity, students will assess the communication patterns of infants and the interactional
synchrony between caregiver and infant. If possible, videotape at least two infants between the ages of 9
and 18 months interacting with their caregiver in face-to-face play for approximately 10 minutes. Have
students identify the infant’s vocal and nonverbal communication behaviors. Depending on the
videotaped segment and the age of the infant, students should notice eye contact, cooing, pointing,
babbling, crying, laughing, facial expressions, intonation patterns, and so on. Next, the students should
focus on what the caregiver is doing to elicit communication from the infant.

• Instructions for Students:


1. List all of the infant’s behaviors that you consider to be communication.
2. List all of the caregiver’s behaviors that you think are eliciting communication from the infant.
3. What sounds did the infant produce? Were all of his or her sounds part of his or her native
language?

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manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.
4. What babbling patterns were used? Did the infant have the same intonation patterns as his or her
parents’ native language?
5. Did it appear that the caregiver and the infant were having a conversation? Why or why not?

• Use in the Classroom: Discuss the students’ observations and highlight the interactional dance that
occurs and the many different ways that young infants communicate with their world. Note whether
the students considered all behavior to be communication, or whether they discriminated between
communicative and noncommunicative behavior.

Logistics:
• Materials: Two videotapes of parent-infant interaction
• Group size: Full class discussion
• Approximate time: Full class (25 minutes per videotape)

Source:
King, M. B., & Clark, D. E. (1989). Instructor’s manual for Santrock and Yussen’s child development: An
introduction, 4th ed. Dubuque, IA: Wm. C. Brown Communications.

Classroom Activity 6: Testing Language Development

This activity asks students to relate their development to the information provided in the textbook and to
design a research study regarding parental reports of infant development. Santrock describes the
development of language in infants in sufficient detail to allow for a comparison.

1. Have students ask their parents to indicate how old the students were when (1) the parents could tell
the difference between the cry communicating hunger and the cry communicating wet diapers, (2)
they spoke their first word (indicate what the word was), (3) they first put two words together, and (4)
they created their first sentence.
2. Ask students to bring their data to class and compare it to that provided in the text. Once the
comparison is made, have students indicate why the differences exist.
3. Break the students into groups, and ask them to design a retrospective study that would determine
when each of the initial stages of language development occurred. They should also identify the
problems with this type of study.
4. After sufficient time has passed, bring them back together, and have them describe their studies and
the difficulties they had in designing them.
5. As a class, have students design a more realistic study of the progression of language development
(longitudinal, naturalistic observation).

Logistics:
• Group size: Individual, small group (2 to 4 students), and full class discussion
• Approximate time: Individual (10 minutes before class meeting), small group (30 minutes), and full
class discussion (30 minutes)

Source:
King, M. B., & Clark, D. E. (1989). Instructor’s manual for Santrock and Yussen’s child development: An
introduction, 4th ed. Dubuque, IA: Wm. C. Brown Communications.

© 2014 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any
manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.
Discussion Board Prompts

For each chapter, a few discussion board prompts are provided. Some of these prompts may be
controversial, but all should encourage the student to further process course material. Although these
are intended for online discussions, they could easily be used for an in-class discussion.

1. Should U.S. schools require learning a second language during elementary school? Why or why
not? If yes, which language should be taught and why?
2. Why do teenagers have their own dialect? What benefits and costs could such a dialect have?
3. A surprising number of college students need to take remedial courses in reading and/or writing.
Should all high schools require a minimal standard of reading and writing in order to graduate?
Why or why not?

Journal Entry

For each chapter, a journal entry is suggested that encourages each student to apply that chapter’s
material to his or her own development.

Journal entry prompt: Were you taught to read using the whole-language approach or the phonics
approach? Provide examples of reading activities you were exposed to at school.

Personal Applications

Personal Application 1: Birth Order and Language Development

The purpose of this activity is to get students to think about how birth order could influence language
development. Begin by asking students to share their birth order. Who is firstborn? Second? Middle
child? Last child? Then ask students to share their perspective on how birth order may influence the
development of language. Perhaps language will be accelerated because infants are surrounded by many
more conversations. Alternatively, language could be delayed because the speech that surrounds the
infant is less well articulated and perhaps grammatically incorrect. Further, parents may spend more time
conversing with older siblings and thus spend less time in one-on-one conversations/interactions with the
infant.

One research study examining this issue suggests that secondborn children are more advanced than
firstborn children were in pronoun production, but that there was no difference in overall language
development (Ashima-Takane, Goodz, & Deverensky, 1996). This suggests that there are neither benefits
nor expenses in language development as a function of birth order. This activity could be turned into a
research project as well (see RP 1).

Source:
Oshima-Takane, Y., Goodz, E., & Deverensky, J. L. (1996). Birth order effects on early language
development: Do secondborn children learn from overheard speech? Child Development, 67(2), 621–
634.

Personal Application 2: “Hewo Witto Baby”

Think about the last time you were presented with a baby. Knowing that the child doesn’t understand
language, did you say things like “Hello,” or “How are you today?” Describe the tone of your voice. Did
it change when you spoke to the baby? Now think about times you have seen others talk to babies. While
some people are awkward and others are comfortable; we all tend to change our manner of speaking when

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manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.
Random documents with unrelated
content Scribd suggests to you:
Salvarsan treatment may even occasionally be of
value in simple FEEBLEMINDEDNESS due to
congenital syphilis.

Case 123. The somewhat unattractive Robert Matthews was


brought, at 5 years of age, to the hospital for backwardness of mind.
It appears that the patient was born at term, with instruments, that
he began to talk at a year, and to walk at 13 months, but that in
point of fact, he had not talked intelligibly to date. Robert had never
played with other children and is regarded by his parents as
backward. In fact, Robert’s sister—a year his junior—is much
brighter. Robert had had scarlet fever but without sequelae.
Examination by the Binet scale showed that, although he is
actually 5½ years, he graded by the Binet scale at 4 and was
regarded as feebleminded.
The physical examination showed a general adenopathy and
prominent frontal bosses. In the study of the family history in the
search for an etiology for the evident feeblemindedness, little or
none could be found. There were no miscarriages or stillbirths; the
parents were living and well. There was only the one sister above-
mentioned, who is brighter than Robert.
The advantage of a routine W. R. is here well shown, for the W. R.
in the serum was positive.
1. What is the prognosis of cases of syphilitic feeblemindedness?
It would appear that every case is an individual problem.
2. What is the effect of treatment? Robert Matthews was given
mercury protoiodid ⅛ gr., three times a day, by mouth, for
three months. The protoiodid was followed by ten injections of
salvarsan, average: 0.15 gram, during six months. At the end
of this period, the W. R. in the blood had become negative. A
5
re-examination by the Binet scale, when Robert was 612 years
of age, showed him to grade at 5 ⅖ , so that one might
conclude that Robert had shown more mental progress in a
year than he had previously.
Note: The patient’s sister, 4 years of age, is attractive and bright,
measuring beyond her actual age according to the intelligence tests.
However, the girl was found to have a positive W. R. It may be that
Robert and his sister illustrate the hypothesis of Mott: that the
syphilitic virus becomes less potent as the years go on, and that the
younger children in the family are less affected than the older.
However, in our series, there are a number of instances in which this
hypothesis is not substantiated.
3. What is the share of syphilis in the production of
feeblemindedness? The percentage of syphilitic cases found in
institutions is not high. A variety of cases have been proved to
be congenitally syphilitic in the absence of a positive serum W.
R.
Fernald[19] has charted a comparison of cases diagnosticated
“moron” (that is, feeblemindedness proper, in the narrower English
sense) and “imbecile.” Fernald says that the morons have, as a
group, many more bad family histories than have the imbeciles, to
quote—“Only 70% of the [imbecile] group have bad family histories.
This at first seems surprising, but when we consider that more of
our syphilitic, traumatic, and sporadic cases tend toward the lower
end of the feebleminded group, and when we remember that with
such cases there is often a seemingly normal family tree, the drop in
the curve appears logical.”
The situation with the idiots, of whom only 38 came into Fernald’s
study, was similar; 12 out of 38, or 32%, of idiots, had good family
histories. On these figures, how unfortunate it would be to dub
feeblemindedness hereditary! It is true, however, that 68–70% of
the idiots and imbeciles, judging by W. E. Fernald’s intensive study,
do have bad family histories.
Goddard[20] states that of all the causes of feeblemindedness,
there is perhaps none for which there is less evidence than syphilis.
Goddard found syphilis in 27 of his intensively charted cases of
feeblemindedness, that is, in 9% of all his charts. He finds the
majority of the syphilis cases occurring in relatives of the
feebleminded to be in the hereditary group; for example, of 164
charts in the hereditary group, 17, or 10%, showed syphilis. In 34
charts in a group termed “probably hereditary” 3, or 9%, showed
syphilis. Of 37 charts in the group termed “neuropathic” 4, or 11%,
showed syphilis, whereas in 57 “accident” and 8 “no cause” groups,
there were but 2 (4%), and one, or 13%, showing syphilis. However,
Goddard concedes that much more careful studies are necessary if
we are to give an exact evaluation of syphilogenic
feeblemindedness.
The first ten of the Waverley Anatomical Series are shortly to be
described in a forthcoming publication.[21] Of these ten cases, four
showed some slight evidence of chronic inflammatory changes,
indicating the possibility of a syphilitic or similar infectious condition.
These cases, be it remembered, were not cases of juvenile paresis,
but cases of what, for the lack of a better name, may be called
“ordinary” feeblemindedness.
If all or any of these processes are syphilitic, the syphilis is
virtually extinct. The cases had not been treated for syphilis and
were not regarded as syphilitic, though several of them showed a
few stigmata somewhat suggestive of syphilis. The anatomical
conclusion at this time is still doubtful.
As in the text case, the hypothesis of syphilis as a direct cause for
simple feeblemindedness must be entertained for a few cases. In
any event, it would not seem logical to let any institution for the
feebleminded run without a Wassermann analysis of the population.
In addition to the Wassermann data from the blood serum,
osteological data from the X-ray have proved of occasional value for
syphilis diagnosis in this as in other groups.
“Within the gates of Hell sat Sin and Death.”

Paradise Lost, Book X, Line 230.

VI. NEUROSYPHILIS AND THE WAR

Although the American toll of war syphilis has not yet begun and
although the crop of neurosyphilis due to war infections may not
arrive until the mid or late twenties of the century (witness German
experience in the eighties of the last century), it seems proper here
to give a number of abstracts re neurosyphilis as it has developed in
the war. Available reports from English, French, and German sources
have been levied upon for the years 1914–16.
It is clear that all the armies have had their share of
neurosyphilitics, some clearly diseased before enlistment, some
developing symptoms as a result of training, stress, or shock, others
hastened or made worse by war conditions.
There are important questions of pension, retirement, and
compensation for neurosyphilitics. No previous war has had the
benefit of the Wassermann reaction and other exact tests bearing
upon the nature, progress, and curability of neurosyphilis.
That we shall have our fill of pension and other problems can
already be seen from continental reports. Thibierge,[22] for example,
states that syphilis has become a real epidemic among the French
soldiers and mobilized munition workers.
Hecht[23] of Austria claims that no less than an equivalent of 60
army divisions have been temporarily withdrawn from fighting on the
Teutonic side for venereal diseases. He commends Neisser’s idea
that salvarsan and mercury should be given in the trenches. While
hundreds or thousands of Austrians are sick with syphilis, sound and
healthy men are being shot down in their stead. The diagnosis of
syphilis, according to Hecht, ought to be a signal for sending the
men to the front. He makes even the somewhat bizarre suggestion
that special companies of syphilitics should be formed, for
convenience of treatment, on the firing line.
Not only is the syphilis problem in the army of importance to the
military authorities, but also to the civil population, and perhaps to
them a greater problem. With the great increase of venereal disease
that is the result of the conditions of army life in war time, there will
be a considerable percentage of cases developing neurosyphilis a
number of years after discharge from the army, but caused by the
infection acquired during service. In addition many men will bring
the disease back to America in an infectious stage and spread it. We
would advocate that the names of all soldiers who had acquired
syphilis and were not considered cured at time of discharge should
be given to health organizations in their home states that they may
be given further care.
These practical and several theoretical questions are raised by the
following fourteen cases which we have condensed from their
sources.
A tabetic lieutenant “shell-shocked” into
paresis? Case from Donath of Vienna.

Case A.[24] An apparently competent German professor in an


intermediate school, a lieutenant of infantry reserves, 33 years old,
on the 17th August, 1914, was stunned for a while by the shock of a
cannon-firing 25 feet away. Urination became difficult. Headaches
and limb pains ensued, with paralysis of fingers, gastric troubles,
forgetfulness especially for names, insomnia, and general scattering
of mental faculties.
Neurologically, the pupils were irregular, left larger than right;
Argyll-Robertson reaction. Right knee-jerk livelier than left. Achilles
reactions absent. Slow and dissociated pain reactions in feet, lower
thighs and lower quarter of upper thighs, with hypalgesia or
analgesia. Station good; gait steady. Mentally depressed, slow of
thought. Speech poor and of indistinct construction (mild dementia).
Calculation ability poor. No pleasure in work.
Wassermann reaction of serum weakly positive.
It seems that for a year the patient had been subject to spells of
anger. He was irritated by his wife who had been nervous since an
earthquake.
On the occasion of the earthquake, 1911, the patient himself had
had a spell of difficulty with urination. The spell had lasted two or
three months. The patient had had a chancre in 1902, “cured” in
four or five weeks with xeroform. In 1908, when about to marry, he
had had six mercurial inunctions.
1. Is this a case of traumatic paresis? From the somewhat
meagre account it would appear that Donath’s lieutenant
should rather be termed “shell-shock paresis,” in the sense of a
paretic neurosyphilis liberated by shell-shock (using shell-shock
in the sense of a shock without direct brain injury).
2. What compensation is due such a man as Donath’s
lieutenant? The ordinary principles applicable to traumatic
paresis are not here in point, since no symptoms pointing to
trauma of brain ever supervened. See discussion under Case
G.
3. How frequent is paresis in armies? R. L. Richards in White and
Jelliffe’s Treatment of Nervous and Mental Diseases writes as
follows (of course concerning peace times):
“The French estimate that paresis cases are 7 per cent of all
their military cases. The German estimate is 6.6 per cent. In
our own army at the Government Hospital for the Insane, of
490 cases of mental diseases among officers and enlisted men,
37, or 7 per cent, were paresis. During the Russo-Japanese
War, in the Russian Psychiatric Hospital at Harbin, the
percentage of paresis was 5.6 per cent among the cases
developing at the front.”
A French soldier “shell-shocked” (also burial)
into incipient tabes dorsalis? Case from Duco
and Blum of Paris.

Case B.[25] A French soldier was buried by effects of shell


explosion September 8th, 1914. He sustained no wound or fracture.
Incontinence of urine developed. Anesthesia of penis and scrotum.
Reflexes absent; pupils sluggish. Wassermann reactions suspicious.
The diagnosis tabes dorsalis incipiens was made
(hematomyelia of conus terminalis eliminated).
The patient was estimated to be “40% incapacitated,” according to
the French “échelle de gravité” of conditions. A full pension would
not be justified in the opinion of the French authors.
1. Is there evidence of an increase or exacerbation of tabes
dorsalis in the war? Birnbaum,[26] reviewing German war
neurology, quotes Weygandt as believing that the war has
probably had to do with the production of both tabes and
paresis in many instances. Other cases, however, have merely
been made worse by the war stress. Thirdly, there are cases in
which the war stress has done no harm whatever. Westphal
has seen both tabes and paresis develop in men who had
never before shown any mental or physical symptoms
whatever, and accordingly, Westphal must be counted among
those who regard war stress as a liberating factor for these
diseases. Redlich and Donath are cited in the same connection.
(The case of Donath is the case presented above as Case A.)
A very interesting claim was made by Cimbal to the effect
that he found many examples of paresis developing in the
early period of the war, particularly in November and
December, 1914. Later, according to Cimbal, cerebrospinal
syphilis and tabes became more prevalent.
Neurosyphilis in a German recruit, possibly
AGGRAVATED ON military SERVICE. Pension not
allowable. Case from Weygandt.

Case C.[27] A German, long alcoholic and thought to be


weakminded, volunteered, but shortly had to be released from
service. He began to be forgetful and obstinate, cried, and even
appeared to be subject to hallucinations. The pupils were unequal
and sluggish. The uvula hung to the right. The left knee-jerk was
lively, right weak. Fine tremors of hands. Hypalgesia of backs of
hands. Stumbling speech. Attention poor.
It appeared that he had been infected with syphilis in 1881 and in
1903 had had an ulcer of the left leg.
The military commission denied that his service had brought about
the disease. In the phrase of the Canadian Pension Board the
German commission would probably have rendered a report
“aggravated on service,” not “by service.” (See Canadian cases D, E,
and F.)
1. Has paresis increased in the war? Both French and German
figures controvert the claim. Marie, for example, found not a
single paretic amongst the skull injury cases at the Salpétrière.
Most authors are found demonstrating cases which they clearly
regard as in some way produced or unfavorably influenced by
the war. There seems, therefore, to be a little inconsistency
between the general statement that paresis has not increased
in the war and the somewhat frequent cases described as
occurring in and modified by the war. However, Bonhoeffer, on
the basis of nine months’ war experience, also holds it to be
probable that paresis is no more frequent in the field than in
the home population.
2. Is the old syphilitic especially liable to break down under war
conditions? According to Richards, Shaikewicz says that in the
Russo-Japanese war paresis was noted especially among the
officers and non-commissioned officers, and that it was
undoubtedly hastened in its development by war conditions.
Steida says that while ordinarily we find paresis developing
twelve to twenty years after the primary sore of syphilis, in
these cases it developed in five to ten years after the primary
sore. Some of the cases progressed with unusual rapidity. It
was also noticed that among soldiers from the front, under
treatment, evidences of syphilis were present in 20%, while
among the other soldiers under treatment, evidences of
syphilis were present in 1.6%. Undoubtedly the old syphilitic is
especially liable to break down under war conditions.
But, on the whole, the German authors in this war find no
evidence favoring Steida’s claim of the hastened post-infective
outbreak.
3. How did it come about that the efficient German system
permitted this alcoholic and weakminded syphilitic to enter the
army? As will be seen, he was a volunteer. In general, the
German system has been supplied with army surgeons who
have been trained, not by brief and “brush-up” courses, but by
longer periods, sometimes two years in duration.
Syphilis contracted before enlistment,
“AGGRAVATED BY SERVICE.” Canadian case,
courtesy of Dr. J. L. Todd, Canadian Board of
Pension Commissioners.

Case D. A laboring man, 42, who always strenuously denied


syphilitic infection, proceeded to France eight months after
enlistment. He had not been in France three weeks when he
dropped unconscious. He regained consciousness, but remained
stupid, dull in expression, and with memory impaired. His speech
was also impaired. There was dizziness and a right-sided hemiplegia.
He was confined to bed four months and was then “boarded” for
discharge.
Physically, his heart was slightly enlarged both right and left;
sounds irregular; extra systoles; aortic systolic murmur transmitted
to neck; blood pressure 140:40. Precordial pain, dyspnea.
Neurologically, there was a partial spastic paralysis of the right
thigh which could be abducted, could be flexed to 120°, and showed
some power in the quadriceps. There was also a spastic paralysis of
the right arm, but the shoulder girdle movements were not impaired.
There was a slight weakness on the right side of the face. There was
no anesthesia anywhere.
The deep reflexes were increased on the right side, Babinski on
right, flexor contractures of right hand, extensor contractures of
right leg, abdominal and epigastric reflexes absent, pupils active,
tongue protruded in straight line.
Fluid: slight increase in protein. W. R.+++
The Board of Pension Commissioners ruled that the condition had
been aggravated by service. (See Case E, “aggravated on service.”)
1. In view of the fact that the majority of the cases here
abstracted happen to be in common soldiers, is there any
evidence bearing on relative incidence in officers and men?
Quoting R. L. Richards:
“The percentage of paresis cases among officers alone is
variously estimated from 50 per cent in the German army
(Stier) to 58.9 per cent in the Austrian army (Drastich). Since
paresis is a disease of more advanced life, it is but natural that
the percentage of paresis among officers, non-commissioned
officers, and older soldiers should be higher than among the
whole military body, where the average age is, as we have
seen, well below thirty years. Hence the above figures do not
mean a greater prevalence of syphilis among those classes,
but that we have no means of knowing how many of the
others develop paresis. If anything it shows that these ‘soldiers
by calling,’ have a more stable mental make-up, since they
succumb chiefly to an exogenous toxin.”
Rayneau at the 19th Congress of French Alienists and
Neurologists at Nantes in 1909, discussing the insane of the
army from a medicolegal point of view, states that the most
frequent mental disease amongst officers and soldiers is
general paresis. At least, this disease is the most frequent
basis of invaliding, retirement, or placing in the inactive list. He
states that French and foreign statistics are at one upon this
matter, quoting Christian as finding 32% among the soldiers
interned at Charenton; Gamier at Dijon, 59%; Meilhon at
Quimper, 42% and Talon at Marseilles, 33.8%. Grilli found 31
of 40 officers interned in Florence, Sienna and Milan victims of
general paresis. Stier’s German statistics indicate about 50%.
Rayneau himself found 16 of 20 officers paretic and 17 out of
27 subalterns and gendarmes.
The Neurological Society of Paris held a conference
December 15, 1916, with the chiefs of the neurological and
psychiatric military centres of France, and discussed a variety
of questions concerning invaliding, incapacity, and
compensation in neuroses and psychoses of war. Dupré dealt
especially with the psychoses of war as caused by trauma,
strain, infection, and intoxication. General paresis is regarded
by Dupré as the most important of the dementias found in the
army. The medicolegal point of view is, of course, that general
paresis is necessarily related to an old syphilis, but its late
development leads to misinterpretations as to its probable
cause, both by the family and friends and even by magistrates.
The war acts in the French nomenclature as an agent
revélateur or as an agent accélérateur. Although its cause is
prior and exterior to the war, general paresis in a majority of
cases is brought out (revélé) by the lack of adaptability of the
general paretic to the novelty and difficulties of his
surroundings and duties in war. Trauma, strain, and alcohol in
a certain number of cases accelerate the progress of a general
paresis. The aggravation of paresis is produced by these same
factors, but especially by violent cerebral trauma. According to
Dupré, the Val-de-Grace statistics show that the number of
paretics has not been increased by the war. Medicolegally, the
victim of general paresis, like the victim of traumatic or
infectious chronic mental disorder, may be assigned an
incapacity of from 50 to 100%, and these patients are
invalided under Réforme No. 1,—a permanent invaliding.
Lépine of Lyons also discusses the compensation question in
general paresis. Lépine thinks that, although syphilis is
indispensable in paresis, yet the truth is that syphilis plus
something else unknown to us is responsible for general
paresis. This something else is neither a special kind of virus
nor is it a particular kind of prepared soil alone. Trauma,
physical, intellectual, and moral strain, and insomnia are the
factors to which he calls special attention as adjuncts in the
production of general paresis. As to the responsibility of the
State for the production of general paresis, according to
Lépine, the maximal responsibility should be 40% on account
of the very considerable predisposition to paresis created by
pre-existent syphilis.
Marie remarked that, although there had been thousands of
head cases at the Salpétrière, there had not been a single case
of general paresis. Dupré agreed with Marie that trauma was
not a frequent etiological factor; strain and alcohol were more
important. The Society agreed that in exceptional cases, where
an encephalic trauma could be regarded as accelerating or
aggravating the disease, the degree of incapacity might be set
at from 10 to 30 per cent.
Syphilis contracted before enlistment,
“AGGRAVATED ON SERVICE.” Canadian case,
courtesy of Dr. J. L. Todd, Canadian Board of
Pension Commissioners.

Case E. A laboring man, 44, acquired syphilis at a time unknown.


Ten months after enlistment this man developed symptoms on the
firing line. He was inattentive, irrational, incoherent. The diagnosis
was then “mania.”
There were, however, scars at angle of mouth and on lower lip.
Occipital glands were palpable, fine tremor of hands. The W. R. was
+++.
Later the patient became violent, destructive, untidy, disoriented.
Auditory hallucinations are recorded.
He was “boarded” for discharge five months after the first
symptoms. The board agreed that these symptoms would have
appeared in civil life. In view of a difference of opinion as to the part
played by stress of service, his condition was set down as
“aggravated on service” (not, it will be noted, by service, see Case
D).
1. Under what conditions should pensions be awarded for
disability resulting from venereal diseases? According to a
personal communication from Dr. J. L. Todd, Chairman of the
Board of Pension Commissioners for Canada, pensions are
awarded for all disabilities appearing during service, unless
they can be shown certainly to be due to the men’s own fault
and negligence. It would appear that during service covers
both aggravations by and on service. There remains some
doubt as to whether contraction of venereal disease
constitutes negligence.
2. What have been conditions in the small inactive American
army of the past? Richards has made a study of statistics at
the Government Hospital for the Insane, Washington.
“The leading features of this mental disease were well
exemplified in our cases the past year. They formed 7.5 per
cent of the total number. They averaged forty years of age,
and Ziehen says 80 per cent of all cases are in the fourth or
fifth decade of life. They averaged ten and a half years’
service, which would indicate that the military life was their
calling. Only one had any serious hereditary defect. Stigmata
of degeneration were infrequent, averaging only two for each
case. 66 per cent had good schooling, considering their
opportunities. Physical signs were frequent in each case. Only
one showed normal light reaction. Ziehen says the light
reaction is retained in only 20 per cent of the cases. Patellar
reflex was absent in one case and normal or exaggerated in
five. The speech defect was slight in four cases. Other physical
signs were present in the usual proportions. Memory defects
existed in all the cases. In four the onset was with excitement.
One began with a character change as the most marked
feature. In only two were the transfer diagnoses correct. One,
beginning as a quiet dementia, was diagnosticated paralysis
agitans, because of a marked tremor. One was excited and
euphoric and was called a manic-depressive psychosis. One
with an obscure onset was diagnosticated as a neurasthenic.
The other one was first observed in this hospital. The physical
signs should have led to a correct diagnosis in each of these
cases.”
Duration of neurosyphilitic process important re
compensation. Canadian case, courtesy of Dr. C.
B. Farrar, Psychiatrist, Military Hospitals
Commission.

Case F. A Canadian of 36 enlisted in 1915, served in England, and


was returned to Canada in February, 1917, clearly suffering from
some form of neurosyphilis (W. R. positive in serum and fluid,
globulin, pleocytosis 108).
There is no record of any disability or symptom of nervous or
mental disease at enlistment. The first symptoms were noted by the
patient in May, 1916, six months or more after enlistment. The case
was reviewed at a Canadian Special Hospital, October 11, 1916, by a
board of examiners. This board reported that:
“The condition could only come from syphilitic infection of three
years’ standing” (a decision bearing on compensation); but the
general diagnosis remained:
“Cerebrospinal lues, aggravated by service.”
The picture which the medical board regarded as of at least three
years’ standing was as follows:
History of incontinence, shooting pains, attacks of syncope,
general weakness, facial tremor, exaggerated knee-jerks, pupils
react with small excursion. Speech and writing disorder, perception
dull, lapses of attention, memory defect, defective insight into nature
of disorder, emotional apathy.
1. Was the conclusion “aggravated by service” sound? On
humanitarian grounds the victim is naturally conceded the
benefit of the doubt. But it is questionable how scientifically
sound the conclusion really was.
2. Could the condition come only from syphilitic infection of at
least three years’ standing? Hardly any single symptom in this
case need be of so long a standing; yet the combination of
symptoms seems by very weight of numbers to justify the
conclusion of the medical board.
Can PARETIC NEUROSYPHILIS (“general
paresis”) be lighted up by the stress of military
service without injury or disease? A possible
example from P. Marie, Chatelin and Patrikios of
Paris.

Case G. In apparently good health a French soldier repaired to


the colors, in August, 1914, being then 23 years old.
Two years later, August, 1916, symptoms appeared: speech
disorder with stammering, change of character (had become easily
excitable), stumbling gait. He became more and more preoccupied
with his own affairs, grew worse, and was sent to hospital in
October, 1916.
He was then foolish and overhappy, especially when interviewed.
There was marked rapid tremor of face and tongue. Speech hesitant,
monotonous, and stammering to the point of unintelligibility. His
memory, at first preserved, became impaired so that half of a test
phrase was forgotten. Simple addition was impossible and fantastic
sums would be given instead of right answers; handwriting
tremulous, letters often missed, others irregular, unequal, and
misshapen.
Excitable from onset, the patient now became at times suddenly
violent, striking his wife without provocation. After visit at home, he
would forget to return to hospital. Often he would leave hospital
without permission (of course the more surprising in a disciplined
soldier).
No delusions were found.
The serum and fluid W. R. were positive, albumin in fluid,
lymphocytosis.
Neurological examination. Unequal pupils, slight right-side
mydriasis, pupils stiff to light, weakly responsive in accommodation,
reflexes lively, fingers tremulous on extension of arms.
The patient had, December 5, 1916, an epileptiform attack with
head rotation, limb-contractions and clonic movements.
1. Should this soldier recover for disability obtained in service?
Marie was inclined to think military service in part responsible
for the development of the paresis. Laignel-Lavastine thought
so also, but that the amount assigned should be 5%–10% of
the maximum assignable.
2. What is the duty of the military authorities relative to so called
traumatic paresis? Medicolegally speaking, Froissart, quoted by
Rayneau, states that a victim of traumatic paresis may or may
not have presented mental disorders before the accident, that
is, that the paretic symptoms may develop out of a clear sky
as a result of the accident. The accident itself must be of a
serious nature. The accident must be followed by phenomena
pointing to brain injury of traumatic nature. These phenomena
need not be characteristic symptoms of general paresis at the
outset. The period elapsing between the trauma and the
supervening condition of paresis must be occupied without
notable interruption, at first by phenomena of a purely
traumatic nature, later by signs indicating the onset and
evolution of general paresis.
The French invaliding process called Réforme No. 1 with
pension is granted according to the governmental instructions
only to officers, subalterns, and soldiers whose disease is due
to trauma. In view of this governmental regulation, the military
surgeon must write out certificates describing every cranial
trauma, however slight, which might have a bearing on the
development of paresis. However, he should not too readily
admit trauma as a cause of paresis. If a long period of
quietude, a period in which the trauma itself seems to have
undergone a complete recovery, supervenes, then general
paresis should not be reported by the surgeon.
Lépine has recently noted the following features as desirable
in board reports concerning paretics: nature of trauma, length
of service, fatigue endured, insomnia, date of infection,
treatment, W. R.
Can “gassing” light up a paresis? Example from
de Massary of Issy-les-Moulineaux.

Case H. A soldier, 35, was sent to the Centre Neurologique with a


hospital ticket reading:
“Neurasthenia, general weakness following intoxication by gas.”
The soldier was thought at first to be a neurasthenic. But he soon
showed signs of more pronounced mental trouble. The voice was
suspicious. There was a slight irregularity of pupils.
An epileptiform attack occurred, followed by aggravation of
symptoms.
Lumbar puncture showed pleocytosis. The W. R. of the serum
proved positive.
Yet the evident neurosyphilis, possibly paretic (de Massary’s
diagnosis), was preceded by a neurasthenia and the neurasthenia
was preceded by “gassing.”
De Massary believes the patient and his family would perhaps be
justified in believing the condition produced by the injury. De
Massary is not clear as to the financial deserts of the patient. It is
not a manifest case of aggravation of antebellum symptoms, even if
it be neuropathologically an instance of acquired loss of resistance to
pre-existent spirochetes in body or brain.
1. What adjuvant factors have been recognized in military
paresis? Aside from syphilis, Rayneau finds that alcoholism,
malaria, sunstroke and various intoxications serve as causes
for paresis. Rayneau points out that the apparent integrity of
the mind in general paresis may be such that they last in the
army some time and have their oddities ascribed to misconduct
or breaches of discipline. In fact the Legrande du Saulle called
this early period in general paresis the medicolegal period,
showing, as it so often does, thefts, outrages against decency,
frauds, assaults, exhibitionism and the like. To be sure these
acts are absurd and infantile and not difficult to recognize as of
psychotic origin.
Syphilis may bring out epilepsy in a subject
having taint. Case from Bonhoeffer, 1915.

Case I.[28] A man of 35 in the Landwehr acquired syphilis some


time in the summer of 1914. He was a good soldier, passed through
several clashes, and was promoted to Unteroffizier.
To understand what followed it must be stated that he had been a
bed-wetter to 11, had been practically a teetotaler (Bonhoeffer’s
point is perhaps that otherwise epilepsy might have developed
sooner?), and, when he did drink, vomited almost at once, and had
amnesia for the period of drunkenness. His father had been
somewhat of a drinker. His sister had suffered from convulsions as a
child.
February, 1915, the Unteroffizier lost appetite, got headaches, and
went to hospital for a time. Upon getting better, he was sent on
service to Berlin. In a Berlin hotel he had his first convulsions and
unconsciousness, biting his tongue. He was confused for several
days, and, when he had become clear, had a pronounced retrograde
amnesia together with a tendency to fabricate a filling for the lost
period.
This retrograde amnesia is uncommon in epilepsy and suggests
organic disease. No sign of organic disease was found on
neurological examination. The patient had no signs of the epileptic
make-up. The serum W. R. was negative. On the whole, Bonhoeffer
regards the epilepsy as “reactive” to the syphilis, as a syphilogenic
epilepsy.
As to the amnesia, it is of interest that alcohol should long before
have been able to cause amnesia in this man in the same way as
does now the syphilitic epilepsy.
1. In view of the fact that this Landwehr man appears to have
acquired syphilis while on campaign, what is the responsibility
of the government for treatment? The Canadian authorities, as
stated under Case E, are in doubt whether contraction of
venereal disease constitutes negligence on the part of the
soldier. It would appear to us that where a government does
not take suitable steps to prevent the acquisition of syphilis by
the soldiers, the government must assume a measure of
responsibility for the syphilis incurred. The government’s
responsibility would be still greater in equity, it would appear, if
commercial opportunities for the acquisition of syphilis are
maintained under more or less close government supervision
or (even as has been claimed for certain encampments on our
own Mexican border) if shelter for illicit sex relations is
afforded within the limits of a military camp. In a certain
community, “E,” for example, it is claimed by Exner,[29] the
district for prostitutes was “situated within the lines of military
camps and protected and ‘regulated’ by the military
authorities.”
But even if the government has no legal responsibility in this
regard, it would be well to consider the ultimate results of the
syphilis that will probably be acquired by great numbers of
soldiers under campaign conditions. Aside from the ravages of
syphilis outside the nervous system, it is well known, as
Weygandt intimates for German conditions, that the aftermath
of war will be a high proportion of cases of neurosyphilis.
Weygandt remarks in his review of the influence of the war
upon psychiatry, that the opportunity for syphilitic infection in
the campaign is considerable. In the war of 1870, the
conditions in this regard were extremely unfavorable, and
writing in 1915, Weygandt remarks that at present there
should be a prophylaxis against syphilitic infection by the
soldiers, which prophylaxis should be the most energetic
possible. Continence on the part of the soldiers and the
isolation of infected women, with examination by specialists,
have been advocated by Neisser and by Mendel. In the ’80’s a
great number of cases of locomotor ataxia developed in
Germany, which were due to syphilis acquired by the soldiers
and officers in the war of 1870.
Syphilis in a psychopathic subject. Convulsions 5
days after Dixmude. Case from Bonhoeffer,
1915.

Case J.[30] A soldier in the reserves, 23, was, subsequently to his


being brought to hospital, described by his wife as a rather over-
sensitive fellow, who could hardly look at blood and was meticulous
about the household. He had always been subject to headaches,
especially after hard work. However, he had passed through his
military training well in 1910, not even having been bestraft.
He began service in October and fought at Dixmude on the 19th.
On the 24th in the trench and while being carried back, he had
several spells of pallor, falling stiff, and then having convulsions.
Brought finally to the Charité in Berlin, he had more spells of sudden
pallor, collapse with brief convulsions, tossings in bed, and absences,
post-convulsive headaches, and mild bad humor.
There were numerous attacks several days apart in the first seven
weeks. The patient was not of an “epileptic” disposition, though he
was rather readily dissatisfied. Headaches also occurred without
relation to convulsions.
The serum W. R. was positive. Treatment by mercurial inunctions.
No further convulsions. Prognosis as to the possibility of a
constitutional epilepsy unknown.
SYPHILITIC ROOT-SCIATICA (lumbosacral
radiculitis) in a fireworks man with a French
artillery regiment. Case presented from
Dejerine’s clinic by Long.

Case K. No direct relation of this example of root-sciatica to the


war is claimed nor was there a question of financial reparation.
There was no prior injury. At the end of March, 1915, the
workman was taken with acute pains in lumbar region and thighs,
and with urgent but retarded micturition.
Unfit for work, he remained, however, five months with the
regiment, and was then retired for two months to a hospital behind
the lines. He reached the Salpétrière October 12, 1915, with “double
sciatica, intractable.”
There was no demonstrable paralysis but the legs seemed to have
“melted away,” fondu, as the patient said. Pains were spontaneously
felt in the lumbar plexus and sciatic nerve regions, not passing,
however, beyond the thighs. These pains were more intense with
movements of legs; but coughing did not intensify the pains.
Neuralgic points could be demonstrated by the finger in lumbar and
gluteal regions and above and below the iliac crests (corresponding
with rami of first lumbar nerves). The inguinal region was involved
and the painful zone reached the sciatic notch and the upper part of
the posterior surface of the thigh.
The sensory disorder had another distribution objectively tested.
The sacral and perineal regions were free. Anesthesia of inner
surfaces of thighs, hypesthesia of the anterior surfaces of thighs and
lower legs. The anesthesia grew more and more marked lower down
and was maximal in the feet, which were practically insensible to all
tests, including those for bone sensation. There was a longitudinal
strip of skin of lower leg which retained sensation.
Position sense of toes, except great toes, was poor. There was a
slight ataxia attributable to the sensory disorder—reflexes of upper
extremities, abdominal, and cremasteric preserved, knee-jerks,
Achilles and plantar reactions absent.
The vesical sphincter shortly regained its function, though its
disorder had been an initial symptom.
Pupils normal.
The “sciatica” here affects the lumbosacral plexus. Signs of
disorder at one time or other affected the first lumbar distribution of
the third lumbar and first and second sacral nerves.
As to the syphilitic nature of this affection, there had been at
eighteen (22 years before) a colorless small induration of the penis,
lasting about three weeks. There was now evident a small oval
pigmented scar. The patient had married at 20 and has had three
healthy children.
The lumbar puncture fluid yielded pleocytosis (120 per cmm.).
Mercurial treatment was instituted.
The treatment has not reduced the pains. Long thinks it was
undertaken too long (six months) after onset. The warning for early
diagnosis is manifest. There was somehow a delay under the
medical conditions of the army.
Can the “lighting up” of NEUROSYPHILIS IN
CIVIL LIFE be induced by the domestic stress of
war? A possible example from Dr. R. Percy
Smith, London.

Case L. A German Jew in London passed into the Paretic form of


Neurosyphilis shortly after the outbreak of war under conditions
suggesting that the stress of emotions directly or indirectly lighted
up the neural process.
The man was a bank-officer, 52 years old, and married. He had
lived many years in England and was in fact a naturalized citizen. He
had been under treatment for syphilis by Sir Jonathan Hutchinson,
29 years before, namely, at the age of 23. Subsequently, Sir John
had given him permission to marry.
It proved that for years the man had had fixed pupils, absent
knee-jerks, and a perforated ulcer of the foot. However, there had
been no other mental or nervous symptoms preventing bank-officer’s
work.
At the outbreak of war the man was discharged from the bank. He
grew worried and sleepless. He began to charge himself with sex
irregularity. He went down to the city and burned trust documents
belonging to others.
From worry and self-accusation he passed into depression and
agitation. He developed a belief that not only he but also his German
wife were to be executed. He thought he was a criminal and was to
be hanged.
The depression then altered to a condition of hilarity and
loquacity.
In addition to the fixed pupils and absent knee-jerks, a speech
disorder shortly developed.
The patient was placed under care, but quickly (a few months?)
passed into an advanced stage of paretic neurosyphilis and died.
SHELL-SHOCK PSEUDOPARESIS (non-syphilitic).
Recovery. Case from Pitres and Marchand of
Bordeaux.

Case M. June 19, 1915, a shell exploded some distance from


Lieutenant R. He remembers the gaseous smell, the bursting of
several shells nearby and a sensation of being lifted into the air.
When he recovered consciousness, he was in hospital at Paris-Plage,
covered with bruises and scratches. They told him he had been
delirious and had vomited and spat blood.
June 24, his wife came to see him, but this visit he could not
remember. Nor could his wife at first recognize him, he was so thin.
He roused a few moments and recognized his wife, but relapsed into
torpor again. Speech was difficult and ideas confused.
A few days later he was able to rise; but his mental status grew
worse, especially as to speech and writing; the latter quite illegible.
There was insomnia, or, if he slept, war dreams.
August 7, he began a period of five months’ convalescence passed
with his family, depressed, given to spells of weeping, confined to
bed or couch, unable to “find words,” conscious of his state and
troubled about it, speaking of nothing but the war, and afraid to go
out for fear of ambuscade. There was at first a slight lameness of
the right leg. Although he could walk, he felt pain in the knee on
flexing the right leg on the thigh. He walked holding this leg in
extension.
On going back to the colors, he was immediately evacuated to the
Centre Neurologique at Bordeaux, January 20, 1916.
Examination found a bored, impatient, irritated man, vexed that a
man who was not sick should be sent up “comme fou.”
Omitting negative details, neurological examination showed
slight lameness as above, body stiff and movements jerky; difficult,
unsteady gait. The lieutenant could stand for some time on either
leg, tongue and face tremulous during speech. Limbs moderately
tremulous, especially in the performance of test movements.
Knee-jerks and Achilles jerks absent. Other reflexes, including
pupillary, normal. Segmentary hypalgesia of right leg, especially
about knee. Tremulous speech and writing. Patient would stop short
in speaking for lack of words.
Malnutrition. Appetite good, but a bursting feeling after meals.
Skin dry, scaly on legs, fissured on fingers.
Serum W. R. negative. Fluid not examined.
Mental examination. Conscious and complaining of his troubles,
Lieutenant R. claimed persistently that he was not sick. Memory for
recent events was in general poor. Errands easily forgotten. Lost in
the street. Complaint of corpse odors round him. Everybody is
looking at him and making fun of him. He was apt to insult
bystanders. He was afraid of German spies. Things in shops angered
him as they seemed to him to be of German manufacture.
There were frequent periods of depression, with pallor and no
spontaneous speech for some hours to a half-day. Headaches
coming on and stopping suddenly.
As to diagnosis, the first impression, say Pitres and Marchand, was
that of general paresis. The progress of symptoms after the shock
was consistent with this diagnosis. The mental state and the physical
findings seemed consistent, although the pupils were normal. His
partial insight into his symptoms was not inconsistent with the
diagnosis. He had a characteristic self-confidence. There had been
four stillbirths (two twins) two children are alive, 11 and 13. Typhoid
fever at 30. Syphilis denied. No mental disease in the family.
The patient had never done military duty, having been invalided
for “right apex.” But he had volunteered and been accepted in
September, 1914.
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