Cursing Brain? The Histories of Tourette Syndrome

"Three lacunae puzzled me. First, why is there no mention of a literary history of Tourette syndrome? Surely the disease must have existed before 1825 and been represented in fiction? Second, why is there no mention of the nineteeth-century English neurologist John Huglings Jackson? Jackson noticed that his aphasic patients who had sustained major damage to the left hemisphere of the brain and were almost speechless could none the less produce glorious streams of obscenities; he accordingly conjected that such ripe language arose from the right hemisphere. Does Tourette syndrome throw any light on this idea? Finally, Kushner stresses very firmly that Tourette syndrome is an organic disorder. But what else could it be? He seems to forget that no one believes in mind-body dualism any more, and hence the old distinction between functional and organic conditions can no longer be drawn."Kushner, Howard I. is the author of 'Cursing Brain? The Histories of Tourette Syndrome' with ISBN 9780674180222 and ISBN 0674180224.