The
weirdest organ in our bodies is the one that makes us who we are. But
when something goes wrong in the brain, it can present itself in any
number of bizarre ways. That may depend on what’s wrong, what region of
the brain is affected, or considering the odd ways the brain works, pure
luck. For example, a case in Paris 150 years ago had a particularly
specific symptom:
When Louis Victor Leborgne died
in 1861, aged 51, he had been virtually speechless for 21 years. Not
completely speechless: He could speak one word, “tan”. Over and over
again: “Tan. Tan.” In the months before he died, a doctor called Pierre
Paul Broca, a language specialist, had become interested in his case.
Leborgne was apparently still intelligent, still aware of his
surroundings, still capable of telling where he was and how long he’d
been there. But he’d lost all use of language, reported Broca:
He could no longer produce but a single syllable, which he usually
repeated twice in succession; regardless of the question asked him, he
always responded: tan, tan, combined with varied expressive gestures.
This is why, throughout the hospital, he is known only by the name Tan.
After
Leborgne’s death, Broca examined his body, and found a lesion in the
posterior inferior frontal gyrus – a brain region now known as “Broca’s
area”.
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