Familial Incidence of Gilles de la Tourette's Disease, with Observations on Aetiology and Treatment

Abstract

Gilles de la Tourette's disease is a relatively rare condition characterized by multiple motor tics and an irresistible compulsion to swear. It was first described by Itard in 1825. Many years later, at the Salpêtrière under the tutelage of Charcot and Brissaud, Georges Gilles de la Tourette made a study of nine cases, including Itard's original one, and published his account of the disorder in 1885. He defined it as a nervous affliction characterized by motor incoordination accompanied by echolalia and coprolalia. He distinguished it from the large number of conditions which previously had been grouped under the heading of chorea. He pointed out similarities between this syndrome and the ‘jumping Frenchmen of Maine’ described by Beard in 1880 and the ‘myriachit’ of Siberia described by Hammond in 1884. Other authors however, question whether these conditions are really part of the same disorder.