LOCOMOTOR ATAXIA (Gr. a, priv., and -rafts, See also:

• ORDER
• ORDER (through Fr. ordre, for earlier ordene, from Lat. ordo, ordinis, rank, service, arrangement; the ultimate source is generally taken to be the root seen in Lat. oriri, rise, arise, begin; cf. " origin ")
• ORDER, HOLY

order; synonyms, Tubes dorsalis, posterior See also:

• SPINAL

spinal sclerosis)  , a progressive degeneration of the See also:

• NERVOUS

nervous See also:

• SYSTEM

system, involving the posterior columns of the See also:

• SPINAL

spinal See also:

• CORD (derived through the Fr. corde, from the Lat. chorda, Gr. xop(5rt, the string of a musical instrument)

cord with other structures, and causing See also:

• MUSCULAR

muscular incoordination and disorder of gait and station . The essential symptoms of the disease—stamping gait, and swaying with the eyes shut, the occurrence of See also:

• BLINDNESS

blindness and of small fixed pupils—were recognized by See also:

• ROMBERG, WILHELM (1652-1715)

Romberg (1851), but it was the clinical See also:

• GENIUS (from Lat. genere, gignere)

genius of See also:

• DUCHENNE, GUILLAUME BENJAMIN AMAND (1806-1875)

Duchenne and his masterly description of the symptoms which led to its See also:

• ACCEPTANCE (Lat. acceptare, frequentative form of accipere, to receive)

acceptance as a definite disease (1858), and he named it locomotor ataxia after its most striking symptom . In 1869 See also:

• ARGYLL, EARLS AND DUKES OF

Argyll See also:

• ROBERTSON, FREDERICK WILLIAM (1816-1853)
• ROBERTSON, GEORGE CROOM (1842-1892)
• ROBERTSON, JOSEPH (1810-1866)
• ROBERTSON, THOMAS WILLIAM (1829-1871)
• ROBERTSON, WILLIAM BRUCE (182o-1886)

Robertson discovered that the See also:

• EYE
• EYE (O. Eng. edge, Ger. Auge; derived from an Indo-European root also seen in Lat. oc-ulus, the organ of vision (q.v.)

eye-See also:

• PUPIL (Lat. pupillus, orphan, minor, dim. of pupus, boy, allied to puer, from root pm- or peu-, to beget, cf. "pupa," Lat. for " doll," the name given to the stage intervening between the larval and imaginal stages in certain insects)

pupil is in-active to See also:

• LIGHT

light but acts upon See also:

• ACCOMMODATION (Lat. accommodare, to make fit, from ad, to, cum, with, and modus, measure)

accommodation in the See also:

• GREAT

great See also:

• MAJORITY (Fr. majorite; Med. Lat. majoritas; Lat. major, greater)

majority of cases . This most important sign is named the " Argyll Robertson pupil." With an ever-increasing knowledge of the widespread See also:

• CHARACTER (Gr. xapareri7p, from xap&crew, to scratch)

character of this disease and its manifold See also:

• VARIATIONS
• VARIATIONS, CALCULUS
• VARIATIONS, CALCULUS OF

variations in the complex of symptoms, the tendency among neurologists is to revert to the See also:

• TERM

term employed by Romberg—tabes dorsalis . " Locomotor ataxia," although it expresses a very characteristic feature of the disease,has this objection:it is a symptom which does not occur in the first (preataxic) See also:

• STAGE (Fr. 6/age; from Lat. stare, to stand)

stage of the disease; indeed a great number of years may elapse before ataxy comes on, and sometimes the patient, after suffering a very See also:

• LONG, GEORGE (1800-1879)
• LONG, JOHN DAVIS (1838– )

long See also:

• TIME (0. Eng. Lima, cf. Icel. timi, Swed. timme, hour, Dan. time; from the root also seen in " tide," properly the time of between the flow and ebb of the sea, cf. O. Eng. getidan, to happen, " even-tide," &c.; it is not directly related to Lat. tempus)
• TIME, MEASUREMENT OF
• TIME, STANDARD

time from the disease, may See also:

• DIE
• DIE (Fr. de, from Lat. datum, given)

die from some intercurrent complication, having never been ataxic . It is generally recognized by neurologists that persons who are not the subjects of acquired or hereditary syphilis do not suffer from this disease; and the See also:

• AVERAGE

average time of onset after infection is ten years (see See also:

• NEUROPATHOLOGY

NEUROPATHOLOGY) . There are three stages: (z) The preataxic, (2) the ataxic, (3) the See also:

• BED
• BED (a common Teutonic word, cf. German Bett, probably connected with the Indo-European root bhodh, seen in the Lat. fodere, to dig; so " a dug-out place " for safe resting, or in the same sense as a garden " bed ")

bed-ridden paralytic . The duration of the first stage may be from one or two years, up to twenty years or even longer . In this stage various symptoms may arise . The patient usually complains of See also:

• SHOOTING

shooting, See also:

• LIGHTNING

lightning-like pains in the legs, which he may attribute to See also:

• RHEUMATISM (from Gr. /56µa, flux)

rheumatism . If a physician examines him he will almost certainly find the See also:

• KNEE (O. E. cneow, a word common to Indo-European languages, cf. Ger. Knie, Fr. genou, Span. hinojo, Lat. genu, Gr. ybvv, Sansk. janu)

knee-jerks absent and Argyll Robertson pupils See also:

• PRESENT

present; probably on inquiry he will ascertain that the patient has had some difficulty in starting urination, or that he is unable to retain his See also:

• WATER

water or to empty his See also:

• BLADDER (from A.S. blaeddre, connected with bl¢wan, to blow, cf. Ger. blase)

bladder completely .. In other cases, temporary or permanent See also:

• PARALYSIS, or PALSY (from Gr. aapal,6a , to relax; Wycliffe has palesy, and another old form of the word is parlesy)

paralysis of one or more muscles of the eyeball (which causes See also:

• SQUINT (possibly connected with Swed. svinka, to flinch; 0. Eng. swiccan, avoid)

squint and See also:

• DOUBLE
• DOUBLE (from the Mid. Eng. duble, the form which gives the present pronunciation, through the Old Er. duble, from Lat. duplus, twice as much)

double See also:

• VISION (from Lat. videre, to see), or SIGHT

vision), a failure of sight ending in blindness, attacks of vomiting (or gastric crises), painless spontaneous fractures of bones and dislocations of See also:

• JOINTS

joints, failing sexual See also:

• POWER [WILLIAM GRATTAN] TYRONE (1797-1841)

power and See also:

• IMPOTENCE (Lat. impotentia, want of power)

impotence, may See also:

• LEAD
• LEAD (pronounced iced)

lead the patient to consult a physician, when this disease will be diagnosed, although the patient may not as yet have had locomotor ataxy .

All cases, however, if they live long enough, pass into the second ataxic stage . The sufferer complains now of difficulty of walking in the dark; he sways with his eyes shut and feels as if he would fall (Romberg's symptom); he has the sensation of walking on See also:

• WOOL, WORSTED AND WOOLLEN MANUFACTURES

wool, numbness and formication of the skin, and many sensory disturbances in the See also:

• FORM (Lat. forma)

form of partial or See also:

• COMPLETE

complete loss of sensibility to See also:

• PAIN (from Lat. poena, Gr. robin, penalty, that which must be paid: O. Fr. peine)
• PAIN, BARRY (1867– )

pain, See also:

• TOUCH (derived through Fr. toucher from a common Teutonic and Indo-Germanic root, cf. " tug," " tuck," O. H. Ger. zucchen, to twitch or draw)

touch and temperature . These disturbances affect especially the feet and legs, and around the See also:

• TRUNK (Fr. tronc, Lat. truncus, cut off, maimed)

trunk at the level of the See also:

• FOURTH

fourth to the seventh ribs, giving rise to a " See also:

• GIRDLE (O. Eng. gyrdel, from gyrdan, to gird; cf. Ger. Gurtel, Dutch gordel, from giirten and gorden; "gird" and its doublet " girth " together with the other Teutonic cognates have been referred by some to the root ghar—to seize, enclose, seen in Gr. )(s

girdle sensation." There may be a numbed feeling on the inner See also:

• SIDE
• SIDE (mod. Eski Adalia)

side of the See also:

• ARM (a common Teutonic word; the Indo-European root is ar, to join or fit; cf. the Lat. armus, shoulder, and the plural word arma, weapons, Gr. apphs, joint, and the reduplicated apapilKSV, to join)

arm, and muscular incoordination may affect the upper See also:

• LIMB

limb as well as the See also:

• LOWER

lower, although there is no wasting or any See also:

• ELECTRICAL
• ELECTRICAL (or ELECTROSTATIC) MACHINE

electrical See also:

• CHANGE (derived through the Fr. from the Late Lat. cambium, cambiare, to barter; the ultimate derivation is probably from the root which appears in the Gr. «a urmu', to bend)

change . The ataxic gait is very characteristic, owing to the loss of reflex tonus in the muscles, and the See also:

• ABSENCE (Lat. absentia)

absence of guiding sensations from all the deep structures of the limbs, muscles, joints, bones, tendons and ligaments, as well as from the skin of the soles of the feet; therefore the sufferer has to be guided by vision as to where and how to See also:

• PLACE (through Fr. from Lat. platea, street; Gr. IrAar6s, wide)

place his feet . This necessitates the bending forward of the See also:

• BODY

body, See also:

• EXTENSION (Lat. ex, out ; tendere, to stretch)

extension of the knees and broadening of the basis of support; he generally uses a walking stick or even two, and he jerks the See also:

• LEG
• LEG (a word of Scandinavian origin, from the Old Norwegian leggr, cf. Swed. lagg, Dan. laeg; the O. Eng. word was sceanca, shank)

leg forward as if he were on wires, bringing the See also:

• SOLE (Solea)

sole of the See also:

• FOOT

foot down on the ground with a wide stamping See also:

• ACTION

action . If the arm be affected, he is unable to touch the tip of his See also:

• NOSE (O.Eng. nosu, cf. Dutch neus, Swed. nos, snout; the Aix in Provence. Both at Aix and at Lyons he acquired great connexion with O.Eng. nasu is obscure, cf. Ger. Nase, Lat. pares, distinction by his labours during outbreaks of the plague. In nostrils,

nose with the eyes shut . Sooner or later he passes into the third bed-ridden stage, with muscles wasted and their tonus so much lost that he is in a perfectly helpless See also:

• CONDITION (Lat. condicio, from condicere, to agree upon, arrange; not connected with conditio, from condere, conditum, to put together)

condition . The complications which may arise in this disease are inter-current affections due to septic conditions of the bladder, bed-sores, See also:

• PNEUMONIA (Gr. ?rveu AMP, lung)

pneumonia, vascular and See also:

• HEART
• HEART, LUNG

heart affections . About zo% of the cases, at least, develop See also:

• GENERAL
• GENERAL (Lat. generalis, of or relating to a genus, kind or class)

general paralysis of the insane . This is not surprising seeing that it is due to the same cause, and the etiology of the two diseases is such as to lead many neurologists to consider them one and the same disease affecting different parts of the nervous system . Tabes dorsalis occurs with much greater frequency in men than in See also:

• WOMEN

women (see NEUROPATHOLOGY) . The avoidance of all stress of the nervous system, whether See also:

• PHYSICAL

physical, emotional or intellectual, is indicated, and a See also:

• SIMPLE

simple See also:

• REGULAR

regular See also:

• LIFE

life, without stimulants or See also:

• INDULGENCE (Lat. indulgentia, indulgere, to grant, concede)

indulgence of the sexual See also:

• PASSION (post-classical Lat. passio, formed from pati, passus, to suffer, endure)

passion, is the best means of delaying the progress of the disease .

Great See also:

• ATTENTION (from Lat. ad-tendo, await, expect; the condition of being " stretched " or " tense ")

attention should be paid to micturition, so as to avoidretention and infection of the bladder . Drugs, even See also:

• ANTI, or CAMPA

anti-syphilitic remedies, appear to have but little See also:

• INFLUENCE (Late Lat. influentia, from influere, to flow in)

influence upon the course of the disease . LOCO-WEEDS, or CRAZY-WEEDS, leguminous See also:

• PLANTS

plants, chiefly See also:

• SPECIES

species of Astragalus and Lupinus, which produce a disease in See also:

• CATTLE (Norman Fr. catel, from Late Lat. capitale, wealth or property, a word applied in the feudal system to movable property and particularly to live stock, and surviving in its wider meaning as " chattel " or " chattle ")

cattle known as " loco-disease." The name is apparently taken from the See also:

• SPANISH

Spanish loco, mad . The disease affects the nervous system of the animals eating the plants, and is accompanied by exhaustion and wasting .