ABSTRACT
In 1887, Monsieur C was a wealthy, intelligent and well-educated former textile merchant who was living with his wife in retirement in Paris. He had enjoyed excellent health throughout the 68 years of his life. On 19 October, however, he started to experience mild speech problems and short bouts of numbness and weakness in his right arm and leg. This did not prevent him from continuing to take his customary long walks through the city, and on 23 October he distinctly remembered reading signs and posters in shop windows. Over the next couple of days, the weakness in his arm and leg increased. At some point he noticed that ‘he was no longer able to read a single word, all the while writing and speaking very well and distinguishing the objects and people that surrounded him as well as before’.
