Translation of Broca's 1865 report. Localization of speech in the third left frontal convolution
E. A. Berker, A. H. Berker and A. Smith
Modern texts continue to cite Broca's 1861 study of a single patient, Tan,
as the first definitive localization of a cerebral function, specifically,
articulate speech. We describe the development of Broca's theory from his
initial support in 1861 for Bouillaud's view that speech is localized in
both frontal lobes to his description in 1865 of a center for articulate
speech in the third left frontal convolution. We have translated Broca's
1865 French report. Despite the revival of "classical" anatomically based
concepts of discrete aphasic syndromes, numerous clinicoanatomical
correlation studies have failed to confirm the specific language impairment
described by Broca. Broca's own descriptions of language development in the
third right frontal convolution following left hemisphere damage also raise
questions about the validity of theories of brain-behavior relationships
based on punctate localization of specific mental functions.
