The jumping Frenchmen of Maine and the ineluctable requirement of molybedenum
Tuesday, April 26, 2016 - 09:30
in Paleontology & Archaeology
(Phys.org)—The Jumping Frenchmen of Maine is a puzzling neurological syndrome named after a few peculiar 19th-century lumberjacks. Their defining symptom was an unnaturally exaggerated jumping reflex when startled. Georges Gilles de la Tourette included the disorder in his famous 1878 description of convulsive tic disorder, but to this day, its exact cause remains unknown. Among the many informative anecdotes associated with these particular French Canadians from Moosehead Lake, was that they could be inexplicably made to strike a dear loved one provided their agitator commanded it loudly enough.