THE FIRST MENTION OF TIC DE SALAAM IN AMERICAN MEDICAL LITERATURE (1896)

I believe the following description of tic de salaam, or infantile spasms, published in 1896, was the first mention of this condition in American medical literature.¹

A convulsive form of disease, little known and but rarely described...is the form of epilepsy known to the French writers as Tic de Salaam, a condition which is observed almost exclusively in first infancy. Text-books of pediatrics in the English language contain no reference to it, either under this name or any other. Two or three cases which have recently come under the observation of the writer prompt him to a few remarks anent this condition.

In the forms usually observed, the disease is made up of a series of rapid, oscillating movements of the head and superior part of the body (spasmus salutans), which occur with a rapidity varying from 10 to 30 times per minute. In some instances, during the height of the attack, the upper extremities are shot into the air, and for the moment remained fixed, while the eyeballs are rolled up, and the face has a fixed, non-expressive appearance. Whether or not consciousness is entirely lost during this period cannot be said with certainty—first of all, because of the tender age of the patient, and secondly, because the rapid, fluctuating movements prevent the patient from answering or communicating. In marked contrast to the ordinary epileptic convulsions, whether they be of the "petit mal" or "grand mal" form, is the absence of any warning, and the rapidity with which the little sufferer regains his composure after an attack—that is, there seems to be none of the customary drowsiness, stupidity and desire to be left severely alone, as after an attack of epilepsy....