The subject of a prior report of a blind organist with aphasia and Braille alexia without amusia, published in French, has been identified as Jean Langlais. His artistic and medical history is presented, the latter via translation of the original 1987 paper.
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References
1.
For discussion of sign language and its deficits, see:CritchleyM. Aphasiology. London: Edward Arnold, 1970:325–47; Kimura D. Neural mechanisms in manual signing. Sign Language Studies 1981;33:291–312; Ellis AW, Young AW. Human Cognitive Neuropsychology. A Textbook with Readings. Hove: Psychology Press, 1996:262–5; Rönnberg J, Söderfeldt B, Risberg J. The cognitive neuroscience of signed language. Acta Psychologica 2000;105:237–54; Gordon N. The neurology of sign language. Brain and Development 2004;26:146–50. Classic accounts of patients with sign aphasia include: Douglass E, Richardson JC. Aphasia in a congenital deaf mute. Brain 1959;82:68–80; Sarno JE, Swisher LP, Sarno MT. Aphasia in a congenitally deaf man. Cortex 1969;5:398–414; Kimura D, Battison R, Lubert B. Impairment of nonlinguistic hand movements in a deaf aphasic. Brain and Language 1976;3:566–71; Chiarello C, Knight R, Mandel M. Aphasia in a prelingually deaf woman. Brain 1982;105:29–52; Bellugi U, Poizner H, Klima ES. Brain organization for language: clues from sign aphasia. Human Neurobiology 1983;2:155–70; Poizner H, Bellugi U, Iragui V. Apraxia and aphasia for a visual-gestural language. American Journal of Physiology 1984;246:R868–83
2.
CritchleyM. The Divine Banquet of the Brain and Other Essays. New York: Raven Press, 1979:90
3.
For reports of Braille alexia see: GloningI, GloningK, WeingartenK, BernerP. Uber einen Fall mit Alexie der Brailleschrift. Wiener Zeitschrift für Nervenheilkunde und Grenzgebiete1954;10:260–73; Birchmeier AK. Aphasic dyslexia of Braille in a congenitally blind man. Neuropsychologia 1985;23:177–93; Signoret J-L, van Eeckhout P, Poncet M, Castaigne P. Aphasie sans amusie chez un organiste aveugle. Revue Neurologique (Paris) 1987;143:172–81; Perrier D, Belin C, Larmande P. Trouble de la lecture du Braille par lésion droite chez une patiente devenue aveugle. Neuropsychologia 1988;26:179–85; Hamilton R, Keenan JP, Catala M, Pascual-Leone A. Alexia for Braille following bilateral occipital stroke in an early blind woman. Neuroreport 2000;11:237–40; Maeda K, Yasuda H, Haneda M, Kashiwagi A. Braille alexia during visual hallucination in a blind man with selective calcarine atrophy. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences 2003;57:227–9; Larner AJ. Braille alexia: an apperceptive tactile agnosia? Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry 2007;78:907–8
4.
Signoret, op. cit. Ref 3: 173
5.
LabounskyA. Jean Langlais. The man and his music. Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press, 2000:314–6; this briefly alludes to the Signoret et al. paper
6.
The definitive biography is Labounsky (op. cit. Ref 5). Langlais's second wife, Marie-Louise Langlais, also wrote a biography, Ombre et lumière (Paris: Combre, 1995). For brief biographical details, see: Signoret et al., op. cit. Ref 3: 173; Sadie S (ed.). The Grove Concise Dictionary of Music. London: Macmillan, 1988:446; Latham A (ed.). The Oxford Companion to Music. Oxford: OUP, 2002:671. Websites with useful information about Langlais are: www.musimem.com/langlais.htm and http://perso.orange.fr/langlais/index.htm(both last accessed 17 June 2008)
7.
Examples may be found in Labounsky, op. cit. Ref 5: 156, 164, 190, 192, 252, 256, 260, 265-6, 267, 271, 273, 283, 288, 289, 298, 305, 319, 326
8.
Labounsky has recorded the complete organ works (1979–2003) in 24 CDs for the Musical Heritage Society, Oakhurst, New Jersey, USA (www.musicalheritage.com, last accessed 17 June 2008)
For a further example of a blind organist with apparently extraordinary perceptual skills, possibly colour-touch synaesthesia, see:LarnerAJ. A possible account of synaesthesia dating from the seventeenth century. Journal of the History of the Neurosciences2006;15:245–9
13.
ShalliceT. From Neuropsychology to Mental Structure. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988
14.
LarnerAJ. A Dictionary of Neurological Signs.2nd edition. New York: Springer, 2006:8–9
15.
CritchleyM. The Citadel of the Senses and Other Essays. New York: Raven Press, 1986:198
