Jumping Frenchmen of Maine

Saint-Hilaire, Marie-Hélène MD, FRCP
Saint-Hilaire, Jean-Marc MD, FRCP
Granger, Luc PhD

Department of Neurology (Drs. M-H. Saint-Hilaire and J-M. Saint-Hilaire), Hôpital Notre-Dame, Université de Montréal, and the Department of Psychology (Dr. Granger), Universite de Montréal, Montréal, Canada.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. J-M. Saint-Hilaire. Hôpital Notre-Dame, Service de Neurologie, 1560 Sherbrooke est, Montréal Canada H2L4M1.

Presented at the Centenary of Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome, Hopital de la Salpetriere. Paris, May 1985.

Accepted for publication January 27, 1986.

Neurology 36(9):p 1269-1271, September 1986.

Article abstract

The “Jumping Frenchmen of Maine” were described by George Beard in 1878. They had an excessive startle response, sometimes with echolalia, echopraxia, or forced obedience. In 1885, Gilles de la Tourette concluded that “jumping” was similar to the syndrome that now bears his name. Direct observations of jumpers have been scarce. We studied eight jumpers from the Beauce region of Quebec. In our opinion, this phenomenon is not a neurologic disease, but can be explained in psychological terms as operant conditioned behavior. Our cases were related to specific conditions in lumber camps in the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century.