CRICHTON,ALEXANDER (1763-1856) - DISORDERS OF FLUENT SPEECH AND ASSOCIATIONIST THEORY

In 1798, Alexander Crichton, a Scottish physician, published a two-vol ume text on mental derangements. Among other things, he discussed vari ous disorders of fluent speech, citing his own cases and those of othe rs. These disorders ranged from simple word-finding difficulties to We rnicke's aphasia. Crichton interpreted these disorders by turning to t he principles of association laid down by Aristotle and developed by H ume, Locke, Condillac, and others. Crichton was an imaginative and cre ative thinker who, like Johann Gesner, helped to provide a fertile int ellectual soil for the development of later associationistic (connecti onistic) models of higher brain function.