Experimental mutism resulting from periaqueductal lesions in cats

Abstract

Five cats were made mute by electrolytic lesions which destroyed a part or the whole of the cross section of the cerebral aqueduct. The animals also lost their ability to purr, and their appetites increased markedly. In a large series of cats with neighboring tegmental lesions, which did not encroach upon the central gray, these signs of deficit did not obtain.