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The classic and pure form of Gilles de la Tourette's syndrome is characterized by: (1) Multiple motor tics, generally developing during childhood or adolescence, starting in the face, neck or hands, and tending to spread to involve most of the skeletal muscles. Sometimes they are paroxysmal, but the victims never lose consciousness. (2) “Vocal tics”, occurring when the contractions spread to the laryngeal muscles. The victims utter sounds, often resembling the cries of an animal, such as barking, bellowing or whinnying (3). Generally the last to appear, though the order probably varies, is a compulsion to shout obscene or blasphemous words, insults or oaths. Echopraxia and echolalia are disorders bordering on this syndrome, and sometimes accompanying it.

To the Editor:— A syndrome comprised of motor tics and coprolalia was reported by Gilles de la Tourette in 1885. 1 Characteristically, the syndrome consists of numerous vocal and motor tics accentuated during times of emotional stress. Coprolalia occurs later and is considered a pathognomonic sign. The onset is usually between 5 and 10 years of age, and the prognosis almost uniformly poor. Psychotherapeutic and psychopharmacological measures employed have been of very little benefit. 2-6 In 1961, Seignot used haloperidol for Gilles de la Tourette's syndrome. 7 The patient was a 35-year-old man who had an estimated 1,000 tics a day and coprolalia since the age of 10 years, except for a period of two years in adolescence when he had spontaneous remission. Haloperidol decreased the patient's tics to two to three times per day, and completely alleviated the coprolalia. Four additional cases with marked beneficial response to haloperidol have