Part Two, Excesses: Introduction and Chapter Ten, Witty Ticcy Ray Summary and Analysis

Neurology recognizes deficits but fails to acknowledge that sometimes the problem stems from an excess. In neurology, the idea of the brain having too much of something is inconceivable. It seems a paradox to say that something which makes the patient feel extra-healthy is actually a disease.

Witty Ticcy Ray begins with a background discussion of the discovery of Tourette's syndrome. After an initial influx of Tourrette's patients, it seems the disease has all but disappeared. This ia in part due to a facet of the disorder in which patients become slave to a trance-like sleep that can last for years. When Dr. Sacks first encounters patients in this sleepy state, he gives them a dose of L-Dopa. The drug in turn awakens...