To the Editor: The many French-speaking readers of the A. M. A. Journal of Diseases of Children were much interested in the paper by Alanson Hinman and Lloyd B. Dickey on "Breath-Holding Spells" and in the psychological and psycho-analytical developments of the authors (Vol. 91, N. 1).
I should however like to point out to your readers that the syndrome in question, well known since Rilliet and Barthez, mentioned in your Journal with reference to a German translation, has been known in France as "spasme du sanglot" (sob spasm), a name which I proposed in 1948 and which has been generally accepted. The clinical description, diagnosis, treatment, encephalography, and the difference from epilepsy, spasmophilia, tetany, etc., are taught to our young students under the name of "sob spasm". This indication may help American authors in search of information on the subject beyond the range of the literature available in English.