MacDonald Critchley, in his "The Study of Language-Disorder: Past, Present, and Future," states that scientific study of disordered language dates from the contributions of Gall, early in the 19th century. Gall conceived of the brain as being made up of a number of organs which served various functions of man. The organ of language, he thought, was made up of two parts: one dealt with the meaning of words and of names and with memory of words; the other part was concerned with the meaning of language and the meaning of speech. Each had a definite localization in the brain.
Gall's ideas received much support in France. Thus, Bouillaud insisted that "The movements of the organs of speech are regulated by a special cerebral centre"... and "this is situated in the anterior lobes of the brain."
Broca, a practicing surgeon in Paris, who was also interested in anthropology, made an