In Reply.—
Our article does not deal with the question of whether or not Bell phenomenon occurs during spontaneous blinks of short duration. We made no attempt to analyze oculomotor activity during blinking.We studied the effects of eyelid closure on oculomotor function in patients with palatal myoclonus. Vertical ocular motions synchronous with the beat of the palatal mvoclonus occurred only during "volitional" prolonged eyelid closure or attempted closure against resistance. These eye motions were a specific effect of active continuous eyelid closure and could not be obtained by sensory-induced reflex eyelid closure.The ocular excursions were recorded by DC electro-oculogram. Both voluntary blinking and eyelid fluttering while the lids are closed have a typical appearance on the DC EOG. Neither blinking nor eyelid fluttering interferes with accurate recordings of the position and movements of the globes beneath the closed lids by DC EOG. The angular motion of the eye can be