Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

In memoriam: James Parkinson

JMS Pearce
Hull, England

The 21st of December 2024 marks the 200th anniversary of the death of Dr James Parkinson (1755–1824), author of An Essay on the Shaking Palsy. He was buried in St. Leonard’s church where a marble plaque elegantly summarising his life and work was unveiled in September 1955.

“James Parkinson’s legacy to the field of neurology (A) The frontispiece to his essay on the Shaking Palsy, written in 1817. (B) An illustration of an individual with Parkinson’s disease from William Gower’s work Manual of the Diseases of the Nervous System written in 1886.” Fig 2 from Patrick Lewis, “James Parkinson: The man behind the shaking palsy,” Journal of Parkinson’s Disease 2, no. 3 (2012): 181-7. 

Further reading

  • Parkinson J. An Essay on the Shaking Palsy. London: Sherwood, Neely, and Jones 1817.
  • Kempster PA, Hurwitz B, Lees, AJ. A new look at James Parkinson’s Essay on the Shaking Palsy. Neurology 2007;69(5): 482-5.
  • McMenemey WH. James Parkinson (1755-1824). A biographical essay. In: Critchley M, ed. James Parkinson. London: MacMillan, 1955.
  • Gardner-Thorpe C. James Parkinson. Exeter: A Wheaton & Co, 1987.
  • Tyler KL. A History of Parkinson’s Disease. In: WC Woller, ed. Handbook of Parkinson’s Disease. New York, Basel: Marcel Dekker Inc. 1987:1-34.
  • Cleevely RJ, Cooper J. James Parkinson (1755-1824). A significant English 18th Century Doctor and Fossil Collector. Leiden: Tertiary Research. 1987;8(4): 133-45.
  • Pearce JMS. Aspects of the history of Parkinson’s disease. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 1989;52:6-10.

JMS PEARCE is a retired neurologist and author with a particular interest in the history of medicine and science.

Fall 2024

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