Tag: epilepsy
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William Richard Gowers MD., FRS.
JMS PearceHull, England The name Gowers is a name hallowed in the minds of most neurologists as one of the great founders of neurological medicine in the Victorian era. He is probably best remembered for his A Manual of Diseases of the Nervous System (1886) (Fig 1.), a rich source of wisdom and clinical description…
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Mental illness in art
JMS PearceHull, England It is often said that creative art is linked to eccentricity, sometimes bordering on madness. Examples abound of great musicians, writers, and artists who at some time in their lives were deranged and often committed to institutions for mental illness. Some ended their lives in suicide. To what extent is art inspired…
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“If it be a poor man”: Medieval medical treatment for the rich and poor
Erin Connelly Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States “Urine Wheel,” Almanack, Free Library of Philadelphia – The Rosenbach, MS 1004/29, fol. 9 C (York, England, 1364), courtesy of Bibliotheca Philadelphiensis. OPenn Repository Great disparities in wealth and differences in access to healthcare between the top and bottom of society are hardly new experiences in human history.1-4 Even…
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Faith, neuroscience, and “the thorn” in Paul’s side: Abrahamic interpretations of epilepsy
Christina PerriStony Brook, New York, United States The experience of epileptic seizures, as characterized by Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky and others, resonates with the intense religious consciousness of shamans, who describe losing all sense of time, place, and even self.1 Most religious traditions have complex or even ugly relationships with epilepsy that offer explanations for…
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William Withering and the use of foxglove in pediatric patients
Göran WettrellSweden William Withering’s An Account of the Foxglove and some of its Medical Uses was published in 1785.1 The book received great attention and was the result of several years of clinical observations. On the title page, Withering chose a quotation from the Ars Poetica of Horace: nonumque permatur in annum, “let it be suppressed…
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Pushing back at perceptions of epilepsy: The interplay between medicine and literature in three 19th-century British novels
Laura FitzpatrickNew York, United States If I wished to show a student the difficulties of getting at truth from medical experience, I would give him the history of epilepsy to read.—Oliver Wendell Holmes, 18911 As the nineteenth century dawned, the average Briton still understood epilepsy much in the way his ancient Greek counterpart had: as…
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Edgar Allan Poe—A tormented literary genius
Donna OlsonWhitelaw, Alberta A man attempts to hide from his sins and ultimately from himself. A murderer takes an old man’s life and hides the body under the floorboards. But he cannot silence his guilt, so he keeps on hearing the dead man’s heart in his room. This story is “The Tell-Tale Heart,” written by…
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Events of the day – The date I will never have
Michael WynnSalem, Oregon, USA My medical writing is informed by my fascination with how humans accept and sometimes deny reality. Events of the dayTomorrow I will tell Mr. Smith,who is compulsively tidy,that he has Parkinson’s disease, and say “epilepsy” to Mr. Alexander,the 27-year-old truckerwho might have to pull over at 28, before I listen to Ms.…