Tag: Neurology
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William Harvey’s neurology
JMS PearceHull, England This distinguished physician, the greatest physiologist the world has seen, and the brightest ornament of our College.—William Munk1 William Harvey (1578–1657) was born in Folkestone, Kent, and attended King’s School Canterbury before proceeding to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. He graduated MD from Padua (1602) and FRCP (1607) and was elected physician…
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Book review: Our Brains, Our Selves
Arpan K. Banerjee Solihull, England The world of popular science publishing is replete with neurologists who have been fascinated by the workings of the brain gleaned from the study of neurological disorders in their patients. Famous recent writers of this genre include Oliver Sacks, whose books have provided the public with insights into aspects of…
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The neuroscientific legacy of the Vogt family
Grace O’ConnorRichard BrownHalifax, Nova Scotia, Canada Introduction Oskar and Cécile Vogt were pioneering neuroscientists who established a brain research center in Berlin, Germany, in the early twentieth century. Their work advanced the field of neuroscience through studies on brain architecture and function, including the mapping of architectonic fields and the study of brain disease pathologies.1…
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Don’t stop me now: The positive effects of music in post-stroke rehabilitation
Silvia MasciTerni, Italy Stroke is a clinical syndrome characterized by sudden onset of neurological deficit that persists for more than 24 hours or leads to death. Based on etiology, a distinction is made between ischemic stroke (65–90%) and hemorrhagic stroke (intracerebral hemorrhages 10–25%, subarachnoid hemorrhages 0.5–5%).1,2 According to 2019 World Stroke Organization (WSO) statistics, stroke…
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Diana Beck, neurosurgery pioneer
Born in Chester, England, in 1902, Diana Beck attended the University of Oxford and studied medicine at the School of Medicine for Women (later renamed the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine). She graduated in 1925, and, after working as a surgical registrar, took her FRCS London and Edinburgh. Her exceptional surgical skills led her…
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Early accounts of meningitis
JMS PearceHull, England Few illnesses convey more fear of a swift, fatal outcome than does meningitis. Cerebrospinal meningitis was once known as spotted fever, cerebrospinal fever, typhus cerebralis, or meningitis epidemica. In Greek meninx, or in Latin meningeus, is a membrane. In English literature, meninges appeared in 1543: “Whan the brayne pan is remoued, there appere two rymes,…
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In memoriam: James Parkinson
JMS PearceHull, 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. Further reading JMS PEARCE is…
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Bicentenary of the birth of Pierre Paul Broca (1824–1880)
JMS PearceHull, England This year marks the bicentenary of the birth of Pierre Paul Broca, who established the cerebral localization of motor, expressive speech, and language function.1 He was the son of Jean “Benjamin” Broca, a surgeon in Napoleon’s army, and Annette Thomas. Broca was born on 28 June 1824 in Sainte-Foy-la-Grande in the Dordogne.…
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The neurology of Emperor Claudius
JMS PearceHull, England Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (10 BC – AD 54) (Fig 1) was a Roman emperor from AD 41 to 54.1 His eventful life was revivified in Robert Graves’s much-admired fictionalized autobiography.2,3 Although one of the most successful Julio-Claudian emperors after Augustus, he is perhaps more widely known for his physical disabilities.…