Pub Date : 2023-10-01Epub Date: 2023-06-05DOI: 10.1080/0964704X.2023.2195442
Santiago Giménez-Roldán, Valerie S Palmer, Peter S Spencer
After the end of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), an estimated 1,000 patients presented with lathyrism due to their excessive and prolonged consumption of grasspea (Lathyrus sativus L.) against the backdrop of poverty, drought, and famine. Based on 68 scientific communications between 1941 and 1962 by qualified medical professionals, the disease emerged in different geographical locations involving selective populations: (1) farmers from extensive areas of central Spain, traditionally producers and consumers of grasspea; (2) immigrants in the industrial belt of Catalonia and in the Basque Country, areas with little or no production of grasspea, which was imported from producing areas; (3) workers in Galicia, an area where the legume is neither produced nor consumed, who were seasonally displaced to high-production areas of grasspea in Castille; and (4) inmates of overcrowded postwar Spanish prisons. Original reports included failed attempts by Carlos Jiménez Díaz (1898-1967) to induce experimental lathyrism, the neuropathology of lathyrism in early stages of the disease in two patients, as reported by Carlos Oliveras de la Riva (1914-2007), and the special susceptibility of children to develop a severe form of lathyrism after relatively brief periods of consumption of the neurotoxic seed of L. sativus. In the Spanish Basque Country, L. cicera L. (aizkol) was cultivated exclusively as animal fodder. Patients who were forced to feed on this plant developed unusual manifestations of lathyrism, such as axial myoclonus and severe neuropsychiatric disorders, unknown in other regions of the country and previously unreported. The postwar epidemic of lathyrism in Spain represents the most extensively studied outbreak of this self-limiting but crippling upper motor neuron disease.
西班牙内战(1936-1939)结束后,估计有1000名患者因在贫困、干旱和饥荒的背景下过度和长期食用豌豆(Lathyrus sativus L.)而出现带状疱疹。根据1941年至1962年间由合格的医学专业人员进行的68次科学交流,该疾病出现在不同的地理位置,涉及选择性人群:(1)来自西班牙中部广大地区的农民,传统上是豌豆的生产者和消费者;(2) 加泰罗尼亚工业带和巴斯克地区的移民,这些地区很少或根本没有从生产区进口的豌豆;(3) 加利西亚的工人,这个地区既不生产也不消费豆类,他们季节性地被转移到卡斯蒂利亚的草豆高产区;以及(4)战后西班牙监狱人满为患的囚犯。最初的报告包括Carlos Jiménez Díaz(1898-1967)诱导实验性带状疱疹的失败尝试,Carlos Oliveras de la Riva(1914-2007)报道的两名患者早期带状疱疹的神经病理学,以及儿童在相对短暂地食用具有神经毒性的L.sativus种子后,特别容易患上严重的带状疱疹。在西班牙巴斯克地区,L.cicera L.(aizkol)仅作为动物饲料种植。被迫食用这种植物的患者出现了不寻常的带状疱疹症状,如轴性肌阵挛和严重的神经精神障碍,这在该国其他地区是未知的,以前也没有报道。战后在西班牙流行的带状疱疹是对这种自我限制但致残的上运动神经元疾病研究最广泛的一次爆发。
{"title":"Lathyrism in Spain: Lessons from 68 publications following the 1936-39 Civil War.","authors":"Santiago Giménez-Roldán, Valerie S Palmer, Peter S Spencer","doi":"10.1080/0964704X.2023.2195442","DOIUrl":"10.1080/0964704X.2023.2195442","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>After the end of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), an estimated 1,000 patients presented with lathyrism due to their excessive and prolonged consumption of grasspea (<i>Lathyrus sativus</i> L.) against the backdrop of poverty, drought, and famine. Based on 68 scientific communications between 1941 and 1962 by qualified medical professionals, the disease emerged in different geographical locations involving selective populations: (1) farmers from extensive areas of central Spain, traditionally producers and consumers of grasspea; (2) immigrants in the industrial belt of Catalonia and in the Basque Country, areas with little or no production of grasspea, which was imported from producing areas; (3) workers in Galicia, an area where the legume is neither produced nor consumed, who were seasonally displaced to high-production areas of grasspea in Castille; and (4) inmates of overcrowded postwar Spanish prisons. Original reports included failed attempts by Carlos Jiménez Díaz (1898-1967) to induce experimental lathyrism, the neuropathology of lathyrism in early stages of the disease in two patients, as reported by Carlos Oliveras de la Riva (1914-2007), and the special susceptibility of children to develop a severe form of lathyrism after relatively brief periods of consumption of the neurotoxic seed of <i>L. sativus</i>. In the Spanish Basque Country, <i>L. cicera</i> L. (<i>aizkol</i>) was cultivated exclusively as animal fodder. Patients who were forced to feed on this plant developed unusual manifestations of lathyrism, such as axial myoclonus and severe neuropsychiatric disorders, unknown in other regions of the country and previously unreported. The postwar epidemic of lathyrism in Spain represents the most extensively studied outbreak of this self-limiting but crippling upper motor neuron disease.</p>","PeriodicalId":49997,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the History of the Neurosciences","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2023-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9575013","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-01Epub Date: 2023-05-18DOI: 10.1080/0964704X.2023.2207598
Ian Bone, James L Stone
Efforts to treat epileptic seizures likely date back to primitive, manmade skull openings or trephinations at the site of previous scalp or skull injuries. The purpose may have been the release of "evil spirits," removal of "cerebral excitement," and "restoral of bodily and intellectual functions." With progressive discoveries in brain function over the past 100 to 300 years, the cerebral cortical locations enabling voluntary movements, sensation, and speech have been well delineated. The locations of these functions have become surgical targets for the amelioration of disease processes. Disease entities in particular cerebral-cortical areas may predispose to the onset of focal and or generalized seizures, which secondarily interfere with normal cortical functioning. Modern neuroimaging and electroencephalography usually delineate the location of seizures and often the type of structural pathology. If noneloquent brain regions are involved, open surgical biopsy or removal of only abnormal tissue may be undertaken successfully. A number of the early neurosurgical pioneers in the development of epilepsy surgery are credited and discussed in this article.
{"title":"The advent of epilepsy directed neurosurgery: The early pioneers and who was first.","authors":"Ian Bone, James L Stone","doi":"10.1080/0964704X.2023.2207598","DOIUrl":"10.1080/0964704X.2023.2207598","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Efforts to treat epileptic seizures likely date back to primitive, manmade skull openings or trephinations at the site of previous scalp or skull injuries. The purpose may have been the release of \"evil spirits,\" removal of \"cerebral excitement,\" and \"restoral of bodily and intellectual functions.\" With progressive discoveries in brain function over the past 100 to 300 years, the cerebral cortical locations enabling voluntary movements, sensation, and speech have been well delineated. The locations of these functions have become surgical targets for the amelioration of disease processes. Disease entities in particular cerebral-cortical areas may predispose to the onset of focal and or generalized seizures, which secondarily interfere with normal cortical functioning. Modern neuroimaging and electroencephalography usually delineate the location of seizures and often the type of structural pathology. If noneloquent brain regions are involved, open surgical biopsy or removal of only abnormal tissue may be undertaken successfully. A number of the early neurosurgical pioneers in the development of epilepsy surgery are credited and discussed in this article.</p>","PeriodicalId":49997,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the History of the Neurosciences","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2023-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9833894","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-01Epub Date: 2023-03-31DOI: 10.1080/0964704X.2023.2190354
Neil E Anderson, Hamish S Alexander, Albee Messing
In 1949, William Stewart Alexander (1919-2013), a young pathologist from New Zealand working in London, reported the neuropathological findings in a 15-month-old boy who had developed normally until the age of seven months, but thereafter had progressive enlargement of his head and severe developmental delay. The most striking neuropathological abnormality was the presence of numerous Rosenthal fibers in the brain. The distribution of these fibers suggested to Alexander that the primary pathological change involved astrocytes. In the next 15 years, five similar patients were reported, and in 1964 Friede recognized these cases reflected a single disease process and coined the eponym "Alexander's disease" to describe the disorder. In the 1960s, electron microscopy confirmed that Rosenthal fibers were localized to astrocytes. In 2001, it was shown that Alexander disease is caused by mutations in the gene encoding glial fibrillary acidic protein, the major intermediate filament protein in astrocytes. Although the clinical, imaging, and pathological manifestations of Alexander disease are now well known, few people are familiar with Alexander's career. Although he did not make a further contribution to the literature on Alexander disease, his observations and accurate interpretation of the neuropathology have justified the continued use of the eponym "Alexander disease."
1949年,在伦敦工作的新西兰年轻病理学家William Stewart Alexander(1919-2013)报告了一名15个月大男孩的神经病理学发现,该男孩在7个月大之前发育正常,但此后头部逐渐增大,发育严重迟缓。最显著的神经病理学异常是大脑中存在大量罗森塔尔纤维。这些纤维的分布向亚历山大表明,主要的病理变化涉及星形胶质细胞。在接下来的15年里,有5名类似的患者被报道,1964年弗里德认识到这些病例反映了一个单一的疾病过程,并创造了“亚历山大病”这个名字来描述这种疾病。20世纪60年代,电子显微镜证实罗森塔尔纤维定位于星形胶质细胞。2001年,研究表明亚历山大病是由编码胶质原纤维酸性蛋白(星形胶质细胞中的主要中间丝蛋白)的基因突变引起的。尽管亚历山大病的临床、影像学和病理学表现现在已经众所周知,但很少有人熟悉亚历山大的职业生涯。尽管他没有对亚历山大病的文献做出进一步的贡献,但他对神经病理学的观察和准确解释证明了继续使用“亚历山大病”这个名字的合理性
{"title":"Alexander disease: The story behind an eponym.","authors":"Neil E Anderson, Hamish S Alexander, Albee Messing","doi":"10.1080/0964704X.2023.2190354","DOIUrl":"10.1080/0964704X.2023.2190354","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In 1949, William Stewart Alexander (1919-2013), a young pathologist from New Zealand working in London, reported the neuropathological findings in a 15-month-old boy who had developed normally until the age of seven months, but thereafter had progressive enlargement of his head and severe developmental delay. The most striking neuropathological abnormality was the presence of numerous Rosenthal fibers in the brain. The distribution of these fibers suggested to Alexander that the primary pathological change involved astrocytes. In the next 15 years, five similar patients were reported, and in 1964 Friede recognized these cases reflected a single disease process and coined the eponym \"Alexander's disease\" to describe the disorder. In the 1960s, electron microscopy confirmed that Rosenthal fibers were localized to astrocytes. In 2001, it was shown that Alexander disease is caused by mutations in the gene encoding glial fibrillary acidic protein, the major intermediate filament protein in astrocytes. Although the clinical, imaging, and pathological manifestations of Alexander disease are now well known, few people are familiar with Alexander's career. Although he did not make a further contribution to the literature on Alexander disease, his observations and accurate interpretation of the neuropathology have justified the continued use of the eponym \"Alexander disease.\"</p>","PeriodicalId":49997,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the History of the Neurosciences","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2023-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9224702","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-01Epub Date: 2023-08-28DOI: 10.1080/0964704X.2023.2229390
Jeremy C Ganz
In contemporary neurosurgery little attention is currently paid to the pericranium. The purpose of this article is to present how past surgeons have viewed this membrane and how they have reacted to its appearances. In ancient times, the pericranium was considered formed by the dura through the sutures and it retained a relationship with the dura via vessels in the sutures. It was considered advisable to strip it totally from any area to be examined for fissure fractures and also for any area to be trepanned, as pericranial injury led to fever and inflammation. In the eighteenth century, a new idea arose that posttraumatic spontaneous separation of the pericranium from the bone was a reliable indicator of the development of intracranial suppuration. This idea was subsequently refuted. The development of the osteoplastic bone flap imposed on the surgeon the need to ensure postoperative craniotomy closure included accurate apposition of the margins of the pericranium. With modern free bone flaps, this is no longer required. For over two millenia, the pericranium was considered to be an important membrane requiring the close attention of the surgeon. It is no longer required to receive more than minimal attention.
{"title":"Cranial surgery and the pericranium.","authors":"Jeremy C Ganz","doi":"10.1080/0964704X.2023.2229390","DOIUrl":"10.1080/0964704X.2023.2229390","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In contemporary neurosurgery little attention is currently paid to the pericranium. The purpose of this article is to present how past surgeons have viewed this membrane and how they have reacted to its appearances. In ancient times, the pericranium was considered formed by the dura through the sutures and it retained a relationship with the dura via vessels in the sutures. It was considered advisable to strip it totally from any area to be examined for fissure fractures and also for any area to be trepanned, as pericranial injury led to fever and inflammation. In the eighteenth century, a new idea arose that posttraumatic spontaneous separation of the pericranium from the bone was a reliable indicator of the development of intracranial suppuration. This idea was subsequently refuted. The development of the osteoplastic bone flap imposed on the surgeon the need to ensure postoperative craniotomy closure included accurate apposition of the margins of the pericranium. With modern free bone flaps, this is no longer required. For over two millenia, the pericranium was considered to be an important membrane requiring the close attention of the surgeon. It is no longer required to receive more than minimal attention.</p>","PeriodicalId":49997,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the History of the Neurosciences","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2023-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10484854","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-01Epub Date: 2023-07-17DOI: 10.1080/0964704X.2023.2231794
Régis Olry
NEUROwords
{"title":"Hikikomori (きこもり): Ancient term, modern concept.","authors":"Régis Olry","doi":"10.1080/0964704X.2023.2231794","DOIUrl":"10.1080/0964704X.2023.2231794","url":null,"abstract":"NEUROwords","PeriodicalId":49997,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the History of the Neurosciences","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2023-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9826680","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-01Epub Date: 2023-05-08DOI: 10.1080/0964704X.2023.2204336
Catherine E Storey
On October 20, 1924, at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City, two medical graduates of the University of Sydney delivered the John B. Murphy Oration to the American College of Surgeons on the topic of sympathetic ramisection for the treatment of spastic paralysis. The surgery was regarded as a triumph. The triumph, however, was short-lived, when one of the speakers, John Irvine Hunter, a promising anatomist, died prematurely. Norman Royle, an orthopedic surgeon, continued the research program and continued to perform these operations. Within a few short years, however, the theory of the dual nerve supply of skeletal muscle, which underpinned the procedure, and the results of surgery for spastic paralysis came under question. Nevertheless, Royle's sympathectomy found another indication and became the treatment of choice for peripheral vascular disease for several decades thereafter. Although Hunter and Royle's original work was discredited, their research turned their sorry saga into a scientific awakening of the sympathetic nervous system.
{"title":"Royle's sympathectomy for spastic paralysis: Sorry saga or scientific awakening?","authors":"Catherine E Storey","doi":"10.1080/0964704X.2023.2204336","DOIUrl":"10.1080/0964704X.2023.2204336","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>On October 20, 1924, at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City, two medical graduates of the University of Sydney delivered the John B. Murphy Oration to the American College of Surgeons on the topic of sympathetic ramisection for the treatment of spastic paralysis. The surgery was regarded as a triumph. The triumph, however, was short-lived, when one of the speakers, John Irvine Hunter, a promising anatomist, died prematurely. Norman Royle, an orthopedic surgeon, continued the research program and continued to perform these operations. Within a few short years, however, the theory of the dual nerve supply of skeletal muscle, which underpinned the procedure, and the results of surgery for spastic paralysis came under question. Nevertheless, Royle's sympathectomy found another indication and became the treatment of choice for peripheral vascular disease for several decades thereafter. Although Hunter and Royle's original work was discredited, their research turned their sorry saga into a scientific awakening of the sympathetic nervous system.</p>","PeriodicalId":49997,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the History of the Neurosciences","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2023-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9486757","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-17DOI: 10.1080/0964704x.2023.2244402
F. Brigo
{"title":"The Idea of Epilepsy: A Medical and Social History of Epilepsy in the Modern Era (1860–2020)","authors":"F. Brigo","doi":"10.1080/0964704x.2023.2244402","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/0964704x.2023.2244402","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":49997,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the History of the Neurosciences","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2023-08-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42731864","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-07-12DOI: 10.1080/0964704x.2023.2231294
U. Neubauer
{"title":"Victor Horsley: The World’s First Neurosurgeon and His Conscience","authors":"U. Neubauer","doi":"10.1080/0964704x.2023.2231294","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/0964704x.2023.2231294","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":49997,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the History of the Neurosciences","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2023-07-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49581388","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-07-01DOI: 10.1080/0964704X.2022.2146515
Klaus F Steinsiepe
The cell doctrine-the theory of ventricular localization of the mental faculties-includes Galen's idea of a locking or valve mechanism between the middle and the rear ventricle. The anatomical substrate was the vermiform epiphysis, known today as the vermis cerebelli. This entity played a significant role in brain physiology even though its appearance, texture, and location changed over time. This article tells the story of the "worm's" transformation from Galen to Vesalius and beyond. Until the time of Albertus Magnus (c. 1200-1280 ce), the worm corresponded to the vermis cerebelli. From the beginning of the fourteenth century, under the influence of Mondino's Anothomia, the worm referred to the choroid plexus in the anterior ventricles; its Galenic heritage was abandoned. Contemporaneous illustrations confirm this anterograde movement. The contributions of post-Galenic natural philosophers and pre-Vesalian anatomists to this development are discussed. Today, the worm can serve as an example for different viewpoints and often deadlocked doctrines (religious, philosophic, scientific). In tracing beliefs about the worm from the Greeks to the Arabs and back to the Latin West, this article follows the history of neuroanatomy in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
{"title":"The 'worm' in our brain. An anatomical, historical, and philological study on the vermis cerebelli.","authors":"Klaus F Steinsiepe","doi":"10.1080/0964704X.2022.2146515","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/0964704X.2022.2146515","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The cell doctrine-the theory of ventricular localization of the mental faculties-includes Galen's idea of a locking or valve mechanism between the middle and the rear ventricle. The anatomical substrate was the vermiform epiphysis, known today as the <i>vermis cerebelli</i>. This entity played a significant role in brain physiology even though its appearance, texture, and location changed over time. This article tells the story of the \"worm's\" transformation from Galen to Vesalius and beyond. Until the time of Albertus Magnus (c. 1200-1280 ce), the worm corresponded to the <i>vermis cerebelli</i>. From the beginning of the fourteenth century, under the influence of Mondino's <i>Anothomia</i>, the worm referred to the choroid plexus in the anterior ventricles; its Galenic heritage was abandoned. Contemporaneous illustrations confirm this anterograde movement. The contributions of post-Galenic natural philosophers and pre-Vesalian anatomists to this development are discussed. Today, the worm can serve as an example for different viewpoints and often deadlocked doctrines (religious, philosophic, scientific). In tracing beliefs about the worm from the Greeks to the Arabs and back to the Latin West, this article follows the history of neuroanatomy in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.</p>","PeriodicalId":49997,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the History of the Neurosciences","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9672350","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-07-01DOI: 10.1080/0964704X.2023.2171799
Barbara Schildkrout
Between 1882 and 2016, the medical literature offered a variety of etiologic hypotheses to explain Joan of Arc's voices, visions, and unwavering belief that she was the instrument of God. Although Joan lived from 1412 to 1431, there is extensive primary documentation of her life, including transcripts of her testimony during the Trial of Condemnation. Once this source material was compiled and made available, physician-authors began to theorize about Joan's neuropsychiatric symptoms in the context of her remarkable achievements. This article summarizes all papers written by physician-authors about Joan of Arc. The historical flow of diagnostic speculation in the medical literature reflects the cultural context in which it was produced as well as the emergence of novel ideas and new technologies in psychiatry, neurology, and neuropsychiatry. The early literature offered psychological theories and addressed the question of whether Joan was sane. The later literature focused on the possibility that Joan might have had epilepsy, with discussions of seizure etiology and possible cerebral focus, and also reflections on the purview of science as well as spirituality and the brain. This article offers the first comprehensive review of the medical literature about Joan of Arc, making this scholarship more accessible.
{"title":"What caused Joan of Arc's neuropsychiatric symptoms? Medical hypotheses from 1882 to 2016.","authors":"Barbara Schildkrout","doi":"10.1080/0964704X.2023.2171799","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/0964704X.2023.2171799","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Between 1882 and 2016, the medical literature offered a variety of etiologic hypotheses to explain Joan of Arc's voices, visions, and unwavering belief that she was the instrument of God. Although Joan lived from 1412 to 1431, there is extensive primary documentation of her life, including transcripts of her testimony during the Trial of Condemnation. Once this source material was compiled and made available, physician-authors began to theorize about Joan's neuropsychiatric symptoms in the context of her remarkable achievements. This article summarizes all papers written by physician-authors about Joan of Arc. The historical flow of diagnostic speculation in the medical literature reflects the cultural context in which it was produced as well as the emergence of novel ideas and new technologies in psychiatry, neurology, and neuropsychiatry. The early literature offered psychological theories and addressed the question of whether Joan was sane. The later literature focused on the possibility that Joan might have had epilepsy, with discussions of seizure etiology and possible cerebral focus, and also reflections on the purview of science as well as spirituality and the brain. This article offers the first comprehensive review of the medical literature about Joan of Arc, making this scholarship more accessible.</p>","PeriodicalId":49997,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the History of the Neurosciences","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10030899","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}