History of infarction of the spinal cord

In 1825 Astley Cooper described the first account of ligation of the abdominal aorta. The patient developed loss of feeling in his lower limbs, incontinence of urine and died after several days. A post mortem was carried out but not, unfortunately, of the spinal cord. This case was recorded again by Astley Cooper, by Brock in 1940-41, and again by Ellis in 1994. Whilst there was early recognition of infarction of the brain, infarction of the spinal cord was thought to be almost unknown by Charcot in 1883 but it was recorded in the English literature by Bastian in 1886 and Williamson in 1894. There were isolated case reports but it was the advent of major surgery upon the aorta in the Second World War that drew attention to the frequency of this condition. The subsequent evolution of our recognition of infarction of the cord is described. The present situation, where it can be caused by a fall in blood pressure without there being direct interference to the blood supply, is evaluated.     

Magendie and the chemists: the earliest chemical analyses of the cerebrospinal fluid

Having described the spinal fluid, Fran?ois Magendie (1783-1855) called upon a number of chemists in Paris to analyze the material, in the effort to decide if it was a special secretion of the nervous system or simply a filtrate of the blood. J.L. Lassaigne (1800-1859) and J.P. Couerbe (1805-1867) responded. Their results, and those of some earlier investigators, are described. In the ensuing years of the nineteenth century, other investigators similarly conducted analyses of spinal fluid, but these were usually of single constituents in poorly defined diagnostic conditions. In 1909-1912, William Mestrezat (1883-1928) took advantage of the recently introduced technique of lumbar puncture, which by now had become hospital routine, and introduced the modern era of systematic analysis of many components of the spinal fluid, correlated with specific disease states.     

Neuro-anniversary 2001

Having described the spinal fluid, François Magendie (1783–1855) called upon a number of chemists in Paris to analyze the material, in the effort to decide if it was a special secretion of the nervous system or simply a filtrate of the blood. J.L. Lassaigne (1800–1859) and J.P. Couerbe (1805–1867) responded. Their results, and those of some earlier investigators, are described. In the ensuing years of the nineteenth century, other investigators similarly conducted analyses of spinal fluid, but these were usually of single constitutents in poorly defined diagnostic conditions. In 1909–1912, William Mestrezat (1883–1928) took advantage of the recently introduced technique of lumbar puncture, which by now had become hospital routine, and introduced the modern era of systematic analysis of many components of the spinal fluid, correlated with specific disease states.     

The origin of overpressure in 'old' sedimentary basins: an example from the Cooper Basin, Australia

Overpressure in ‘old’ sedimentary basins that have not undergone rapid, recent sedimentation cannot be easily explained using traditional burial‐driven mechanisms. The last significant burial event in the Cooper Basin, Australia, was the Late Cretaceous deposition of the Winton Formation (98.5–90 Ma). Maximum temperature in the basin was attained during the Late Cretaceous, with cooling beginning prior to 75 Ma. Hence, overpressure related to rapid burial or palaeomaximum temperatures (e.g. hydrocarbon generation) must have developed prior to 75 Ma. Retaining overpressure for 75 Ma in ‘old’ basins such as the Cooper Basin requires extremely low seal permeabilities. An alternative explanation is that overpressure in the Cooper Basin has been generated because of an increase in mean stress associated with an increase in horizontal compressive stress since Late Cretaceous times. Structural observations and contemporary stress data indicate that there has been an increase in mean stress of approximately 50 MPa between Late Cretaceous times to that presently measured at 3780 m. The largest measured overpressure in the Cooper Basin is 14.5 MPa at 3780 m in the Kirby 1 well. Hence, disequilibrium compaction driven by increasing mean stress can explain the magnitude of the observed overpressure in the Cooper Basin. Increases in mean stress (tectonic loading) may be a feasible mechanism for overpressure generation in other ‘old’ basins that have undergone a recent increase in horizontal stress (e.g. Anadarko Basin).     

Death of a president and his assassin--errors in their diagnosis and autopsies

On July 2, 1881, Charles Julius Guiteau shot President James Abram Garfield in the right flank. The President died because of infection produced by the unsterile fingers and probes repeatedly inserted into the wound. The major complaint of the wounded President was intractable pain in his legs and feet. This symptom failed to alert the doctors to the possibility of vertebral and spinal cord injury. Garfield died with sepsis after 80 days of intense national concern, and for the patient there was psychological, physical, and nutritional deprivation. His autopsy revealed the bullet was not in the pelvis as his doctors had expected, but adjacent to the first lumbar vertebra it had shattered. The trial and execution of Guiteau split the medical community into those that considered him insane and those who felt execution was justified. Guiteau was delusional and his brain revealed chronic inflammation and histological features suggestive of syphilis. At the time, and since, the propriety of the execution has been questioned.     

Death of a President and his Assassin—Errors in their Diagnosis and Autopsies

On July 2, 1881, Charles Julius Guiteau shot President James Abram Garfield in the right flank. The President died because of infection produced by the unsterile fingers and probes repeatedly inserted into the wound. The major complaint of the wounded President was intractable pain in his legs and feet. This symptom failed to alert the doctors to the possibility of vertebral and spinal cord injury. Garfield died with sepsis after 80 days of intense national concern, and for the patient there was psychological, physical, and nutritional deprivation. His autopsy revealed the bullet was not in the pelvis as his doctors had expected, but adjacent to the first lumbar vertebra it had shattered. The trial and execution of Guiteau split the medical community into those that considered him insane and those who felt execution was justified. Guiteau was delusional and his brain revealed chronic inflammation and histological features suggestive of syphilis. At the time, and since, the propriety of the execution has been questioned.     

Railway spine: The advent of compensation for concussive symptoms

ABSTRACT

The introduction of railway transportation in Great Britain in the early-nineteenth century saw an increased frequency of trauma cases involving persisting symptoms without objective evidence of injury. In 1866, a prominent surgeon, Sir John Eric Erichsen, attributed such symptoms to concussion of the spine (popularized as “railway spine”) that involved an organic pathology, inflammation of the spinal cord in the absence of spinal fracture, with potential psychological overlay. This was widely accepted within the medico-legal context throughout the 1870s, whereby passengers sought compensation for collision-related injuries. In 1883, a railway surgeon named Herbert William Page countered the assertion that many of Erichsen’s cases likely had sustained direct physical injury to the spine, the cord, and/or the spinal nerves; and in cases without such injury, the symptoms were psychogenic, as in traumatic neurasthenia and/or hysteria. Similarities between Erichsen’s and Page’s medico-legal positions, such as conscious and unconscious forms of symptom exaggeration that would both resolve upon settlement of the case, ushered in the era of medical injury compensation.     

The disappearance of a Rom community and the rejection of the politics of recognition

The politics toward Rom minorities in Italy is marked by a binary of recognition: on one hand, there exists the recognition of a nomad identity (present in various institutional practices), on the other a recognition of a cultural identity of Rom and Sinti (exemplified by many associations, either pro-Gypsy or Gypsy). But in the case of Melfi the predominant politics is a decisive refusal of recognition by Melfitani and Melfitani of Gypsy origins. The situation in Melfi should be read as the logical conclusion of a long process of assimilation which led to the dissolution of the historical Rom community.     

明代正德年间四川叙州府高州立废始末

由于《明史》只记载了正德十三年(1518年)四月改四川叙州府高县为高州,而漏载十二月又废州为县,给人以高州一直存在的假像。《清史稿》复加以穿凿补充,谭其骧《中国历史地图集》又加以附和,以致1998年《高县志》、1998年《筠连县志》和1995年《珙县志》建置沿革皆载高州存在至明末清初,造成失误。今对高州始末加以考述,以正其误。     

Engagement without recognition: the limits of diplomatic interaction with contested states

This article examines the extent to which states are able to interact at an official level with a contested or de facto state—a state that has unilaterally declared independence but is not a member of the United Nations—without being understood to have recognized it. This is an area of increasing interest and relevance to policy‐makers as the number of contested states has grown in recent years. In many cases, interaction may be important for ongoing peace efforts. However, there are also instances when a state is prevented from recognizing the territory in question for specific domestic or foreign policy reasons and so has to find alternative means by which to cooperate. Drawing on several key examples, notably Kosovo and the ‘Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’, but also with reference to Abkhazia, the article explores the limits of interaction across various different forms of bilateral and multilateral diplomatic activity. As is shown, albeit with some significant provisos, legal theory and historic practice suggest that diplomatic engagement does not constitute recognition if there is no underlying intent to recognize. This means that there is in fact a very high degree of latitude regarding the limits of diplomatic engagement with contested states. This is especially the case in bilateral contexts. Indeed, in some circumstances, the level of engagement can even amount to recognition in all but name.     

Jan Evangelista Purkyně (1787–1869) and his instruments for microscopic research in the field of neuroscience

The findings obtained by the famous nineteenth-century Czech scientist Jan Evangelista Purkyně (1787–1869) in the field of microscopic structure of animal and human tissues, including the brain, spinal cord, and nerves, have already been described in depth in a number of older and newer publications. The present article contains an overview of the instruments and tools that Purkyně and his assistants used for microscopic research of tissue histology. Some of these instruments were developed either by Purkyně alone, such as the microtomic compressor, or together with his assistant Adolph Oschatz, such as the microtome. A brief overview of the development of the cutting engines suggests that the first microtome, a prototype of modern sliding microtomes, was designed and constructed under the supervision of Purkyně at the Institute of Physiology in Wroc?aw. Purkyně and his assistants, thus, not only obtained important findings of animal and human nervous and other tissues but also substantially contributed to the development of instruments and tools for their study, a fact often forgotten today.     

Congenital absence of the patella in an Anglo‐Saxon skeleton

A skeleton of a young Anglo‐Saxon woman aged about 25 years at the time of death is described. The distal femoral articulation was in two distinct parts separated by a deep groove in which the tendon of quadriceps femoris would have lain. The medial condyle of the femur was smaller than normal and there was no patellar surface on the anterior part of the articulation. The woman was of normal stature (1.53 ± 0.04 m) and no other abnormalities were found in the skeleton. It was considered that these findings were consistent with a diagnosis of congenital absence of the patella. This is the earliest recorded case of this condition. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

增福财神的信仰历史与当下现状

增福财神又称增福神,最早出现在河北、山东等地。元代碑刻记载了增福神的传说和信仰,称该神在五代、两宋得到过朝廷的敕封。元杂剧塑造了增福神的形象,描写了当时增福神信仰的流行情况。增福神的上位神是东岳大帝,因而他主掌地狱各司,也掌管人间衣禄食禄、贵贱高下,故又被称作福禄之神。明清时期增福财神信仰已流传到华北各省,多地志书都曾记载过增福财神庙会。清代以后,随着五显、赵公明、关公、比干等财神的兴起,增福财神逐渐被取代,只是信仰并未消失。河北曲周县相传是增福财神李诡祖生前任职、死后葬身的地方,信仰氛围一向浓厚,今天仍保留了较多的民间传统色彩。     

Neuromyelitis optica: Application of computer diagnostics to historical case reports

The retrospective diagnosis of illnesses by medical historians can often be difficult and prone to bias, although knowledge of the medical disorders of historical figures is key to the understanding of their behavior and reactions. The recent application of computer diagnostics to historical figures allows an objective differential diagnosis to be accomplished. Taking an example from clinical neurology, we analyzed the earliest reported cases of Devic’s disease (neuromyelitis optica) that commonly affects the optic nerve and spinal cord and was previously often confused with multiple sclerosis. We conclude that in most identified cases the software concurred with the contemporary physicians’ interpretation, but some claimed cases either had insufficient data to provide a diagnosis or other possible diagnoses were suggested that had not been considered. Computational methods may, therefore, help historians to diagnose the ailments of historical figures with greater objectivity.     

Brown-Séquard and his syndrome

The contributions of Charles Edouard Brown-Séquard (1817-1894) to the advancement of medical science included his emphasis on functional processes in the integrative action of the nervous system, his discovery of the vasomotor nerves, his experimental demonstration that the adrenal glands are esential to life, and his pioneering work on hormone replacement therapy. He is best remembered, however, for his work in delineating the sensory pathways in the spinal cord. His later work on the sensory function of the cord emphasized dynamic spinal mechanisms that may well have major implications for the rehabilitation of patients with cord injuries.     

Thirty-Fourth Annual Meeting,Llangollen, 1877

Abstract

The mutilated remains of the choir furniture in this remote parish church disclose the evidence of a 14th-century double-credal decorative scheme. It is a unique British survival of this iconography in the medium. This paper analyses the monument in terms of patronage, style and dating, and recounts its remarkable afterlife. In attempting to place it within an English medieval credal context, it is apparent that, in any medium, such schemes are a rarity. As a result, possibly with one important exception, relating to the chapel glass at Hampton Court, Herefordshire, the subject has neither lent itself to the publication of a wide-ranging archaeological monograph, nor to an adequate discussion of the central importance of the creed and its visual expression in catholic Christian theology. As well as bringing to light the history and archaeology of the Astley programme, it was necessary to make amends by conducting a survey of medieval credal schemes in all media surviving in Europe, including the late-medieval Savoyard group of choir-stalls, with their carved-wood figures of prophets and apostles on the seat backs.     

The Evolution of the Terminology of the Basal Ganglia,or are they Nuclei?

Basal ganglia have been generally used to refer to some subcortical nuclei. However, it is a misnomer since ganglion is a group of nerve cells especially located outside of the brain or spinal cord. We evaluated the terminology of the basal ganglia from historical and terminological points of view.     

New Models of Religious Diversity: Modern Judaism beyond the Scylla of “Political” and the Charybdis of “Religious”

ABSTRACT

This essay is a response to Julie Cooper’s piece in this volume. In her essay, Cooper insightfully analyzes ways in which the rise of the modern state has imposed “religious” forms of identification on Jews, and she engages a series of early twentieth-century Zionist thinkers who resisted and challenged that problematic imposition. I build on Cooper’s analysis, highlighting ways in which even these thinkers may still be caught up in the very paradigm that they sought to challenge. Yet despite their limitations, I suggest that it is precisely by engaging more deeply with such thinkers that theorists today can extend and continue the critique that they initiated. By gaining greater awareness of the ways in which useful critiques of “religionization” can still succumb to problematic “politicization,” and vice versa, theorists can better position themselves to draw on past texts and thought in order to challenge the hegemony of dominant “political” and “religious” options.     

A nineteenth-century case of carcinoma of the prostate,with a note on the early history of the disease

A case of prostatic carcinoma is described in the skeleton of a named individual who died in 1834. The tumour was recognized from widespread periosteal new bone throughout the skeleton and by the presence of sclerosing metastases in many bones, including the pelvis and all the vertebrae. A number of features of the disease present here are said to be uncommon in modern patients, including spiculated periosteal new bone and some degree of spinal stenosis. In two previous cases of prostatic carcinoma described in the literature, periosteal new bone was a prominent feature and was probably responsible for the disease being recognized. It is likely that if skeletons from mature males were routinely X-rayed, considerably more cases would be noted and a more accurate estimate of the prevalence of this disease in the past would thus be ascertained. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.