The James Ramsay Hunt case books

James Ramsay Hunt (1874-1937) was one of the pioneers of early-twentieth-century American neurology. The James Ramsay Hunt Case Books, Columbia University, were created by Hunt and chronicle his experience with private patients from 1903 until 1937. This resource is not widely known to scholars and the content of these 30 volumes has not been described in detail. The purpose of this report is to describe this resource in terms of its organization, general contents and special features. The books contain the clinical records of 5,019 consecutive patients. The largest proportion had neurasthenia or psychiatric diagnoses, followed by those with neuropathies, manifestations of neurosyphilis, migraine and epilepsy. The books, through the enclosed correspondence, photographs, and poetry sent by patients, reveal a close relationship between the patients and their physician. Hunt's drawings are a special feature of the early volumes, including his original unpublished drawing of the lesions associated with his herpetic geniculate ganglion syndrome. The Case Books, by providing an indexed and permanent record of cases, would have made it easier for Hunt to cross-reference patients with similar clinical characteristics when he was in the process of describing a new syndrome. These Case Books provide a valuable perspective of the practice of neurology in early-twentieth-century America.     

A Biography of James Ramsay Hunt (1874–1937)

James Ramsay Hunt (1874–1937) was a pre-eminent twentieth-century American neurologist. The name of Ramsay Hunt is known today because several neurological disorders bear his name, including the herpetic geniculate ganglion syndrome and a form of ataxia and myoclonus. Despite his importance in the field of neurology, few biographical details have been recorded about Hunt’s life. One of the authors of this report recently located Hunt’s daughter. This biographical sketch was based on interviews conducted with her and review of documents in her possession, including letters written by Hunt. Details are depicted about Hunt’s family background and childhood, medical education and early professional development, courtship and marriage, wartime experiences, family and social life, daily routine and professional development, as well as illness and death.     

A biography of James Ramsay Hunt (1874-1937)

James Ramsay Hunt (1874-1937) was a pre-eminent twentieth-century American neurologist. The name of Ramsay Hunt is known today because several neurological disorders bear his name, including the herpetic geniculate ganglion syndrome and a form of ataxia and myoclonus. Despite his importance in the field of neurology, few biographical details have been recorded about Hunt's life. One of the authors of this report recently located Hunt's daughter. This biographical sketch was based on interviews conducted with her and review of documents in her possession, including letters written by Hunt. Details are depicted about Hunt's family background and childhood, medical education and early professional development, courtship and marriage, wartime experiences, family and social life, daily routine and professional development, as well as illness and death.     

Armand Trousseau--some of his contributions to neurology

Trousseau made a remarkably large number of original clinical contributions to medicine and neurology. Best known are Trousseau's syndrome, the combination of venous thrombosis with visceral carcinoma; tache cérébrale, the red streak seen on scratching the skin in acute meningitis; and Trousseau's sign, the cardinal physical sign in tetany. His pioneering work in tracheostomy in diphtheria, haemochromatosis, Parkinson's disease, aphasia and chorea are but a few of his outstanding clinical studies. Based on his famously comprehensive text, Clinique Médicale de l'H?tel Dieu, this paper highlights a few of his discoveries. The name of Armand Trousseau must stand alongside those of Charcot, Oppenheim, Jackson and Gowers in the annals of neurology.     

傅云龙《游历日本图经余记》所见汉籍考

傅云龙是近代海外访书的先行者之一,他在奉旨游历海外时,曾在日本见到过诸多珍贵汉籍,并对其中的部分古籍进行了考证,甚至还有过刊刻海外汉籍的活动。本文主要从文献学的角度对傅云龙所著《游历日本图经余记》中涉及的日藏汉籍予以考察,在考订这些海外汉籍的版本、流传等问题的同时,并对傅氏的某些考证中存在的问题予以订正。     

Between Galen, Geddes, and the Gael: Arthur Brock, modernity, and medical humanism in early-twentieth-century Scotland

Arthur Brock (1879-1947) is generally remembered as the physician who treated poet Wilfred Owen for shell shock and as the translator of Galen and other ancient physicians. He was also a key figure in the early-twentieth-century humanist revival within medicine. Brock's interest in humanism, I argue, was inspired by a broader concern about modernity and by a desire to return medicine and society to the more harmonious, organic existence that he believed was characteristic of ancient Greece and could still be found among "primitive" peoples, such as the Scottish Gaels. This article explores Brock's anxieties about modernity and its relations to his interests in ancient and "primitive" peoples; to his medical thought and practice; to his interests in history, sociology, language, and translation; and to his involvement in the social and political life of Edinburgh and North Queensferry, where he moved in 1925. Crucially, it shows how all these interests and activities were influenced by Brock's mentor, Edinburgh polymath Patrick Geddes. The article concludes with a discussion of Brock's place in early-twentieth-century medical humanism.     

Louis Muskens: A Leading Figure in the History of Dutch and World Epileptology

In the history of Dutch neurology Muskens has a place in his own right. Elderly neurologists still attest to the special fame of Muskens. He held a strong opinion on developing the specialty of neurology independent of psychiatry. At the same time he maintained that surgery of the nervous system also should be included in the realm of neurology. These views met with considerable opposition from colleagues and led to Muskens’ isolation. To the field of epileptology he contributed both clinical and experimental neurological studies. With Donath he was the co-founder of the International League Against Epilepsy in 1909. In addition he held a lifelong interest in the pathophysiology of forced movements, which he studied both in human pathology and in experimental studies throughout the vertebrate series. This resulted in his magnum opus on the supravestibular system in 1935. His scientific work was well received in scientific societies all over Europe.     

Louis Muskens: a leading figure in the history of Dutch and world epileptology

In the history of Dutch neurology Muskens has a place in his own right. Elderly neurologists still attest to the special fame of Muskens. He held a strong opinion on developing the specialty of neurology independent of psychiatry. At the same time he maintained that surgery of the nervous system also should be included in the realm of neurology. These views met with considerable opposition from colleagues and led to Muskens' isolation. To the field of epileptology he contributed both clinical and experimental neurological studies. With Donath he was the co-founder of the International League Against Epilepsy in 1909. In addition he held a lifelong interest in the pathophysiology of forced movements, which he studied both in human pathology and in experimental studies throughout the vertebrate series. This resulted in his magnum opus on the supravestibular system in 1935. His scientific work was well received in scientific societies all over Europe.     

The contested Jacksonian legacy

John Hughlings Jackson has since the early twentieth century occupied the position of the doyen of British neurology. Among those who knew him personally and claimed allegiance to his legacy were the leading neurological practitioners, Henry Head (1861-1940) and Samuel Alexander Kinnier Wilson (1878-1937). In terms of their professional profiles and attitudes Head and Kinnier Wilson had much in common. They however interpreted the Jacksonian legacy in divergent ways that illustrate how the content and import of Jackson's views were subject to interpretation and to contestation among those who claimed to be his disciples.     

The Experiments of Ramón M. Termeyer SJ on the Electric Eel in the River Plate Region (c. 1760) and other Early Accounts of Electrophorus electricus

Dr. Haakon Sæthre was a leader of Norwegian neurology and psychiatry. He was resourceful, compassionate and had immense pride in his independent homeland. He described Sæthre-Chotzen syndrome (acrocephalosyndactyly type III). When Nazi Germany occupied Norway during World War II, Sæthre fearlessly and actively resisted, from revoking his medical association membership, to hiding persecuted Jews as patients in his psychiatric ward and aiding in their escape to Sweden, to managing the largest “illegal” food warehouse in Oslo with Danish humanitarian aid. As a prominent and noticeable citizen, he was arrested and executed by the Nazis in reprisal for the resistance's assassination of a hated Norwegian Nazi. His legacy lives on in Norway, where he was honored by a scholarship fund, a portrait and multiple plaques at Ullevål Hospital, and a street and memorial statue in his hometown. He was a hero and should be remembered by all who practice neurology.     

William Alexander Hammond: The Centenary of His Death

In the United States, the field of clinical neurology began within the medical practice of a single physician, William Alexander Hammond. In the 1870s, this New York medical practitioner became the first American physician who limited his practice to patients who suffered from symptoms potentially due to dysfunction of the nervous system. From the experience of his huge practice, Hammond wrote the first American textbook of neurology. With Silas Weir Mitchell, he founded the American Neurological Association. The year 2000 marked the 100th anniversary of Hammond's death and stimulates this brief survey of his life.     

Anthropological Neurology: Symptoms and Their Meanings According to Joseph Prick (1909–1978)

This article describes the life and work of the Dutch neurologist Joseph Prick (1909–1978) and his idea of an anthropological neurology. According to Prick, neurological symptoms should not only be explained from an underlying physico-chemical substrate but also be regarded as meaningful. We present an outline of the historical and philosophical context of his ideas with a focus on the theory of the human body by the French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908–1961) and the concept of anthropology-based medicine developed by Frederik Buytendijk (1887–1974). We give an overview of anthropological neurology as a clinical practice and finally we discuss the value of Prick's approach for clinical neurology today.     

Anthropological neurology: symptoms and their meanings according to Joseph Prick (1909-1978)

This article describes the life and work of the Dutch neurologist Joseph Prick (1909-1978) and his idea of an anthropological neurology. According to Prick, neurological symptoms should not only be explained from an underlying physico-chemical substrate but also be regarded as meaningful. We present an outline of the historical and philosophical context of his ideas with a focus on the theory of the human body by the French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908-1961) and the concept of anthropology-based medicine developed by Frederik Buytendijk (1887-1974). We give an overview of anthropological neurology as a clinical practice and finally we discuss the value of Prick's approach for clinical neurology today.     

略论李锡祺的古籍收藏与整理

李锡祺,贵州遵义人,一生酷爱书籍,凡访得好的古籍版本,便多方寻购,同时还对所获古籍,细心整理,精心校勘。现有部分古籍见藏于遵义市图书馆,成为该馆古籍藏书的重要组成部分,根据所藏古籍的质量、数量和整理、校勘工作,李锡祺可以称得上是一位藏书家。     

已刊俄藏西夏文献《天盛改旧新定律令》的编号系统

上海古籍出版社出版的《俄藏黑水城文献》(8、9册)所收西夏法典《天盛改旧新定律令》实为百衲本,其所系底本编号并未能真实、准确地在已刊《天盛改旧新定律令》中呈现出来,对照克恰诺夫所整理的俄藏叙录和已刊出的实际情况可以看出,已刊布《天盛改旧新定律令》的各章内容并不是按照文献编号一一拍摄刊布,而是由不同编号拼接而成,编者也没有给出各编号的起止。基于已刊布文献的这些问题,本文将对《俄藏黑水城文献》(8、9册)中已刊布的《天盛改旧新定律令》各编号进行系统地梳理和划分,并对缺页、少页、遗漏编号、页码错乱、编号重复出现等情况进行了订正和说明。     

Three Twentieth-Century Multiauthored Neurological Handbooks – A Historical Analysis and Bibliometric Comparison

The emergence of neurology as a separate specialty from internal medicine and psychiatry took several decades, starting at the end of the nineteenth century. This can be adequately reconstructed by focusing on the establishment of specialized journals, societies, university chairs, the invention and application of specific instruments, medical practices, and certainly also the publication of pivotal textbooks in the field. Particularly around 1900, the German-speaking countries played an integral role in this process. In this article, one aspect is extensively explored, notably the publication (in the twentieth century) of three comprehensive and influential multivolume and multiauthor handbooks entirely devoted to neurology. All available volumes of Max Lewandowsky's Handbuch der Neurologie (1910–1914) and the Handbuch der Neurologie (1935–1937) of Oswald Bumke and Otfrid Foerster were analyzed. The handbooks were then compared with Pierre Vinken's and George Bruyn's Handbook of Clinical Neurology (1968–2002).

Over the span of nearly a century these publications became ever more comprehensive and developed into a global, encompassing project as is reflected in the increasing number of foreign authors. Whereas the first two handbooks were published mainly in German, “Vinken & Bruyn” was eventually published entirely in English, indicating the general changes in the scientific language of neurology after World War II. Distinctions include the uniformity of the series, manner of editorial involvement, thematic comprehensiveness, inclusion of volume editors in “Vinken & Bruyn,” and the provision of index volumes. The increasing use of authorities in various neurological subspecialties is an important factor by which these handbooks contrast with many compact neurological textbooks that were available at the time.

For historiographical purposes, the three neurological handbooks considered here were important sources for the general study of the history of medicine and science and the history of neurology in particular. Moreover, they served as important catalyzers of the emergence of neurology as a new clinical specialty during the first decades of the twentieth century.     

Book Reviews

Book reviews in this article:
Cicero. By D. R. Shackleton Bailey.
Britain. Rome's Most Northerly Province. A History of Roman Britain, A.D. 43-A.D. 450. By G. M. Durant.
The Medieval Architect. By John Harvey.
The Study of Medieval Records: Essays in Honour of Kathleen Major. Edited by D. A. Bullough and R. L. Storey.
The Peace Conspiracy: Wang Ching-wei and the China War, 1937–1941. By Gerald E. Bunker.
The Mallorys of Mystic: Six Generations in American Maritime Enterprise. By James P. Baughman.
In His Image, But … Racism in Southern Religion, 1780–1910. By H. Shelton Smith
White Savage: The Case of John Dunn Hunter. By Richard Drinnon.