The first career of William Alexander Hammond

Neurology in its modern sense was first studied in the well-known neurological institutions of France and England. In America, however, this new field of medicine was developed by a physician in a private practice, Dr. William Alexander Hammond. This article addresses the question how Hammond was able to limit his practice to neurology. It is argued that Hammond was a famous military physician before becoming the first practitioner of clinical neurology in America. This fame translated into a large referral base.     

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.     

William A. Hammond, the dynamograph, and bogus neurologic testimony in old New York

April 25, 1870, court of General Sessions, New York City, Doctor William A. Hammond, neurologist and former Surgeon General of the United States Army, testified at the trial of his patient Daniel McFarland. McFarland had fatally wounded famous journalist Albert Richardson in November of 1869. Dr. Hammond said McFarland suffered from temporary insanity due to cerebral congestion from over use of the brain. Hammond told the jury he had, "devoted the last five years of his professional life exclusively to the study of the mind", and opined that the evidence of cerebral congestion was profound: McFarland's head was hot, and his carotid throbbed. The proof came from the test with the dynamograph machine: McFarland could not keep a pencil still to trace a straight line in the center of a moving piece of paper. The dynamograph, Dr. Hammond assured the jury, measured the power of a man over his will and thus provided "full and decided evidence" there can be no doubt that McFarland "could not control his will". What were the motivations behind the testimony of this famous expert witness? Did bogus neurologic testimony exist in old New York over a century before our time?     

Story of Surgeon Huang Xiang

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William Wirt

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A New Liberal Descent: The 'Labourer' Trilogy by Lawrence and Barbara Hammond

In 1906, citing the complexities of what he would subsequentlyterm the ‘Great Society’, the New Liberal GrahamWallas called for ‘a fresh approach to the question: What,under modern conditions constitutes history?’ A burgeoninggroup of historians, including among others R. H. Tawney, theWebbs, J. H. Clapham and W. J. Ashley, responded to this needby establishing economic and social history as a legitimatefield or historical study. However, beginning with The VillageLabourer in 1911 followed by The Town Labourer in 1917 and TheSkilled Labourer in 1919, Barbara and Lawrence Hammond completeda historical enquiry that more than any other of its time definedfor progressives an answer to Wallas' query. This article examinesthe Hammonds' unique achievement in terms of its contributionto New Liberal politics and to the growing field of economicand social history. It sets their overtly political and literaryapproach against the growing trend towards professionalizationamongst contemporary historians and compares their radical treatmentof industrialization to the orthodox Liberal conclusions ofnineteenth century Whig historians. The groundwork is thus laidfor an exploration into the implicit assumptions that definedthe shape and character of the Hammonds' New Liberal descent;an exploration that enhances our understanding of both Englishprogressivism and the development of social history as a legitimateapproach to studying the past.