The discovery of motor cortex and its background

In 1870 Gustav Fritsch and Edvard Hitzig showed that electrical stimulation of the cerebral cortex of a dog produced movements. This was a crucial event in the development of modern neuroscience because it was the first good experimental evidence for a) cerebral cortex involvement in motor function, b) the electrical excitability of the cortex, c) topographic representation in the brain, and d) localization of function in different regions of the cerebral cortex. This paper discusses their experiment and some developments in the previous two centuries that led to it including the ideas of Thomas Willis and Emanuel Swedenborg, the widespread interest in electricity and the localizations of function of Franz Joseph Gall, John Hughlings Jackson, and Paul Broca. We also consider the subsequent study of the motor cortex by David Ferrier and others.     

Evidence of Stress Fracture in a Homo antecessor Metatarsal from Gran Dolina Site (Atapuerca,Spain)

We present the palaeopathological analysis of a right fourth metatarsal (ATD6‐124) recovered from the Atapuerca–Gran Dolina site (Spain). This fossil, ca. 1 Ma, belongs to Homo antecessor, the earliest known European hominin species. The metatarsal exhibits a proliferative lesion on its medial periosteal surface. Periosteal reaction can be the bone response to a wide number of injurious processes. We describe a lesion on the basis of macroscopic and microscopic analyses, including microtomography and scanning electron microscopy. Externally, the osteoblastic lesion presents a highly porotic and disorganised morphology. Internally, we observe a series of micro‐fractures on the compact bone that do not affect the medullary canal. We provide a differential diagnosis and suggest that the ATD6‐124 lesion could correspond to a pedal stress fracture, also known as fatigue or march fracture. Stress fractures have been related to a load increase and muscular fatigue. This type of fracture has been widely reported in the foot of soldiers and athletes, which are usually engaged in strenuous, excessive or prolonged locomotive activities. Despite its high frequency in these groups, stress fractures have not been reported as such in fossil collections, with the exception of a metatarsal belonging to the Sima de los Huesos site (Atapuerca). Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Reviews

SPECIAL STUDY ON ECONOMIC CONDITIONS IN NON‐SELF‐GOVERNING TERRITORIES. United Nations, N.Y., 1960. Pp. v + 42. $1.50.

LAND, “WATER AND FOOD. Herbert Addison. 2nd edition, London, Chapman & Hall, 1961. Pp. xii + 284. Stg. 21/‐.

THE ATTACK ON WORLD POVERTY. Andrew Shonfield. London, Chatto & Windus, 1960. Pp. x + 244. Australian Price 34/9.

THE ECONOMICS OF DEFENSE IN THE NUCLEAR AGE. Charles J. Hitch and Roland N. MeKean. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1960. Pp. xiv + 422. Australian price 98/3.

DEFENCE BY COMMITTEE. F. A. Johnson. London, Oxford University Press, 1960. Pp. viii + 416. Australian price 81/3.

EMPIRE INTO COMMONWEALTH—the Chichele Lectures, Oxford, May 1960. Earl Attlee. London, Oxford University Press, 1961. Pp. 54. Australian price 12/6.

TANGANYIKA AND INTERNATIONAL TRUSTEESHIP. B. T. G. Chidzero. For the Royal Institute of International Affairs. London, Oxford University Press, 1961. Pp. xii + 286. 2 maps. Australian price 57/9.

MULTI‐RACIAL SOUTH AFRICA. Z. J. de Beer. For the Institute of Race Relations. London, Oxford University Press, 1961. Pp. vii + 69. Australian price 10/‐.

POLITICAL AFRICA: A WHO'S WHO OF PERSONALITIES AND PARTIES. Ronald Segal. London, Stevens, 1961. Pp. xii + 475. Australian price 72/‐.

INDIA'S CONSTITUTION IN THE MAKING. B. N. Rau. Calcutta, Orient Longmans, 1960. Pp. 510. Rs. 25.

OIL IN THE MIDDLE EAST. S. H. Longrigg. For the Royal Institute of International Affairs. London, Oxford University Press, 1961. Pp. xiii + 401. Australian price 55/6.

TRADE PROTECTION IN AUSTRALIA. A. J. Reitsma. Leiden and Brisbane. H. E. Stenfert Kroese and University of Queensland Press, 1960. Pp. xi + 195. Australian price 40/‐.

NEW MEN OF PAPUA: A STUDY IN CULTURE CHANGE. Robert F. Maher. Madison, University of Wisconsin Press, 1961, Pp. xii + 148.     

A scientific luther

Francis Bacon. By Perez Zagorin (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1998) xvi + 286 pp. $29.95, £19.95

Francis Bacon: The History of the Reign of King Henry VII. Edited by Brian Vickers (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press 1998) xlv + 284 pp. £40.00 cloth     

Anton Raederscheidt's distorted self-portraits and their significance for understanding balance in art

Following a right cerebral stroke, the German artist Anton Raederscheidt produced a remarkable series of self-portraits that depicted his severe visual neglect and gradual recovery. These distorted images, like those drawn by others with this disorder, inform us about lateral balance in art and why it is common in the art of cultures separated in time and space. After describing how artists in various cultures have employed lateral balance, I present Arnheim's view that this aspect of art is the result of visual forces generated by the brain. Following a brief history of visual neglect, I present evidence that this disorder provides us with clues to the origin of the visual forces responsible for lateral balance in art. The relevant brain mechanisms control exploration of visual space by integrating orienting movements with visual spatial information. The prevalence of lateral balance in art becomes understandable when we consider that these brain mechanisms evolved to promote survival in our vertebrate ancestors. I end with a speculative neurological account of the aesthetics of lateral balance--why it is pleasing and its absence is displeasing.