Document Detail


Cerebral localization in antiquity.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  20183203     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
Fragments of neurology can be found in the oldest medical writings in antiquity. Recognizable cerebral localization is seen in Egyptian medical papyri. Most notably, the Edwin Smith papyrus describes hemiplegia after a head injury. Similar echoes can be seen in Homer, the Bible, and the pre-Hippocratic writer Alcmaeon of Croton. While Biblical writers thought that the heart was the seat of the soul, Hippocratic writers located it in the head. Alexandrian anatomists described the nerves, and Galen developed the ventricular theory of cognition whereby mental functions are classified and localized in one of the cerebral ventricles. Medieval scholars, including the early Church Fathers, modified Galenic ventricular theory so as to make it a dynamic model of cognition. Physicians in antiquity subdivided the brain into separate areas and attributed to them different functions, a phenomenon that connects them with modern neurologists.
Authors:
F Clifford Rose
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Historical Article; Journal Article    
Journal Detail:
Title:  Journal of the history of the neurosciences     Volume:  18     ISSN:  1744-5213     ISO Abbreviation:  J Hist Neurosci     Publication Date:  2009 Jul 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2010-02-25     Completed Date:  2010-06-18     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  9441330     Medline TA:  J Hist Neurosci     Country:  England    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  239-47     Citation Subset:  IM; Q    
Affiliation:
frangierose@googlemail.com
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Cerebral Ventricles / physiology*
Cognition / physiology*
Dominance, Cerebral / physiology*
History, Ancient
History, Medieval
Humans
Neurology / history*
Neurosciences / history*

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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