Neurology And Modernity

As people of the modern era were singularly prone to nervous disorders, the nervous system became a model for describing political and social organization. This volume untangles the mutual dependencies of scientific neurology and the cultural attitudes of the period 1800-1950, exploring how and why modernity was a fundamentally nervous state.

As people of the modern era were singularly prone to nervous disorders, the nervous system became a model for describing political and social organization. This volume untangles the mutual dependencies of scientific neurology and the cultural attitudes of the period 1800-1950, exploring how and why modernity was a fundamentally nervous state.

"In the early 18th century, Piedmontese intellectuals and scientists were keen on dialoguing with colleagues and academic institutions across the Alps. They had a truly cosmopolitan approach to research and its dissemination. Physicians were particularly active, and ideas started to circulate. Turin and Piedmont found themselves within a network connecting the most important European capitals, but also their scientific societies and the universities. This stimulating environment was further enriched by the growth of the civil society: new academies were funded and scientific works were published. These became the pillars of a renewed 'cosmopolitan spirit'. During the second half of the century, exchanges among academic institution and societies, but also friendships and personal contacts (sometimes even occasional) favoured the 'process of Europeanisation' (and of 'deprovincialization') of Piedmontese culture and its medicine. This process was defined and described by Vincenzo Ferrone, an historian of the Enlightenment. As a result, Turin joined the league of other European capitals, such as Paris, Berlin and Saint Petersburg (Ferrone, 1988). This became especially evident under Victor Amadeus II, were rationalisation programmes against myths and false beliefs flourished"--

"In the 1930s, Tracy J. Putnam and H. Houston Merritt were Harvard neurologists when they discovered Dilantin, the revolutionary anticonvulsant drug that changed the lives of many and can be considered as a breakthrough on a par with penicillin or insulin." "Putnam was a brilliant and imaginative experimentalist, but not always correct in the theories he pursued. Merritt was the practical one, an observer, fact-collector, and recorder of what would now be called "evidence-based medicine." From his early days, Merritt was a popular and remarkable diagnostician. Their careers merged later, when first Putnam and then Merritt became head of the Neurological Institute in New York at the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center." "Putnam moved to California in 1947 and died in relative obscurity in 1975. He had no intellectual heirs. Merritt flourished and about one-third of all Neurology Departments in the United States were led by his students. Merritt's textbook first appeared in 1955. He was the sole author through the first five editions, accepted some help in the sixth edition, and died in 1979 as it was being published. Together, Putnam and Merritt led the way in transforming neurology from merely diagnostic to therapeutic success." "For the first time, The Legacy of Tracy J. Putnam and H. Houston Merritt: Modern Neurology in the United States will set this spoken history into written form. Beautifully illustrated with historic photographs, Dr. Lewis P. Rowland tells the story of two founders of modern neurology in a clear, engaging and enthusiastic prose."--BOOK JACKET.

Interest in the history of neurological science has increased significantly during the last decade, but the significance of war has been overlooked in related research. In contrast, this book highlights war as a factor of progress in neurological science. Light is shed on this little-known topic through accounts given by neurologists in war, experiences of soldiers suffering from neurological diseases, and chapters dedicated to neurology in total and contemporary war. Written by experts, the contributions in this book focus on the Napoleonic Wars, the American Civil War, the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, World Wars I and II, and recent conflicts such as Vietnam or Afghanistan. Comprehensive yet concise and accessible, this book serves as a fascinating read for neurologists, neurosurgeons, psychiatrists, historians, and anyone else interested in the history of neurology.

An overview of the techniques used in modern neuroscience research with the emphasis on showing how different techniques can optimally be combined in the study of problems that arise at some levels of nervous system organization. This is essentially a working tool for the scientist in the laboratory and clinic, providing detailed step-by-step protocols with tips and recommendations. Most chapters and protocols are organized such that they can be used independently, while cross-references between the chapters, a glossary, a list of suppliers and appendices provide further help.

"The problem of the relation between mind and brain has been among the most persistent in modern Western thought, one that even recent advances in neuroscience haven't been able to put to rest. Historian Larry McGrath's Making Spirit Matter is about how a particularly productive and influential generation of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century French thinkers attempted to answer this puzzle by showing the mutual dependence of spirit and matter. The veritable revolution taking place across disciplines, from philosophy to psychology, located our spiritual powers in the brain and offered a radical reformulation of the meaning of science, spirit, and the self. Pulling out connections between thinkers such as Bergson, Blondel, and FouilleáI p1 se, among others, McGrath plots the intellectual movements that brought back to life themes of agency, time, and experience by putting into action the very sciences that seemed to undermine metaphysics and theology. In so doing, Making Spirit Matter lays bare the long legacy of this moment in the history of ideas and how it might renew our understanding of the relationship between mind and brain"--

Traces the growth of neurology and related clinical and basic sciences, by examining the careers of particular individuals who were exemplary rather than pioneering or outstanding. Considers the context of the discipline's origin; the role of advances in anatomy, pathology, and other disciplines; subdisciplines such as pediatrics and surgery; and other aspects. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR