Parkinson's disease - 200 years: the outstanding contribution of "Old Hubert" / Doença de Parkinson's 200 anos: a notável contribuição do "Velho Humberto"

ABSTRACT

ABSTRACT Two hundred years after the publication, of “An Essay on the Shaking Palsy”, this indisputable landmark in our understanding of the nature of Parkinson’s disease still remains. What is frequently overlooked, however, is the originality of James Parkinson’s ideas about how clinical observations could be segregated into diagnostic entities. Parkinson was a surgeon apothecary with wide ranging interests outside medicine including geology and paleontology. He was also a strong campaigner for social change and a political pamphleteer, writing under the nom de plume of “Old Hubert”.

RESUMO

RESUMO A publicação de James Parkinson intitulada “An Essay on the Shaking Palsy”, 200 anos atrás, é considerada uma obra prima de fundamental importância científica. James Parkinson foi um cirurgião apotecário com uma ampla faixa de interesses, além da medicina, incluindo geologia e paleontologia. Ele foi também um grande reformador social e panfletário político, que escreveu sob o pseudônimo de “Velho Humberto”.