Muscles or Movements? Representation in the Nascent Brain Sciences.

The idea that the brain is a representational organ has roots in the nineteenth century, when neurologists began drawing conclusions about what the brain represents from clinical and experimental studies. One of the earliest controversies surrounding representation in the brain was the "muscles versus movements" debate, which concerned whether the motor cortex represents complex movements or rather fractional components of movement. Prominent thinkers weighed in on each side: neurologists John Hughlings Jackson and F.M.R. Walshe in favor of complex movements, neurophysiologist Charles Sherrington and neurosurgeon Wilder Penfield in favor of movement components. This essay examines these and other brain scientists' evolving notions of representation during the first eighty years of the muscles versus movements debate (c. 1873-1954). Although participants agreed about many of the superficial features of representation, their inferences reveal deep-seated disagreements about its inferential role. Divergent epistemological commitments stoked conflicting conceptions of what representational attributions imply and what evidence supports them.

Historical Overview of the "Firing" Liaison between Brain Tumors and Epilepsy.

This review addresses, in a critical historical perspective, the link between seizures and endocranic neoplasms. Folkloric descriptions of epilepsy can be found in writings from ancient cultures. Hippocrates first provided a medical interpretation. In 1770, Tissot published Traité de l'épilepsie, a milestone in epileptology, whereas the 19th century is considered the golden era of epileptic studies. In 1882, the father of modern epileptology, Jackson, in his article Localized Convulsions from Tumour of the Brain, reported a case of a patient affected by typical Jacksonian seizures in the presence of a brain tumor. However, he did not establish a direct correlation between brain tumors and epilepsy, and an explanation for his clinical case was lacking. Before Jackson's article, other authors reported similar cases, but only Gairdner in 1834 published a report suggesting the concept of a direct relationship between epilepsy and a brain tumor. From the beginning until the mid of the 20th century several authors reported seizures attributed to intracranial tumors, and in recent years studies have focused on the pathogenesis of tumor-related seizures. Biochemical and molecular changes in brain tumors and their environment opened unprecedented working hypotheses on epileptogenesis and on treatment of epilepsy associated with brain tumors.

Jackson's Parrot: Samuel Beckett, Aphasic Speech Automatisms, and Psychosomatic Language.

This article explores the relationship between automatic and involuntary language in the work of Samuel Beckett and late nineteenth-century neurological conceptions of language that emerged from aphasiology. Using the work of John Hughlings Jackson alongside contemporary neuroscientific research, we explore the significance of the lexical and affective symmetries between Beckett's compulsive and profoundly embodied language and aphasic speech automatisms. The interdisciplinary work in this article explores the paradox of how and why Beckett was able to search out a longed-for language of feeling that might disarticulate the classical bond between the language, intention, rationality and the human, in forms of expression that seem automatic and "readymade".

The Third Man: Robert Dunn's (1799-1877) Contribution to Aphasia Research in Mid-Nineteenth-Century England.

Throughout his medical career, Robert Dunn (1799-1877) published a number of clinical cases with postmortem reports involving acquired language disorders, with the first noted in 1842. He developed a physiologically informed approach to psychological function during the 1850s along with a group of notable colleagues Benjamin Collins Brodie, Henry Holland, Thomas Laycock, John Daniel Morell, and Daniel Noble. He was also active in ethnographic research on human origins and racial diversity. As such, Dunn represents an interesting player in the developing fields of neurology, psychology, and anthropology in England in the latter part of the nineteenth century. These various strands converged at the meeting of the British Association of the Advancement of Science in 1868, where Dunn shared the program of lectures on the cutting-edge topic of aphasia with Paul Broca (1824-1880) and John Hughlings Jackson (1835-1911). Dunn's ideas developed over a longer time frame than his younger colleagues and as such represent a unique blending of concepts from the earlier work of Franz Josef Gall (1758-1828) and Jean-Baptiste Bouillaud (1798-1881) to the perspectives on language organization in the brain developed after 1861.

John Hughlings Jackson (1835-1911): An adornment to the London Hospital.

John Hughlings Jackson was associated with the London Hospital as a Lecturer and Physician for nearly 40 years while also on the staff at The National Hospital, Queen Square. His experience at the two hospitals was complementary; sometimes, a patient would be exchanged between the two hospitals. At the London Hospital, he was especially revered by students, colleagues and even by the House Governor, for his knowledge and his contributions to neurology. His ideas helped to resolve the chaotic contemporary understanding of neurological phenomena into a coherent whole, determining the direction of future neurological research in the following century. His life and work was supported and strengthened by the help and friendship of his colleagues at the London Hospital, especially Sir Jonathan Hutchinson.

Henry Ey, Jackson e as ideias obsessivas / Henri Ey, Jackson and obsessive ideas / Henry Ey, Jackson et les idées obsédantes / Henry Ey, Jackson y las ideas obsesivas

O artigo destaca a importante contribuição do professor de psiquiatria Henry Ey aos estudos sobre John Hughlings Jackson. Analisa historicamente uma interface pouco conhecida de Jackson com a psiquiatria: o diálogo sobre as "ideias obsessivas" que figura nas páginas da revista Brain, entre 1894 e 1895. Discute as razões históricas que podem explicar a não influência de Jackson na psiquiatria britânica, em contraste com a ampla difusão de suas posições no campo da neurologia.

This article highlights the important contribution of the French psychiatrist Henry Ey, to studies on John Hughlings Jackson. It historically analyzes a little-known text that presents an interface between Jackson and psychiatry, namely: Dialogue on "Obsessive Ideas." This article appeared in the journal Brain, between 1894 and 1895. The author discusses historical reasons that might explain Jackson's lack of influence on British psychiatry, in contrast to the considerable spread of his ideas on neurology.

L'article souligne l'importante contribution du professeur de psychiatrie Henry Ey aux études de John Hughlings Jackson. Il analyse de façon historique une interface peu connue entre Jackson et la psychiatrie: le dialogue sur les "idées obsédantes" publié dans la revue Brain entre 1894 et 1895. Cet article discute d'ailleurs les raisons historiques qui pourraient expliquer le manque d'influence de Jackson sur la psychiatrie britannique qui contraste avec la large diffusion de ses positions en neurologie.

El artículo destaca la importante contribución del profesor de psiquiatria Henry Ey a los estúdios sobre John Hughlings Jackson. Se analisa históricamente uma interfaz poço conocida de Jackson com la psiquiatria: el diálogo acerca de las "ideas obsesivas" que figura en las páginas de la revista Brain, entre 1894 y 1895. Se discute las razones históricas que pueden explicar la ausencia de influencia de Jackson em la psiquiatria britânica, lo que contrasta con la amplia difusión de sus posiciones en la neurologia.

Henry Ey, Jackson e as ideias obsessivas / Henri Ey, Jackson and obsessive ideas / Henry Ey, Jackson et les idées obsédantes / Henry Ey, Jackson y las ideas obsesivas

O artigo destaca a importante contribuição do professor de psiquiatria Henry Ey aos estudos sobre John Hughlings Jackson. Analisa historicamente uma interface pouco conhecida de Jackson com a psiquiatria: o diálogo sobre as "ideias obsessivas" que figura nas páginas da revista Brain, entre 1894 e 1895. Discute as razões históricas que podem explicar a não influência de Jackson na psiquiatria britânica, em contraste com a ampla difusão de suas posições no campo da neurologia.(AU)

This article highlights the important contribution of the French psychiatrist Henry Ey, to studies on John Hughlings Jackson. It historically analyzes a little-known text that presents an interface between Jackson and psychiatry, namely: Dialogue on "Obsessive Ideas." This article appeared in the journal Brain, between 1894 and 1895. The author discusses historical reasons that might explain Jackson's lack of influence on British psychiatry, in contrast to the considerable spread of his ideas on neurology.(AU)

L'article souligne l'importante contribution du professeur de psychiatrie Henry Ey aux études de John Hughlings Jackson. Il analyse de façon historique une interface peu connue entre Jackson et la psychiatrie: le dialogue sur les "idées obsédantes" publié dans la revue Brain entre 1894 et 1895. Cet article discute d'ailleurs les raisons historiques qui pourraient expliquer le manque d'influence de Jackson sur la psychiatrie britannique qui contraste avec la large diffusion de ses positions en neurologie.(AU)

El artículo destaca la importante contribución del profesor de psiquiatria Henry Ey a los estúdios sobre John Hughlings Jackson. Se analisa históricamente uma interfaz poço conocida de Jackson com la psiquiatria: el diálogo acerca de las "ideas obsesivas" que figura en las páginas de la revista Brain, entre 1894 y 1895. Se discute las razones históricas que pueden explicar la ausencia de influencia de Jackson em la psiquiatria britânica, lo que contrasta con la amplia difusión de sus posiciones en la neurologia.(AU)