1700-2500 BC.
The early Greek philosophers, especially Aristotle, believed that the heart was the center of intelligence and thought. Later on, however, various philosophers and physicians from the time of ancient Greece began to describe the anatomy of the brain and its importance in the higher intellectual functions.
Galen, a famous Roman physician, advanced the ideas of the importance of the brain in higher intellectual functions and the function of nerves within the nervous system.
ca. 4000 B.C. – Euphoriant effect of poppy plant reported in Sumerian records ca.
2700 B.C. – Shen Nung originates acupuncture ca.
1700 B.C. – Edwin Smith surgical papyrus written. First written record about the nervous system ca.
500 B.C. – Alcmaion of Crotona dissects sensory nerves
460-379 B.C. – Hippocrates discusses epilepsy as a disturbance of the brain
387 B.C. – Plato teaches at Athens. Believes brain is seat of mental process
335 B.C. – Aristotle writes on sleep; believes heart is seat of mental process Herophilus active in 335 B.C. “father of anatomy” interested in the brain named torcular Herophili Herophilus (the “Father of Anatomy”); believes ventricles are seat of human intelligence
280 B.C. – Erasistratus of Chios notes divisions of the brain
0 A.D. to 1500 177 – Galen lecture “On the Brain” ca.
see reference by Robert Burton on GAlens concept of the brain http://www.culture.com.au/brain_proj/CONTENT/17THC_2.HTM
Galen’s Concept of the Organs and their Faculties |
| Heat plays a central role part in the theory of Galen. The three ?faculties? of the body are the nutritive, vital and logical faculties. The nutritive faculty is related to the stomach which “cooks” the food and converts it into chyle. The chyle is transported to the liver by the portal vein. In the liver further heat converts the food into blood and adds natural spirit. Some of the blood is transported via the veins to the heart where more heat is added to create vital spirit. The blood becomes thinner is distributed to the body by the arteries giving warmth and enables growth. The vital spirit is measured through the pulse. The brain adds psychic pneuma, which provides the rational and logical faculty in the form of thought will and choice. These are distributed to the body via the nerves. The logical faculty reigns supreme and is followed in orderof importance by the vital and nutrtive faculties. The transport systems of the body include the nerves which transmit the logical faculty, the arteries which transport the vital spirit, and the veins which transport the blood with nutritive faculty from the liver. Galen faculties of the body nutrition portal vein stomach liver vein heart vital faculty pneuma lungs brain logical faculty animal spirits
Davidoff art Copyright 2008 13169c18b01.8s |
100 – Marinus describes the tenth cranial nerve
Talmud 4 th century A.D. Judaic culture had knowledge of the brain and meninges ca.
1000 – Alhazen compares the eye to a camera-like device
1316 – Mondino de’Luzzi writes the first European anatomy textbook (Anothomia)
1410 – Institution for the mentally ill established in Valencia, Spain
1504 – Leonardo da Vinci produces wax cast of human ventricles 1536 – Nicolo Massa describes the cerebrospinal fluid
1538 – Andreas Vesalius publishes Tabulae Anatomicae
1543 – Andreas Vesalius publishes “On the Workings of the Human Body” 1543 – Andreas Vesalius discusses pineal gland and draws the corpus striatum
1561 – Gabriele Falloppio publishes “Observationes Anatomicae” and describes some of the cranial nerves
1562 – Bartolomeo Eustachio publishes “The Examination of the Organ of Hearing”
1564 – Aranzi coins the term “hippocampus”
1573 – Constanzo Varolio names the pons
1573 – Constanzo Varolio is first to cut brain starting at its base 1583 – Felix Platter states that the lens only focuses light
1586 – A. Piccolomini distinguishes between cortex and white matter
1587 – Giulio Cesare Aranzi describes ventricles and hippocampus
1590 – Zacharias Janssen invents the compound microscope
1500-1700AD Anatomy
The period between 1500AD and 1700AD saw signifcant advances in the understanding of neuroanatomy as a result of the pursuits of Andreas Vesalius, Malpighi, Prochaska, Willis, Piccolomini, da Vinci, Varolio.
The Genius of Vesalius |
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This is a diagram by vesalius of the a view of the undersurface of the brain. His attention to the detail of structures such as the cranial nerves the pons meduall and cerebellum are simply stunning From the 1543 book in the collection in National Institute of Medicine. – Andreas Vesalius’ ”Fabrica”, showing the Base Of The Brain, including the cerebellum, olfactory bulbs This image is in the public domain because its copyright has expired. 98059b01 |
. 1600 – 1700 1604 – Johannes Kepler describes inverted retinal image 1609 – J. Casserio publishes first description of mammillary bodies 1611 – Lazarus Riverius textbook describing impairments on consciousness published 1641 – Francis de la Boe Sylvius describes fissure on the lateral surface of the brain (Sylvian fissure) 1649 – Rene Descartes describes pineal as control center of body and mind 1658 – Johann Jakof Wepfer theorizes that a broken brain blood vessel may cause apoplexy (stroke) 1662 – Rene Descartes “De homine” is published (He died in 1650) 1664 – Thomas Willis publishes “Cerebri anatome” (in Latin) 1664 – Thomas Willis describes the eleventh cranial nerve 1664 – Gerardus Blasius discovers and names the “arachnoid.” 1665 – Robert Hooke details his first microscope 1667 – Robert Hooke publishes “Micrographia” 1668 – l’Abbe Edme Mariotte discovers the blind spot 1670 – William Molins names the trochlear nerve 1673 – Joseph DuVerney uses experimental ablation technique in pigeons 1681 – English edition of Thomas Willis’ “Cerebri anatome” was published 1681 – Thomas Willis coins the term Neurology 1684 – Raymond Vieussens publishes “Neurographia Universalis” 1684 – Raymond Vieussens uses boiling oil to harden the brain 1695 – Humphrey Ridley describes the restiform body 1695 – Humphrey Ridley publishes “The Anatomy of the Brain
1600 – 1700
1604 – Johannes Kepler describes inverted retinal image
1609 – J. Casserio publishes first description of mammillary bodies
1611 – Lazarus Riverius textbook describing impairments on consciousness published
1641 – Francis de la Boe Sylvius describes fissure on the lateral surface of the brain (Sylvian fissure)
1649 – Rene Descartes describes pineal as control center of body and mind
1658 – Johann Jakof Wepfer theorizes that a broken brain blood vessel may cause apoplexy (stroke)
1662 – Rene Descartes “De homine” is published (He died in 1650)
1664 – Thomas Willis publishes “Cerebri anatome” (in Latin)
1664 – Thomas Willis describes the eleventh cranial nerve 1664 – Gerardus Blasius discovers and names the “arachnoid.”
1665 – Robert Hooke details his first microscope
1667 – Robert Hooke publishes “Micrographia”
1668 – l’Abbe Edme Mariotte discovers the blind spot
1670 – William Molins names the trochlear nerve
1673 – Joseph DuVerney uses experimental ablation technique in pigeons
1681 – English edition of Thomas Willis’ “Cerebri anatome” was published
1681 – Thomas Willis coins the term Neurology
1684 – Raymond Vieussens publishes “Neurographia Universalis”
1684 – Raymond Vieussens uses boiling oil to harden the brain
1695 – Humphrey Ridley describes the restiform body
1695 – Humphrey Ridley publishes “The Anatomy of the Brain”
1700 – 1800
1700s and 1800s Physiology
Conductive properties of muscle and nerve were described by the scholalrly pursuits of Galvani, Dubois-Reymond, and Helmholtz.
Other important developments at this time include those in the area of histology. Through the work of people like Camillo Golgi, Schwann, Betz, Purkinje, and Cajal, the idea was put forth of the neuron being the fundamental anatomic structure and functional component of the nervous system. Since then, the advances in neuroscience have been tremendous. The work of people such as Sherrington in developing the term “synapse”, and others have been invaluable. Since then, others such as Freud and Pavlov, tried to understand the behavioral aspects of neuroscience. The contributions to the understanding of the pathology of neurological disease during this time period, by people such as Alois Alzheimer, and Eugen Bleuler, were noted. In 1909, the famous neurosurgeon, Harvey Cushing, was able to stimulate the human sensory cortex and Broadmann was able to characterize 52 different areas of cortical function. These early developments in neuroscience have been advanced tremendously over the last century. In areas or neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, and, recently, neuropharmacology, there have been tremendous advances in the understanding of this subject that continues to capture our attention. However, the field of neuroscience is still in its infancy, and we eagerly await new discoveries which may revolutionize our understanding of this exciting field
1704 – Antonio Valsalva publishes “On the Human Ear”
1705 – Antonio Pacchioni describes arachnoid granulations
1709 – Domenico Mistichelli describes pyramidal decussation
1717 – Antony van Leeuwenhoek describes nerve fiber in cross section
1721 – The word “anesthesia” first appears in English (in Dictionary Britannicum)
1736 – Jean Astruc coins the term reflex
1740 – Emanuel Swedenborg publishes “Oeconomia regni animalis”
1764 – D.F.A. Cotugno describes spinal subarachnoid cerebrospinal fluid
1772 – John Walsh conducts experiments on torpedo (electric) fish
1773 – John Fothergill describes trigeminal neuralgia (tic douloureux, Fothergill’s syndrome)
1773 – Sir Joseph Priestley discovers nitrous oxide
1774 – Franz Anton Mesmer introduces “animal magnetism” (later called hypnosis)
1776 – M.V.G. Malacarne publishes first book solely devoted to the cerebellum
1777 – Philip Meckel proposes that the inner ear is filled with fluid, not air
1779 – Antonius Scarpa describes Scarpa’s ganglion of the vestibular system
1781 – Felice Fontana describes the microscopic features of axoplasm from an axon
1782 – Francesco Gennari publishes work on “lineola albidior” (later known as the stripe of Gennari)
1783 – Alexander Monro a Scottish physician, described the foramina of Munro in his 1783 publication, “Observations on the Structure and Functions of the Nervous System”. They were therefore named after him. However these structures had alrady been identified by Vieussens in the 17th century .
1786 – Felix Vicq d’Azyr discovers the locus coeruleus
1791 – Luigi Galvani publishes work on electrical stimulation of frog nerves
1794 – John Dalton describes color blindness
1796 – Johann Christian Reil describes the insula (island of Reil)
1800 – 1850
1800 – Alessandro Volta invents the wet cell battery
1800 – Humphrey Davy synthesizes nitrous oxide
1803 – Friedrich Serturner isolates morphine from opium
1805 – Felix Vicq d’Azyr discovers the red nucleus
1808 – Franz Joseph Gall publishes work on phrenology
1809 – Johann Christian Reil uses alcohol to harden the brain
1809 – Luigi Rolando uses galvanic current to stimulate cortex
1811 – Julien Jean Legallois discovers respiratory center in medulla
1811 – Charles Bell discusses functional differences between dorsal and ventral roots of the spinal cord
1813 – Felix Vicq d’Azyr discovers the claustrum
1817 – James Parkinson publishes “An Essay on the Shaking Palsy”
1818 – Library of the Surgeon General’s Office established (later to become the Army Medical Library and then the National Library of Medicine)
1820 – Galvanometer invented
1821 – Charles Bell describes facial paralysis ipsilateral to facial nerve lesion (Bell’s palsy)
1821 – Francois Magendie discusses functional differences between dorsal and ventral roots of the spinal cord
1822 – Friedrich Burdach names the cingular gyrus
1822 – Friedrich Burdach distinguishes lateral and medial geniculate
1823 – Marie-Jean-Pierre Flourens states that cerebellum regulates motor activity
1824 – John C. Caldwell publishes “Elements of Phrenology”
1824 – Marie-Jean-Pierre Flourens details ablation to study behavior
1824 – F. Magendie provides first evidence of cerebellum role in equilibration
1825 – John P. Harrison first argues against phrenology
1825 – Jean-Baptiste Bouillaud presents cases of loss of speech after frontal lesions
1825 – Robert B. Todd discusses the role of the cerebral cortex in mentation, corpus striatum in movement and midbrain in emotion
1825 – Luigi Rolando describes the sulcus that separates the precentral and postcentral gyri
1826 – Johannes Muller publishes theory of “specific nerve energies”
1827 – F. Magendie discovers foramen of Magendie
1832 – Chloral hydrate discovered
1836 – Marc Dax reads paper on left hemisphere damage effects on speech
1836 – Gabriel Gustav Valentin identifies neuron nucleus and nucleolus
1836 – Robert Remak describes myelinated and unmyelinated axons 1836 – Charles Dickens (the novelist) describes obstructive sleep apnea
1837 – Jan Purkyne (Purkinje) describes cerebellar cells; identifies neuron nucleus and processes
1838 – Robert Remak suggests that nerve fiber and nerve cell are joined
1838 – Theordor Schwann describes the myelin-forming cell in the peripheral nervous system (“Schwann Cell”)
1839 – Theordor Schwann proposes the cell theory
1839 – C. Chevalier coins the term microtome
1839 – Francois Leuret names the Rolandic sulcus for Luigi Rolando
1840 – Adolph Hannover uses chromic acid to harden nervous tissue
1840 – J.G.F. Baillarger discusses the connections between white and gray matter of cerebral cortex 1842 – Benedikt Stilling is first to study spinal cord in serial sections
1842 – Crawford W. Long uses ether on man
1843 – James Braid coins the term “hypnosis”
1844 – Robert Remak provides first illustration of 6-layered cortex
1846 – Carlo Matteucci invents the kymograph
1844 – Horace Wells uses nitrous oxide during a tooth extraction
1846 – William Morton demonstrates ether anesthesia at Mass. Gen. Hospital
1847 – Chloroform anesthesia used by James Young Simpson
1847 – American Medical Association is founded
1848 – Phineas Gage has his brain pierced by an iron rod
1849 – Hermann von Helmholtz measures the speed of frog nerve impulses In the early period of recorded history, the brain was not seen as an important organ. The Egyptians believed the heart and other organs were essential for functions such as thinking and other higher intellectual functions. A set of documents, known as the Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus, from the civilization of ancient Egypt is the earliest known written record of the brain. In it an unknown physician describes various brain injuries and treatments for those injuries. These papers are thought to be from the period between
References
Michelangelo Michelangelo