Fournier, great French venereologist, introduced the concept of “parasyphilis”. He showed statistically the causal relationship of syphilis to paresis and tabes.

“Lissauer’s atypical general paralysis” first described. Heinrich Lissauer was bom in 1861 and died in 1891.

Pages 315-494 contain Nissl’s classic account of the histopathology of general paresis.

Wassermann applied his test (No. 2402) to the cerebrospinal fluid and, in paretics, obtained positive results in over 90 per cent of cases. The test greatly facilitated the diagnosis of general paralysis.

A pure culture of Trep. pallidum was obtained from a case of dementia paralytica.

In 1917 Wagner von Jauregg returned to the idea of the inoculation of paretics with malaria to induce pyrexia, first proposed by him in 1887 (Ueber die Einwirkung fieberhafter Erkrankungen auf Psychosen, Jb. Psychiat., 7, 94-131). He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1927 for his use of pyrotherapy in treating neurosyphilitics. See Magda Whitrow, "Wagner-Jauregg and fever therapy," Medical History, 34 (1990) 294-310.

This includes the first mention of epilepsy in children. Hippocrates grouped all convulsive attacks together as ερα νο̂σος, the sacred disease. He did not employ the word έπίληψις, (which seems first to have been used in the 10th century by Avicenna) but the terms ρόν νόσημα, παθος παίδειον and νόσημα παίδειον. The standard Greek edition is Die hippokratische Schrift Über dieheilige Krankheit. Herausgegeben, übersetzt und erläutert von H. Grensemann, Berlin, 1968.

Aretaeus left many fine descriptions of disease; in fact Garrison ranks him second only to Hippocrates in this respect. In the printed editions of this bibliography, before the present online version, the Adams edition was cited no less than 12 times for individual diseases, plus its first citation in "Collected Works" (No. 22.) This number of citations is, of course, greater than any other specific work by any other author, though the number of citations may be a reflection of idiosyncracies of the compilers rather than a proportionate measure of the significance of Aretaeus in the history of medicine. The citations are as follows:

3162. On angina, or quinsey. In his Extant works, ed. F. Adams, 249-52, 404-07.

3163. On pleurisy. In his Extant works, ed. F. Adams, 255-58, 410-16.

2433. On elephas, or elephantiasis. In his Extant works, ed. by F. Adams, 366-73, 494-98. Classic description of “elephantiasis Aretaei”, nodous leprosy.

5046. On ulcerations about the tonsils. In hiis Extant works, ed. F. Adams, 253-55. Aretaeus’s description of ulcerations about the tonsils, which he called “ulcera Syrica”, clearly referred to diphtheria, of which it was the first unmistakable description. For his treatment of the disease, see pp. 409-10 of the same work.

5089. On dysentery. In his Extant works, ed. F. Adams. 353-57. Prior to Lösch’s discovery of E. histolytica, all forms of dysentery were differentiated only on clinical grounds.

4915. Extant works. Ed. F. Adams. Aretaeus wrote important accounts of melancholy (298-300, 473-78) and madness (301-04).

5146. On tetanus. In his Extant works, ed. F. Adams,  246-49, 400-04. Aretaeus left a full account of tetanus.

4484,  On arthritis and sciatica. In his Extant works, ed. by F. Adams,  362-65, 492-93,

3612. On jaundice, or icterus. In his Extant works, ed F. Adams, 324-28.

4510. On paralysis. In his Extant works, ed. F. Adams.

4808. On epilepsy, in his Extant works, ed F. Adams,  243, 296, 399, 468. Aretaeus was well acquainted with hemi-epilepsy from local injury in the opposite half of the brain; partly from this knowledge he formulated the “decussation in the form of the letter X” of the motor path. He first described epilepsy resulting from a depressed fracture of the skull. In his excellent description he made the first mention of the aura.

3925. On diabetes.In his Extant works, ed. F. Adams. 338-40, 485-86. The first accurate account of diabetes, to which Aretaeus gave its present name; he insisted on the part which thirst plays in the symptomatology. 

According to the Wikipedia article on Headache, Aretaeus also provied the first recorded classification system for headaches: "He made a distinction between three different types of headache: i) cephalalgia, by which he indicates a shortlasting, mild headache; ii) cephalea, referring to a chronic type of headache; and iii) heterocrania, a paroxysmal headache on one side of the head." 

Digital facsimile of Adams's Greek and Latin edition from the Internet Archive at this link.

From a clinical point of view, the two works of Caelius Aurelianus, which were translated into Latin from Greek originals by Soranus of Ephesus that were later lost, represent the high-point of Graeco-Roman medical achievement. Soranus (fl. circa 150 CE), was the chief representative of the methodic school of medicine. Besides his writings on gynecology and obstetrics that survived, Soranus left works on chronic and acute maladies—Tardae or Chronicae passiones, in five books, and Celeres or Acutae passiones in three books, which were preserved through Caelius's translations. The Latin translations show that Soranus possessed considerable practical skill in the diagnosis of both ordinary and exceptional diseases. The translations are also important for their references to the methods of earlier medical authorities.

This is first edition of Caelius's Tardarum passionum (Chronic diseases ), edited by Johannes Sichard. On the verso of the title page the editor provided a list of about 50 ancient Greek physicians referred to in Caelius's text.

Garrison described Caelius / Soranus as a 5th century neurologist who gave one of the best early descriptions of epilepsy, including its convulsive and comatose forms, and the tendency of victims of vertigo to become epileptic. Caelius also distinguished between sensory and motor impairment, and between spastic and flaccid paralysis.

The first edition of Caelius's / Soranus's other work—Acute diseases – Liber celerum vel acutarum passionum, was edited by Johann Guinter von Andernach and published in Paris at the press of Simon de Colines in 1533. Both that and Sicart's edition of 1529 were based on Latin manuscripts that have since disappeared. No other medieval codices of these texts survived.

The four works by Oribasius also edited by Sicard for this 1529 printing represent the first editions in Latin of the texts involved. Like Caelius and Soranus, Oribasius was also a major compiler. Oribasius, a pagan, was physician to the Emperor Julian (the Apostate) in the period of Late Antiquity. Digital facsimile of the 1529 edition from Google Books at this link.

Includes the best early account of epilepsy after Willis.

First description of hemiplegic epilepsy so well depicted by Jackson (No. 4816), and referred to by Charcot as “Bravais–Jacksonian épilepsie”. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Bright was the first to describe unilateral (“Jacksonian”) epilepsy.

Hall was the first to suggest that the paroxysmal nervous discharges in epilepsy were produced by the spinal nervous system, first to notice the connection of anemia with epilepsy, and first to deduce that epilepsy was produced by anemia of the medulla.

Experimental epilepsy (section of sciatic nerve). See also Arch. Physiol. norm. path., 1869, 2, 211-20, 422-38, 496-503; 1870, 3, 153-60.

Locock, physician accoucheur to Queen Victoria, recommended bromide of potassium in the treatment of epilepsy.

O’Connor was apparently the first to use potassium bromide for the treatment of epilepsy.

The work of Schroeder van der Kolk brought histological examination to the forefront in connection with theories on the localization of function. His careful microscopical studies confirmed the medulla as being the ultimate seat of epilepsy. The book was translated into English for the New Sydenham Society in the same year.

“Jacksonian epilepsy” is so called from the excellent account of unilateral epilepsy with spasm given by Jackson. Actually, Bravais (No. 4810) was first to note the condition.

Gowers left a classic account of epilepsy, a book which today is still one of the most important on the subject. He was first to note the tetanic nature of the epileptic convulsion.

First description of “Unverricht’s disease” – familial myoclonus epilepsy.

“Koževnikov’s epilepsy”, an atypical form of cortical origin. German translation by H. Heintel and H. Müller-Dietz, Hamburg, 1974.

Davenport and Weeks produced strong evidence in support of the hereditary origin of epilepsy.

Introduction of phenobarbitone in the treatment of epilepsy.

Demonstration of the changes in the electro-encephalogram in epilepsy. With S. Graham and W. Grey Walter.

Introduction of diphenylhydantoin.

First account of infantile tetany is given on pp. 86-97. Clarke died before this work was published. In it he also gave a clear description of laryngismus stridulus. This disease, which consists in a sudden onset of difficult breathing, obviously originating in the windpipe, was confused by Boerhaave with asthma, and by later writers with true croup. Its anatomical cause is not yet known; but Clarke's exact clinical description (Commentaries, chap. iv.) was the first step to a precise study of the affection.

In his early account of chronic tetany, Kellie referred to carpo-pedal spasm and spasms of the glottis as part of the syndrome.

German writers usually credit Steinheim with the first description of parathyroid tetany.

Dance’s important early description of parathyroid tetany followed closely on that of Steinheim.

In his graduation thesis, Lucien Corvisart, nephew of the more famous Baron Corvisart (No. 2737), introduced the term “tétanie”. Digital facsimile from BnF Gallica at this link.

Trousseau, clinician of the Hôtel-Dieu, made important advances in the treatment of diphtheria, typhoid, scarlet fever and other conditions. In his book he emphasized the value of bedside observation. He supported the doctrine of the specific nature of disease and realized the significance of Pasteur’s work on fermentation. On pp. 112-14 of vol. 2 Trousseau described the phenomenon in tetany which now bears his name. This is produced by pressure upon the arm sufficient to stop the circulation; the result is a sudden contraction of the fingers and hand into the so-called “obstetrical position”. English translation, 1868-72.

Important observations on gastric tetany were made by Kussmaul. He called attention to the convulsions sometimes accompanying dilatation of the stomach. He first mentioned “gastric tetany” in 1869 in his paper on gastric lavage (No. 3463).

“Erb’s sign”.

“Chvostek’s sign”, a reliable diagnostic sign in latent tetany in small children.

Treatment of tetany with ultraviolet light.

First use of parathyroid hormone in the treatment of tetany.

Introduction of A.T. 10 (“Antitetanisches Praparat Nr. 10”), dihydrotachysterol, in the treatment of tetany.

In this treatise on hysteria and hypochondria, Willis showed that hysteria was a nervous disease and not a uterine disorder as had been traditionally believed. He compared hysteria in women to hypochondria in men. He considered the key feature of hysteria to be the “fit” or episodic disturbance of sensation short of “universal convulsions” and classified it under convulsive diseases. This caused hysteria to be linked with epilepsy as in Charcot’s hybrid, “hystero-epilepsy”.

Cheyne attributed hypochondria (“Cheyne’s disease”) to the moisture of the air and variability of the weather in the British Isles. Cheyne himself suffered from this disease and the work includes a careful account of his own case history.

“First important English work on neurology after Willis” (Garrison).

Includes, p. 297, first description of ataxia analgica hysterica (“Briquet’s ataxia”), and p. 475, hysterical paralysis of the diaphragm with dyspnoea and aphonia (“Briquet’s syndrome”).

“Beard’s disease” (neurasthenia) first described. See also No. 4846.

First description of agoraphobia

Classic description of anorexia nervosa.

Gulstonian Lectures.

Latah, motor incoordination associated with echolalia and coprolalia, is named “Gilles de la Tourette’s disease” after his classic description of it.

“Ganser’s syndrome” – an acute hallucinatory mania.

At Luxor, Egypt, in 1862 the American collector and dealer in papyri Edwin Smith purchased the papyrus which bears his name. It is preserved at the New York Academy of Medicine. The original text was written about 3000 BCE; the present manuscript is a copy dating from about 1600 BCE. It is the oldest known surgical treatise and consists entirely of case reports; it describes 47 different cases of injuries and affections of the head, nose, and mouth, together with methods of bandaging. 

A more recent edition in French is: Claude Carrier and Dider Fournier, Le papyrus chirurgical Edwin Smith (New York Academy of Medicine Library). Brest: PAM, 2015. This edition includes a transcription of the text with philological analysis followed by a medical analysis case by case.

A Greek-French edition with extensive notes and commentaries by J. E. Pétrequin, surgeon-in-chief of the Hôtel-Dieu of Lyon. Operations attributed to Hippocrates included trephination and paracentesis; his most important successes were in the reduction of fractures and dislocations.

The first separate treatise on head wounds and their surgical treatment. Berengario described several types of skull fractures and grouped the resulting lesions according to their symptoms, citing the relation between location and neurological effect. The book also discussed apoplexy, meningitis and paralysis.

Written after the death of Paré’s patient, Henri II, who was struck in the eye by the shaft of a lance at a tournament in celebration of the marriage of Philip, King of Spain, with Elizabeth of France. Paré discusses surgery of head wounds with special attention to skull fractures. Digital facsimile from BIU Santé at this link.

Croce improved the instruments for trephination, and published classic woodcuts depicting the operation, including the first illustration of a neurological surgery operation actually taking place. The work is also important for Croce’s descriptions of cranial and cerebral diseases. In hundreds of woodcuts of instruments and procedures Croce illustrated all of the instruments used before and during his own time. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Translated into Italian with expanded text as Cirugia universale e perfetta di tutte le parti pertinenti all’ottimo chirurgo (1574). Digital facsimile of the 1584 Italian translation from Google Books at this link. 

For biography, bibliography, and interpretation see Antonio Di leva & Jeffrey V. Rosenfeld, "The legacy of Renaissance surgeon Giovanni Andrea Dalla Croce on the history of military surgery and neurosurgery," Journal of Neurosurgery, 53, Issue 3 (2022).

This book, which showed Pott’s extensive knowledge of surgical literature, systematized the treatment of head injuries. It shows what a variety of injuries of the head could be sustained even before the advent of the motor-car. Includes the first description of “Pott’s puffy tumor”. Pott was bom in Threadneedle Street, where the Bank of England now stands; he succeeded Cheselden as the greatest surgeon of his day. The book was altered and re-published under a different title in 1768.

Records, p. 161, a successful operation for temporo-sphenoidal abscess, 1752. The patient, a monk, had otorrhoea followed by a mastoid abscess, which Morand opened.

Dudley was for many years the leading surgeon on the western frontier of the United States. This paper reports the first operations on the brain performed in the United States. Three of the five patients were relieved of their symptoms.

Lateral ventricles of the brain first opened for the treatment of cerebral abscess.

First excision of the superior maxillary nerve for the treatment of trigeminal neuralgia.

Pancoast devised the operative procedure of sectioning the second and third branches of the fifth pair of nerves as they emerge from the base of the brain. Reported by F. Woodbury.

Mears first suggested Gasserian ganglionectomy for trigeminal neuralgia.

First instance of diagnosis, accurate clinical localization, and operative removal of a tumor of the brain, 25 November, 1884. The patient survived for one month. Preliminary report in Lancet, 1884, 2, 1090-91.

Bergmann was the first in Germany to undertake an intensive study of the surgical aspects of brain diseases. From his experience as a military surgeon he learned that increased intracranial pressure was a consequence of brain trauma. In his book on brain injuries, Die Lehre von den Kopfverletzungen (1880), he discussed these problems in detail. In this later work on non-traumatic brain diseases Bergmann addressed unsolved problems such as blood loss and brain edema. Second edition, and first edition in book form, Berlin: A. Hirschwald, 1889. Digital facsimile of the 1889 edition from Google Books at this link.

Horsley was the founder of neurosurgery in England. The above paper records the first successful operation for the removal of an extramedullary tumor of the spinal cord.

Posterior rhizotomy.

Alexander was the first to attempt the treatment of epilepsy by surgical means. He removed the superior cervical sympathetic ganglia. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Posterior rhizotomy.

Osteoplastic flap operation. Wagner’s method of opening the skull made a large area of the brain more easily accessible than by trephining. Translation in J. Neurosurg., 1962, 19, 1099.

Gasserian ganglionectomy for trigeminal neuralgia; the patient lived for at least two years.

Burckhardt, physician at a Swiss mental hospital, performed frontal lobotomy on four patients in 1890, with good results in some cases. Digital facsimile from Universitätsbibliothek Bern at this link.

Horsley, with J. Taylor and W. S. Coleman, devised an operation for treatment of trigeminal neuralgia in which the Gasserian ganglion was removed by a temporal approach.

Keen was a pioneer in linear craniotomy and one of the first successfully to operate for meningioma. He was Professor of Surgery at Jefferson Medical College.

Spastic torticollis treated by division of spinal accessory nerve and posterior roots of first, second, and third spinal nerves.

Lumbar puncture. Reprinted in Middx. Hosp. J., 1951, 51, 147.

Quincke popularized lumbar puncture, which he had introduced independently of Wynter and others. He used it both for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. He first presented his method at the German Congress of Internal Medicine (Verb. Congr. inn. Med., 1891, 10, 321-31).

Hartley originated the operation of intracranial neurectomy for trigeminal neuralgia.

Hartley–Krause operation for relief of trigeminal neuralgia (see also No. 4870).

Macewen’s greatest work was in connection with the surgery of the brain. In the above book he included extensive case reports of 65 patients under his care, with details of operative procedures. A biography of Macewen was written by A. K. Bowman, London, 1942. See No. 431.

Fürbringer demonstrated the diagnostic value of spinal puncture.

Gigli’s saw adapted for craniotomy. Translation in J. Neurosurg., 1962, 19, 1103.

Introduction of intracranial trigeminal neurotomy, using a modification of the techniques of Horsley (No. 4865) and Krause (No. 4871). Also published in Philad. med. J., 1901, 8, 1039-49.

Alcohol injection of the Gasserian ganglion for treatment of trigeminal neuralgia. See also pp. 91-96 of the same volume. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

First report of tourniquet with pneumatic pressure of measurable degree. This inflatable cuff was the forerunner of the modern pneumatic tournequet cuff. 

Successful operative intervention in intracranial hemorrhage of the new-born.

Ballance recognized and described chronic subdural hematoma with great accuracy, described a successful operation for it and also for subdural hygroma, discussed brain abscess fully and devoted 243pp. to brain tumors.

Stereotactic apparatus for the accurate location of electrodes in the brain. The apparatus devised by Horsley and Clarke opened the way to stereotactic surgery of the brain.

Foerster’s operation of rhizotomy for spastic paralysis.

Cushing’s first treatise on neurosurgery. “As a result of this detailed monograph, neurological surgery became almost at once recognized as a clear-cut field of surgical endeavor” (J.F. Fulton, Harvey Cushing [1947] 268).

With Macewen and Cushing, Krause pioneered the development of neurosurgery as a specialty. This is his most comprehensive work. English translation by H.A. Haubold and M. Thorek, 3 vols., New York, Rebman, [1909-12],

Foerster’s operation for tabes.

Horsley demonstrated that removal of the precentral area in man abolished athetosis.

Cordotomy for the relief of intractable pain.

The first clinical monograph on the hypophysis. Cushing, outstanding neurological surgeon of the early 20th century, added much to our knowledge of the pituitary body and its disorders. The above work includes a description of his own method of operating on the pituitary. He assumed that in diabetes insipidus the pituitary was involved. Cushing also described obesity caused by basophil pituitary tumor. See No. 1161.

Luckett’s finding of air in the ventricles gave Dandy (No. 4602) the idea for ventriculography.

Successful removal of pineal tumor.

Periarterial sympathectomy.

Mosher initiated the modern method of trephining and draining inflammatory processes of the brain.

A study of the effect of gunshot wounds on nerves. English translation, London, 1917.

Trigeminal nerve resection with conservation of the motor root, for treatment of trigeminal neuralgia.

Finely illustrated, and beautifully produced, with several historical chapters. Includes a history of the development of temporal bone surgery.

Introduction of cisternal puncture.

Bianchi showed that bilateral destruction of the frontal lobes caused character changes, a finding put to practical use by Egas Moniz and others. English translation, Edinburgh, 1922.

Idiopathic glossopharyngeal neuralgia described and treated.

Hunter believed in the sympathetic innervation of skeletal muscle and on this assumption devised the technique of sympathetic ramisection carried out by Royle (No. 4894). Biography by M.J. Blunt, Sydney, 1985.

Sympathetic ramisection. See also Surg. Gynec. Obstet., 1924, 39, 701-20.

Presacral neurectomy.

Intracranial section for glossopharyngeal neuralgia. For a more detailed account see his paper in Arch. Surg. (Chicago), 1929, 18, 687-734.

Puusepp, an Estonian, was the first professor of neurosurgery; he was particularly notable for his method of removing cerebral tumors. The above journal was founded and edited by him, and vol. 16 (1935) is a Festschrift in his honor.

Introduction of electrocoagulation in neurosurgery.

In 1924 Wilfred Trotter(1872-1939) performed the first planned operation for intracranial aneurysm diagnosed pre-operatively.

Subarachnoid injection of alcohol for the relief of pain.

A classic paper which includes some history of the surgical treatment of facial palsy.