Besnier wrote an important description of rheumatism.

Introduction of salicylates in the treatment of rheumatism.

Fowler drew attention to the association of throat infections with acute rheumatism.

A pupil of Frerichs, Virchow, and Romberg, Ebstein became Professor of Medicine at Göttingen.

Gonococci isolated from an arthritic joint.

“Still’s disease”, chronic articular rheumatism in children. See also Nos. 4499 and 6356.

Tuberculous rheumatism (“Poncet’s disease”). See also his later paper in Bull. Acad. Méd. (Paris), 1902, 3 sér., 48, 97-114.

Isolation of streptococci from patients with acute rheumatism reported.

After extensive bacteriological researches, Poynton and Paine considered that a diplococcus was the cause of rheumatic fever.

Introduction of cinchophen in the treatment of gout.

“Felty syndrome”.

Introduction of gold therapy.

Schlesinger showed that hemolytic streptococcal infection was a cause of acute rheumatism in children.

Introduction of cortisone and A.C.T.H. in treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. With C. H. Slocumb, and H. F. Polley.

In 1950 Hench and Kendall shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Tadeusz Reichstein (No. 1153) "for their discoveries relating to the hormones of the adrenal cortex, their structure and biological effects." See also Nos. 1150, 1151, and 4509.

Compound E (cortisone) introduced in the treatment of rheumatic fever. With C. H. Slocumb, A. R. Barnes, H. L. Smith, H. F. Polley.

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.

Complete English translation by D. Sider and M. McVaugh in Trans. stud. Coll. Phys. Phila., 1979, 1, 183-210.

An early work on memory disorders and aids to memory. ISTC no. ia00210000. Digital facsimile from the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek at this link.

The first book devoted entirely to brain disorders, including tremor, tetanus, vertigo, epilepsy and hemicrania.

First known report of a case of death from hypertrophy of the thymus, in an infant, is reported on p. 172; it is reproduced on p. 239 of J. Ruhräh’s Pediatrics of the past, New York, 1925. Platter first described flexion contracture deformity of the fingers (“Dupuytren’s contracture”) in Liber I, p. 140. On p. 13 he provided the first description of an intracranial tumor —a meningioma. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Wepfer showed apoplexy to be a result of hemorrhage into the brain. He described four cases, with clinical and post mortem findings. He preceded Willis (No. 1378) in describing the “circle of Willis”. Partial English translation in Ruskin, Classics in arterial hypertension (1956). Digital facsimile of the 1675 edition from Google Books at this link.

First authentic case of trigeminal neuralgia. It concerned J. L. Bausch, who died from the condition in 1665. The account is to be found in the unpaged part of the volume, starting at sig. d 3 and occupying the two following pages.

Chap. XIV is devoted to the sense of hearing; in it Willis described the “paracusis of Willis” (p. 73). English translation, 1683.

A probable description of myasthenia gravis is given in Pars. 2, Cap. IX.

In Pars 2, Cap. III is an account of lethargy, and Cap. XIII gives an account of “stupidity or foolishness”. Part 2, Cap. 1, deals with headache.

Two Oxford editions were published in 1672; the first, in quarto, in which a description of general paralysis appears on pp. 392-432, and the second, in octavo, in which it appears on pp. 278-307. In his Practice of Physick (1684) the translation of this section appears on pp. 161-78.

Includes (pp. 25-28) his classic description of chorea minor (“Sydenham’s chorea”). Reprinted in Med. Classics, 1939, 4, 327-53. In the Sydenham Society translation (see No. 64) the passage occurs in vol. 2, pp. 198-99.

Cotugno published a classic description of sciatica, which is useful even today. He recognized two types – arthritic and nervous; the latter has been called “Cotugno’s disease”, and his book is confined to that type. It includes the first clear description of the association of edema with proteinuria.

Valsalva in 1692 briefly mentioned the cerebrospinal fluid, but “Cotugno was the first to describe the fluid surrounding the spinal cord and to suggest tht it was in continuity with the ventricular and cerebral subarachnoid fluids. However, his concept of the cerebral and spinal fluid, which is the beginning of its modern physiology, remained in obscurity until rediscovery by Magendie some 60 years later” (Clarke & O’Malley). For more information regarding this book and a translation of the section dealing with the cerebrospinal fluid, see the article by H. R. Viets in Bull. Inst. Hist. Med., 1935, 3, 701-38. English translation, London, 1775.

Original description of facial neuralgia. Reprinted in Med. Classics, 1940, 5, 100-06.

First accurate description of migraine.

Frank, best remembered for his great services to public health, was the first physician to emphasize the gravity of diseases of the spinal cord.

Facial paralysis first described.

Cheyne believed that cerebral anemia might be the cause of apoplexy, and described pathological cases of cerebral infarction and of cerebral hemorrhage. The work contains the first illustration of a subarachnoid hemorrhage.

“The earliest separate work on clinical neurology” (McHenry). Includes the Croonian lecture (1819) on apoplexy, and sections on palsy and epilepsy. The work includes the first history of neurological thought.

“Bell’s palsy”. The facial paralysis ensuing upon lesion of the motor nerve of the face is described here for the first time. See also his later paper, with more detailed description, in the same journal, 1829, 119, 317-30. Reprinted in Med. Classics, 1936, 1, 152-69. This paper also includes the description of “Bell’s nerve”, the long thoracic.

Jackson drew attention to alcoholic neuritis – arthrodynia a potu. Jackson was professor at Boston Medical School.

Includes Parry’s interesting description of eight cases of exophthalmic goitre, the first of which was observed in 1786, and his notes on four cases of angina pectoris. Parry's paper, "Enlargement of the thyroid gland in connection with enlargement or palpitation of the heart," appears in vol. 2, pp. 111-129. This is classic account of exophthalmic goitre. Although Graves and Basedow have both been credited with the first description of the condition, giving their names to it, Osler called attention to the priority of Parry’s claim, and it is now sometimes referred to as “Parry’s disease”. Garrison says that Parry first noted the condition in 1786; he briefly reported it in his Elements of pathology and therapeutics, 1815. Reprinted in Med. Classics, 1940, 5, 8-30. See No. 2210.

Parry was a copious note-taker, and many of these notes are here published for the first time. His careful records of many years’ observation in practice were intended to form a large work, Elements of pathology and therapeutics, of which only the first volume appeared, in 1815; this was republished, together with the unfinished vol. 2, in 1825. In vol. 1, pp. 478-80 Parry was the first to record cases of facial hemiatrophy.

This posthumous work was seen through the press by Parry's son, the physician and writer Charles Henry Parry, who added the following supplementary volume, which is not always noticed: Introductory Essays to Collections from the unpublished Medical Writings of the late Caleb Hillier Parry, M.D.,  also published in 1825. 

Neuroma first described.

First therapeutic employment of static electricity.

Stanley was the first to describe disease of the posterior columns of the spinal cord.

Includes (p. 40 et seq.) description of ”Valleix’s points”, tender points on the course of certain nerves in neuralgia.

Includes (p. 75) a classic description of facial hemiatrophy – “Romberg’s disease”.

Romberg inaugurated the modern era in the study of diseases of the nervous system. His Lehrbuch is the first formal treatise in this field. On p. 795 is to be found the original description of “Romberg’s sign”, pathognomonic of tabes dorsalis. English translation, 1853.

Smith’s large and beautifully illustrated atlas contains the first clear description and illustration of neurofibromatosis, published 33 years before von Recklinghausen’s account of the disorder (see No. 4566). This disease, which affects the skin and nerves, is characterized by light brown dermal spots and fibrous tumors associated with tumors of nerve trunks and fibrous bone lesions. Measuring about 67.5 x 46 cm., this atlas has been called the largest book from the standpoint of format published in Ireland up to this time.

“Brown-Séquard’s paralysis”. Lesion of one lateral half of the spinal cord causes paralysis of motion on one side and of sensation on the other. See also the writer’s later paper on pp. 70-73 of the same volume.

“Gubler’s paralysis” – crossed hemiplegia. English translation in Wolf, The classical brain stem syndromes, Springfield: Charles C Thomas, 1971.

Gull showed the lesions of tabes dorsalis to be located in the posterior columns of the spinal cord.

“Foville’s syndrome”– crossed paralysis of the limbs on one side of the body and of the face on the other side, together with loss of ability to rotate the eyes to that side. English translation in Wolf, The classical brain stem syndromes, Springfield: Charles C Thomas, 1971.

Remak was a pioneer of galvanotherapy. Having treated some 700 patients with galvanic current, he believed that it was superior to faradic current for electrotherapy.

First adequate description of neurasthenia.

Graefe showed that most cases of blindness and impaired vision connected with cerebral disorders can be traced to optic neuritis rather than paralysis of the optic nerve.

In this work Jackson showed the importance of the ophthalmoscope in the investigation of diseases of the nervous system. Reprinted in Med. Classics, 1939, 3, 918-26.

“Weber’s syndrome”or “Weber–Gubler syndrome” – hemiplegia associated with disease of the crura cerebri; first described by Gubler (No. 4531).

The first book to discuss the injuries now widely known as whiplash, which first appeared as the by-product of the increased speed of railway travel. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Classic account of alcoholic paraplegia.

“Argyll Robertson pupil” first described. See also his later paper in the same journal, 1869, 15, 487-93. Reprinted in Med. Classics, 1937, 1, 851-76.

Original description of plexiform neurofibroma.

The first American treatise on neurology. The original description of athetosis, sometimes called “Hammond’s disease”, appears on pp. 654-62. During his tenure as Surgeon General of the Army during the U.S. Civil War, Hammond established the U.S. Army Hospital for Diseases of the Nervous System.

Early description, page 357, of partial brachial plexus paralysis, upper type (“Duchenne-Erb palsy”: see No. 4548). An English translation of the 3rd ed., by H. Tibbitts, actually appeared London in 1871, one year before the French edition, and a Philadelphia publisher also issued the English sheets with a cancel title page in 1871. The translator stated that he prepared the translation from sheets of the 3rd edition, the publication of which was delayed by the German occupation of Paris.

Mitchell, Morehouse, and Keen were army surgeons during the American Civil War; their book was the first exhaustive study of the traumatic neuroses. Includes the first description of ascending neuritis, and also of the treatment of neuritis by cold and splint rests. Reprinted, San Francisco: Norman Publishing, 1989. 

Mitchell suggested the name “erythromelalgia” for this condition, which is also known as “Weir Mitchell’s disease”. He records four earlier writers on the subject, the first being Graves in 1848. See also his paper in Amer. J. med. Sci., 1878, 76, 17-36.

An excellent idea of Charcot’s work is gained by perusal of his Leçons, dealing with his teaching on nervous disorders. In the second volume, pp. 1-72, is a classic account of the anomalies of tabes dorsalis. Charcot became one of the greatest of all neurologists. English translation, 1877-89.

Jackson here described the syndrome consisting of paralysis of half the tongue, the same half of the palate, and of one vocal cord – “Jackson’s syndrome”.

“Erb’s palsy”, first described by Smellie in 1763 and later by Duchenne (No. 4543).

Liveing’s classic account of migraine showed the close association of this condition with tetany, asthma, and false angina pectoris, with epilepsy, and the alternation of all these conditions in the same subject or the transference permanently from one to another. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

One of Leyden’s best works. He was Professor of Medicine at Berlin, Königsberg, and Strassburg. In vol. 2, p. 65, of the above is given an account of “Leyden’s paralysis”, a form of hemiplegia probably first described in 1856 by Gubler (see No. 4531).

Mitchell drew attention to the importance of eyestrain as a cause of headache.

First description.

First account of the “Weir Mitchell treatment”.

Includes full account of Weir Mitchell’s rest cure for nervous disorders.

First study of the subject.

“Erb–Charcot disease” (spastic spinal paralysis).

Erb was Professor of Neurology at Heidelberg. He gave the original descriptions of several nervous disorders, especially the muscular dystrophies, and was a pioneer in the use of electrotherapy.

Charcot is especially notable for his important study of the localization of functions in diseases of the brain. Volume two is entitled Leçons sur les localisations dans les maladies du cerveau et de la moëlle épinière… English translation (New Sydenham Society), 1883.

A photographic atlas devoted to cases of hysteria and epilepsy, with case histories; the third volume includes discussions of hypnotism, somnambulism and magnetism. Bourneville was Charcot’s assistant at the Salpêtrière from 1870-79. The plates in v. 1 are mounted photographs (albumen prints) with letterpress captions; the plates in v. 2-3 are collotypes with letterpress captions. All of the plates, which depict patients at La Salpêtrière, are from photographs by Bourneville and Regnard. Title-page vignettes: (v.1: mounted albumen print; v. 2-3: collotypes). Digital facsimile of vol. 1 from Google Books at this link; of vol. 2 from the Internet Archive at this link, and of vol. 3 from the Internet Archive at this link.

Continued in the Nouvelle iconographie, No. 4575. For an analysis of this see No. 8068

Bernhardt drew attention to meralgia paraesthetica in the leg (“Bernhardt’s disease”) due to disease of the external cutaneous nerve of the thigh.

On p. 220 is the description of unilateral oculomotor paralysis combined with cerebellar ataxia, “Nothnagel’s syndrome”.

“Sturge–Weber syndrome” – association of a port-wine nevus in the skin of the face with a vascular abnormality of the meninges on the same side. See No. 4605.2.

Narcolepsy first fully described.

Gowers demonstrated the dorsal spinocerebellar tract, “Gowers’s tract”, and introduced the terms myotatic and knee-jerk, which he elicited with the rubber edge of his stethoscope or a percussion hammer.

“Lasègue’s sign” in sciatica. Although discovered by E. C. Lasègue, it was first reported by his pupil Forst.

First description of paramyoclonus multiplex, “Friedreich’s disease”.

One of Virchow’s distinguished pupils, von Recklinghausen gave a classic description of neurofibromatosis, adding much to the knowledge of the condition, which later became known as “Recklinghausen’s disease”. The article first appeared as a contribution to the Virchow Festschrift, also published in 1882. See No. 4566.

Early description of the Arnold–Chiari malformation (see Nos. 4577.1, 4581.1).

“Möbius’s disease” – ophthalmoplegic migraine.

Gowers was physician and Professor of Clinical Medicine at University College, London. He especially distinguished himself in the field of neurology, and the above set is his greatest work.Page 365 of vol. 1 includes the first description of local panatrophy. See also Rev. Neurol. Psychiat. (Edinb.), 1903, 1, 3-4. Gowers was also interested in stenography, advised his students to take down his lectures in shorthand, and founded the Society of Medical Phonographers. See No. 4751. Biography by Macdonald Critchley, London, 1949.

Bastian was one of the founders of English neurology. He is remembered for “Bastian’s law” (see No. 4577).

“Mackenzie’s syndrome”.

An operation for congenital and paralytic ptosis was introduced by Panas.

“Blocq’s disease” – astasia–abasia.

Henry Meige, Richer, and other pupils of Charcot published many valuable studies of the constitutional aspects of nervous diseases in the above work, a series unique in the history of medicine and of great value for the study of nervous diseases. This journal was the successor to Charcot's Iconographie de la Salpêtriere, No. 4558.1. Digital facsimile of vols. 2-27 from the Hathi Trust at this link.

“Benedikt’s syndrome”–paralysis of the oculomotor nerve on one side with intensive trembling of the other side. English translation in Wolf, The classical brain stem syndromes, Springfield, Charles CThomas, 1971.

“Bastian’s law”, transverse lesion of the cord above the lumbar enlargement results in the abolition of the tendon reflexes of the lower extremities.

Charii I malformation. See No. 4581.1. See also Denkschr. Akad. Wiss. Wien, 1896, 63, 71-116.

“Schmidt’s syndrome” – a hemiplegia affecting the vocal cord, palate, trapezius, and sternocleidomastoid muscles, due to lesion of the nucleus ambiguus and nucleus accessorius.

Westphal was Professor of Psychiatry at Berlin; at this time was common for physicians to practice both psychiatry and neurology. Vol. 1: psychiatry; Vol. 2: neurology.

First description of hypertrophic progressive interstitial neuritis. “Dejerine–Sottas disease”.

“Head’s areas”, zones of hyperalgesia of skin, associated with visceral disease.

Amold-Chiari malformation (Chiari II malformation). (see No. 4577.1).

The best edition is the English translation of the 5th German edn., 2 vols., London, 1911.

Plantar reflex or Babinski response or Babinski sign.

“The foremost American neurology book of the Nineteenth Century” (McHenry), and the only text of the period to contain a section on the chemistry of the nervous system.

In Nothnagel’s Handbuch der speziellen Pathologie und Therapie, XI, Bd. 3, Abt. 3-4.

First adequate description of apraxia.

“Babinski-Nageotte syndrome”.

Traumatic cavity formation in the spinal cord, so well described by Kienböck, is known as “Kienböck’s disease”.

“Cestan–Chenais syndrome”.

Classification of the neuralgias.

“Tapia’s syndrome” – palato-pharyngo-laryngeal hemiplegia.

First description of pyknolepsy.

“Sluder’s neuralgia” first described.

Mestrezat gave the first exact description of the chemical constitution of the cerebrospinal fluid. Also published at Paris, Maloine, 1912. Digital facsimile of the 1912 edition from the Internet Archive at this link.

A fundamental work on radiological examination of the skull. English translation, St. Louis, 1918.

Babinski drew attention to anosognosia, a name he gave to unconcern or denial of striking neurological disorders.

Dandy and the pediatrician Blackfan published two papers on the production, circulation, and absorption of CSF in the brain and on the causes and potential treatments of hydrocephalus. Hydrocephalus is the buildup of CSF within the brain, an often lethal condition if left untreated. They described two forms of hydrocephalus, namely "obstructive" and "communicating," thus establishing a theoretical framework for the rational treatment of this condition. 

Sixth edition, 1935.