Chapter 4: neurology in the Bible and the Talmud

Baron Larrey at the Dawn of Correlative Neuroanatomy

In 1820, a young soldier was accidentally injured by a splinter of a fencing sword that penetrated through the right orbit into the brain. Examination by the French military surgeon Baron D.-J. Larrey revealed nominal aphasia, right hemiplegia, and monocular temporal hemianopia with an altitudinal component in the right eye only. In this paper, we aimed to reconstruct Larrey's contribution to neurology in the eve of correlative neuroanatomy. Larrey predicted that the blade passed from the roof of the right orbit to graze the root of the right optic nerve at the chiasm and from there, into the vicinity of the left Sylvian fissure. This course was verified posthumously 3 months later. Larrey's previous experience with galvanic currents enabled the adoption of Samuel von Sömmering's idea of regarding the brain as a telegraphing system made of a multitude of galvanic piles sending and receiving messages from distant points. Larrey's description is a very early diligent study of the tracks of penetrating head injuries. It correlates the symptoms with the injured cerebral tissues together with autopsy verification. Here are the beginnings of the construction of human correlative neuroanatomy, which lingered until flourishing in the first decades of the 20th century.

Religion, spirituality, and epilepsy

This review provides responses to four questions on epilepsy, religion, and spirituality. Firstly, have early religious beliefs and writings stigmatized and discriminated against epilepsy and if so, what has been done to correct this? We provide textual evidence suggesting an affirmative response. Secondly, which religious luminaries, gods, saints, and religious symbols have connections with epilepsy? We argue that the evidence to suggest that St Paul, Joan of Arc, the Prophet Mohammed, and others had epilepsy is weak and emphasizes the limitations of imposing contemporary neurological frameworks upon them. Furthermore, we discuss how different faith traditions identify Divine figures, as associated with epilepsy, and the use of religious symbols in healing. Thirdly, why is religiosity associated with having epilepsy? We review empirical studies focusing upon the epileptic personality, religiosity, mysticism, and religious conversion and find that, while some studies suggest that religious experience may be associated with epilepsy, this cannot be taken as proven. Fourthly, in what ways has religion been a force for good for those with epilepsy? We discuss the role of Christian social reform in caring for individuals with epilepsy and that of religion in coping with the condition. We conclude by arguing that the relationship between religion and epilepsy has been overstated in the academic literature.

Third International Congress on Epilepsy, Brain and Mind: Part 1

Epilepsy is both a disease of the brain and the mind. Here, we present the first of two papers with extended summaries of selected presentations of the Third International Congress on Epilepsy, Brain and Mind (April 3-5, 2014; Brno, Czech Republic). Epilepsy in history and the arts and its relationships with religion were discussed, as were overviews of epilepsy and relevant aspects of social cognition, handedness, accelerated forgetting and autobiographical amnesia, and large-scale brain networks.

Access to the skull base: modular facial disassembly

Access to the skull base is not new. The different modules of the facial skeleton can be removed to give access to the skull base based on target zones, which were first described by Grime et al in 1991. However, the vertical plane is not considered, and this article adds to the original classification and develops a decision-making algorithm for preferred access to identified lesions of the skull base.

Management of tremor in medieval Persia

Tremor has been described in traditional systems of medicine throughout history. Persian medicine was one of those systems in medieval times and in it neurology and neurosurgery were also widely practiced and accepted. Based on the main Persian medical manuscripts, the current study focuses on the medieval concept of tremor as an important neurological disorder in order to clarify the development of neurology. Accordingly, three main approaches to the control and treatment of tremor in traditional Persian medicine are considered. First is lifestyle modification. The administration of simple medicines is the second, and the last is the application of compound medicines. Our study shows how much was known about tremor in traditional Persian medicine.