The first historical description of chronic subdural hematoma: A tale of inaccurate interpretation, inaccurate quoting and inaccurate requoting

Most historical articles have named Johann Jacob Wepfer as the first author to describe a case of chronic subdural hematoma (CSDH). However, the question arises whether these cases truly describe CSDH. Two other names that appear in literature as the first authors to describe a case of CSDH are Thomas Willis and Giovanni Battista Morgagni. In our attempt to find the first description of a CSDH, we studied the original cases described by Willis, Wepfer, and Morgagni. The cases described by Willis and Wepfer cannot be interpreted as cases of CSDH. Willis's university scholar is more likely to have experienced venous infarction with an underlying septic thrombosis than a CSDH. Wepfer's cases seem to represent an intraparenchymal hemorrhage from the rupture of a branch or branches of the internal carotid artery, a subarachnoid hemorrhage complicated with hydrocephalus, and a hydrocephalus in tuberculous meningitis. Morgagni's case described in Letter III, Article 20 in the Sedibus in 1761 seems to be the first accurate historical description of a CSDH, and we believe it should be cited as such. With these early cases of alleged CSDH, we emphasize the importance of misquotation and blind copying of references, which are important citation errors.

Comparison of Molecular and Parasitological Methods for Diagnosis of Human Trichostrongylosis

Human trichostrongyliasis is a zoonotic disease that is prevalent among rural populations in some countries. This study was performed to evaluate various parasitological methods and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the diagnosis of human trichostrongyliasis. A total of 206 fresh stool samples were collected from residents of endemic villages of Northern Iran. All samples were examined using conventional parasitological methods, including wet mount, formalin ethyl acetate concentration (FEAC), agar plate culture (APC), Harada-Mori culture (HMC), and Willis, along with the PCR technique. Among the total of 206 individuals examined, 72 people (35%) were found infected with Trichostrongylus species using combined parasitological methods. By considering the combined results of parasitological methods as the diagnostic gold standard, the Willis technique had a sensitivity of 91.7% compared with 52.8% for the APC, 40.3% for the HMC, 37.5% for FEAC, and 5.6% for the wet mount technique. The diagnostic specificity of all the parasitological methods was 100%. Furthermore, the PCR method detected Trichostrongylus spp. DNA in 79 fecal samples (38.3%) with a sensitivity of 97.2% and a specificity of 93.3%. According to the current findings, the Willis method was more sensitive than are the other parasitological methods in the diagnosis of human trichostrongyliasis. However, the PCR assay was more sensitive and more reliable in the detection of human trichostrongyliasis in comparison with the parasitological methods.

The Epic of the Thalamus in Anatomical Language

Understanding the origin of Greek and Latin words used as metaphors to label brain structures gives a unique window into how scientific and medical knowledge was produced, preserved, and transmitted through generations. The history of the term thalamus exemplifies the complex historical process that led to the current anatomical terminology. From its first mention by Galen of Pergamon in the 2nd century A.D. to its definitive and current use by Thomas Willis in 1664, the thalamus had an epical journey through 1500 years across Europe, the Middle East, and the North of Africa. The thalamus was confusingly described by Galen, in the Greek language, as a chamber to the brain ventricles. The term thalamus was transferred from Greek to Syriac through the translations of Galen’s books done in Baghdad and also from Syriac to Arabic. Then, it was translated in Europe during the Middle Ages from the Arabic versions of Galen’s books to Latin. Later, during the Early Renaissance, it was translated again to Latin directly from the Greek versions of Galen’s books. Along this epical journey through languages, the term thalamus switched from referring to a hollow structure connected to brain ventricles to naming a solid structure at the rostral end of the brainstem. Finally, the thalamus was translated from Latin to modern languages, where it is used, until today, to name a nuclear complex of subcortical gray matter in the lateral walls of the third ventricle.

Cerebral localization of higher functions: The period between Thomas Willis and Paul Broca

The age-old debates about the localization of the mind (higher functions) took a new course when Willis located a higher nervous function (memory) in the brain parenchyma, and supposedly, in the cerebral cortex. About two centuries later, Broca, founded on solid scientific reasoning, localized a circumscribed area of the 3^rd frontal circumvolution of the left hemisphere as the seat of articulate language, a higher function (speech - language domain). He (and Dax) also defined the functional asymmetry (specialization) of the hemispheres, with left dominance (for language). The period between the findings of these individuals was not quiescent, as numerous authors contributed with their theoretical and clinicopathological research toward creating a conducive scientific atmosphere for this accomplishment, and should be regarded as important. Further studies, in the decades that followed, revealed the localization of additional aspects of language and of other higher functions (cognitive domains).

Imagining the soul: Thomas Willis (1621-1675) on the anatomy of the brain and nerves

During the 1660s and 1670s, Thomas Willis (1621-1675) pursued an ambitious program of brain science. Instead of the speculative approach favored by René Descartes (1596-1659), Willis used comparative anatomy to figure out the workings of the brain and nerves. As a result, Willis is still cited by science writers as the "founder" of the modern neurosciences. This chapter, by contrast, builds on a wealth of scholarship showing that Willis in fact had aims that few scientists would recognize. One of his key objectives, for instance, was to work out how much influence the immaterial, immortal soul had over the mechanisms of the human body. Despite his empiricism, moreover, Willis relied to a large extent on the imagination in his efforts to hypothesize mechanisms for complex cognitive and neurological processes. For the most part, scholars have argued that Willis used such strategies because of an unfortunate tendency to frame hypotheses even when the evidence was lacking. In this chapter, however, I show that the imagination played a surprisingly important role in the neurosciences of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, thereby challenging modern assumptions about the shape and causes of progress in brain research.

'Details on the Establishment of Doctor Willis, for the Cure of Lunatics' (1796)

The 'mad-doctor' Dr Francis Willis achieved national and international celebrity following his successful treatment of King George III's first major episode of insanity in 1788-9. At the time of his summons to attend the King, Willis was a well-established provincial practitioner and madhouse proprietor. An anonymous French visitor published a description of Willis's Lincolnshire madhouse and his therapeutic practices in 1796. The translated text of the full article provides a unique insight into the work of a key figure in the historical development of psychological medicine. The accompanying Introduction summarizes Francis Willis's career as a mad-doctor and uses salient information from the original text to place him and his madhouse practice within a contemporary context.

A brief history of hysteria: From the ancient to the modern

In this paper we discuss the history of hysteria from the Babylonian and Assyrian texts through to the situation as it appears to us at the end of the 19th century. We note the shifting emphasis on causation, earlier ideas being linked to uterine theories, later speculations moving to the brain, and then the mind. We note the persistence of the condition referred to as hysteria over the millennia and the fascination that the condition has held for physicians, neurologists, and psychiatrists since the origins of known medical texts.