Todd, Faraday, and the electrical basis of brain activity

Robert Bentley Todd (1809-60) was the UK's first eminent neurologist and neuroscientist. An anatomist, physiologist, and clinical scientist with an interest in the nervous system, he was the first to confirm the electrical basis of brain activity in the 1840s. He was influenced by his contemporary, Michael Faraday at the Royal Institution, and by two colleagues at King's College, John Daniell and Charles Wheatstone, who were also working at the cutting edge of electrical science. Todd conceived of nervous polarity (force) generated in nervous centres and compared this with the polar force of voltaic electricity developed in the galvanic battery. He brilliantly foresaw each nerve vesicle (cell) and its related fibres (ie, neuron) as a distinct apparatus for the development and transmission of nervous polarity. Epilepsy was the result of periodic unnatural development of nervous force leading to the "disruptive discharge" described by Faraday. Faraday, who studied animal electricity in the Gymnotus (electric eel), and Todd saw nervous polarity as a higher form of interchangeable energy.     

Todd, Faraday, and the electrical basis of epilepsy

PURPOSE: To consider the origins of our understanding of the electrical basis of epilepsy in the light of the Lumleian lectures to the Royal College of Physicians in London for 1849, "On the pathology and treatment of convulsive diseases," by Robert Bentley Todd (1809-1860). METHODS: I have reviewed Todd's neglected Lumleian lectures and his observations and concepts of the electrical basis of epilepsy in relation to the influence of Michael Faraday (1791-1867), his contemporary in London, and in relation to later nineteenth century writings on the subject by Jackson, Ferrier, and Hitzig, all of whom overlooked Todd's lectures. RESULTS: Todd was a clinical scientist as well as Professor of Physiology and Morbid Anatomy, with a special interest in the nervous system, at King's College, where he came into contact with Michael Faraday, the greatest electrical scientist of all time, at the nearby Royal Institution. On the basis of his own clinical and experimental studies and his cutting-edge knowledge of neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, neuropathology, and electrical science, Todd brilliantly developed his concepts of the electrical basis of brain activity and of epilepsy in particular. With his microscope, he perceived each nerve vesicle and its related fibres (neurone in later terminology) as distinct entities for the generation of nervous polarity (force) and its transmission in the white nerve fibres throughout the nervous system by unknown molecular mechanisms. In epilepsy, an increase in electrical tension, especially in the grey matter of the hemispheres, led to periodic, sudden explosive discharges, based on Faraday's concept of disruptive discharges. CONCLUSIONS: Todd was the United Kingdom's first outstanding neurologist and neuroscientist before these disciplines existed. Influenced by Faraday, he proposed and confirmed the electrical basis of nervous discharges in epilepsy more than 20 years ahead of Jackson, Ferrier, and Hitzig, who did not refer to his priority, although Ferrier also worked at King's College, and Jackson also gave his own famous Lumleian lectures on the same subject in 1890. Todd deserves the credit for laying the foundations of our modern understanding of epilepsy.     

Jackson, Todd, and the concept of "discharge" in epilepsy

PURPOSE: To explore the historical origins of the modern concept of electrical discharges in the brain in epilepsy. METHODS: I have examined the writings of Hughlings Jackson (1835-1911) and Robert Bentley Todd (1809-1860), especially their Lumleian Lectures on convulsive disorders to the Royal College of Physicians of 1890 and 1849, respectively; and also the influence of Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) on the former and Michael Faraday (1791-1867) on the latter. RESULTS/CONCLUSIONS: Contrary to the widely taught view that Jackson was the first to propose electrical discharges in epilepsy it is clear that the discharges suggested by Jackson, influenced by the evolutionary philosopher, Herbert Spencer, were chemical, based on katabolism and anabolism. Jackson had no understanding or proposal based on physics or electricity. On the other hand, Todd had earlier proposed and described electrical concepts of discharges in epilepsy, influenced by his contemporary and colleague in London, Michael Faraday, who at the time was laying the foundations of our modern understanding of electricity and magnetism. Todd and Faraday saw "nervous polarity" as another polar force interchangeable with the polar forces of electricity and magnetism.     

Alexia with agraphia produced by localized infarction in the inferior posterior region of the left temporal lobe

There have been several reports on alexia with agraphia due to hemorrhage or trauma in the inferior posterior region of the left temporal lobe since Yamadori (1982) first reported a case of cerebral hemorrhage. We presented the first case of alexia with agraphia due to a circumscribed infarct in the inferior posterior region of the left temporal lobe. A 65-year-old right-handed man had an acute onset of inability to read Japanese "kana" letters and to write any letters. He had no difficulty in speaking or understanding. Neurological examination on admission was normal except for homonymous quadrantanopia in the right upper field. Neuropsychological findings: Spontaneous speech was fluent without dysprosody. There were no disturbances in auditory understanding or in repetition. He could read Japanese "kanji" characters correctly, however, he could not read any "kana" letters. Writing was also disturbed severely even as to his address, name or telephone number. Calculation was also difficult. There were no disturbances in naming colors, no ideomotor or constructional apraxia nor visual agnosia. X-ray computed tomography (CT) scan showed a faint low density area with ring enhancement suggesting a cerebral infarct in the inferior posterior region of the left temporal lobe. Patient's hospital course was characterized by a marked improvement of alexia, especially of "kana" letters as compared with that of "kanji" characters. Dissociative improvement of alexia compared with agraphia in this case could be explained by the fact that the lesion was in close contact with the occipital lobe and that he also had pure alexia in the early stage.     

The bicentennial of the Voltaic battery (1800-2000): the artificial electric organ

Alessandro Volta invented the electric battery at the end of 1799 and communicated his invention to the Royal Society of London in 1800. The studies that led him to develop this revolutionary device began in 1792, after Volta read the work of Luigi Galvani on the existence of an intrinsic electricity in living organisms. During these studies, Volta obtained a series of results of great physiological relevance, which led him to anticipate some important ideas that marked the inception of modern neuroscience. These results have been obscured by a cultural tradition that has seen Volta exclusively as a physicist, lacking interest for biological problems and opposed in an irreversible way to the physiologist, Luigi Galvani.     

Changes in sensory inattention, directional motor neglect and "release" of the fixation reflex following a unilateral frontal lesion: a case report

We recorded eye movements to and away from visual stimuli from a patient with left-sided neglect following a right frontal infarct in order to determine (a) whether and to what extent his neglect was due to sensory inattention and directional motor neglect and (b) whether he had difficulty suppressing inappropriate eye movements to visual stimuli ("release" of visual grasp) as his sensory inattention declined. In the first testing session, conducted 5 days following his stroke, he often failed to move his eyes when a stimulus on the left required a rightward eye movement, but he consistently moved his eyes to a stimulus on the right. Thus, he showed contralateral but not ipsilateral sensory inattention. Initially, he also was impaired in making leftward eye movements when right stimuli were presented. Thus, he also showed a directional motor neglect. In subsequent tests, his left-sided sensory inattention as defined above decreased, and was no longer present three weeks following his stroke, nor in a follow-up test conducted almost 6 months following this stroke. In contrast, his directional motor neglect, as defined above, was still present in the follow-up test. As his left-sided sensory inattention declined, his tendency to move his eyes incorrectly to stimuli on the left side (the side contralateral to his lesion) when these stimuli required eye movements to the right became stronger ("release" of visual grasp); he continued to show this strong tendency in the test conducted almost 6 months following his stroke.     

Sigmund Freud and money

I have tried to clarify Sigmund Freud's attitude toward money during the different time periods of his life. Most biographers have written that Freud was born into a poor family that later was elevated to the socioeconomic middle class in Vienna. This traditional viewpoint can be supported by various of Freud's letters and writings. A very different viewpoint has been proposed by the well-known American economist, Peter Drucker. As has been noted, his parents knew the Freud family in Vienna where Drucker actually met Freud. Drucker contends that Freud unconsciously misrepresented his parents' financial situation by creating the myth that they lived in poverty. Furthermore, Freud also developed another myth that it was because of the strong anti-Semitism in Vienna that he was so delayed in being appointed a professor of psychiatry. Drucker points out that the majority of the Viennese physicians were Jewish and that Freud's becoming a professor did not entail a delay and was not affected by any anti-Semitism in Vienna. Another area of conflict between Freud and the other Viennese physicians was Freud's refusal to treat any of his psychoanalytic patients without a fee. Freud believed that treating a patient in analysis for free created a transference-countertransference problem that might doom the treatment to failure. Freud's transference explanation for not taking on charity patients did not satisfy many of his Viennese physician colleagues. They believed that Freud was given an opportunity to accept their traditional standards and turned it down. In their eyes, Freud rejected them, they did not reject him. The same reasoning applied to the Viennese physicians' request for some scientific proof of the efficacy of psychoanalysis. Freud could only provide them with anecdotal or testimonial evidence to support psychoanalytic treatment. This placed psychoanalysis in the category of a belief system and not a scientific treatment. Drucker explains Freud's "obsession" with having lived in poverty as a manifestation of his "poorhouse neurosis." According to Drucker this syndrome was frequently found among Viennese during the last quarter of the 19th century. It was an irrational and deep-seated fear that an individual and his family were on the verge of being placed in the poorhouse because they lacked any funds. Freud does not specifically mention his having this irrational fear or obsession, but he made several statements quoted here indicating such a dread. At a recent psychoanalytic meeting I asked Freud scholar John Gedo of Chicago if he thought Freud experienced a "poorhouse neurosis."(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)     

Living his writings: The example of neurologist G. Gilles de la tourette

Gilles de la Tourette is known for the disease which now bears his name. As one of the closest followers of Jean‐Martin Charcot, he always remained faithful to his mentor's views and was one of the most vehement defenders of La Salpêtrière. His activities in the management of hysterics and in hypnotism helped build his reputation during his lifetime, but are now largely forgotten. Gilles de la Tourette had an unusual personality, with hypomanic and histrionic traits. We present some ignored aspects of his life based on the discovery of personal letters which illuminate the hidden side of this famous neurologist. © 2010 Movement Disorder Society     

John Bryant Curtis: Neurosurgeon, leader and mentor

In every generation of neurosurgeons, there are those whose judgment and professional accomplishments gain distinction among their peers. Such exceptional leaders often exhibit unique talent and inevitably, they exert a lasting influence on their field of endeavour. John Bryant Curtis was one of these.Rising from humble roots, Curtis made his impact in neurosurgery starting at the age of 36. A legendary and a master neurosurgeon for his period, he became the second director of Neurosurgery at The Royal Melbourne Hospital, succeeding R. S. Hooper in 1967. Like Hooper, Curtis had undertaken a three years Fellowship in Oxford at the Radcliffe Infirmary to train under Sir Hugh Cairns in 1947. On his return to Australia in 1950, he was among the pioneers in introducing percutaneous angiography into the country, which earned him the honourable Hunterian Professorship at the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1958. This was in recognition for his contribution to the investigation of intracranial aneurysms.Among the many neurosurgeons whom John Bryant Curtis trained at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and at the Prince Henry Hospital, he was considered, by a few, a controversial figure. Others found the experience very positive. He was a distinguished neurosurgeon with expert clinical judgment, but simultaneously a stern and formidable character who demanded only the best from his staff and trainees. He was contrastingly thoughtful and gentle to his patients.Behind every great leader, there is a personal side, often more gentle and vulnerable than the public persona. Curtis was a generous, loving, funny, although at times eccentric human being. Although he died in 1989, ironically from metastatic brain tumours, his dynamic personality and work ethic imprinted a lasting impression on those who had met him.     

The lost love of Gui and Madeleine. Emotional syndrome and right temporal behavior of Guillaume Apollinaire

The nature and the neurological consequences of the shell wound to the head of the famous French poet Guillaume Apollinaire, on March 17, 1916, during World War I, remain unclear. However, his contemporaries and biographers have been unanimous to state that this event was a major shift in his life. His personality and behavior changed dramatically, and his affective relationships were deeply modified, the most significant example being his rapid disinterest for his fiancée Madeleine, to whom he had written passionate letters nearly every day before the trauma. The study of Apollinaire's letters, scarce medical reports, available memories from friends, and Apollinaire's helmet allow to understand better what brain lesion he had and why neurobehavioral dysfunction developed. While an "intracranial abscess" had been emphasized initially, clinical manifestations, free interval, no infectious problem, and quick resolution of hemiparesis and seizures after a burr hole was performed strongly suggest a chronic subdural hematoma in the right temporal region. Irritability, susceptibility, emotional intolerance, affect flattening, anxiety, and personality change fit perfectly with right temporal lobe dysfunction involving the lateral-basal area. Sparing of mesial-temporal, parietal, and frontal regions explained the absence of significant memory, cognitive, and executive impairment, without disturbed creative skills as a poet and art writer. This cognitive-affective dissociation secondary to isolated right temporal post-traumatic lesion allows to delineate the "deep sorrow" of Apollinaire during the two and a half years before he died from Spanish influenza in 1918.     

Giovanni Aldini: from animal electricity to human brain stimulation

Two hundred years ago, Giovanni Aldini published a highly influential book that reported experiments in which the principles of Luigi Galvani (animal electricity) and Alessandro Volta (bimetallic electricity) were used together for the first time. Aldini was born in Bologna in 1762 and graduated in physics at the University of his native town in 1782. As nephew and assistant of Galvani, he actively participated in a series of crucial experiments with frog's muscles that led to the idea that electricity was the long-sought vital force coursing from brain to muscles. Aldini became professor of experimental physics at the University of Bologna in 1798. He traveled extensively throughout Europe, spending much time defending the concept of his discreet uncle against the incessant attacks of Volta, who did not believe in animal electricity. Aldini used Volta's bimetallic pile to apply electric current to dismembered bodies of animals and humans; these spectacular galvanic reanimation experiments made a strong and enduring impression on his contemporaries. Aldini also treated patients with personality disorders and reported complete rehabilitation following transcranial administration of electric current. Aldini's work laid the ground for the development of various forms of electrotherapy that were heavily used later in the 19th century. Even today, deep brain stimulation, a procedure currently employed to relieve patients with motor or behavioral disorders, owes much to Aldini and galvanism. In recognition of his merits, Aldini was made a knight of the Iron Crown and a councillor of state at Milan, where he died in 1834.     

Non-vocal communication systems: implications for the neurosciences

Worldwide there are a considerable number of intelligent individuals who have ample auditory powers, but for one reason or another are unable to speak. Franklin Silverman summarizes in this article the variety of non-vocal communication systems that are available for people to use, depending on their degree of disability. One of the advantages of learning a non-vocal communication system is that it motivates many patients to improve their efforts for speech-communication, as well as helping them to fit into normal Society rather more easily.     

Fast responses to neglected targets in visual search reflect pre-attentive processes: an exploration of response times in visual neglect

AE is a patient who suffered a right hemisphere stroke resulting in visual neglect symptoms. In the first experiment, AE neglected a single visual target that was present in half of the trials and appeared in variable and unpredictable positions on the computer screen. The contrast of the target to the screen's background was also varied. AE demonstrated severe neglect for left-sided targets, and yet his RTs to targets reported incorrectly as absent were faster than correct rejections and even right-sided hits. AEs fast "neglect" responses seem to indicate that the target was detected but that he remained unaware of its presence. Counter intuitively, his fast misses got faster as the discriminability of the target decreased. The possibility that fast responses to neglected targets reflected a guessing strategy, used proportionally to the degree of uncertainty of a target presence, was examined. AEs fast misses were indeed faster at lower level of contrast of the stimulus, but his error rate did not tend to approach the chance level as the guessing model would predict. In a second experiment, AE searched for the letter Z, present on half of the trials, among variable sets of distractor letters. In one condition the distractors were all O's and therefore differed from the target by an elementary feature. In the other condition, the distractors were various letters that differed from the target by combinations of features. The key finding was that fast responses to neglected targets occurred only in the simple feature search task and not in the complex features (conjunction) task. We interpret these findings as indicating that AEs pre-attentive processing can detect pop-out targets on the left-hand side, but that the attentional search is faulty and is aborted early. Hence, the patient's attentional system has an "early start" when "pop-out" forms are present, but can also fail to "grab" the detected target; consequently, by not attending to a stimulus, the patient remains unaware of its presence and will quickly respond "no" to present targets.     

Friedrich Panse – etabliert in allen Systemen

The psychiatrist Friedrich Panse (1899-1973) was a T4 assessor during the Nazi era who sent mentally disabled and mentally ill people to their deaths. In the German Armed Forces he used higher galvanic currents to cure "war neurotics" and expose "malingerers." As a National Socialist he was a committed teacher of racial hygiene. Nonetheless, after the end of the Nazi regime many supporters quickly surfaced who were prepared to exonerate Panse. Panse himself was not among those who indignantly repudiated the accusation of any contact with the Nazi Party. He did not deny that he had openly embraced the Nazi measures for preserving the genetic integrity of the populace, but he did let it be known that he had suffered incredibly under the heavy burden. The State Government of North Rhine-Westphalia refused to allow Panse to continue in his capacity as an extraordinary professor. Panse successfully contested this decision at the State Administrative Court in Düsseldorf. He became the Director of the Institution in Düsseldorf-Grafenberg, the Psychiatric Clinic in Düsseldorf, a member of the German Council of Medical Advisors for questions regarding care for war victims of the German Federal Ministry of Labor, and President of the German Society for Psychiatry and Neurology.     

Conversations With Dr. Oleh Hornykiewicz,Founding Father of the Dopamine Era in Parkinson's: How Do You Wish to Be Remembered?

On May 26, 2020, Dr. Oleh Hornykiewicz died at the age of 93 years. His twin discoveries in the early 1960s of dopamine deficiency in the brains of subjects with Parkinson's disease and the amelioration of patients' symptoms by levodopa therapy represent milestone events in the history of medicine. These breakthroughs enabled much-needed relief for millions of patients suffering from neurological disorders every year and have given rise to the field of dopamine signaling in the regulation of complex behaviors in primates. What did Dr. Hornykiewicz, who was actively engaged in research until shortly before his 91st birthday, wish to pass on to younger scientists? What were his thoughts regarding the elusive cause of Parkinson's disease? How did he wish to be remembered? Here, the authors, one a former student and the other an admired colleague, recall messages conveyed by Dr. Hornykiewicz in public lectures; they also share the content of conversations and letters exchanged with him since 2004, as he began to reflect on his legacy. Through Dr. Hornykiewicz's own words and writings, the picture emerges of an extraordinarily committed scientist, who was exemplary in his professional integrity, who knew how to deploy a gallous sense of humor, who displayed little patience for physicians offering advice, and who kept any sense of pride over his monumental contributions private. When asked at the age of 91 years about the secrets of his long and fulfilled career in neuroscience, he identified himself as “a mad scientist.…I am someone who continuously fantasizes. I am someone who chases fantastical ideas and who keeps on dreaming…”, and as a man who was supported by the loving companionship of his wife, Christine. © 2020 The Authors. Movement Disorders published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.     

Central visual fields in pure alexia "without hemianopsia"--visual dysfunction in the right hemifield, and alexia for "kana" words in the left]

Following a left occipito-temporal subcortical hematoma, a 57-year-old, right-handed man developed pure alexia that was more prominent in kana words, especially in kana nonwords, than in kanji letters. Although a kinetic perimetry with a Goldmann perimeter showed his visual fields to be full, a static perimetry with a Humphrey visual field analyzer disclosed decreased visual sensitivity in the right visual field in its central 30 degrees. In addition, a tachnistoscopic examination with Landolt rings revealed his visual acuity (the ability of two points discrimination) to have decreased in the right half of his central visual filed in its 3 degrees. In the right central vision, he was unable to recognize the letters, pictures or colors presented by the tachistoscope. Concerning the reading, the more letters in kana words or the higher the number of strokes in kanji letters, the more difficulty he experienced in orally reading both kana and kanji. On the contrary, in the left central vision, kanji reading was not so affected by an increased number of strokes as the kana-word reading which became difficult when the number of the letters increased. CT scan showed subcortical hematoma in the left occipitotemporal region. Magnetic resonance imaging 3 months after onset revealed a localized injury in the region between the left postero-inferior temporal lobe and the infero-lateral occipital lobe, including the fusiform gyrus. None of the splenium, the lingual gyrus or the optic area were affected. The spared structures also included the angular gyrus, the Wernicke area and their subcortical white matter.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Limited retention of information in the graphemic buffer

This study examined a patient who mainly made letter deletion errors in spelling. It was hypothesized that his errors were due primarily to limited ability to retain information in the graphemic buffer, a structure that holds sequences of abstract letter identities for output. Consistent with this hypothesis, the patient's spelling accuracy declined on long words, but the number of letters he wrote per response was not related to word length. Moreover, by having him write words forward and backward, it was shown that his accuracy within a word depended on which part of the word he tried to output first. These results also ruled out alternative accounts of the patient's spelling deficit based on neglect or damage to lexical representations.     

Kafka and Autism

In this paper the hypothesis is presented that Franz Kafka was a person with autism. This is done by analyzing and discussing his biography, letters, diaries and major works. Kafka’s autism is an integral diagnosis which encompasses both his personal life and his work. This interpretation is contrary to other interpretations from the past which in all cases were only partially applicable to explain Kafka’s life and work. In Kafka research the big secret of Kafka was how he was able to write he did, like no one before him had done. The function and use of parables are also discussed to support this autism hypothesis concerning Franz Kafka which ultimately makes his life and work more understandable and accessible.