With over 350 illustrations, this impressive volume traces the rich history of ideas about the functioning of the brain from its roots in the ancient cultures of Egypt, Greece, and Rome through the centuries into relatively modern times. In contrast to biographically oriented accounts, this book is unique in its emphasis on the functions of the brain and how they came to be associated with specific brain regions and systems. Among the topics explored are vision, hearing, pain, motor control, sleep, memory, speech, and various other facets of intellect. The emphasis throughout is on presenting...
With over 350 illustrations, this impressive volume traces the rich history of ideas about the functioning of the brain from its roots in the ancient ...
Selected by Choice magazine as an Outstanding Academic Title Among his many accomplishments, Benjamin Franklin was instrumental in founding the first major civilian hospital and medical school and in the American colonies. He studied the efficacy of smallpox inoculation and investigated the causes of the common cold. His inventions--including bifocal lenses and a "long arm" that extended the user's reach--made life easier for the aged and afflicted. In Doctor Franklin's Medicine, Stanley Finger uncovers the instrumental role that this scientist, inventor, publisher, and...
Selected by Choice magazine as an Outstanding Academic Title Among his many accomplishments, Benjamin Franklin was instrumental in founding the...
No books have been published on the practice of neuroscience in the eighteenth century, a time of transition and discovery in science and medicine. This volume explores neuroscience and reviews developments in anatomy, physiology, and medicine in the era some call the Age of Reason, and others the Enlightenment. Topics include how neuroscience adopted electricity as the nerve force, how disorders such as aphasia and hysteria were treated, Mesmerism, and more.
No books have been published on the practice of neuroscience in the eighteenth century, a time of transition and discovery in science and medicine....
This book looks at how three kinds of strongly electric fishes literally became "electrical," and how they helped to change the sciences and medicine. These fishes are the flat torpedo rays common to the Mediterranean, the electric catfishes of Africa, and an "eel" from South America. The discovery of the electrical nature of these fishes in the second half of the 18th century was the starting point of the two fundamental advances in the sciences: on the physiological side, the demonstration that nerve conduction and muscle excitation are electrical phenomena, and on the physical side, the...
This book looks at how three kinds of strongly electric fishes literally became "electrical," and how they helped to change the sciences and medicine....
How do we become aware of things and events in the outside world, and how does the brain control the muscular system and behavior? This book examines the history of Western attempts to explain how messages might be sent from the sense organs to the brain and from the brain to the muscles. It focuses on a construct called animal spirit, which would permeate philosophy and guide physiology and medicine for over two millennia. The authors' story opens along the Eastern Mediterranean, where they examine how Pre-Socratic philosophers related the soul to air-wind or pneuma. They then trace what...
How do we become aware of things and events in the outside world, and how does the brain control the muscular system and behavior? This book examines ...
The idea for the present volume grew from discussions that the four of us had among ourselves and with our colleagues at recent scientific meetings. All of us were impressed by the wealth of empirical data that was being generated by investigators interested in brain damage and recovery from both behavioral and biological orientations. Nevertheless, we were concerned about the relative paucity of attempts to evaluate the data provided by new technologies in more than a narrow context or to present new theories or reexamine time-honored ideas in the light of new findings. We recognized that...
The idea for the present volume grew from discussions that the four of us had among ourselves and with our colleagues at recent scientific meetings. A...
It has long been recognized that damage to the mammalian central nervous system may be followed by behavioral recovery, but only re cently has close attention been directed to specific factors which may enhance or retard restitution. This is evident in the rapidly growing number of journal articles and scientific paper sessions dealing with "recovery of function," as well as in the publicity given by the popular press to some of the findings in this field. The present text seeks to examine the foundations of brain lesion research, to review recent material on a number of factors which ap pear...
It has long been recognized that damage to the mammalian central nervous system may be followed by behavioral recovery, but only re cently has close a...
This well-established international series examines major areas of basic and clinical research within neuroscience, as well as emerging and promising subfields. This volume on the neurosciences, neurology, and literature vividly shows how science and the humanities can come together --- and have come together in the past. Its sections provide a new, broad look at these interactions, which have received surprisingly little attention in the past. Experts in the field cover literature as a window to neurological and scientific zeitgeists, theories of brain and mind in literature, famous authors...
This well-established international series examines major areas of basic and clinical research within neuroscience, as well as emerging and promising ...