Sir Charles Bell : his life, art, neurological concepts, and controversial legacy / Michael J. Aminoff, MD, DSc, FRCP, Professor of Neurology, School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, California.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Aminoff, Michael J. (Michael Jeffrey), author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bell, Charles, Sir, 1774-1842.

Bell, Charles.

Surgeons.

Surgeons--history.

Anatomy--history.

Neurophysiology--history.

History, 19th Century.

Neurophysiology.

History.

England.

Surgeons--Great Britain--Biography.

Great Britain.

Anatomy--History--19th century--Sources.

Anatomy.

Neurophysiology--History--19th century.

Medical Subjects:

Surgeons.

Surgeons--history.

Anatomy--history.

Neurophysiology--history.

History, 19th Century.

England.

Genre:

Biographies.

Sources.

Physical Description:

xiv, 245 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

New York, NY, United States of America : Oxford University Press, [2017]

Summary:

Sir Charles Bell (1774-1842), the Scottish anatomist-surgeon, was a true polymath. His original ideas on the nervous system have been likened to those of William Harvey on the circulation of blood, and his privately published pamphlet detailing his ideas about the brain has been called the Magna Carta of neurology. He described the separate functions of different parts of the nervous system, new nerves and muscles, and several previously unrecognized neurological disorders, and he characterized the features of the facial palsy and its associated features now named after him. He noted that individual peripheral nerves contain nerve fibers with different functions, that nerves conduct only in one direction, that sense organs are specialized to receive only one form of sensory stimulus, and that there is a sixth (muscle) sense. Through his sketches and paintings of the wounded from the Napoleonic Wars and his essays on the anatomical basis of expression, Bell changed the way art students are taught and influenced British and European artists, particularly the Pre-Raphaelites. He was a renowned medical teacher who founded his own private medical school, took over the famous Hunterian school, and helped establish the University of London and the Middlesex Hospital Medical School. So how is it that a man is virtually unknown today by most neuroscientists, biologists, clinicians, and the public? Book jacket.

Contents:

An introductory snapshot

In the beginning

London and the Great Windmill Street School

Anatomy of the expression of emotions

Behind the glories of war

Swings and roundabouts

In and out of the central nervous system

The organization of the nervous system

Clinical observations on the nervous system

For God and country

New classrooms : old struggles

The ebbing tide

To each his due.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780190614966

019061496X

OCLC:

945565970