Overview

Neurological history claims its earliest origins in the 17th century with Thomas Willis's publication of Anatomy of the Brain, coming fully into fruition as a field in the late 1850s as medical technology and advancements allowed for in depth study of the brain. However, many of the foundations in neurology can find the seed of their beginning to a time much earlier than that, to ancient Greece in fact. Neurological Concepts in Ancient Greek Medicine is a collection of essays exploring neurological ideas between the Archaic and Hellenistic eras. These essays also provide historic, intellectual, and cultural context to ancient Greek medical practice and emphasizing the interest in the brain of the early physicians. This book describes source material that is over 2,500 years old and reveals the observational skills of ancient physicians. It provides complete translations of two historic Hippocratic texts: On the Sacred Diseases and On the Wounds of the Head. The book also discusses the Hippocratic Oath and the modern applications of its meaning. Dr. Walshe connects this ancient history, usually buried in medical histories, and shows the ancient Greek notions that are the precursors of our understanding of the brain and nervous system.

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9780190218560

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Reviews

Dr. Thomas Walshe, using his extensive mastery of classical Greek, has written an exhaustive analysis of references to neurological diseases in ancient Greek literature beginning with Homer's Illiad and Odyssey through the writings attributed to Hippocrates. Walshe provides vibrant, fresh translations and profound analyses of the neurological observations in the Corpus Hippocraticum. His citations demonstrate that Ancient Greek physicians prescribed holistic treatment of neurological diseases through exercise, proper diet and refraining from alcohol, and that seizures or paralysis could occur contralateral to traumatic lesions to the head. This book should be in every medical library, for it is the quintessential source of information about Ancient Greek Neurology. --Edward J. Fine, MD, FAAN, Associate Professor of Neurology, University at Buffalo, Past President of the International Society for the History of the Neurosciences In his compelling work, Neurological Concepts in Ancient Greek Medicine, Thomas M. Walshe, an expert neurologist and Greek scholar, weaves together eleven essays into a fascinating story of what the ancient Greeks thought about what we now call Neurology... Every physician will be edified by reading this book. Those interested in the nervous system may have a particular penchant for it, but anyone interested in the perspective of history on modern thought will find this a captivating work. --Martin A. Samuels, MD, DSc(hon), FAAN, MACP, FRCP, FANA, Chair, Department of Neurology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Miriam Sydney Joseph Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

This volume does an excellent job of elucidating the ancient components of this saga by describing the first steps in developing our understanding of brain function by ancient Greeks. * Current Aging Science Vol. 9 Issue No. 1, Marios Kyriazis * This fascinating work of learning does much to illuminate these complex dilemmas that so mystified the ancient Greek scholars and physicians...the profusion of references to this era will be invaluable to scholars. As Walshe says in his preface, his book is not the story of neurology in Greek Medicine, rather a description of Greek ideas that pertain to our own ideas of neurology. * John M. S. Pearce, Brain *

Dr. Thomas Walshe, using his extensive mastery of classical Greek, has written an exhaustive analysis of references to neurological diseases in ancient Greek literature beginning with Homer's Illiad and Odyssey through the writings attributed to Hippocrates. Walshe provides vibrant, fresh translations and profound analyses of the neurological observations in the Corpus Hippocraticum. His citations demonstrate that Ancient Greek physicians prescribed holistic treatment of neurological diseases through exercise, proper diet and refraining from alcohol, and that seizures or paralysis could occur contralateral to traumatic lesions to the head. This book should be in every medical library, for it is the quintessential source of information about Ancient Greek Neurology. --Edward J. Fine, MD, FAAN, Associate Professor of Neurology, University at Buffalo, Past President of the International Society for the History of the Neurosciences In his compelling work, Neurological Concepts in Ancient Greek Medicine, Thomas M. Walshe, an expert neurologist and Greek scholar, weaves together eleven essays into a fascinating story of what the ancient Greeks thought about what we now call Neurology... Every physician will be edified by reading this book. Those interested in the nervous system may have a particular penchant for it, but anyone interested in the perspective of history on modern thought will find this a captivating work. --Martin A. Samuels, MD, DSc(hon), FAAN, MACP, FRCP, FANA, Chair, Department of Neurology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Miriam Sydney Joseph Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA This fascinating work of learning does much to illuminate these complex dilemmas that so mystified the ancient Greek scholars and physicians...the profusion of references to this era will be invaluable to scholars. As Walshe says in his preface, his book is not the story of neurology in Greek Medicine, rather a description of Greek ideas that pertain to our own ideas of neurology. - John M. S. Pearce, Brain

Author Information

Dr. Walshe has been practicing Neurology for almost 40 years. He went to medical school at the University of Virginia and was a medical resident at Baylor in Houston. He studied neurology taught by Raymond Adams and C Miller Fisher and completed his residency in their program. He has been at the Brigham and Women's Hospital full time since 2005. In 1993 he began to learn Greek. He was able to spend a year sabbatical studying Greek at Berkeley. The essays are an ongoing project that has developed over several years.

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