Das Gehirn als Organ des Geistes. Autorisierte Ausgabe. 2 Bde.

Bastian, Henry Charlton

Publication Date: 1882

About this Item

Int. Wiss. Bibl., 53+53. - Leipzig, F.A. Brockhaus, 1882, kl.8°, XIV, 344 pp., mit 121 Abbildungen in Holzschnitt; VIII, 388 pp., mit 63 Abbildungen in Holzschnitt, 2 Halbledereinbände. First German Edition! Henry Charlton Bastian (26 April 1837 in Truro, Cornwall, England - 17 November 1915 in Chesham Bois, Buckinghamshire) was an English physiologist and neurologist. Bastian "influence on neurology was considerable. His studies encompassed not only natural history and theories of the origins of life, but also clinical aspects of hysteria, new concepts of the aphasias, and original anatomical observations. For almost 30 years he advanced his credited views of the 'kinaesthetic cortex'. Bastian's ideas on abiogenesis were at the time the object of derision, yet in the light of discoveries of the last 60 years, the principles he espoused have prompted more recent scientific enquiries. Bastian's clinical studies yielded several texts. Hitzig and Ferrier had debated the notion of muscle sense and proprioception, but it was Bastian who from the late 1860s claimed that muscle sense was necessary for the brain to coordinate movement. He described small vessel emboli as a cause of delirium and stupor in febrile illnesses, a novel concept which subsequently was verified in certain cases. A monograph in 1875 considered at length the manifestations of paralysis in brain diseases, discussing hemiplegia and its varied localisations and aetiologies that included epilepsy, emotional states and hysteria. Probably his most important book was The Brain as Organ of the Mind which discussed the comparative anatomy and physiology of the nervous system. In his monograph, Various Forms of Hysterical or Functional Paralysis, he distinguished hysteria proper from other functional disorders. Thus, the hemianaesthesia of internal capsular lesions could resemble hysterical hemianaesthesia. Among nine categories of acute spinal paralysis, Bastian described in his book Hysterical Paraplegia in a way that reveals the imperfect knowledge of organic nervous disease in Bastian's day. It constitutes, he says, a 'special class' of functional paralysis, difficult accurately to differentiate, and then only by a dangerous process of exclusion of organic disease. While hysterical paralysis is functional, not all functional paralyses, he says, are hysterical." J.M.S. Pearce: Henry Charlton Bastian (1837-1915): Neglected Neurologist and Scientist. Eur Neurol (2010) 63 (2): pp.73-78. Seller Inventory # 66524

Bibliographic Details

Title: Das Gehirn als Organ des Geistes. ...

Publication Date: 1882

Edition: 1st Edition