In this introductory podcast episode, I explore the ancient history of #neurology, and I link this to the principle of neurological localization. I make historical references, starting from the practice of trepanation innovated by neolithic people and adopted particularly by the Incans of modern day Peru.
I also refer to the practice of phrenology as pioneered by Franz Joseph Gall, and how this was dismantled by the efforts of such scientists as Jean Pierre Flourens.
The podcast then delves into the life and works of the French neurologist Paul Broca, whose localisation studies of such patients as Louis Leborgne and Lazare Lelong, established the language area of the brain.
The podcast then proceeds to review the brain mapping work of Canadian neurosurgeon Wilder Penfield, which established the concept of the homonculus, and the later works of the likes of Edward Taub which showed that these cortical maps of the brain were not fixed.
