Poliomyelitis and the Neurologists

The View from England, 1896- 1966

Bibliographic Data

ID15024017
AuthorsHardy Anne
Year1997
Volume71
Issue2
Pages249-272
Publication date1997-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueBulletin of the history of medicine (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0007-5140 • E-ISSN: 1086-3176
PublisherProject MUSE (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1353/bhm.1997.0089
PMID9197069
OpenAlexW2065673531
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited5

The American vs. the European ExperienceIn 1907, following one of the earliest poliomyelitis outbreaks in New York City, the New York Neurological Society set up a poliomyelitis committee with a view to studying and illuminating the behavior of this newly epidemic disease.'The neurologists7 interest in polio was of long standing, dating from the orthopedic surgeon Jacob von Heine's conclusion, in 1860, that the symptoms of infant paralysis pointed to "an affection of the central nervous system, namely the spinal cord."*Ten years later, Heine7s deduction had been confirmed by the researches ofJean-Martin Charcot (1825-93), who demonstrated the destruction of the grey matter of the anterior horns of the spinal cord (within which the motor impulses arise and are transmitted) in cases of infant paralysk3 This demonstration of the pathology of the disease placed it firmly within the concerns of neurology, where it remained until polio arrived as a major epidemic problem.In America, according to John R. Paul, the New York Neurological Society's committee marked "almost the last time that neurologists as a professional body were to assume a position of dominance with respectThis article was written in memory of Elizabeth Mary Margaret Hardy .I am

Paralysis · Poliomyelitis · History of Medical Practice · Medical History and Innovations · Medicine · Neurology and Historical Studies · Surgery · Pediatrics

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