A History of Science — Volume 4Williams, Henry Smith
History
A History of Science — Volume 4
Williams, Henry Smith
Science -- History
It will be seen, however, that these studies of Flourens had a double
bearing. They denied localization of cerebral functions, but they
demonstrated the localization of certain nervous processes in other
portions of the brain. On the whole, then, they spoke positively for the
principle of localization of function in the brain, for which a certain
number of students contended; while their evidence against cerebral
localization was only negative. There was here and there an observer who
felt that this negative testimony was not conclusive. In particular,
the German anatomist Meynert, who had studied the disposition of nerve
tracts in the cerebrum, was led to believe that the anterior portions of
the cerebrum must have motor functions in preponderance; the posterior
positions, sensory functions. Somewhat similar conclusions were reached
also by Dr. Hughlings-Jackson, in England, from his studies of epilepsy.
But no positive evidence was forthcoming until 1861, when Dr. Paul Broca
brought before the Academy of Medicine in Paris a case of brain lesion
which he regarded as having most important bearings on the question of
cerebral localization.
The case was that of a patient at the Bicetre, who for twenty years had
been deprived of the power of speech, seemingly through loss of memory
of words. In 1861 this patient died, and an autopsy revealed that a
certain convolution of the left frontal lobe of his cerebrum had been
totally destroyed by disease, the remainder of his brain being intact.
Broca felt that this observation pointed strongly to a localization
of the memory of words in a definite area of the brain. Moreover, it
transpired that the case was not without precedent. As long ago as
1825 Dr. Boillard had been led, through pathological studies, to locate
definitely a centre for the articulation of words in the frontal lobe,
and here and there other observers had made tentatives in the same
direction. Boillard had even followed the matter up with pertinacity,
but the world was not ready to listen to him. Now, however, in the
half-decade that followed Broca's announcements, interest rose to
fever-beat, and through the efforts of Broca, Boillard, and numerous
others it was proved that a veritable centre having a strange
domination over the memory of articulate words has its seat in the third
convolution of the frontal lobe of the cerebrum, usually in the
left hemisphere. That part of the brain has since been known to the
English-speaking world as the convolution of Broca, a name which,
strangely enough, the discoverer's compatriots have been slow to accept.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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