Origins of neuroscience : a history of explorations into brain function
With over 350 illustrations, this impressive volume traces the rich history of ideas about the functioning of the brain from its roots in the ancient cultures of Egypt, Greece, and Rome through the centuries into relatively modern times. In contrast to biographically oriented accounts, the book is unique in its emphasis on the functions of the brain and how they came to be associated with specific brain regions and systems. Among the topics explored are vision, hearing, pain, motor control, sleep, memory, speech, and various other facets of intellect. The emphasis throughout is on presenting the material in a very readable way, while describing with scholarly acumen the historical evolution of the field in all its amazing wealth and detail. From the opening introductory chapters to the concluding look at treatments and therapies, this monumental work will captivate readers from cover to cover. It will be valued as both an historical reference and as an exciting tale of scientific discovery. It is bound to attract a wide readership among students and professionals in the neural sciences as well as general readers interested in the history of science and medicine
History
xviii, 462 pages : illustrations, portraits ; 29 cm
9780195065039, 9780195146943, 0195065034, 0195146948
27151391
The brain in antiquity
Changing concepts of brain function
The era of cortical localization
Holism and the critics of cortical localization
Vision : from antiquity through the Renaissance
Post-Renaissance visual anatomy and physiology
Color vision
The ear and theories of hearing
Audition and the central nervous system
The cutaneous senses
Pain
Gustation
Olfaction
The pyramidal system and the motor cortex
The cerebellum and the corpus striatum
Some movement disorders
The process of sleep
The nature of dreaming
Theories of emotion from Democritus to William James
Defining and controlling the circuits of emotion
Intellect and the brain
The frontal lobes and intellect
The nature of the memory trace
The neuropathology of memory
Speech and language
The emergence of the concept of cerebral dominance
Expansion of the concept of cerebral dominance
Treatments and therapies : from antiquity through the seventeenth century
Treatments and therapies : from 1700 to World War I