 Thomas Willis Image courtesy of the Blocker History of Medicine Collections, Moody Medical Library, Univ. Texas Med. Branch, Galveston |
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1700 - 18001704 - Antonio Valsalva publishes "On the Human Ear"1705 - Antonio Pacchioni describes arachnoid granulations 1709 - Domenico Mistichelli describes pyramidal decussation 1709 - George Berkeley publishes New Theory of Vision 1717 - Antony van Leeuwenhoek describes nerve fiber in cross section 1721 - The word "anesthesia" first appears in English (in Dictionary Britannicum) 1736 - Jean Astruc coins the term reflex 1740 - Emanuel Swedenborg publishes "Oeconomia regni animalis" 1749 - David Hartley publishes Observations of Man, the first English work using the word "psychology." 1752 - The Society of Friends establishes a hospital-based environment for the mentally ill in Philadelphia 1755 - J.B. Le Roy uses electroconvulsive therapy for mental illness 1760 - Arne-Charles Lorry demonstrates that damage to the cerebellum affects motor coordination 1764 - Domenico F.A. Cotugno describes spinal subarachnoid cerebrospinal fluid; shows that ventricular and spinal fluids are connected 1764 - The interventricular foramen (Foramen of Monroe) is named after Alexander Monroe; it was described earlier by Vieussens 1766 - Albrecht von Haller provides scientific description of the cerebrospinal fluid 1772 - John Walsh conducts experiments on torpedo (electric) fish 1773 - John Fothergill describes trigeminal neuralgia (tic douloureux, Fothergill's syndrome) 1773 - Sir Joseph Priestley discovers nitrous oxide 1774 - Franz Anton Mesmer introduces "animal magnetism" (later called hypnosis) 1776 - M.V.G. Malacarne publishes first book solely devoted to the cerebellum 1777 - Philip Meckel proposes that the inner ear is filled with fluid, not air 1778 - Samuel Thomas von Sommerring presents the modern classification of 12 cranial nerves 1779 - Antonius Scarpa describes Scarpa's ganglion of the vestibular system 1781 - Felice Fontana describes the microscopic features of axoplasm from an axon 1782 - Francesco Gennari publishes work on "lineola albidior" (later known as the stripe of Gennari) 1782 - Francesco Buzzi identifies the fovea 1783 - Alexander Monro describes the foramen of Monro 1784 - Benjamin Rush writes that alcohol can be an addictive drug 1786 - Felix Vicq d'Azyr discovers the locus coeruleus 1786 - Samuel Thomas Sommering describes the optic chiasm 1790 - Johannes Ehrenritter describes the glossopharygeal nerve ganglion 1791 - Luigi Galvani publishes work on electrical stimulation of frog nerves 1791 - Samuel Thomas von Soemmering names the macula lutea of the retina 1794 - John Dalton describes color blindness 1796 - Johann Christian Reil describes the insula (island of Reil) |
 Antony van Leeuwenhoek
Images courtesy of the Blocker History of Medicine Collections, Moody Medical Library, Univ. Texas Med. Branch, Galveston |
1800 - 1850 1800 - Alessandro Volta invents the wet cell battery1800 - Humphrey Davy synthesizes nitrous oxide 1800 - Samuel von Sommering identifies black material in the midbrain and calls it the "substantia nigra" 1801 - Thomas Young describes astigmatism 1801 - Adam Friedrich Wilhelm Serturner crystalizes opium and obtains morphine 1805 - Felix Vicq d'Azyr discovers the red nucleus 1808 - Franz Joseph Gall publishes work on phrenology 1809 - Johann Christian Reil uses alcohol to harden the brain 1809 - Luigi Rolando uses galvanic current to stimulate cortex 1811 - Julien Jean Legallois discovers respiratory center in medulla 1811 - Charles Bell discusses functional differences between dorsal and ventral roots of the spinal cord 1812 - Benjamin Rush publishes Medical Inquiries and Observations upon the Diseases of the Mind 1813 - Felix Vicq d'Azyr discovers the claustrum 1817 - James Parkinson publishes "An Essay on the Shaking Palsy"  1818 - Library of the Surgeon General's Office established (later to become the Army Medical Library and then the National Library of Medicine)1820 - Galvanometer invented 1821 - Charles Bell describes facial paralysis ipsilateral to facial nerve lesion (Bell's palsy) 1821 - Francois Magendie discusses functional differences between dorsal and ventral roots of the spinal cord 1822 - Friedrich Burdach names the cingular gyrus 1822 - Friedrich Burdach distinguishes lateral and medial geniculate 1823 - Marie-Jean-Pierre Flourens states that cerebellum regulates motor activity 1824 - John C. Caldwell publishes "Elements of Phrenology" 1824 - Marie-Jean-Pierre Flourens details ablation to study behavior 1824 - F. Magendie provides first evidence of cerebellum role in equilibration 1825 - John P. Harrison first argues against phrenology 1825 - Jean-Baptiste Bouillaud presents cases of loss of speech after frontal lesions 1825 - Robert B. Todd discusses the role of the cerebral cortex in mentation, corpus striatum in movement and midbrain in emotion 1825 - Luigi Rolando describes the sulcus that separates the precentral and postcentral gyri 1826 - Johannes Muller publishes theory of "specific nerve energies" 1827 - Francois Magendie discovers foramen of Magendie 1827 - E. Merck & Company market morphine 1832 - Justus von Liebig discovers chloral hydrate 1832 - Jean-Pierre Robiquet isolates codeine 1832 - Massachusetts establishes a "State Lunatic Hospital" for the mentally ill 1833 - Philipp L. Geiger isolates atropine 1836 - Marc Dax reads paper on left hemisphere damage effects on speech 1836 - Gabriel Gustav Valentin identifies neuron nucleus and nucleolus 1836 - Robert Remak describes myelinated and unmyelinated axons 1836 - Charles Dickens (the novelist) describes obstructive sleep apnea 1837 - Jan Purkyne (Purkinje) describes cerebellar cells; identifies neuron nucleus and processes 1837 - The American Physiological Society is founded 1838 - Robert Remak suggests that nerve fiber and nerve cell are joined 1838 - Theordor Schwann describes the myelin-forming cell in the peripheral nervous system ("Schwann Cell") 1838 - Jean-Etienne-Dominique Esquirol publishes "Des Maladies Mentales", possibly the first modern work about mental disorders 1838 - Napoleonic Code leads to the requirement of facilities for the mentally ill 1839 - Theordor Schwann proposes the cell theory 1839 - C. Chevalier coins the term microtome 1839 - Francois Leuret names the Rolandic sulcus for Luigi Rolando 1840 - Adolph Hannover uses chromic acid to harden nervous tissue 1840 - Jules Gabriel Francois Baillarger discusses the connections between white and gray matter of cerebral cortex 1841 - Dorothea Lynde Dix investigates brutality within mental hospitals in the United States 1842 - Benedikt Stilling is first to study spinal cord in serial sections 1842 - Crawford W. Long uses ether on man 1842 - Francois Magendie describes the median opening in the roof of the fourth ventricle (foramen of Magendie) 1843 - James Braid coins the term "hypnosis" 1844 - Robert Remak provides first illustration of 6-layered cortex 1844 - Horace Wells uses nitrous oxide during a tooth extraction 1846 - William Morton demonstrates ether anesthesia at Massachusetts General Hospital 1847 - Chloroform anesthesia used by James Young Simpson 1847 - American Medical Association is founded 1847 - The American Association for the Advancement of Science is founded 1848 - Phineas Gage has his brain pierced by an iron rod 1848 - Richard Owen coins the word "notochord" 1849 - Hermann von Helmholtz measures the speed of frog nerve impulses |
