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The early history of aphasiology: From the Egyptian surgeons (c. 1700 bc ) to Broca (1861)

2006; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 20; Issue: 8 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/02687030500399293

1464-5041

R.S. Prins, Roelien Bastiaanse,

Medical and Biological Sciences

Background: According to many aphasiologists the scientific study of aphasia dates back to the second half of the 19th century when Broca and Wernicke described the two classical forms of aphasia that now bear their names. About 100 years later, Benton and Joynt presented a historical overview of the literature on aphasia from the Hippocratic writings (c. 400 bc) to 1800. Since this seminal review (Benton & Joynt, 1960 Benton, A. L. and Joynt, R. J. 1960. Early descriptions of aphasia.. Archives of Neurology, 3: 205–222. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) there has been a growing interest in the history of aphasiology, resulting in many papers (cf. the Journal of the History of the Neurosciences) and even books (e.g., Eling, 1994 Eling, P. (Ed.). 1994. Reader in the history of aphasia. From [Franz] Gall to [Norman] Geschwind, Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]; Finger, 2000 Finger, S. 2000. Minds behind the brain. A history of the pioneers and their discoveries, Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press. [Google Scholar]; Jacyna, 2000 Jacyna, L. S. 2000. Lost words: Narratives of language and the brain, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. [Google Scholar]) about hitherto unknown writings about aphasia. Aims: The aim of this paper is to present a new, updated, and extensive review of the early history of aphasiology, starting with the earliest observation of "speechlessness" in an Egyptian papyrus (c. 1700 bc) and ending with Broca's discovery of the "speech centre" in 1861. Main Contribution: By presenting and discussing passages taken from major contributions to aphasiology in the past 3500 years, this literature survey offers a review of the clinical observations and theoretical analyses of aphasic phenomena preceding the pioneering article by Broca in 1861. Conclusions: Although many forms and symptoms of aphasia were described and a few theoretical explanations of its nature had been advanced before 1800, significant hypotheses about the localisation of aphasia were not formulated until the period 1800–1860. Based on his (otherwise misguided) "phrenological" theory, Gall (in Gall & Stuart, 1806 Gall, F. J. and Stuart, M. 1806. Herinneringen uit de lessen van Frans Joseph Gall, Med. Doctor te Weenen, over de hersenen als onderscheidene en bepaalde werktuigen van den Geest, gehouden te Amsterdam, van den 8sten tot den 13 den van de Grasmaand 1806, opgeteekend door zijnen toehoorder M. Stuart, Amsterdam: J. W. Ynteman. [Recollections of the lessons by Franz‐Joseph Gall, Medical doctor in Vienna, on the brain as distinct and specific instrument of the mind, given in Amsterdam, from the 8th up to the 18th of April 1806, written down by his auditor M. Stuart]. [Google Scholar]) was the first to localise language in the frontal cortex. This hypothesis was then tested and supported by neuropathological data collected by Bouillaud (1825 Bouillaud, M. J. 1825. Recherches cliniques propres à démontrer que la perte de la parole correspond à la lésion des lobules antérieurs du cerveau, et à confirmer l'opinion de M. Gall, sur le siège de l'organe du langage articulé.. Archives générales de Médicine, 3(8): 24–45. [Reprinted in Hécaen & Dubois (1969), pp. 15–31.] [Google Scholar]) who not only localised language in the frontal lobes, but also made the fundamental distinction between "a general faculty of language" and "the faculty of articulated speech", thus preparing the ground for Broca's famous discovery in 1861.