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xv, 323 pp; 68 figs.; 4 pp of publisher's ads. Original cloth. Faint white ink no. on spine, but this copy does not have library markings. Joints lightly rubbed. Bookplate and ink signature of J. B. Chapin. When the top edges of the pages were cut open, the knife used was not the best. The upper blank margins of the last 2 leaves of the index have large tears. Very Good. First Edition. The first edition, which is offered here, is uncommon in the marketplace. The first American edition is much more common. Garrison-Morton 1409: "Ferrier may be said to have laid the foundations of our knowledge concerning the localization of cerebral function." "In 1873, inspired by the experiments of Fritsch and Hitzig, Ferrier began his detailed, systematic investigation of the cerebral cortex, with the express purpose of testing the opinions of his colleague Hughlings Jackson on the etiology of unilateral epilepsy based upon cortical localization of function. Working mostly with primates, and employing faradic stimulation to the cortex (an important advance over Fritsch and Hitzig's galvanic stimulation), Ferrier confirmed Jackson's views by reproducing experimentally his hypothesized 'discharging' and 'destroying lesions'; he then went on to repeat the experiments of Fritsch and Hitzig, and to chart the precise localization of cortical function--in dogs, monkeys, and other vertebrates. His scheme of localized function was based upon the concepts of 'motor' and 'sensory' regions, but also recognized the necessity of their interaction. Ferrier's results, first published in the West Riding lunatic asylum reports of 1873, were amplified in his Functions of the Brain [offered here], which constitutes one of the most significant publications in the field of cortical localization" (Norman 791). Heirs of Hippocrates 2059. LeFanu, Notable Medical Books from the Lilly Library, p. 231. Clarke & O'Malley, Human Brain and Spinal Cord, pp. 513-18 and 683-86. Haymaker & Schiller, Founders of Neurology, pp. 195-98. Garrison's History of Neurology, pp. 219-23. The former owner of this copy, J. B. Chapin, was probably John Bassett Chapin, M.D. . Here is an excerpt from the Wikipedia article about Chapin: He "was an American physician and mental hospital administrator. He was an advocate for the removal of mentally ill patients from the almshouses in New York State to a hospital setting and helped to pass a state law that provided hospital care for the patients. . . . In 1884, following the death of Dr. Thomas Kirkbridge, the first physician-in-Chief of the Department of the Insane of the Pennsylvania Hospital, Chapin was named the new chief physician and remained there for 23 years. He authorized the building of new facilities to accommodate a growing patient population; the opening of a dispensary for treating incipient cases; and the instituting of new practices to improve patient care. . . . Chapin received numerous honors during his active years including L.L.D. degrees from Williams College and Jefferson Medical College. He was an honorary member of the Medical Psychological Association of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Société de Médicine Mentale de Belgium. He was an active member of the American Medico-Psychological Association (now the American Psychiatric Association) and was president from 1888 to 1889." The long obituary for Chapin published in The American Journal of Insanity in 1918, entitled "Advocate for the Chronic Insane of New York, and the Removal of All Insane Persons from the County Almshouses" can be read online for free.
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