1 CHAPTER ISHORT HISTORY REVIEW OF NEUROLOGY.MAIN FOUNDATIONS OF STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONING OF NERVOUS SYSTEM.
…it is true that those who ignore the lessons of history are likely to repeat the mistakes of earlier generations.
Neurology is a science about the development and functioning of the nervous system (NS) in norm and pathology. The problem of research of human brain, the problem of the ratio between the brain and mentality are the most important tasks which were considered by the science.
Modern neurology (neuropathology) as an independent science was established in the second half of the 19th century and it is a result of thousand-year work of many talented observers of antiquity; namely doctors, biologists, physiologists, morphologists, who studied the role of the NS in normal and unhealthy conditions of an organism.
An ancient Egyptian treatise concerningtrauma surgery, theEdwin Smith papyrus, contains descriptions and suggests treatments for various injuries, including some of neurological nature. They describe the meninges, the external surface of the brain, the cerebrospinal fluid and the intracranial pulsations. The Sumerians illustrated paraplegia caused by physical trauma. In the Ayurvedic text Charaka Samhita (ancient India) discusses epilepsy, its symptoms and possible treatments.
Slightly later, the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates was convinced that epilepsy had a natural cause, not a sacred one. The ancient Greeks also dissected the nervous system. For example, Aristotle (although he misunderstood the function of the brain) describes the meninges and also distinguishes between the cerebrum and the cerebellum. More lately, in Rome, Galen performed many dissections of the NS in a variety of species, including the ape. One particular discovery he made was of the importance of the recurrent laryngeal nerves. Originally, he cut through them accidentally while performing an experiment
Neuropathology (neurology) as an independent clinical science appeared in 1862 when the department for patients with diseases of the NS in Salpetrier hospital near Paris was opened. Jean-Martin Sharko (1835-1893) whom we quite often we name the father of neuropathology headed it.
The first Kiev Department of neurology was founded in 1884 by M.M. Lapinsky. The first Kharkiv Department of neurology was founded in 1884 by P.I. Kovalevsky (S.M. Davidenkov, K.I. Platonov, O.M. Grinshtein, G.D. Leshchenko their mantle had fallen). In 1922 Ukrainian Research Institute of psychiatry and neurology was founded in Kharkiv by G.I. Geimanovitch. In 1926 the Ukrainian Institute of Clinical Psychiatry was founded by V.P. Protopopov. Now its headed by professor P.V. Voloshin.
The first Russian neurologic department was opened in 1869, on the base of Catherine’s hospital. The initiator of its creation and its first head was A.J. Kozhevnikov (1836-1902). Under his initiative the first clinic of nervous diseases was constructed in Russia in 1890. Kozhevnikov is the founder of Moscow school of neuropathologists, which was represented by such famous scientists such as L.O. Darshkevitsh, G.I. Rossolimo, S.S. Korsakov and others.
In St. Petersburg neurological science began to develop on the basis of the Department of mental diseases of Medical-surgical academy created in 1857 (since 1881- Military Medical Academy). From the end of the 80s of the 19th century the course of nervous diseases at this chair was given by Merezhkovskiy (1838-1908). In 1932 a surgeon N.N.Burdenko together with a neurologist V.V.Kramer created independent institute of neurosurgery in Moscow, where such scientists as Irger, Arutjunov worked and also there were representatives of new fields in neurology such as neurophthalmology, otorhinoneurology, and neuroradiology. In 1944 the research institute of neurology was founded in Moscow.
The new stage of the development of neurology was opened by Marushi. He described the reaction of the activation of the brainstem through the implanted electrodes. Academician Anochin described the theory of functional system.
The newest period has been since the 60s-70s of the 20th century. The ultra structure of synapses has been discovered, the theory of ligand-synaptic communications has been specified. In peripheral NS albuminous or axonal transport has been found.