George Huntington 1850-1916 Born East Hampton, Long Island, NY Med School – Columbia 1871 Briefly practiced with his father in NY before moving to Pomeroy OH. Not a neurologist!.-family physician Based on NY practice experience wrote paper on chorea.-father edited 1872- read paper at Meiga and Mason Academy of Medicine in Middleport, OH Published in Medical and Surgical Reporter. (Phil) On Chorea Med Surg Rep 1872; 24; 317-321 1874 returned to NY, practiced till age 65, died age 66

George Huntington 1850-1916 on chorea 1872 Huntington’s only contribution to neurologic literature. Described family in NY with hereditary chorea, onset adult, became insecure, often suicidal. Osler: “In a postscript to an everyday sort of article on chorea minor he descries graphically in three or four paragraphs the characters of a chronic form which he, his father, and grandfather had observed in Long Island” 1893 “In the history of medicine there are few instances in which a disease has been more accurately, more graphically, or more briefly described.” 1908

George Huntington 1850-1916 1910: Huntington G; Recollections of Huntington’s chorea as I saw it at East Hampton, Long Island, during my boyhood. J Nerv Ment Dis, 37: 255-257 Speech to New York Neurological society 1909 Stated without the facts and observations handed down to him by his grandfather and father, he could never have formulated a picture of the salient characteristics of the diseases so true and so complete as to make it a so-called classic

George Huntington 1850-1916 Lecture to NY Neurological Society 1909 “Over 50 years ago, riding with my father on his professional rounds, I saw my first case of “that disorder,” which was the way in which the natives always refereed to the dreaded diseases. It made a most enduring impression upon my boyish mind, an impression every detail of which I recall to-day., an impression which was the very first impulse to my choosing chorea as my virgin contribution to medical lore. We suddenly came up two women, mother and daughter, both tall, thin, almost cadaverous, both bowing, twisting, grimacing. I stared in wonderment, almost in fear. What could it mean? My father passed to speak with them and we passed on. Then my Gamaliel-like instruction began; my medical institution had its inception. From this point on my interest in the disease has never wholly ceased.”