1. Early Boston Neurology
History of Neurology
Early Boston Neurology
Richard J. Barohn, MD
Gertrude and Dewey Ziegler Professor of Neurology
The University of Kansas Medical Center

2. James Jackson Putnam, MD (1846-1918)
Born in Boston, MA
Harvard Medical School
MGH home office
Europe: Vienna (Rokitansky, Meynert) & London (Jackson)
Physician to Outpatients & Electrician & Lecturer at MGH
Professor of Nervous Disease; Harvard – 1893 to 1912
Did electrical stimulation of cortex in dogs with William James
Other contributions:
Poliomyelitis
Arsenic & lead neuropathies
Myelopathy in pts with anemia/poor nutrition
Founding member ANA in 1874 & President in 1888
Founding member Boston Society of Psychology & Neurology 1911
Also interested in Neurasthenia , psychology, and psychoanalysis 
Convinced Freud to visit Clark University
James Jackson Putnam, MD ( )

3. Early Boston Neurology
Samuel G. Webber, MD ( )
“Electrician” Boston City Hospital (1877)
In charge of inpatient and outpatient neurology
Book: Disease of the Peripheral Cerebrospinal Nerves (1881)
Professor of Neurology at Tufts (1893)
Professor of Clinical Neurology at HMS (1884)
Robert Thaxter Edes, MD ( )
HMS (1861)
Civil War Assistant Surgeon General for US Navy
Professor at HMS ( )
Visiting Professor of Nervous Disease at Boston City Hospital
Philip Combs Knapp, MD ( )
HMS (1883)
Physician of Dis Nervous System – Boston City Hospital ( )
Book: Pathology, Diagnosis and Treatment of Intra-Cranial Growths (1891)
Robert Thaxter Edes

4. Early Boston Neurology
James Bourne Ayers, MD ( )
HMS (1907), then MGH
WWI developed method of puncture cisterna magna
1st in animals, then humans (1917)
At MGH, CSF lab compared measurements of lumber & CM
Measured protein content in CSF
Pressure measurements to define lateral sinus thrombosis
James Jackson Putnam Professor of Neurology (1926)
Stanley Cobb, MD ( )
HMS (1914)
Surgery Intern at PBBH with Cushing, then Physiology at John Hopkins
After WWI – became Instructor at HMS, then Assistant Professor of Neuropathology - studied in England
Bullard Professor of Neuropathology HMS
Chief of Neurology Service, Boston City Hospital (1930)
Worked with Lennox, Putnam, Merritt, Fremont-Smith, and Gibbs
Book: A Preface to Nervous Disease
Dedicated to Lennox
Stanley Cobb

5. Early Boston Neurology
William Gordon Lennox, MD ( )
HMS (1913)
Studied Rockefeller Med School & Hospital
HMS, began investigation on epilepsy (1922)
Worked with Cobb, Wolfe on cerebral blood flow
New EEG techniques with Gibbs and Davis (1934)
Book: Epilepsy & Related Disorders with his daughter (1960)
Henry R. Viets, MD ( )
HMS
Oxford with Osler/ Sherrington
At HMS/MGH established myasthenia gravis clinic
Visited London (1935)
Neostigmine, 1st used in USA
Schwab in obituary: Viets gave Schwab a vial of neostigmine and said, “Find a myasthenia patient for tomorrow's conference and we will inject this in her muscles”
Chairman of Medical Advisory Board MGF when formed (1962)
Henry R. Viets

6. Derek Ernest Denny Brown, MD (1901-1981)
Born in New Zealand, Medical School at Otago Univ.
Fellow under Sherrington,
Neuro Registrar Queen Square & Guys Hospital,
Yale with John Fulton, monkey frontal lab research
Chief Neuro SVC Boston City Hospital, 1939
WW2 SVC - Military hospital for head injuries in UK
James Jackson Putnam Prof Neurology HMS,
Researcher in neurophysiology, neuropathy, clinical
Topics: disorder of posture & movement
Nature of reflex activity spasticity
Books:
Selected Writings of Charles Sherrington, 1939
The Frontal Lobes & Their Functions, 1941
The Basal Ganglia & Their Relations to Disorders of Movement, 1962
The Cerebral Control of Movement, 1966
Diseases of Muscles: A Study in Pathology, 1962 with R.D. Adams & C.M. Pearson
Derek Ernest Denny Brown, MD ( )

7. L-R: Derek Denny-Brown, Dewey Ziegler, A.T. Steegmann
1966

8. Raymond D Adams, MD (1911-2008) Born in Portland, Oregon
Univ of Oregon Psychology / Duke MD (1936)
Boston City Hospital (1930’s/40’s)
Chief of Neurology MGH ( )
Bullard Professor of neuropathology at HMS
Principles of Neurology with Maurice Victor
1st edition 1977; 10th edition 2014
Currently Sammuels & Ropper: Adam’s & Victor’s Principles of Neurology
Books:
Polymyositis with John Walton (1958)
Disease of Muscles (1953)
Histology and Histopathology of the Nervous System, ed. Webb Haymaker & RD Adams (1982)

9. 4th Edition

10. Adams & Victor’s Principles of Neurology “My” 1st line Neurology Textbook as a Resident
2nd ed. 1981
3rd ed. 1985
4th ed. 1989
5th ed. 1993
1st ed. 1977
6th ed. 1997
7th ed. 2001
8th ed. 2005
9th ed. 2009
10th ed. 2014

11. Neurology Family Tree of R.D. Adams
S. Hauser
(UCSF)
A. Roper
(PBB/HMS)
GBS
Everything
R. Brown
(U Mass)
ALS
M. Samuels
Gen Neuro

12. C Miller Fisher, MD (1913-2012) Born in Waterloo, Ontario
Died in Albany, NY
B.A. Victoria University Toronto (1935)
M.D. University of Toronto (1938)
Residency Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit & Royal Victoria Hospital Montreal
WWII: Doctor in the Canadian Navy
On HMS Voltaire when sunk (1941)
3.5 years in German prison camp
The Royal Victoria Hospital & Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital
Then MGH for his neuro career
founded the stroke service

13. C Miller Fisher, MD (1913-2012) Publications/ Importance
Described TIA’s
Strokes 2nd & Afib
Strokes 2nd carotid stenosis & CEA Rx
Described lacunar infarct & pure motor & pure sensory stroke
An Unusual Variant of Acute Idiopathic Polyneuritis (Syndrome of Ophthalmoplegia, Ataxia and Areflexia). N Engl J Med. 1956; 255:57-65
The Miller Fisher Syndrome
“Fisher Test”- describes the CSF tap test for NPH
Canadian Medical Hall of Fame (1998)

14. Charles M. Poser, MD (1923-2010) Born in Antwerp, Belgium
Tried to escape Europe in WWII but got trapped at Dunkirk; helped do 1st aid, age 17
1941 NYC - HS then City College NY
Enlisted US Army - military intelligence
Battle of Bulge (Bastogne)
Present at liberation of the Mauthausen Concentration Camp
Finished CCNY degree; earned MD at Columbia Medical School
Res of Neurology at NY Neuro Inst & Columbia under HH Merritt
1955 Fulbright Scholarship in Antwerp under Ludo van Bogaert (Neuropath)
196? Joined U. Kansas section Neuro
196? moved to UMKC
1969 Chair Dept. of Neurology, U. of Vermont
1982 HMS, Beth Israel, Harvard & Veterans Administration Hospital
Poser criteria for measuring & describing MS
Poser CM, et al. New diagnostic criteria for multiple sclerosis. Ann Neurol Mar;13(3):227-31
Topical neurology & malaria