David Ferrier
Encyclopedia
Sir David Ferrier, FRS (13 January 1843 – 19 March 1928) was a pioneering Scottish neurologist
and psychologist
.
and educated at Aberdeen Grammar School
before studying for an MA at Aberdeen University (graduated 1863). As a medical student, he began to work as a scientific assistant to the influential free-thinking philosopher and psychologist Alexander Bain
(1818–1903), one of the founders of associative psychology. Around 1860, psychology
was finding its scientific foundation mainly in Germany
, with the rigorous research of Hermann von Helmholtz
(1821–1894), who had trained as a physicist, and of Wilhelm Wundt
(1832–1920). They focused their work mainly in the area of sensory psychophysiology
, because it was the most rewarding for the approach based on the paradigms of experimental physics
. Both worked at the University of Heidelberg. In 1864 Bain prompted Ferrier to spend some time in their laboratories.
On returning to Scotland, Ferrier graduated in medicine in 1868 at the University of Edinburgh
. A few years later, in 1870, he moved in to London
and started work as a neuropathologist at the King's College Hospital
and at the National Hospital for Paralysis and Epilepsy. The latter was the first hospital in England
to be dedicated to the treatment of neurological diseases.
At that period, the great neurologist John Hughlings Jackson
(1835–1911) worked in the same hospital as Ferrier. Jackson was refining his concepts of the sensorimotor functions of the nervous system
, derived from clinical experience. Jackson proposed that there was an anatomical and physiological substrate for the localization of brain functions, which was hierarchically organized.
Influenced by Jackson who became a close friend and mentor, Ferrier decided to embark on an experimental program. It aimed to extend the results of two German physiologists, Eduard Hitzig
(1838–1907) and Gustav Fritsch
(1837–1927). In 1870, they had published results on localized electrical stimulation of the motor cortex
in dogs. Ferrier wanted also to test Jackson's idea that epilepsy
had a cortical origin, as it was suggested by his clinical observations.
Coincidently, Ferrier had received a proposal to direct the laboratory of experimental neurology at the West Riding Lunatic Asylum, a psychiatric hospital located in Yorkshire. The hospital's director was the psychiatrist James Crichton-Browne
(1840–1938). Working under good material conditions and having an abundance of animals for experimentation (mainly rabbits, guinea pigs and dogs), Ferrier started his experiments in 1873, examining experimental lesions and electrical stimulation of the cerebral cortex. Upon his return to London, the Royal Society sponsored the extension of his stimulation experiments to macaque monkeys, work he undertook at the Brown Institution in Lambeth. By the end of the year, he had reported his first results to local and national meetings and had published an account in the enormously influential West Riding Lunatic Asylum Medical Reports.
Ferrier had succeeded in demonstrating, in a spectacular manner, that the low intensity faradic stimulation of the cortex in both animal species indicated a rather precise and specific map for motor functions. The same areas, upon being lesioned, caused the loss of the functions which were elicited by stimulation. Ferrier was also able to demonstrate that the high-intensity stimulation of motor cortical areas caused repetitive movements in the neck, face and members which were highly evocative of epileptic fits seen by neurologists in human beings and animals, which probably were due to a spread of the focus of stimulation, an interpretation very much in line with Jacksonanian thought.
These - and other investigations in the same line - resulted in international fame for Ferrier and assured his permanent place as one of the greatest experimental neurologists. In June 1876 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society at the age of 33 and Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians
the following year. He was also the first physiologist to make an audacious (if scientifically incorrect) transposition of cortical map
s obtained in monkeys to the human brain. This proposal soon led to practical consequences in neurology and neurosurgery. A Scottish surgeon, Sir William Macewen
(1848–1924), and two British physicians, the clinical neurologist, Hughes Bennett, and Rickman J. Godlee demonstrated in 1884, that it was possible to use a precise clinical examination to determine the possible site of a tumor
or lesion in the brain, by observing its effects on the side and extension of alterations in motor and sensory functions. This method of functional neurological mapping is still used today. Jackson and Ferrier were present at the first operation performed by Godlee on November 25, 1884. Godlee was a nephew of the eminent physician Sir Joseph Lister
(1827–1912), the discoverer of surgical antisepsis.
Practical results of animal research were used to justify and absolving Ferrier before a noisy public persecution carried out by antivivisectionist
societies against him and other scientists, who were accused of inhumane use of animals for experimental medicine. In 1892, Ferrier was one of the founding members of the National Society for the Employment of Epileptics (now the National Society for Epilepsy
), along with Sir William Gowers
and John Hughlings Jackson
.
He died in 1928, of pneumonia
, in London. He left behind a widow, Constance (née Constance Waterlow, the sister of the painter
Ernest Albert Waterlow
), and a son and daughter; his son Claude
was a well-known architect
.
Neurologist
A neurologist is a physician who specializes in neurology, and is trained to investigate, or diagnose and treat neurological disorders.Neurology is the medical specialty related to the human nervous system. The nervous system encompasses the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves. A specialist...
and psychologist
Psychologist
Psychologist is a professional or academic title used by individuals who are either:* Clinical professionals who work with patients in a variety of therapeutic contexts .* Scientists conducting psychological research or teaching psychology in a college...
.
Life
Ferrier was born in Woodside, AberdeenWoodside, Aberdeen
Woodside is a part of the city of Aberdeen, Scotland, United Kingdom.The area used to be separate from the city but was incorporated in 1891....
and educated at Aberdeen Grammar School
Aberdeen Grammar School
Aberdeen Grammar School, known to students as The Grammar is a state secondary school in the City of Aberdeen, Scotland. It is one of twelve secondary schools run by the Aberdeen City Council educational department...
before studying for an MA at Aberdeen University (graduated 1863). As a medical student, he began to work as a scientific assistant to the influential free-thinking philosopher and psychologist Alexander Bain
Alexander Bain
Alexander Bain was a Scottish philosopher and educationalist in the British school of empiricism who was a prominent and innovative figure in the fields of psychology, linguistics, logic, moral philosophy and education reform...
(1818–1903), one of the founders of associative psychology. Around 1860, psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
was finding its scientific foundation mainly in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, with the rigorous research of Hermann von Helmholtz
Hermann von Helmholtz
Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz was a German physician and physicist who made significant contributions to several widely varied areas of modern science...
(1821–1894), who had trained as a physicist, and of Wilhelm Wundt
Wilhelm Wundt
Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt was a German physician, psychologist, physiologist, philosopher, and professor, known today as one of the founding figures of modern psychology. He is widely regarded as the "father of experimental psychology"...
(1832–1920). They focused their work mainly in the area of sensory psychophysiology
Psychophysiology
Psychophysiology is the branch of psychology that is concerned with the physiological bases of psychological processes. While psychophysiology was a general broad field of research in the 1960s and 1970s, it has now become quite specialized, and has branched into subspecializations...
, because it was the most rewarding for the approach based on the paradigms of experimental physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
. Both worked at the University of Heidelberg. In 1864 Bain prompted Ferrier to spend some time in their laboratories.
On returning to Scotland, Ferrier graduated in medicine in 1868 at the University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
. A few years later, in 1870, he moved in to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and started work as a neuropathologist at the King's College Hospital
King's College Hospital
King's College Hospital is an acute care facility in the London Borough of Lambeth, referred to locally and by staff simply as "King's" or abbreviated internally to "KCH"...
and at the National Hospital for Paralysis and Epilepsy. The latter was the first hospital in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
to be dedicated to the treatment of neurological diseases.
At that period, the great neurologist John Hughlings Jackson
John Hughlings Jackson
John Hughlings Jackson, FRS , was an English neurologist.- Biography :He was born at Providence Green, Green Hammerton, near Harrogate, Yorkshire, the youngest son of Samuel Jackson, a yeoman who owned and farmed his land, and the former Sarah Hughlings, the daughter of a Welsh revenue collector...
(1835–1911) worked in the same hospital as Ferrier. Jackson was refining his concepts of the sensorimotor functions of the nervous system
Nervous system
The nervous system is an organ system containing a network of specialized cells called neurons that coordinate the actions of an animal and transmit signals between different parts of its body. In most animals the nervous system consists of two parts, central and peripheral. The central nervous...
, derived from clinical experience. Jackson proposed that there was an anatomical and physiological substrate for the localization of brain functions, which was hierarchically organized.
Influenced by Jackson who became a close friend and mentor, Ferrier decided to embark on an experimental program. It aimed to extend the results of two German physiologists, Eduard Hitzig
Eduard Hitzig
Eduard Hitzig was a German neurologist and neuropsychiatrist born in Berlin.He studied medicine at the Universities of Berlin and Würzburg, and had as instructors, famous men such as Emil Du Bois-Reymond , Rudolf Virchow , Moritz Heinrich Romberg and Karl Friedrich Otto Westphal...
(1838–1907) and Gustav Fritsch
Gustav Fritsch
Gustav Theodor Fritsch was a German anatomist, anthropologist, traveller and physiologist from Cottbus, best known for his work with neuropsychiatrist Eduard Hitzig on the electric localization of the motor areas of the brain...
(1837–1927). In 1870, they had published results on localized electrical stimulation of the motor cortex
Motor cortex
Motor cortex is a term that describes regions of the cerebral cortex involved in the planning, control, and execution of voluntary motor functions.-Anatomy of the motor cortex :The motor cortex can be divided into four main parts:...
in dogs. Ferrier wanted also to test Jackson's idea that epilepsy
Epilepsy
Epilepsy is a common chronic neurological disorder characterized by seizures. These seizures are transient signs and/or symptoms of abnormal, excessive or hypersynchronous neuronal activity in the brain.About 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy, and nearly two out of every three new cases...
had a cortical origin, as it was suggested by his clinical observations.
Coincidently, Ferrier had received a proposal to direct the laboratory of experimental neurology at the West Riding Lunatic Asylum, a psychiatric hospital located in Yorkshire. The hospital's director was the psychiatrist James Crichton-Browne
James Crichton-Browne
Sir James Crichton-Browne MD FRS was a leading British psychiatrist famous for studies on the relationship of mental illness to neurological damage and for the development of public health policies in relation to mental health...
(1840–1938). Working under good material conditions and having an abundance of animals for experimentation (mainly rabbits, guinea pigs and dogs), Ferrier started his experiments in 1873, examining experimental lesions and electrical stimulation of the cerebral cortex. Upon his return to London, the Royal Society sponsored the extension of his stimulation experiments to macaque monkeys, work he undertook at the Brown Institution in Lambeth. By the end of the year, he had reported his first results to local and national meetings and had published an account in the enormously influential West Riding Lunatic Asylum Medical Reports.
Ferrier had succeeded in demonstrating, in a spectacular manner, that the low intensity faradic stimulation of the cortex in both animal species indicated a rather precise and specific map for motor functions. The same areas, upon being lesioned, caused the loss of the functions which were elicited by stimulation. Ferrier was also able to demonstrate that the high-intensity stimulation of motor cortical areas caused repetitive movements in the neck, face and members which were highly evocative of epileptic fits seen by neurologists in human beings and animals, which probably were due to a spread of the focus of stimulation, an interpretation very much in line with Jacksonanian thought.
Royal College of Physicians
The Royal College of Physicians of London was founded in 1518 as the College of Physicians by royal charter of King Henry VIII in 1518 - the first medical institution in England to receive a royal charter...
the following year. He was also the first physiologist to make an audacious (if scientifically incorrect) transposition of cortical map
Cortical map
Cortical maps are collections of minicolumns in the brain cortex that have been identified as performing a specific information processing function ....
s obtained in monkeys to the human brain. This proposal soon led to practical consequences in neurology and neurosurgery. A Scottish surgeon, Sir William Macewen
William Macewen
Sir William Macewen, CB, FRS, was a Scottish surgeon. He was a pioneer in modern brain surgery and contributed to the development of bone graft surgery, the surgical treatment of hernia and of pneumonectomy .-Career:Macewen was born near Port Bannatyne, Isle of Bute, Scotland in 1848 and studied...
(1848–1924), and two British physicians, the clinical neurologist, Hughes Bennett, and Rickman J. Godlee demonstrated in 1884, that it was possible to use a precise clinical examination to determine the possible site of a tumor
Tumor
A tumor or tumour is commonly used as a synonym for a neoplasm that appears enlarged in size. Tumor is not synonymous with cancer...
or lesion in the brain, by observing its effects on the side and extension of alterations in motor and sensory functions. This method of functional neurological mapping is still used today. Jackson and Ferrier were present at the first operation performed by Godlee on November 25, 1884. Godlee was a nephew of the eminent physician Sir Joseph Lister
Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister
Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister OM, FRS, PC , known as Sir Joseph Lister, Bt., between 1883 and 1897, was a British surgeon and a pioneer of antiseptic surgery, who promoted the idea of sterile surgery while working at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary...
(1827–1912), the discoverer of surgical antisepsis.
Practical results of animal research were used to justify and absolving Ferrier before a noisy public persecution carried out by antivivisectionist
Vivisection
Vivisection is defined as surgery conducted for experimental purposes on a living organism, typically animals with a central nervous system, to view living internal structure...
societies against him and other scientists, who were accused of inhumane use of animals for experimental medicine. In 1892, Ferrier was one of the founding members of the National Society for the Employment of Epileptics (now the National Society for Epilepsy
National Society for Epilepsy
The Epilepsy Society is the largest medical charity in the field of epilepsy in the United Kingdom, providing services for people with epilepsy for over 100 years...
), along with Sir William Gowers
William Richard Gowers
Sir William Richard Gowers was a British neurologist.The Gowers' tract is named after him....
and John Hughlings Jackson
John Hughlings Jackson
John Hughlings Jackson, FRS , was an English neurologist.- Biography :He was born at Providence Green, Green Hammerton, near Harrogate, Yorkshire, the youngest son of Samuel Jackson, a yeoman who owned and farmed his land, and the former Sarah Hughlings, the daughter of a Welsh revenue collector...
.
He died in 1928, of pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
, in London. He left behind a widow, Constance (née Constance Waterlow, the sister of the painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
Ernest Albert Waterlow
Ernest Albert Waterlow
Sir Ernest Albert Waterlow RA was an English painter. He was born in London, and received the main part of his art education in the Royal Academy schools, where, in 1873, he gained the Turner medal for landscape-painting....
), and a son and daughter; his son Claude
Claude Ferrier
Claude Waterlow Ferrier FRIBA was a Scottish architect, who specialised in the Art Deco style. He was the only son of the physician and neurologist Sir David Ferrier, and a nephew of the painter Ernest Albert Waterlow....
was a well-known architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
.