Corteccia cerebrale e funzioni cognitive: Ventitré secoli di storia (review)

Tullio Manzoni (1937–2011) was professor emeritus of physiology and dean of the medical school at the Università Politecnica delle Marche (in Ancona, central Italy). The book reviewed was the last written by Manzoni before he died suddenly in December. In 1962, Manzoni received his degree in Bologna and dedicated his professional career to neurophysiology, with a particular studies on the corpus callosum. He also had another great passion for the history of ancient neuroscience. His historical publications concern the development of brain localization in topographic and functional meaning by ancient scientists and philosophers as well as Galen and Aristotle.

The book is an overview on cerebral cortical and cognitive functions analysis from the ancient concept on the brain localization to the neuroscientific theories of the nineteenth century. The first part of the book examines ancient times, with historical description of the different contributions of ideas and people on cortical and functional knowledge on the brain. The paragraphs are presented clearly and with suitable divisions, providing a practical approach for scholars interested in studying this period. In the first chapter, on antiquity, Manzoni shows his deep knowledge of this historical period, confirmed by an addendum that provides further information.

The second part, relating to the Renaissance, is a brief examination of Vesalius’s anatomical revolution and his influence on neuroscience, without examining his relationship with other scientists and tools that permitted this discipline to become independent and provide great contributions to medicine and others science fields. The last part is focused on the vast development in understanding of the cortical and functional activity of the brain in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that formed cognitive science. The book examines the contributions to understanding of neuroanatomy and neurophysiology and associated neuropsychology by different scientists across the world. There is a long list of scientists, but the author limits his analysis to the experiments of Paul Broca, Gustav Theodor Fritsch, and Eduard Hitzig. Although the author could not have included the entire nineteenth century within his examination, there are some important omissions. In particular, in chapter 6 Manzoni examines Gall’s theory of neuroscience without mentioning the contributions of Italian scientists. In the nineteenth century, the leader among the Italians was the anatomist Lorenzo Tenchini (1852–1906), who wrote Contributo alla storia dei progressi dell’anatomia e della fisiologia del cervello nel secolo corrente con particolare riguardo alla dottrina di Gall. Dalle ultime pubblicazioni di Gall al 1870 (Contribution to the History of the Progress of Anatomy and Physiology of the Brain in the Current Century with Particular Reference to the Doctrine of Gall. From the Latest Publications of Gall to 1870), printed by Detken in Naples in 1880. Tenchini contributed to these phrenological theories by examining criminal anthropology and studying cerebral circumvolution, and he assisted different European neuroscientists who applied cortical localization theory to explain the moral sense in the brain. Another omission is Filippo Lussana (1820–97), professor of physiology in Parma and later at Padua University, who played an important role in the study of phrenology and the new cortical and cognitive concepts. His neurophysiological studies are an example of science examining the death of Gall’s thought and the origin of early positivistic ideas. He was one of the first to describe the center of the language, but in relationship with phrenological influence, emphasizing Gall’s theory of specific cortical regions correlated with specific behavior or special psychic function. The final absence is the lack of any consideration of the concept of corticocentrism as a bias in new cognitive sciences.¹ It played an important role in the debate on the development of cognitive science.

Despite these omissions, the book, especially chapter 6, is useful for academic readers searching for historical and scientific information on ancient times. It provides a slice of knowledge on the origin of cognitive science and leaves readers with the incentive to learn more by consulting other historical medical texts.