Discoveries in the Human Brain: Neuroscience Prehistory, Brain Structure, and Function

The authors of this attractive volume have undertaken the formidable task of seeking to give a coherent narrative of the historical development of what are now called the neurosciences from antiquity to the late twentieth century. Recognizing that some organizing theme is needed to guide them through the vast and complex body of material they address, they have settled on the ways in which the relationship between the form and function of the nervous system has been addressed through time; they thus adopt an approach to their subject similar to that of E. S. Russell in his classic history of animal morphology. Marshall and Magoun’s perspective is likewise that of the biologist looking back on the history of the discipline. They insist that “neuroscience” be regarded as one of the fundamental life sciences, one that has come to combine investigation into the structure and function of the nervous system with the study of animal and human behavior. The sweep and scope of the field “should not be distorted by identification with the clinical subdisciplines” (p. 279). Clinical neurologists will no doubt be suitably chastened by this stern injunction.

Marshall and Magoun place at the center of their account the postulate that the nervous system is the outcome of a long and involved evolutionary process: the modern human brain is the endpoint of a “bushy” continuum. It is equally important to grasp that within this process, function has taken precedence over structure: as the organism has developed needs in the struggles for existence, so have appropriate capacities emerged and new organs been adapted or superimposed within the encephalon; hence the functional and structural hierarchy that exists within the nervous system. These basic premises were established around the middle of the nineteenth century, largely owing to the work of three very diverse Englishmen: the philosopher Herbert Spencer, the clinician John Hughlings Jackson, and the naturalist Charles Darwin. Few would wish to dispute this analysis. What one would like to see as a historian is some explanation of why this period and milieu proved of such fundamental importance in laying the foundations of the modern understanding of the nervous system.

The bulk of the book consists of fairly conventional accounts of the development of the major departments of neurophysiology. There is an admirable synthesis of existing literature along with the authors’ own observations. While there is little new in these chapters, it is convenient to have the information collected together in a single volume. The treatment is largely descriptive, although Marshall and Magoun do stress the importance of new investigative technologies as well as appropriate concepts in opening up new lines of inquiry and in refining previous findings. Scant attention is paid to the institutional setting for neuroscientific investigation, to its funding, or to the interactions between the different communities of investigators who now work in this diverse field.

It would be churlish to insist too much on these omissions. Marshall and Magoun lay no claim to providing a sociology of the modern neurosciences; one can only hope that some brave soul will one day essay this daunting task. What the authors of this book have done is to make a great deal of information, combined with judicious comment, available in an appealing and accessible form; the text is admirably clear and enhanced by numerous well-chosen illustrations. This volume should appeal to a wide constituency of readers.