Commemorating the 200th anniversary of the first specific description of parkinsonism
Except as a historical footnote in Talley and O’Connor’s time-honoured Clinical examination textbook,1 many younger generations of Australian medical practitioners may never have heard of James Parkinson’s (1755–1824) historic Essay on the shaking palsy.2 Certainly for medicos in their formative years, often already grappling with the ever expanding array of modern educational resources and facilities, this 200-year-old medical essay lurks low on the list of professional priorities. But this should not always be the case, and if William Osler’s (1849–1919) advice to doctors-in-training is anything to go by — “Let the old men read new books; you read the journals and the old books”3 — then there is reason enough to further our knowledge of the history of medicine during our training as medical practitioners. For those so persuaded, the bicentenary of Parkinson’s classic Essay provides ample impetus for historical reflection.
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- 1. Talley NJ, O’Connor S. Clinical examination: a systematic guide to physical diagnosis. 3rd edition. Sydney: MacLennan & Petty. 1996.
- 2. Parkinson J. An essay on the shaking palsy. London: Whittingham and Rowland for Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, 1817. https://archive.org/details/essayonshakingpa00parkuoft (viewed Dec 2017).
- 3. Osler W. Internal medicine as a vocation. Medical News 1897; 71: 660-663. https://archive.org/download/cihm_52037/cihm_52037.pdf (viewed Dec 2017).
- 4. Lewis C. The enlightened Mr. Parkinson: the pioneering life of a forgotten surgeon. London: Icon Books, 2017.
- 5. Parkinson James. An essay on the shaking. Sale 8976: The Haskell F. Norman Library of Science and Medicine, 29 October 1998, New York [website]. http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/Lot/parkinson-james-1755-1824-an-essay-on-the-1339940-details.aspx (viewed Dec 2017).
- 6. Przedborski S. The two-century journey of Parkinson disease research. Nat Rev Neurosci 2017; 18: 251-259.
- 7. Rowntree LG. James Parkinson. Bull Johns Hopkins Hospital 1912; 33: 33-45.
- 8. McMenemey WH. James Parkinson (1755–1824): a biographical essay. In Critchley M (editor) James Parkinson (1755–1824): a bicentenary volume of papers dealing with Parkinson's disease. London: Macmillan & Co., 1955; pp. 1-143.
- 9. Morris AD. James Parkinson, his life and times. Basel: Birkhäuser, 1989.
- 10. Roberts S. James Parkinson 1755–1824: from apothecary to general practitioner. London: Royal Society of Medicine Press, 1997.
- 11. Goetz C, editor. Charcot the clinician: the Tuesday lessons. Excerpts from nine case presentations on general neurology delivered at the Salpêtrière Hospital in 1887–1888 by Jean-Martin Charcot. New York: Raven Press, 1987.
- 12. Porter R. Enlightenment: Britain and the creation of the modern world. London: Penguin, 2001.
- 13. Kempster PA, Hurwitz B, Lees AJ. James Parkinson’s chimera: syndrome or disease? J R Coll Physicians Edinb 2017; 47: 190-195.
- 14. Lees A. An essay on the shaking palsy. Brain 2017; 140: 843-848.
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