[Spanish neurology during "The Illumination". The work of Gaspar Casal]

During 'The Illustration', Spanish medicine broke free of its cultural isolation and sought to participate in the new European tendencies. Sydenham's medicine, based on observation as opposed to the dogmatism of Galenism, was practised in our country by Gaspar Casal of Gerona. His posthumous work Historia Natural y Médica del Principado de Asturias is an outstanding example of observation and theory based on the evidence. Famous for his description of the clinical picture of pellagra (mal de la rosa) it includes chapters in which his clinical acumen was applied to neurological conditions such as hysteria, epilepsy and apoplexy.