David Ferrier and Luigi Luciani on the localization of brain functions

Cerebral localizations discovered by Luciani will be compared with those observed by Ferrier, the 'father' of cerebral cartography. The two neurophysiologists' different experimental results will be analyzed from an epistemological point of view, in the light of their respective methodologies, models and theoretical assumptions. Luciani was always profoundly aware of the importance of theoretical assumptions and their impact both on methodological approaches and on how to interpret the results of experiments (results which were often the same as those obtained by Goltz, even though they were interpreted in quite dissimilar ways because they were based on different models). Agreement or disagreement with Ferrier's interpretation of cerebral functioning, and the two men's conception on the functional differentiation of well-identified cortical areas will be interpreted on epistemological ground. Reference will be made, on the one hand, to the theoretical model behind Luciani's experiments, on the other hand, to methods and procedures which allowed him to observe his experimental subjects for a longer period of time after the operation because of their longer survival rates. He was, consequently, able to carry out a more detailed analysis of the effects of experimentation on animal behavior. In this sense the time factor acquired a fundamental importance in the development of notions such as compensation and functional recovery. From Luciani's vast amount of activity in the field of physiology at the turn of the century, we shall take a look at the results of his investigations into cerebral localization in order to highlight the state of Italian neurophysiology in relation to the situation in contemporary Europe and, in particular, to the situation in Great Britain.