Classic articles of 19th-century American neurologists: a critical review

The purpose of this article is to critically review citation classics of 19th-century members of the American Neurological Association (ANA), and to elaborate what these works contributed and why they continue to be important. Most classic articles of 19th-century American neurologists were initial or early descriptions of clinical conditions, diseases, or procedures. These include descriptions by Beard of the Jumping Frenchmen of Maine; by Sachs of "amaurotic family idiocy" (Tay-Sachs disease); by Hun of the lateral medullary syndrome; by Mitchell of phantom limbs; and by Dana of familial tremor. Few of these were the initial description, although most were clear and fairly complete by modern standards. Several citation classics were cited mainly as a point of comparison with later events or developments, including those by Corning on spinal anesthesia, Bartholow on electrical stimulation of the brain, Mitchell on the status of American psychiatry, and Starr on childhood brain tumors. The reports of Corning, Bartholow, and Mitchell have been the subjects of continued controversy. The only examples of basic neuroscience among the citation classics are the classic studies by Onuf and Collins involving ablation of portions of the sympathetic chain in cats, and Onuf's description of the nucleus of Onuf in the human spinal cord. Onuf's basic science work was made possible by a unique and short-lived multidisciplinary research environment created at the New York State Pathological Institute for the scientific investigation of insanity and neurologic diseases.