The correspondence between Bernard Brouwer and John Fulton (1930-1940)

In 1933, Bernard Brouwer (1881-1949), first professor of neurology in Amsterdam (1923), made his second lecture tour in the USA. He met John Fulton (1899-1960) who had recently assumed the position of Sterling professor of physiology (1930). Next to clinical neurology, Brouwer had become well-known by his clinical-anatomical, experimental neuroanatomical, and comparative neuroanatomical work at the Central Institute for Brain Research in Amsterdam. At the time, John Fulton, pupil of Sherrington and Cushing, was particularly interested in research of the primate central nervous system. The correspondence between Brouwer and Fulton (1930-1940), preserved at the Manuscripts and Archives Division of Yale Library, provides an opportunity to study international exchange of neuroscientific knowledge in the first half of the 20th century. Brouwer and Fulton first met during the first International Congress of Neurology at Berne in 1931, where they discussed the anatomy of optic tracts. Next to this subject, the correspondence in that year dealt with the crossed and uncrossed pyramidal tracts. Brouwer's visit at Yale (1933) was well appreciated as appears from their correspondence as well as from Fulton's diary. Fulton sent several students to Amsterdam, including Margaret Kennard (1899-1976) who visited Amsterdam in order to "receive further neuroanatomical and clinical training of the type that only you can give". On the other hand, Brouwer sent several Amsterdam pupils and Dutch colleagues to New Haven. From the correspondence, we learn that there was a vivid exchange of neuroscientific knowledge by books, letters, reprints and pupils. The correspondence demonstrates the changing dynamics of scientific exchange between Europe and America.