Wilhelm von Hboldt and James Parkinson. An appraisal of observation and creativity

Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767-1835) was an educational reformer, a statesman serving Frederick William III, King of Prussia and a philologist, who influenced the contemporary linguist Chomsky. Moreover von Humbolt was a prolific writer, he kept up a substantial correspondence with family and a circle of acquaintances. His letters also contain references to his physical fitness. In the year of James Parkinson's death, 1824, von Humboldt mentioned difficulties with writing for the first time. From his correspondence during the last 11 years of his life we can reconstruct a classic development of the shaking palsy based on clever self-observations. Von Humboldt supplemented James Parkinson's description with micrographia, and dysdiadochokinesia. In addition, he observed, that turning over in bed was impeded, that after 9 years of misery his tremor subsided, and that writing was possible using Latin print lettering instead of his usual gothic handwriting, von Humboldt died on the 8th April 1835 of pneumonia, a complication of his illness; he kept his full intellectual and artistic capacities until the end.