The 'Kennard effect' before Kennard. The early history of age and brain lesions

The role of age in recovery of function after brain damage has been of particular interest since the mid-1930s when Kennard described sparing of motor function following brain damage in infant monkeys. In the years since her initial papers, this phenomenon has become known as the "Kennard principle." This article describes a number of observations of the Kennard principle prior to Kennard's first publication. Included are descriptions of both early animal research and neurologic cases.