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Michael Faraday's "loss of memory" revisited
A J Larner1,2
1Cognitive Function Clinic, Walton Centre for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Liverpool, UK.
Journal of the History of the Neurosciences
|September 16, 2020
Summary
Psychiatrist Edward Hare suggested Michael Faraday had an amnesic syndrome. Re-examining evidence suggests Faraday
Area of Science:
- Neurology and the history of medicine.
- Cognitive disorders and neuropsychiatry.
Background:
- Michael Faraday experienced memory symptoms in his later life.
- Psychiatrist Edward Hare proposed a diagnosis of transient ischemic attack (TIA) in the vertebrobasilar system in the 1970s.
Purpose of the Study:
- To re-evaluate Edward Hare's 1970s analysis of Michael Faraday's memory symptoms.
- To consider contemporary evidence and subsequent critiques of Hare's diagnosis.
- To propose an alternative explanation for Faraday's cognitive difficulties in light of modern understandings of memory disorders.
Main Methods:
- Review of Michael Faraday's personal letters.
- Analysis of physician Peter Mere Latham's contemporary notes.
- Comparison with historical and modern conceptualizations of memory disorders.
Main Results:
- Hare's original analysis of Faraday's memory symptoms is revisited.
- Shortcomings and limitations in Hare's diagnostic formulation are identified.
- A new diagnostic possibility for Faraday's symptoms is proposed.
Conclusions:
- Edward Hare's diagnosis of an amnesic syndrome due to TIA is questioned.
- Michael Faraday's memory symptoms are reinterpreted as a functional cognitive disorder.
- This case highlights the evolution of understanding cognitive and memory impairments.
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