Cerebral palsy

Abstract

Thanks to my insightful and industrious academic colleagues, the challenge of writing this column usually lies in trying to do justice to a heap of monographs and articles in a few hundred words. Compared with cholera, cancer, or hysteria, though, cerebral palsy has provoked little historical scholarship—a curious omission at a time when the recovery of lost voices and experiences lies at the heart of historiographical practice. Even after a century and more of research and debate, in the words of the neurologists Anamarija Kavčič and David B Vodušek, “it is still easier to explain what cerebral palsy is not”. The historian will see you now: introducing Case Histories“I hope that Lord Grey and you are well”, wrote the Regency wit and clergyman Sydney Smith to his confidante Lady Mary Grey in February, 1836, “no easy thing, seeing that there are about fifteen hundred diseases to which man is subject”. Last year the editors of the Lancet journals announced the launch of The Lancet Clinic, a major online initiative which draws together an overview Seminar with the best current research from across the Lancet journals on 135 of the most globally important diseases. Full-Text PDF Type 1 diabetesWriting in 1649, the English herbalist Nicholas Culpeper despaired of his patients with diabetes: their “continual pissinge” was resistant to all treatment, and their deaths were rapid and certain. No longer: type 1 diabetes is a striking example of the transformation of the meaning of a diagnosis by application of clinical research. Its history reflects the trajectory of medicine away from heroic interventions and towards long-term treatment, from cure to care. Full-Text PDF