Origins of Vertigo

Abstract

The words for vertigo: ‘dinos’, ‘ilinggous’ ,‘skotomatikoi,’ date back to the classical period of Plato and Hippocrates. They were followed by the Latin ‘vertigine’ and ‘scotomia’. Excessive heat or blood in the brain was the original causes of vertigo, followed by Galen’s vaporous pneuma. Not until Flourens demonstration of circling movement in pigeons in which he had destroyed the semicircular canals, and Brown-Séquard’s observation of vertigo in man after syringing the ear with cold water, did the vital role of the vestibular apparatus appear. Subsequent syndromes described by Ménière and Bárány showed the role of the inner ear in causing vertigo in man.