Stanley Cobb: A Builder of the Modern Neurosciences

Abstract

Who was Stanley Cobb? He made no important scientific discoveries, no new clinical observations. But Benjamin V. White, a gastroenterologist who was one of Cobb's students, has written an excellent biography of this teacher and administrator, whose life is interesting and instructive. He began as an ornithologist, became a leading neurologist and neuropathologist,ed in midcarmidcareerpsychiatry psychoanalysis, and ended life as a comparative anatomist and proponent of environmental conservation. Born in Boston in 1887 of an old New England family, Stanley Cobb early in life developed an interest in nature. During vacations from Harvardlege and Medical School, he traveled to many locations throughout North America; his observations of bird life were published in ornithological journals. After graduation from medical school he set out on a carefully designed program of trainingat included one year of neurosurgery with Harvey Cushing, years of neuropsychiatry under Adolph Meyer, and two years traveling Europe, where he