The J.H.B. archive report: the Alexander Forbes papers.

Abstract

Alexander Forbes (1882-1965), Professor of Physiology at Harvard Medical School, was an American pioneer in the electrical study of the nervous system. The Alexander Forbes Archive comprises the professional papers and materials generated by him during sixty years of research, and reflects an exciting period of controversy and discovery in neurophysiology. Forbes was a student, collaborator, and close friend of some of the most brilliant members of several generations of British and American physiologists, including Charles S. Sherrington, Keith Lucas, E. D. Adrian, A. V. Hill, John C. Eccles, Walter B. Cannon, Hallowell Davis, Stanley Cobb, and George Wald. His personal background was equally noteworthy: he was of a wealthy and distinguished Massachusetts family, son of the president of Bell Telephone Company and grandson of Ralph Waldo Emerson.' Forbes's many contributions stemmed from his extraordinary ability to obtain and utilize quantitative recordings of electrical events in the nervous system. His interpretation of such data led to a greater understanding of the complex neurological interactions which are manifested as an integrated perception or response.2 Improvements in physiological recording techniques were among the most important advances attributable to Forbes. In 1914-1915, using a string gplvanometer, he made the first electrical recordings of central reflex phenomena.3 In 1919-1920,