Willis's Cerebri Anatome

Abstract

The admirers of Thomas Willis are indebted to Dr O'Connor (March 2003 JRSM1) for adding further evidence that Cerebri Anatome (1664) reflects the religious and political practices of mid-17th-century England. Keele previously noted that the dedication of this famous book can leave no reasonable doubt that Willis carried through all his great work on the anatomy of the brain in a deeply religious spirit. Like William Harvey before him Willis saw nothing incongruous between religious sincerity and anatomical investigation.2 Willis dedicated all three of his works on the anatomy, pathology and clinical disorders of the nervous system to Gilbert Sheldon, Archbishop of Canterbury and his patron, patient and friend. After a devoted and pious life, his body was laid to rest in Westminster Abbey, a fitting tribute to the founder of neurology.3,4