Paul Flechsig’s System of Myelogenetic Cortical Localization in the Light of Recent Research in Neuroanatomy and Neurophysiology Part I

Abstract

SUMMARYIn the first part of the paper supplementary information on Flechsig’s personality and his attitude to work is given which had not been sufficiently appreciated in English biographical notices. This is followed by translated excerpts from “Gehirn and Seele”, published in 1896, in which Flechsig introduced his myelogenetic localization of the cerebral cortex.The second part is mainly a review of recent advances in neuroanatomical and neurophysiological research within those cortical regions in which Flechsig had been interested. A comparison between recent advances and Flechsig’s work demonstrates that Flechsig had definitive ideas on the solution of some of the outstanding problems but had been unable to resolve these with the techniques available at his time.