CHARLES EDWARD BROWN-SEQUARD 



BROWN-SEQUARD WHS oiicc dcscribccl by Harvey Gushing as "the Ponce de 

 Leon of our predecessors," who "thought he had in reality found the foun- 

 tain of perpetual youth." While Ponce de Leon failed in his attempt to dis- 

 cover the fabled fountain, he did succeed in conquering the island of Puerto 

 Rico and was appointed by the King of Spain to the office of governor of "The 

 Island of Florida." Brown-Sequard had his disappointments in endocrinologi- 

 cal discovery, yet lie made many important observations in the virgin field of 

 endocrinology and left an honored record in medical history as a gifted and 

 indefatigable explorer. It would seem fitting in this volinne, which honors one 

 Avho has foinid time from his studies in anatomy and in nutrition to carry on 

 epochal work in endocrinology, to sketch briefly the career of this pioneer of 

 an earlier generation. Brown-Sequard did not have at his disposal the well- 

 equipped laboratories of the twentieth century with their wealth of accimiu- 

 lated chemical and physical knowledge. Much of his work was done in hours 

 snatched from long days of arduous medical practice, frequently interrupted 

 by revolutions, coups d'etat and profound political and social upheavals. Yet, 

 like our colleague and friend, he was gifted with a vivid imagination, an in- 

 terest in many fields of medical research and a most remarkable industry, 

 energy, and perseverance. 



Charles Edward Brown-Sequard was born in 1817 on the island of Mavuitius 

 in the Indian Ocean, some 550 miles east of Madagascar. This island of 

 Mauritius was discovered by the Portuguese, but settled and then abandoned 

 by the Dutch. It was subsequently under French rule from 1715 until 1810, 

 when it was captured by the British. The British still rule the island, although 

 to this day the majority of the population speak French. According to some 

 authorities, Brown-Sequard's father, Edward Brown, was an Irishman from 

 county Galway, but other biographers state that he was a sea captain from 

 Philadelphia. There is general agreement that his mother. Mile. Sequard, 

 Avas a native of Mauritius and of French extraction. His father, the hardy sea 

 captain, died on a cruise before the birth of his son, and his widow presently 

 brought the child to the United States, where he received his early education. 

 From his earliest childhood, he apparently had not one, but two mother 

 tongues, for he wrote and spoke both English and French with equal facility. 

 While most of his scientific work was done in France and he died as a pro- 

 fessor in the College de France in Paris, according to his obituary in the 

 Lancet, "he never lost an opportunity of expressing his desire that he should 

 be looked upon as a British subject." He was, however, in many respects, a 

 true cosmopolitan and, in the course of his life, practiced medicine in Paris. 

 London, Mauritius, Boston, and New York. 



Brown-Sequard emigrated to France at the age of twenty-one, and began 

 the study of medicine at Paris. At that time Paris was, unquestionably, the 



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