^'72 Brown-Sequard 



medical center of the world. The tradition of Bichat, Corvisart, and Laennec 

 was very nuuh alive and molded the thought of both instructors and students. 

 Bouillaud was still active, and Louis, Cruveilheir, Trousseau, Magendie and 

 Orfila were attracting enthusiastic students from all parts of the world. Young 

 Brown-Sequard was thrown into the stimulating atmosphere of a medical 

 center which had only recently produced a revolution in medical thought 

 and was impatient to extend still further the boundaries of human knowledge. 



In 1846, Brown-Sequard received the degree of doctor of medicine from the 

 Faculty of Medicine of Paris. His doctor's thesis was on the "Vital Properties 

 and Functions of the Spinal Cord," a subject which continued to interest him 

 throughout his medical career. In this thesis, Brown-Sequard reported studies 

 on the motor power of the legs of a frog following section of the spinal cord. 

 He found that immediately after section the motor force was zero, or at most, 

 one-quarter or one-third that before the operation, while one hour later it 

 was greatly increased, often twice the preoperative value. Twenty-four hours 

 later, the motor power showed its maximum increase after which there was 

 usually a gradual decline. He also noted that section of one-half of the cord 

 did not destroy sensation in the areas receiving their nerve supply from the 

 lower portion of the cord. 



Brown-Sequard continued to study the nervotxs system, carrying out numer- 

 ous experiments and studying patients suffering from nervous diseases. In 

 1849, three years after his graduation, he published in the Comptes Rendus des 

 SeaJices ef Memoires de la Societe de Biologie an observation that brought him 

 instant recognition and fame— the demonstration of sensory decussation in the 

 spinal cord. This phenomenon, since known as Brown-Sequard's syndrome 

 or paralysis and described in almost every textbook of neurology published 

 since that date, is described by Borland as "paralysis of motion on one side 

 and of sensation on the other side after hemisection of the spinal cord." This 

 subject continued the object of Brown-Sequard's study for years, and fourteen 

 years later he summarized twenty-four cases showing this phenomenon, some 

 the result of wounds, others the result of disease of the spinal cord. 



Brown-Sequard practised medicine in Paris a few years, devoting his atten- 

 tion mainly to diseases of the nervous system, assembling data on his patients, 

 and carrying out physiological experiments. While he was always primarily 

 interested in the nervous system, his restless spirit refused to be confined in 

 this cadre, so that his interests wandered over the general field of medicine. 

 His restlessness of spirit is also reflected in his peregrinations to various parts 

 of the world. His free expression of radical political views is said to have forced 

 him to flee France in 1852 and to find refuge in New York, where he supported 

 himself by the practice of obstetrics, charging five dollars per case for his 

 services. In 1854 we find him practicing medicine in his native Mauritius, but 

 not for long. The following year he is once more in America, teaching the 

 institutes of medicine in the Virginia Medical College. The next year, how- 

 ever, he was back again in his old haunts in Paris. 



