XXI 



HENRY CHARLTON BASTIAN (1837—1915). 



Db. Bastian was one of the oldest living Fellows of the Royal Society, 

 having been elected in 1868. He was born at Truro on April 26, 1837, 

 and died at his residence, Chesham Bois, Bucks, on November 17, 1915. 

 He had a distinguished academic career at tbe University of London, 

 graduating M.A. 1861 and M.D. in 1866. For a short time he was Lecturer 

 on Pathology and Assistant Physician at St. Mary's Hospital, which post 

 he resigned in 1867 to return to his Alma Mater, University College, as 

 Professor of Pathology and Assistant Physician to University College 

 Hospital. He later became full Physician, and resigned in 1897. 



Quite early in his career Dr. Bastian showed the spirit of scientific 

 investigation, and published a monograph on the Anguillulidje, 1865, of 

 which he discovered 100 new species of one family ; also a monograph 

 contributed to the Linnean Society on Nematoids, parasitic and free. 



During his appointment as Assistant Physician to University College 

 Hospital his clear analytical mind was directed towards neurological science, 

 and quite early in 1867 he described and pictured in a communication to 

 the Royal Medico-Chirurgical Society a tract in the spinal cord, afterwards 

 known as Gowers' tract. In 1868 he was appointed Assistant Physician 

 to the Hospital for the Paralysed and Epileptic in Queen Square, with 

 which institution he was associated till 1912. He became full Physician 

 in 1887, retired in 1902, and remained a Consulting Physician, with ten beds, 

 till 1912. 



During this long period ample opportunities arose for the investigation 

 and study of Nervous Diseases, and his many works are remarkable alike 

 for lucidity of exposition, accurate observation and sound reasoning. 

 Moreover, his works on Neurology reflect his keen critical faculty and 

 knowledge of Psychology. Indeed, in his writings one frequently sees the 

 influence of his friend Herbert Spencer, with whose works he was most 

 familiar. In 1869, Dr. Bastian published in the 'British and Foreign 

 Medico-Chirurgical Review ' the first paper of a remarkable series of 

 observations and deductions on the subject of Aphasia, which, if he had 

 done nothing else, would have sufficed to establish for him a great scientific 

 reputation as a pioneer in Neurology. In this monograph, entitled, " On the 

 Various Forms of Speech Defects," he anticipated Wernicke by five years, 

 for he clearly described that affection of speech usually spoken of as 

 " Wernicke's Sensory Aphasia " ; but if it is desirable to associate any name 

 with any particular affection or disease it should be " Bastian's Sensory 

 Aphasia." From this time onward he continued to publish many valuable 

 monographs and books relating to Neurological Science. Among the most 

 important are ' The Brain as an Organ of Mind,' International Series, 1882 ; 



VOL. LXXXIX. — B d 



