Rhinencephalon, Tabes Dorsalis and Elpenor’’s Syndrome: The Fascinating Stories Behind These and Other Neuroscience Terms

This book is a fascinating collection of various neuroscience terms coined over the last centuries. Each of the 45 chapters in this book dives deep into the etymologies, vernacular subtleties and historical anecdotes relating to these terms.

The book illustrates the rich and diverse history of neuroscience, which has borrowed and continues to borrow terms and concepts from across cultures, literature and languages. The ever-increasing number of terms that needed to be coined with the mushrooming of the field required neuroscientists to show astonishing imagination and creativity, leading them to draw inspiration from Graeco-Roman mythology (Elpenor’s syndrome), literature (Lasthenie de Ferjol’s syndrome), theatre (Ondine’s curse), Japanese folklore (Kanashibari), and even the Bible (Matthew effect). This book will of be immense interest to scholars and researchers studying neuroscience, history of science, anatomy, psychology and linguistics. It will also appeal to any reader interested in learning more about neuroscience and its history.

All the chapters included in this book were originally published in a column that appeared from 1997 to 2020 in the Journal of the History of the Neurosciences.

Régis Olry, MD, MSC (France), is Professor of Anatomy at the University of Québec, Trois-Rivières, and has previously held faculty positions in Germany (Heidelberg and Marburg). He has published numerous articles and three books on neuroanatomy and the history of anatomical terminology and has received awards for university teaching and his articles on the origins of words and phrases in the neurosciences.

Duane E. Haines, PhD, has held faculty positions at Wake Forest, Mississippi, West Virginia (Professor and Chairman), and at Medical College of Virginia. He is author of numerous scientific papers and 15 books, including a brain atlas and a neuroscience text. He has held offices in scientific organizations and participated in the writing of Nomina Anatomica.