Neuroscience ─ A Historical Introduction

This introduction to neuroscience is unique in its emphasis on how we know what weknow about the structure and function of the nervous system. What are the observations andexperiments that have taught us about the brain and spinal cord? The book traces our currentneuroscientific knowledge to many and varied sources, including ancient observations on the role ofthe spinal cord in posture and movement, nineteenth-century neuroanatomists' descriptions of thenature of nerve cells, physicians' attempts throughout history to correlate the site of a braininjury with its symptoms, and experiments on the brains of invertebrates. After an overview of thebrain and its connections to the sensory and motor systems, Neurosciencediscusses, among other topics, the structure of nerve cells; electrical transmission in the nervoussystem; chemical transmission and the mechanism of drug action; sensation; vision; hearing;movement; learning and memory; language and the brain; neurological disease; personality andemotion; the treatment of mental illness; and consciousness. It explains the sometimes bafflingLatin names for brain subdivisions; discusses the role of technology in the field, from microscopesto EEGs; and describes the many varieties of scientific discovery. The book's novel perspectiveoffers a particularly effective way for students to learn about neuroscience. It also makes it clearthat past contributions offer a valuable guide for thinking about the puzzles that remain.

Mitchell Glickstein is Emeritus Professor of Neuroscience at University College London. He has held research and teaching positions at Caltech, University of Washington, Brown University, and Dartmouth College.