The Brain and Its Functions Prior to Gall

Abstract

Very little was known about the brain, its structural organization, and its functions when Gall began his dissections of animals, autopsies on people, and studies of individuals with congenital or acquired brain damage. In particular, the cerebral cortex had been either ignored or looked upon as a unified organ with a single function, such as memory. Emanuel Swedenborg was the only person prior to Gall to conclude with supportive evidence that it must be comprised of a number of distinct functional areas. Swedenborg’s insights from the mid-1700s were based on cases of brain damage, anatomy, and logic, but remained unknown to scientists and physicians when Gall began formulating his own ideas in the rapidly changing Zeitgeist at the end of the century.