[Johan Sebastian Welhaven's parkinsonism. An insight into the history of literature].
The article is meant to give new insight into the history of literature: During the last ten years of his life, Welhaven produced neither poetry nor prose and lived withdrawn in his own house, mainly because he had Parkinson's disease. He understood himself, as his doctors did--and his biographers--that he suffered from a brain disease. However, nobody was able to make a Parkinson diagnosis in Norway in the 1860s. This was perhaps possible for a handful of French neurologists, who at this time "rediscovered" James Parkinson's "An Essay on the shaking palsy" from 1817--and named the disease Maladie de Parkinson, or Parkinson's disease. When a neurologist today reads Welhaven's own observations or those of his contemporaries, and his biographies, he has little doubt about the diagnosis.
Nevrologisk poliklinikk, Oslo.
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Kierulf
D005197:Famous Persons; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008513:Medicine in Literature; D009664:Norway; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000266:history*
Johan Sebastian Welhavens parkinsonisme. En litteraturhistorisk oppklaring.