title: The history of the neurological examination. Part 1: ancient and pre-modern history--3000 BC to AD 1850.
abstract: Every time a physician conducts a neurological examination the process continues a biomedical search for understanding the nervous system which is as ancient as the earliest civilizations in human history. Most of the modern neurological examination evolved in a short time span, between 1850 and 1914, but the origins of neurology as a medical quest for knowledge date to the first evolution of urban life, in the valleys of the Euphrates and the Nile. This paper reviews this history in two chronological segments: part 1 up to 1850 and part 2 the subsequent period.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77030, USA.
authors.forename: B M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Patten
mesh_terms: D049690:History, Ancient; D049692:History, Early Modern 1451-1600; D049691:History, Medieval; D049711:History, Modern 1601-; D006801:Humans; D009460:Neurologic Examination / Q000266:history*