[Tributes to Macdonald Critchley and his achievements in neurolinguistics].
Macdonald Critchley, a world renowned neurologist, is best remembered as the person who challenged to solve the mystery and enigma of higher cerebral functions. He was the author of over 200 published articles and 20 books on neurology including his pioneer work on developmental dyslexia, the parietal lobe, cerebral hemisphere dominance and aphasiology. He also published articles on migraine, epilepsy, dementia, visual perseveration, anterior cerebral artery syndromes, indifference to pain, sleep disorders, movement disorders, and myotonia. He was very erudite and talented in linguistics; his interests were broad and eclectic. He wrote extensively on non-medical topics, such as plays, horror stories, mythology, and biographies of distinguished neuroscientists, philosophers or artists. His articles were written in the elegant prose style with thorough reference citations and extensive reviews of the literature worldwide. He was born in Bristol in 1900. From an early age, he was fascinated with the functioning brain and retained a life-long interest in languages. He was appointed to the Consultant staff of the National Hospital, Queen Square, and to King's College Hospital at the age of 27, and was elected to become FRCP at 30. He was Dean of the Institute of Neurology from 1948 to 1953. When I was studying advanced neurology at Queen Square in 1960-1961, I was fascinated by his outstanding lectures on Huntington's Disease and Non-verbal Communication. Although he did not read the manuscripts and used only a few slides for illustrations in his lectures, he could describe the details of historical accounts and relevant figures. He was an altruistic, instructive teacher with keen attention to responses from the audience. His clinical demonstrations, teaching rounds and tutorials were hugely popular among postgraduate students from all over the world. He emphasized the importance of shrewd observation and careful history taking in neurological practice. Macdonald Critchley was President of the World Federation of Neurology (1965-1973) and Editor of Journal of the Neurological Sciences. I met him at the 2nd Asian and Oceanian Congress of Neurology held in Melbourne in 1967. He was interested to know more about aphasia and dyslexia among people speaking and reading Chinese. He kindly invited me to speak on 'Linguistic Implications of Chinese Characters' at the meeting of the Research Group on Developmental Dyslexia in Dallas. Critchley's prominent achievements in teaching, writings and research on neurology derived from his creative thinking, powers of shrewd observation, wide knowledge of literature, and indefatigable assiduity in scientific pursuits. He died peacefully at home at the age of 97 and entered the pantheon of distinguished neuroscientists of the 20th century.
Hung
Tsu-Pei
TP
College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei. tsupei@ha.mc.ntu.edu.tw
D004739:England; D049673:History, 20th Century; D008037:Linguistics; D009462:Neurology