title: Brown-Séquard, a restless mind.
abstract: Brown-Séquard, a remarkable medical personality of the 19 th century, was born in a small island of the Indian Ocean. He travelled over the world exerting his skills: a successful physician, and an innovative researcher, with a very ample range of interests. His favored subject was the nervous system. The spinal cord was studied extensively, with novel and important discoveries on the sensory pathways. He identified cases with spinal cord hemisection, and described the clinical presentation corresponding to a syndrome which bears his name (Brown-Séquard syndrome), for which he is best known among neurologists. Regarding the brain, he proposed nine mental and physical functions (organs) related to dynamically interconnected cell clusters, in harmony with the " réseau de cellules anastomosées ", " activités dynamogeniques et inhibitrices ", and " action à distance " concepts. Finally, he is considered by some as the "father" of endocrinology, due to his studies on glands and their secretions.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Neurologia Deolindo Couto, Centro para Doença de Alzheimer, Instituto de Psiquiatria, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de JaneiroRJ, Brazil.
authors.forename: Eliasz
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Engelhardt
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Neurologia Deolindo Couto, Instituto de Psiquiatria, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de JaneiroRJ, Brazil.
authors.forename: Marleide da Mota
authors.initials: Mda M
authors.lastname: Gomes
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D018437:Brown-Sequard Syndrome / Q000266:history; D049672:History, 19th Century; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000502:physiology*