title: The eponymous legacy of Sir William Richard Gowers (1845-1915): A revealing letter.
abstract: The eponymous legacy of Sir William Richard Gowers (1845-1915) was the subject of a comprehensive appraisal first written for this journal late last year. Since the completion of that work, a revealing February 1903 letter has come to light recording, amongst other things, Gowers' firsthand and somewhat private opinions concerning some of his own eponymous contributions to medicine. This addendum to the primary author's original article will review and contextualize this very interesting find as it relates to Gowers' eponymous legacy. Gowers' "ataxic paraplegia" (referred to as "Gowers' disease" in the letter) and "syringal hemorrhage" are specially considered, and his broader neological contributions are also briefly addressed. For completion, a number of other previously unnoticed eponyms are added to the already impressive list of medical entities named in Gowers' honor, and a more complete collection of eponyms found in Gowers' Manual are tabulated for consideration.
authors.affiliation: a University of Queensland School of Medicine , Brisbane , Queensland , Australia.
authors.forename: Nadeem
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Toodayan
authors.affiliation: b Department of Neurology, Mayo Clinic , Rochester , Minnesota , USA.
authors.forename: Christopher J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Boes
mesh_terms: D004850:Eponyms; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D009462:Neurology / Q000266:history*; D014956:Writing
keywords: Eponyms in Gowers’ Manual of Diseases of the Nervous System; Gowers eponyms; Gowers’ ataxic paraplegia; Gowers’ neology; Gowers’ syringal hemorrhage; Moses Allen Starr (1854–1932); Sir William Richard Gowers (1845–1915); The Gowers Centenary