On the 400th anniversary of the birth of Thomas Willis

Abstract

Zoltan Molnar marks the 400th anniversary of the birth of one of the great neuroanatomists, Thomas Willis. While Willis’ name is usually associated with ‘the circle’ and the word ‘neurologia’, his work also formed the foundation of modern translational research and clinical medicine.

Figure 1

Letter by Thomas Willis to Richard Higges, 27 August 1666 (St John’s College Library MS 296, fol. 33). Willis pursues the case of Mrs Herbert, who remains ill. He suggests a body of phlegm to be removed from her stomach and gives advice on medications. Here, too, he includes a Latin recipe (lozenges to be taken two or three times a day). St John’s College library has 15 letters of Thomas Willis, all of them addressed to Dr Richard Higges, a physician based in Coventry. These letters are part of a larger collection of 54 letters written between 1660 and 1690 and mostly addressed to Dr Higges (Supplementary Video 4 and https://sway.office.com/sDxoxop8O0u4gRD3?ref=Link).

Figure 2

Title page of Cerebri Anatome (2nd ed, 1664) illustrates Willis working as part of a team. This group comprised Richard Lower, Thomas Millington, Edmond King and Christopher Wren. These associates were involved in dissections, removal and fixation of brains for study, description, and illustration. Willis acknowledged the help of Lower and Wren in his preface in Cerebri Anatome. Courtesy of Cushing/Whitney Medical Library, Yale University.