Aphasia and the CNS from Imhotep to Broca.

Abstract

The association between aphasia and the central nervous system has a long and rich history which is reviewed here from the time of the ancient Egyptians to 1861, the year in which Broca presented his celebrated case of "Tan." It is shown that the association between cortical damage and aphasia did not originate with Broca's "discovery" in 1861, and that Broca's historic frontal lobe localization was the result of an ongoing process involving the slow development and gradual confirmation of debated hypotheses. In particular, the ideas of Gesner, Gall, and Bouillaud stand out as meriting special recognition in the history of localization and aphasia.