He had some notions as to brain function, including a vague idea as to localization and reflexes, and described epilepsy, apoplexy and paralysis. He called neurology neurology. Only when cells were identified microscopically was it possible to progress beyond the crudest anatomical notion. A beginning of the understanding of disease came with the first morbid anatomists, morbid anatomical illustration, and the development of effective colour printing. The brain now had demonstrated form, without localised function.
Philosophers think, sometimes without evidence.
Clinical neurologists, or neurological physicians, were grave, highly intellectual people with dismal expressions, partly because the brain confused them totally, and partly because they could not do anything for their patients but diagnose them. Only when antibacterials and neurosurgeons appeared, were neurological diseases treatable. Doctors could use the ideas of neurology in practice only if they developed proper tools and procedures for clinical investigation. X rays, the electro-encephalography, angiography, and CAT scans were to follow. They scribbled long books, as a substitute for cure.