John Hughlings Jackson
Encyclopedia
John Hughlings Jackson, FRS (4 April 1835 - 7 October 1911), was an English
neurologist
.
, near Harrogate
, Yorkshire
, the youngest son of Samuel Jackson, a yeoman
who owned and farmed his land, and the former Sarah Hughlings, the daughter of a Welsh
revenue collector. His mother died just over a year after giving birth to him. He had three brothers and a sister; his brothers emigrated to New Zealand
and his sister married a physician. He was educated at Tadcaster, Yorkshire and Nailsworth, Gloucestershire before attending the York Medical and Surgical School. After qualifying at St Barts in 1856 he became house physician to the York Dispensary.
In 1859 he returned to London to work at the Metropolitan Free Hospital and the London Hospital. In 1862 he was appointed Assistant Physician, later (1869) full Physician at the National Hospital for Paralysis and Epilepsy located in Queen Square, London (now the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery
) as well as Physician (1874) at the London Hospital. During this period he established his reputation as a neurologist. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1878.
Jackson died in London
on 7 October 1911 and was buried in Highgate cemetery.
in all its forms and complexities. His name is attached eponymously to the characteristic "march" of symptoms in focal motor seizure
s and to the so-called "dreamy state" of psychomotor seizures of temporal lobe
origin. His papers on the latter variety of epilepsy have seldom been bettered in their descriptive clinical detail or in their analysis of the relationship of psychomotor epilepsy to various patterns of pathological automatism
and other mental and behavioural disorders.
In his youth Jackson had been interested in conceptual issues and it is believed that in 1859 he contemplated the idea of abandoning medicine for philosophy. Thus, an important part of his work concerned the evolutionary organization of the nervous system for which he proposed three levels: a lower, a middle, and a higher. At the lowest level, movements were to be represented in their least complex form; such centres lie in the medulla and spinal cord. The middle level consists of the so-called motor area of the cortex, and the highest motor levels are found in the prefrontal area.
The higher centres inhibited the lower ones and hence lesions thereat caused ‘negative’ symptoms (due to an absence of function). ‘Positive’ symptoms were caused by the functional release of the lower centres. This process Jackson called ‘dissolution’, a term he borrowed from Herbert Spencer. The ‘positive-negative’ distinction he took from Sir John Reynolds.
Continental psychiatrists and psychologists (e.g. Ribot, Janet, Freud, Ey) have been more influenced by Jackson’s theoretical ideas than their British counterparts. During the 1980s, the ‘positive-negative’ distinction was temporarily fashionable in relation to the symptoms of schizophrenia.
He was one of only a few physicians to have delivered the Goulstonian (1869), Croonian (1884) and Lumleian (1890) lectures to the Royal College of Physicians
He also delivered the 1872 Hunterian Oration to the Hunterian Society
.
remarked of his work in 1943, " ... when all that is obsolete or irrelevant is discarded there remains a rich treasure of physiological insight we cannot afford to ignore."
In Otfrid Foerster
's research on the motor cortex, he cites exclusively Hughlings Jackson for the initial discovery (although without evidence) of the brain as the spring of neurological motor signaling.
and Sir James Crichton-Browne
, two eminent neuropsychiatrists of his time, Jackson was one of the founders of the important Brain journal, which was dedicated to the interaction between experimental and clinical neurology (still being published today). Its inaugural issue came to light in 1878.
In 1892, Jackson was one of the founding members of the National Society for the Employment of Epileptics (now the National Society for Epilepsy
), along with Sir William Gowers
and Sir David Ferrier
.
Oliver Sacks
has repeatedly cited Jackson as an inspiration in his neurologic work.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
neurologist
Neurologist
A neurologist is a physician who specializes in neurology, and is trained to investigate, or diagnose and treat neurological disorders.Neurology is the medical specialty related to the human nervous system. The nervous system encompasses the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves. A specialist...
.
Biography
He was born at Providence Green, Green HammertonGreen Hammerton
Green Hammerton is a village and civil parish in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated on the A59 road and 10 miles west of York....
, near Harrogate
Harrogate
Harrogate is a spa town in North Yorkshire, England. The town is a tourist destination and its visitor attractions include its spa waters, RHS Harlow Carr gardens, and Betty's Tea Rooms. From the town one can explore the nearby Yorkshire Dales national park. Harrogate originated in the 17th...
, Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
, the youngest son of Samuel Jackson, a yeoman
Yeoman
Yeoman refers chiefly to a free man owning his own farm, especially from the Elizabethan era to the 17th century. Work requiring a great deal of effort or labor, such as would be done by a yeoman farmer, came to be described as "yeoman's work"...
who owned and farmed his land, and the former Sarah Hughlings, the daughter of a Welsh
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
revenue collector. His mother died just over a year after giving birth to him. He had three brothers and a sister; his brothers emigrated to New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
and his sister married a physician. He was educated at Tadcaster, Yorkshire and Nailsworth, Gloucestershire before attending the York Medical and Surgical School. After qualifying at St Barts in 1856 he became house physician to the York Dispensary.
In 1859 he returned to London to work at the Metropolitan Free Hospital and the London Hospital. In 1862 he was appointed Assistant Physician, later (1869) full Physician at the National Hospital for Paralysis and Epilepsy located in Queen Square, London (now the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery
National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery
The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery is a neurological hospital in London, United Kingdom and part of the University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust...
) as well as Physician (1874) at the London Hospital. During this period he established his reputation as a neurologist. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1878.
Jackson died in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
on 7 October 1911 and was buried in Highgate cemetery.
Science and research
Jackson was an innovative thinker and a prolific and lucid, if sometimes repetitive, writer. Though his range of interests was wide, he is best remembered for his seminal contributions to the diagnosis and understanding of epilepsyEpilepsy
Epilepsy is a common chronic neurological disorder characterized by seizures. These seizures are transient signs and/or symptoms of abnormal, excessive or hypersynchronous neuronal activity in the brain.About 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy, and nearly two out of every three new cases...
in all its forms and complexities. His name is attached eponymously to the characteristic "march" of symptoms in focal motor seizure
Seizure
An epileptic seizure, occasionally referred to as a fit, is defined as a transient symptom of "abnormal excessive or synchronous neuronal activity in the brain". The outward effect can be as dramatic as a wild thrashing movement or as mild as a brief loss of awareness...
s and to the so-called "dreamy state" of psychomotor seizures of temporal lobe
Temporal lobe
The temporal lobe is a region of the cerebral cortex that is located beneath the Sylvian fissure on both cerebral hemispheres of the mammalian brain....
origin. His papers on the latter variety of epilepsy have seldom been bettered in their descriptive clinical detail or in their analysis of the relationship of psychomotor epilepsy to various patterns of pathological automatism
Automatic behavior
Automatic behavior, from the Greek automatos or self-acting, is the spontaneous production of often purposeless verbal or motor behavior without conscious self-control or self-censorship...
and other mental and behavioural disorders.
In his youth Jackson had been interested in conceptual issues and it is believed that in 1859 he contemplated the idea of abandoning medicine for philosophy. Thus, an important part of his work concerned the evolutionary organization of the nervous system for which he proposed three levels: a lower, a middle, and a higher. At the lowest level, movements were to be represented in their least complex form; such centres lie in the medulla and spinal cord. The middle level consists of the so-called motor area of the cortex, and the highest motor levels are found in the prefrontal area.
The higher centres inhibited the lower ones and hence lesions thereat caused ‘negative’ symptoms (due to an absence of function). ‘Positive’ symptoms were caused by the functional release of the lower centres. This process Jackson called ‘dissolution’, a term he borrowed from Herbert Spencer. The ‘positive-negative’ distinction he took from Sir John Reynolds.
Continental psychiatrists and psychologists (e.g. Ribot, Janet, Freud, Ey) have been more influenced by Jackson’s theoretical ideas than their British counterparts. During the 1980s, the ‘positive-negative’ distinction was temporarily fashionable in relation to the symptoms of schizophrenia.
He was one of only a few physicians to have delivered the Goulstonian (1869), Croonian (1884) and Lumleian (1890) lectures to the Royal College of Physicians
Royal College of Physicians
The Royal College of Physicians of London was founded in 1518 as the College of Physicians by royal charter of King Henry VIII in 1518 - the first medical institution in England to receive a royal charter...
He also delivered the 1872 Hunterian Oration to the Hunterian Society
Hunterian Society
The Hunterian Society, founded in 1819 in honour of the Scottish surgeon John Hunter , is a society of physicians and dentists based in London....
.
Methodology
Jackson could not use modern sophisticated neuro-investigative technology (it had not been invented), but had to rely upon his own powers of clinical observation and deductive logic. Some of his eminent successors in the field of British neurology have been critical of many of his theories and concepts; but as Sir Francis WalsheFrancis Walshe
Sir Francis Martin Rouse Walshe, FRS was a British neurologist. He was born in Ireland and read medicine at University College Hospital. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1946.-References:...
remarked of his work in 1943, " ... when all that is obsolete or irrelevant is discarded there remains a rich treasure of physiological insight we cannot afford to ignore."
In Otfrid Foerster
Otfrid Foerster
Otfrid Foerster was a German neurologist and neurosurgeon, who made innovative contributions to neurology and neurosurgery, such as rhizotomy for the treatment of spasticity, anterolateral cordotomy for pain, the hyperventilation test for epilepsy, Foerster's syndrome, the first electrocorticogram...
's research on the motor cortex, he cites exclusively Hughlings Jackson for the initial discovery (although without evidence) of the brain as the spring of neurological motor signaling.
Contributions
Together with his friends Sir David FerrierDavid Ferrier
Sir David Ferrier, FRS was a pioneering Scottish neurologist and psychologist.-Life:Ferrier was born in Woodside, Aberdeen and educated at Aberdeen Grammar School before studying for an MA at Aberdeen University...
and Sir James Crichton-Browne
James Crichton-Browne
Sir James Crichton-Browne MD FRS was a leading British psychiatrist famous for studies on the relationship of mental illness to neurological damage and for the development of public health policies in relation to mental health...
, two eminent neuropsychiatrists of his time, Jackson was one of the founders of the important Brain journal, which was dedicated to the interaction between experimental and clinical neurology (still being published today). Its inaugural issue came to light in 1878.
In 1892, Jackson was one of the founding members of the National Society for the Employment of Epileptics (now the National Society for Epilepsy
National Society for Epilepsy
The Epilepsy Society is the largest medical charity in the field of epilepsy in the United Kingdom, providing services for people with epilepsy for over 100 years...
), along with Sir William Gowers
William Richard Gowers
Sir William Richard Gowers was a British neurologist.The Gowers' tract is named after him....
and Sir David Ferrier
David Ferrier
Sir David Ferrier, FRS was a pioneering Scottish neurologist and psychologist.-Life:Ferrier was born in Woodside, Aberdeen and educated at Aberdeen Grammar School before studying for an MA at Aberdeen University...
.
Oliver Sacks
Oliver Sacks
Oliver Wolf Sacks, CBE , is a British neurologist and psychologist residing in New York City. He is a professor of neurology and psychiatry at Columbia University, where he also holds the position of Columbia Artist...
has repeatedly cited Jackson as an inspiration in his neurologic work.
External links
- Biography
- 100 Years of Brain Journal
- John Jackson on Find-A-Grave
- Photo from Encyclopædia Britannica.