Book Review

Thomas Willis 1621-1675: His Life and Work

N Engl J Med 1993; 328:816-817March 18, 1993

Article

Thomas Willis 1621-1675: His Life and Work
(Eponymists in Medicine.) by J. Trevor Hughes. 151 pp., illustrated. London, Royal Society of Medicine Services, 1991. £12.95 (cloth); £7.95 (paper). ISBN: 1-85315-161-0

Thomas Willis (Figure 1Figure 1Thomas Willis.) became famous in 1650 at the age of 29 because of his involvement in an unusual case of resuscitation from near-death. Ann Green, a servant, was evidently seduced by the son of her employer. She became pregnant and delivered a child (probably stillborn), whom she hid when her crime was discovered. She was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death by hanging. She was pronounced dead, put in a coffin, and then taken to Willis for an autopsy. On opening the coffin, however, Willis found the woman to be barely breathing. She made a complete recovery, gained notoriety, was pardoned, married, and had three children. This remarkable incident brought fame to Willis and enhanced his medical reputation.

This anecdote is one of many that J. Trevor Hughes relates and documents in detail, with references to other biographical sources. Hughes' biography of Willis is a comprehensive monograph, researched in depth and concisely written. In 16 short chapters, it describes Willis' family life, education, and friends against a background of contemporary events and in the context of the existing scientific community.

After he graduated from the University of Oxford with the B.A. and M.A. degrees, Willis' further studies (probably directed toward a career in the church) were interrupted by the English Civil War. Willis served in the king's forces in Oxford and then entered medical studies. He was diverted to medicine by the dislocation of the university during the Civil War and the death of his father and stepmother from camp fever. Willis' medical career in Oxford extended over 25 years and was filled with many achievements, including a busy, highly remunerative medical practice and a distinguished academic record, with discoveries in medicine and science. He was appointed to the highly prestigious Sedleian Professorship of Natural Philosophy at Oxford in 1660 at the age of 39.

Many of Willis' close personal friends held prominent religious positions, among them Richard Allestree, John Dolben, John Fell, and Gilbert Sheldon. The well-known physicians and scientists William Harvey, Thomas Clayton, William Petty, and Robert Boyle were among Willis' teachers. His close collaborators in research included William Bathurst, Thomas Millington, Christopher Wren, and Richard Lower, all of whom made contributions to his major work, Cerebri Anatome. John Locke was a pupil of Willis'.

Several chapters focus on Willis' major medical works: Diatribae Duae Medico-Philosophicae (1659), Cerebri Anatome (1664), Pathologiae Cerebri (1667), Affectionum Quae Dicunter Hystericae et Hypochondriacae (1670), De Anima Brutorum (1672), and Pharmaceutice Rationalis (1674-1675). His numerous observations and speculations about medicine and science in general are explained by Hughes, with emphasis on his important contributions to understanding the structure and function of the nervous system. In this respect, Hughes agrees with Russell Brain, who referred to Willis as “the Harvey of the nervous system,” and Heinrich Boruttau, who called Willis “the first inventor of the nervous system.” Willis provided the first modern description of cerebral neuroanatomy, the vasculature at the base of the brain (circle of Willis), the cranial nerves, including the accessory nerve (Willis' nerve), the autonomic nervous system, and the spinal cord.

This biography provides a balanced view of Willis and his works and comments on Willis' naive and disappointing theories as well as his original, accurate descriptions. The book has an excellent bibliography and is well illustrated with anatomical drawings, copies of handwritten correspondence, sketches of historical buildings, and portraits of Willis' contemporaries and colleagues.

I found this biography to be refreshingly readable and enjoyable. It will appeal to all physicians who have an interest in the history of medicine, particularly to neurologists, neurosurgeons, and others specializing in diseases of the nervous system.

Gary K. Steinberg, M.D., Ph.D.
Stanford University Medical School, Stanford, CA 94305