The works and thoughts of Santiago Ramn y Cajal in a faithful rendition of the original Spanish version, with additional facts contained in the French translation, both of which are currently quoted around 200 times each year in the scientific literature. This is the only authorized English translation and makes use of uniform nomenclature according to contemporary scientific English. Most of the illustrations are reproductions of Cajal's original art work, with cross references to the figure numbers of the Spanish and French versions, while the taxonomic glossary uses current scientific names, and their colloquial English counterparts.
With the research summarized in this monumental two volume treatise, Santiago Ramon y Cajal founded modern neuroscience and thus joined Darwin and Pasteur as the leading biologists of the 19th century. Starting around 1887, Cajal refined a neurological staining method developed almost 15 years earlier by the Italian histologist Camillo Golgi, and applied it first to relatively orderly parts of the nervous systems like the cerebellum, spinal cord, and retina. The conclusions he drew about the organization of neural circuits were, however, diametrically opposed to those advocated by Golgi, spurring an acrimonious debate that lasted well after the two shared the Nobel Prize in 1906. Early on, Cajal concluded that neural circuits are made up of individual units or nerve cells and interact by way of contact, whereas Golgi believed that such circuits are formed by a reticulum or net of contiguous nerve cells. Cajal was the first to see how neurons interact in the brain, laying the foundation for what came to be known as the neuron doctrine. His second great contribution was the ability to predict the direction of information flow in neural circuits based strictly on morphological criteria: dendrites and soma form the input side of a neuron while the axon forms its output side. This became known as the functional polarity hypothesis. Using these two foundation stones, Cajal went on to analyze systematically all parts of the mammalian nervous system, along with selected parts in all classes of vertebrates. A synthesis of that work, this volume, which is accompanied by over 1,000 original illustrations, is based almost entirely on personal observation and offers a wealth of factual, historical, and theoretical information.
This is the first English-language publication of the complete works of the great Spanish neurohistologist, Santiago Ramon y Cajal, on the cerebral cortex. The new translations include all Cajal's very early contributions on the cortex of small mammals, relevant chapters from his definitive textbook, and all his great works on the human cerebral cortex made at the peak of his career. The book also presents Cajal's surveys of cortical structure dating from his later years. It is extensively annotated, and the editors have verified and completed all Cajal's references. Special introductory chapters review the state of knowledge during each period covered, and the work concludes with an extensive essay on modern cortical neurohistology in which the quality and lasting significance of Cajal's contributions are highlighted.
An anecdotal guide for the perplexed new investigator as well as a refreshing resource for the old pro, covering everything from valuable personality traits for an investigator to social factors conducive to scientific work. Santiago Ramón y Cajal was a mythic figure in science. Hailed as the father of modern anatomy and neurobiology, he was largely responsible for the modern conception of the brain. His groundbreaking works were New Ideas on the Structure of the Nervous System and Histology of the Nervous System in Man and Vertebrates. In addition to leaving a legacy of unparalleled scientific research, Cajal sought to educate the novice scientist about how science was done and how he thought it should be done. This recently rediscovered classic, first published in 1897, is an anecdotal guide for the perplexed new investigator as well as a refreshing resource for the old pro. Cajal was a pragmatist, aware of the pitfalls of being too idealistic—and he had a sense of humor, particularly evident in his diagnoses of various stereotypes of eccentric scientists. The book covers everything from valuable personality traits for an investigator to social factors conducive to scientific work.
Author: and Director NIBS Neuroscience Program University of Southern California Larry W. Swanson Milo Don and Lucille Appleman Professor of Biological Sciences
Depending on your point of view the brain is an organ, a machine, a biological computer, or simply the most important component of the nervous system. How does it work as a whole? What are its major parts and how are they interconnected to generate thinking, feelings, and behavior? This book surveys 2,500 years of scientific thinking about these profoundly important questions from the perspective of fundamental architectural principles, and then proposes a new model for the basic plan of neural systems organization based on an explosion of structural data emerging from the neuroanatomy revolution of the 1970's. The importance of a balance between theoretical and experimental morphology is stressed throughout the book. Great advances in understanding the brain's basic plan have come especially from two traditional lines of biological thought-- evolution and embryology, because each begins with the simple and progresses to the more complex. Understanding the organization of brain circuits, which contain thousands of links or pathways, is much more difficult. It is argued here that a four-system network model can explain the structure-function organization of the brain. Possible relationships between neural networks and gene networks revealed by the human genome project are explored in the final chapter. The book is written in clear and sparkling prose, and it is profusely illustrated. It is designed to be read by anyone with an interest in the basic organization of the brain, from neuroscience to philosophy to computer science to molecular biology. It is suitable for use in neuroscience core courses because it presents basic principles of the structure of the nervous system in a systematic way.
This book is a reprint of an English translation of Cajal's original work, with abundant notes and commentaries by the editor. This text describes Cajal's fundamental contributions to neuroscience, which continue to be important today. It accurately details Cajal's ideas and data, and providesreaders with the opportunity to learn what Cajal thought about his research career and the significance of his observations. Excerpts from Tello's memorial lectures also provide a contemporary view of Cajal's work.
