The Problem of General As Against Focal Symptoms in Cerebral Lesions: a Contribution to General Symptomatology

Abstract

Since the time of Ferrier and Hitzig, the effort to localize functions in the cortex has been elaborated until at one time there was thought to be a veritable mosaic of centres in the brain. This line of development has repeatedly been interrupted by investigators who denied the possibility of localization. In this paper we shall refer more particularly to the work of Goldstein, who in numerous papers, and in his new book, Der Aufbau des Organismus, has launched an attack on localization, which by virtue of its systematic approach outdoes all previous attempts of the kind. The chief objects of his scrutiny are the theoretical and philosophical principles of cerebral localization. Two of the ideas stressed by him may be anticipated here; the need for defining what is meant by “symptoms” in cerebral pathology, and the importance of observing the general behaviour of patients with cerebral lesions. These ideas are well in conformity with the general methods of psychiatry.