The Political Structure of the Brain: Cerebral Localization in Bismarckian Germany

Abstract

Eduard Hitzig and Gustav Fritsch's experimental “demonstration” of cerebral localization in 1870 was a major event in the history of attempts to relate behavior to the central nervous system. Their work transformed the vague speculations that began with Franz Josef Gall into professionally responsible activity. In Germany the work of Hitzig and his followers led to violent controversies concerning both the observations and interpretations of cerebral localization. This paper considers why German scientists, who had universally opposed the work of British and French localizers up to 1870, suddenly became interested in the subject at this time, and also why the issue of cerebral localization evoked such passion within the German scientific community. Adequate answers to these questions must involve consideration of the professional relations between physiologists and the developing field of psychiatry. They must also include discussion of the reactions of scientific intellectuals to the most important political development of the time, namely, the unification of Germany.