‘Soup’ vs. ‘Sparks’: Alexander Forbes and the Synaptic Transmission Controversy

Summary

During the twentieth century, a controversy raged over the role of electrical forces and chemical substances in synaptic transmission. Although the story of the ‘main’ participants is well documented, the story of ‘lesser’ known participants is seldom told. For example, Alexander Forbes, who was a prominent member of the axonologists, played an active role in the controversy and yet is seldom mentioned in standard accounts of the controversy. During the 1930s, Forbes incorporated chemical substances into his theory of synaptic transmission, advocating a complementarity model for the role of electrical forces and chemical substances. By focusing on Forbes and the axonologists, the controversy is simply more than a debate over ‘soup’ vs. ‘sparks’ but also involves the relative roles of electrical forces and chemical substances in synaptic transmission. The implications of this case study for the nature of scientific controversies are also discussed.

Acknowledgments

I thank the anonymous referees for the Annals of Science for comments on an earlier draft of the manuscript and Jack Eckert from the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, for permission to quote from the Alexander Forbes Papers. An earlier version of the paper was presented at the 10th meeting of the International Society for the History of the Neurosciences, University of St. Andrews, Scotland, 5–9 July 2005. Baylor University supported my research through a Sabbatical award and a University Research Committee grant.

Notes

¹Elliot S. Valenstein, ‘The discovery of chemical neurotransmitters’, Brain and Cognition, 49 (2002), 73–95.

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³Elliot S. Valenstein, The War of the Soups and the Sparks: The Discovery of Neurotransmitters and the Dispute Over How Nerves Communicate (New York, 2005), 87.

⁴John C. Eccles, ‘From electrical to chemical transmission in the central nervous system’, Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London, 30 (1976), 219–30.

⁵Tonse N.K. Raju, ‘The Nobel chronicles. 1963: Sir Alan Lloyd Hodgkin (1914–98), Sir Andrew Fielding Huxley (b 1917), and Sir John Carew Eccles (1903–97)’, Lancet, 354 (1999), 263.

⁶See, e.g., Zénon M. Bacq, Chemical Transmission of Nerve Impulses: A Historical Sketch (Oxford, 1975); Max R. Bennett, History of the Synapse (Amsterdam, 2001); John S. Cook, ‘“Spark” vs. “soup”: a scoop for soup’, News in Physiological Sciences, 1 (1986), 206–208; W. Maxwell Cowan and Eric R. Kandel, ‘A brief history of synapses and synaptic transmission’, in Synapses, edited by W. Maxwell Cowan, Thomas C. Südhof and Charles F. Stevens (Baltimore, MD, 2001), 1–87; Horace W. Davenport, ‘Early history of the concept of chemical transmission of the nerve impulse’, Physiologist, 34 (1991), 129, 178–90; Jean-Claude Dupont, Histoire de la neurotransmission (Paris, 1999); Wilhelm Feldberg, ‘The early history of synaptic and neuromuscular transmission by acetylcholine: reminiscences of an eye witness’, in The Pursuit of Nature: Informal Essays on the History of Physiology (Cambridge, 1977), 65–83; Harry Grundfest, ‘History of the synapse as a morphological and functional structure’, in Golgi Centennial Symposium: Perspectives in Neurobiology, edited by M. Santini (New York, 1975), 39–50; Joseph D. Robinson, Mechanisms of Synaptic Transmission: Bridging the Gaps (1890–1990) (New York, 2001); Valenstein, The War of the Soups and the Sparks (note 3); Ulf S. von Euler, ‘Chemical neurotransmission—yesterday and today’, Ciba Foundation Symposium, 91 (1982), 3–12.

⁷Wallace O. Fenn, ‘Alexander Forbes, 1882–1965’, Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences (USA), 40 (1969), 113–41.

⁸Alexander Forbes Papers (HMSc22), Harvard Medical Library in the Countway Library of Medicine, Boston, MA, Box 15, Folder 725, p. 1.

⁹Elin L. Wolfe, A. Clifford Barger, and Saul Benison, Walter B. Cannon, Science and Society (Boston, 2000).

¹⁰John C. Eccles, ‘Alexander Forbes and his achievement in electrophysiology’, Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, 13 (1970), 389.

¹¹Edgar D. Adrian and Alexander Forbes, ‘The all-or-nothing response of sensory fibers’, Journal of Physiology, 56 (1922), 301–30; see also Robert G. Frank, Jr., ‘Instruments, nerve action, and the all-or-none principle’, Osiris, 9 (1994), 208–35.

¹²Eccles, ‘Alexander Forbes’ (note 10), 395.

¹³Hallowell Davis, ‘Alexander Forbes, 1882–1965’, Journal of Neurophysiology, 28 (1965), 986–88.

¹⁴Stanley Finger, Minds Behind the Brain: A History of the Pioneers and Their Discoveries (Oxford, 2000); Louise H. Marshall, ‘The fecundity of aggregates: the axonologists at Washington University, 1922–1942’, Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, 26 (1983), 613–36; William A.H. Rushton, ‘From nerves to eyes’, in The Neurosciences: Paths to Discovery, edited by Frederic G. Worden, Judith P. Swazey and George Adelman (Cambridge, 1975), 277–92.

¹⁵Forbes Papers, Box 8, Folder 357 (note 8).

¹⁶Ernst-August Seyfarth, ‘Ernst Theodor von Brucke (1880–1941) and Alexander Forbes (1882–1965): chronicle of a transatlantic friendship in difficult times’, Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, 40 (1996), 45–54.

¹⁷Edgar D. Adrian, ‘Alexander Forbes, 1882–1965’, Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology 19 (1965), 110–11.

¹⁸Carl Murchison, ‘Preface’, in The Foundations of Experimental Psychology, edited by Carl Murchison (Worcester, MA, 1929), vii.

¹⁹Alexander Forbes, ‘The mechanism of reaction’, in The Foundations of Experimental Psychology, edited by Carl Murchison (Worcester, MA, 1929), 128–68, 128.

²⁰Alexander Forbes, ‘The mechanism of reaction’, in The Foundations of Experimental Psychology, edited by Carl Murchison (Worcester, MA, 1929), 128–68, 128.

²¹Alexander Forbes, ‘The mechanism of reaction’, in A Handbook of General Experimental Psychology, edited by Carl Murchison (Worcester, MA, 1934), 155–203, 175.

²²Andreas-Holger Maehle, ‘“Receptive substances”: John Newport Langley (1852–1925) and his path to a receptor theory of drug action’, Medical History, 48 (2004), 153–74; see also Wolfe et al., Walter B. Cannon (note 9).

²³Forbes, ‘The mechanism of reaction’ (note 19), 157.

²⁴Forbes Papers, Box 8, Folder 365 (note 8), 1.

²⁵Forbes Papers, Box 8, Folder 365 (note 8), 1.

²⁶Forbes Papers, Box 8, Folder 365 (note 8), 1.

²⁷Forbes Papers, Box 8, Folder 365 (note 8), 2.

²⁸Forbes Papers, Box 43, Folder 1526 (note 8).

²⁹Forbes Papers, Box 43, Folder 1526 (note 8)., 1.

³¹Forbes Papers, Box 43, Folder 1526 (note 8)., 2.

³⁰Forbes Papers, Box 43, Folder 1526 (note 8)., 2.

³²Forbes Papers, Box 43, Folder 1526 (note 8)., 2.

³³Forbes Papers, Box 43, Folder 1526 (note 8)., 2.

³⁴Forbes Papers, Box 2, Folder 86 (note 8), 2.

³⁵Gary R. Fick, ‘Henry Dale's involvement in the verification and acceptance of the theory of neurochemical transmission: a lady in hiding’, Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, 42 (1987), 479.

³⁶Forbes Papers, Box 1, Folder 23 (note 8), 1.

³⁷Forbes Papers, Box 6, Folder 281 (note 8), 2.

³⁸Forbes Papers, Box 2, Folder 86 (note 8), 1.

³⁹Alexandre M. Monnier, ‘Physical and chemical aspects of neuromuscular transmission’, Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology, 4 (1936), 30.

⁴⁰Arturo Rosenblueth, ‘Neuromuscular transmission in somatic and autonomic systems’, Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology, 4 (1936), 132–38.

⁴¹Alexandre M. Monnier and Arturo Rosenblueth, ‘Combined discussions of papers’, Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology, 4 (1936), 138–42.

⁴²Henry H. Dale, ‘Some recent extensions of chemical transmission’, Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology, 4 (1936), 143–47.

⁴³Louis Lapicque, ‘A new hypothesis regarding the role of acetylcholine in the transmission of new excitation to striated muscle’, Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology, 4 (1936), 147–49.

⁴⁴Henry H. Dale, ‘Commentary on the above’, Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology, 4 (1936), 149.

⁴⁵Alexander Forbes, ‘Conduction in axon and synapse’, Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology, 4 (1936), 163.

⁴⁶Alexander Forbes, ‘Conduction in axon and synapse’, Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology, 4 (1936), 163.

⁴⁷Alexander Forbes, ‘Conduction in axon and synapse’, Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology, 4 (1936), 165.

⁴⁸Alexander Forbes, ‘Conduction in axon and synapse’, Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology, 4 (1936), 166.

⁴⁹Alexander Forbes, ‘Conduction in axon and synapse’, Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology, 4 (1936), 166.

⁵⁰Alexander Forbes, ‘Conduction in axon and synapse’, Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology, 4 (1936), 166.

⁵¹Rafael Lorente de Nó, ‘Discussion’, Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology, 4 (1936), 168–69.

⁵²Forbes Papers, Box 11, Folder 530 (note 8).

⁵³Alexander Forbes, ‘Discussion’, Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology, 4 (1936), 169.

⁵⁴Forbes Papers, Box 120, Folder 2458 (note 8), 1.

⁵⁵Forbes Papers, Box 120, Folder 2458 (note 8), 2.

⁵⁶Forbes Papers, Box 8, Folder 357 (note 8).

⁵⁷Forbes Papers, Box 8, Folder 357 (note 8).

⁵⁸Herbert S. Gasser, ‘Axons as samples of nervous tissue’, Journal of Neurophysiology, 2 (1939), 361–69, 361.

⁵⁹Joseph Erlanger, ‘The initiation of impulses in axons’, Journal of Neurophysiology, 2 (1939), 370–79, 370.

⁶⁰Joseph Erlanger, ‘The initiation of impulses in axons’, Journal of Neurophysiology, 2 (1939), 370–79, 384.

⁶²Detlev W. Bronk, ‘Synaptic mechanisms in sympathetic ganglia’, Journal of Neurophysiology, 2 (1939), 399.

⁶¹Detlev W. Bronk, ‘Synaptic mechanisms in sympathetic ganglia’, Journal of Neurophysiology, 2 (1939), 380–401.

⁶³Rafael Lorente de Nó, ‘Transmission of impulses through cranial motor nuclei’, Journal of Neurophysiology, 2 (1939), 440.

⁶⁴Rafael Lorente de Nó, ‘Transmission of impulses through cranial motor nuclei’, Journal of Neurophysiology, 2 (1939), 440.

⁶⁵Rafael Lorente de Nó, ‘Transmission of impulses through cranial motor nuclei’, Journal of Neurophysiology, 2 (1939), 441.

⁶⁶Alexander Forbes, ‘Problems in synaptic function’, Journal of Neurophysiology, 2 (1939), 465.

⁶⁷Alexander Forbes, ‘Problems in synaptic function’, Journal of Neurophysiology, 2 (1939), 466.

⁶⁸Alexander Forbes, ‘Problems in synaptic function’, Journal of Neurophysiology, 2 (1939), 467.

⁶⁹Alexander Forbes, ‘Problems in synaptic function’, Journal of Neurophysiology, 2 (1939), 470.

⁷⁰Alexander Forbes, ‘Problems in synaptic function’, Journal of Neurophysiology, 2 (1939), 470.

⁷¹Alexander Forbes, ‘Problems in synaptic function’, Journal of Neurophysiology, 2 (1939), 471.

⁷²Forbes Papers, Box 120, Folder 2459 (note 8), 2.

⁷³Alexander Forbes, ‘The growth of neurophysiology’, Physiologist, 3 (1960), 40.

⁷⁴Alexander Forbes, ‘The growth of neurophysiology’, Physiologist, 3 (1960), 41.

⁷⁵Philip Kitcher, ‘Patterns of scientific controversies’, in Scientific Controversies: Philosophical and Historical Perspectives, edited by Peter Machamer, Marcello Pera and Aristides Baltas (New York, 2000), 21–39.

⁷⁶Ernan McMullin, ‘Scientific controversy and its termination’, in Scientific Controversies: Case Studies in the Resolution and Closure of Disputes in Science and Technology, edited by H. Tristram Engelhardt, Jr. and Arthur L. Caplan (Cambridge, 1987), 49–91.

⁷⁷Joan H. Fujimura and Danny Y. Chou, ‘Dissent in science: styles of scientific practice and the controversy over the cause of AIDS’, Social Science and Medicine, 38 (1994), 1017–36; Ian Hacking, ‘“Style” for historians and philosophers’, Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science, 23 (1992), 1–20.

⁷⁸Valenstein, The War of the Soups and the Sparks (note 3), 131.

⁷⁹Thomas S. Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (Chicago, 1964), 150.