Early Presidents of the ANA

James Stewart Jewell (1837-1887)

James Stewart Jewell was the most celebrated physician with neurological interests in the Midwestern United States. He attended Rush Medical College in Chicago, was professor of Anatomy at the Chicago Medical College (1862-1869), and then became Professor of Nervous and Mental Diseases at Northwestern University in 1872. In 1874, Jewell and Henry M. Bassister founded and jointly edited the Chicago Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases. Two years later, the journal name was changed to Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases. This publication is the longest standing neurological journal in the United States. Jewell was one of the seven original organizers of the American Neurological Association and, when S. Weir Mitchell declined the responsibility of undertaking the post of first president, Jewell served.

Jewell died in the middle of an active career, at age 50, of pulmonary tuberculosis, one year after starting a second national journal, The Neurological Review. Jewell's reading knowledge of French, German, and Italian permitted him to interact with international colleagues, and his regular American travels kept him in the leading circles of American neurology throughout his brief career.

Francis Turquand Miles (1827-1903)

At the School of Medicine of the University of Maryland, Dr. Francis Turquand Miles was appointed Professor of Anatomy in 1869. Miles organized a series of clinical lectures on neurological diseases in his first year of professorship. As part of an expansion effort at the university and renovations of the Baltimore Infirmary, a new post of Clinical Professor of Diseases of the Nervous System was initiated in 1870. At the faculty meeting of April 23, Miles was appointed to the chair, and the post with his name was listed in the university catalog of that year. As part of the responsibilities tied to the chair, Miles delivered lectures to medical students and spoke on neurological illnesses. He established an afternoon clinic in the Baltimore Infirmary with electrodiagnostic and electrotherapeutic support staff. Taking on the Chair of Physiology in 1880, the multifaceted Miles continued to lecture on nervous system illness through the end of the nineteenth century, but provided an increasingly physiological emphasis to the previous anatomically-based lectures. As the second president of the American Neurological Association (1879-1880), he was well-known and an influential teacher.

Charles Karsner Mills (1845-1931)

Charles K. Mills, a Philadelphian, made several significant contributions to neurology: Administratively, he helped develop the neurology service at the city's charity hospital, Philadelphia General Hospital, and in 1877, directed the 20 bed unit for men and women inpatients. One year later, the service expanded to 35 patients and by the early 1900's the inpatient service numbered 400. Academically, he performed important studies on aphasia and cortical localization patterns of parietal lobe dysfunction. In 1886, he described alcohol-related polyneuropathy with behavioral symptoms, preceding Koraskoff's work by one year. He described unilateral progressive ascending paralysis due to degeneration of the pyramidal tract in 1900, and the condition became known as "Mills' Syndrome". He also described the clinical syndrome associated with unilateral occlusion of the superior cerebellar artery. With poor vision and unable to read for most of his adult life, he maintained a close surveillance of international neurological issues, and was president of the American Neurological Association twice, in 1886 and 1924 as its semicentennial leader.

James Jackson Putnam (1846-1918)

James Jackson Putnam was the primary native Bostonian of early American neurological history. Having studied with Rokitansky, Hughlings Jackson, and Meynert, he returned to Boston to become the "electrician" of the Massachusetts General Hospital. Clinical physiological skills were transferred to the laboratory where he conducted several studies on cortical stimulation in the dog with William James. His major clinical contributions related to the description of neurological abnormalities in combined system diseases, although he did not recognize a relationship with either anemia or vitamin deficiency. A founding member of the American Neurological Association, Putnam led the organization as president in 1888. He was one of the early neurologists who closely worked in neurology and psychiatry, and like his close colleague, Adolph Meyer, placed emphasis on the two fields' overlap rather than stressing their differences. Neurasthenia, termed by Charcot as the "American illness", was a particular topic of interest to Putnam.

Edward Constant Seguin (1843-1898)

Whereas most of the early American neurologists were born and raised in the USA, Sequin was born in Paris, though he emigrated from France with his family as a child. He returned to France for part of his advanced training, working with Brown-Séquard, Cornil, and Charcot. He became Professor of Diseases of the Nervous System at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York and was president of the ANA in 1889. He authored several articles on aphasia, paralysis and cerebral localization, and introduced thermometry to the United States. His active liaison throughout his career with French colleagues was pivotal to expanding relationships among French and US neurologists, thereby breaking down strict national schools and creating a greater international neurological movement.

Sequin entered several publishing ventures to advance a broader scope of neurology. He collaborated with Brown-Séquard to create the short-lived Archives of Scientific Practice and Surgery, and was the editor of a series called Archives of Medicine.

Edward Charles Spitzka (1852-1914)

Spitzka embodied the concept of "self-made man", being the son of US immigrants, educated in urban public schools without contacts or resources to attend prestigious institutions. After graduation from medical school in New York City, he returned to Eastern Europe and studied in Leipzig and Vienna, gaining extensive training in embryology. He entered and won the essay contest established within the ANA by William Hammond in 1876, and slowly thereafter moved into the inner circles of the intellectual elite of New York neurology. With continued activities within the organization, he was elected president of the ANA in 1890. He was the editor of the American Journal of Neurology and Psychiatry, and served as the chief liaison for neurology at the Ninth International Medical Congress (1887) and the Congress of Arts and Sciences (1904).

Charles L. Dana (1852-1935)

Charles L. Dana studied with Austin Flint and Edward Janeway at New York's Bellevue Hospital and maintained a close association with this medical center throughout his career. In 1884, following the tradition set by WA Hammond, he was appointed as Professor of Diseases of the Mind and Nervous System at the New York Post-Graduate Hospital, and served in this post until 1895. Three years later, he became the first Professor of Diseases of the Nervous System at the newly founded Cornell University Medical College. Active in physiological studies, Dana made important contributions to the study of epilepsy and narcolepsy. His major educational contribution was his comprehensive monograph, Textbook of Nervous Diseases and Psychiatry for the Use of Students and Practitioners of Medicine, first appearing in 1892 with ten subsequent editions. In addition to his scientific contributions, Dana also was active in New York and medical literary circles and was one of the founders (along with Bernard Sachs) of the celebrated Charaka Club. This elite group eventually included S. Weir Mitchell, Pearce Bailey, SE Jelliffe, Harvey Cushing, and Foster Kennedy.

Bernard Sachs (1858-1944)

Bernard Sachs studied in the United States, but traveled extensively in Europe as a post-graduate physician to study with Meynert in Vienna, J. Hughlings Jackson in London, Jean-Martin Charcot in Paris, and Westphal in Berlin. He returned to Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York, where he spent his full career. Sachs became consulting neurologist at the hospital in 1893 and although there was no specific neurological service in the hospital, he had continual access to the entire hospital for patient material and research. In 1885, he published a translation of Meynert's textbook on psychiatry and in the same year took on the co-editor post of the Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases. One year later he became the full editor and maintained this post until 1891. Active in national neurological circles, Sachs was elected as president of the American Neurological Association in 1894. In 1896, he wrote his seminal paper on amaurotic familial idiocy, and the eponym, "Tay-Sachs disease" was later used to honor him as well as Warren Tay, who earlier had described the typical eye findings. In 1895, Sachs wrote the first comprehensive pediatric neurology textbook, A Treatise on the Nervous Diseases of Children.

	James Stewart Jewell (1837-1887) James Stewart Jewell was the most celebrated physician with neurological interests in the Midwestern United States. He attended Rush Medical College in Chicago, was professor of Anatomy at the Chicago Medical College (1862-1869), and then became Professor of Nervous and Mental Diseases at Northwestern University in 1872. In 1874, Jewell and Henry M. Bassister founded and jointly edited the Chicago Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases. Two years later, the journal name was changed to Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases. This publication is the longest standing neurological journal in the United States. Jewell was one of the seven original organizers of the American Neurological Association and, when S. Weir Mitchell declined the responsibility of undertaking the post of first president, Jewell served. Jewell died in the middle of an active career, at age 50, of pulmonary tuberculosis, one year after starting a second national journal, The Neurological Review. Jewell's reading knowledge of French, German, and Italian permitted him to interact with international colleagues, and his regular American travels kept him in the leading circles of American neurology throughout his brief career.

	Francis Turquand Miles (1827-1903) At the School of Medicine of the University of Maryland, Dr. Francis Turquand Miles was appointed Professor of Anatomy in 1869. Miles organized a series of clinical lectures on neurological diseases in his first year of professorship. As part of an expansion effort at the university and renovations of the Baltimore Infirmary, a new post of Clinical Professor of Diseases of the Nervous System was initiated in 1870. At the faculty meeting of April 23, Miles was appointed to the chair, and the post with his name was listed in the university catalog of that year. As part of the responsibilities tied to the chair, Miles delivered lectures to medical students and spoke on neurological illnesses. He established an afternoon clinic in the Baltimore Infirmary with electrodiagnostic and electrotherapeutic support staff. Taking on the Chair of Physiology in 1880, the multifaceted Miles continued to lecture on nervous system illness through the end of the nineteenth century, but provided an increasingly physiological emphasis to the previous anatomically-based lectures. As the second president of the American Neurological Association (1879-1880), he was well-known and an influential teacher.

	Charles Karsner Mills (1845-1931) Charles K. Mills, a Philadelphian, made several significant contributions to neurology: Administratively, he helped develop the neurology service at the city's charity hospital, Philadelphia General Hospital, and in 1877, directed the 20 bed unit for men and women inpatients. One year later, the service expanded to 35 patients and by the early 1900's the inpatient service numbered 400. Academically, he performed important studies on aphasia and cortical localization patterns of parietal lobe dysfunction. In 1886, he described alcohol-related polyneuropathy with behavioral symptoms, preceding Koraskoff's work by one year. He described unilateral progressive ascending paralysis due to degeneration of the pyramidal tract in 1900, and the condition became known as "Mills' Syndrome". He also described the clinical syndrome associated with unilateral occlusion of the superior cerebellar artery. With poor vision and unable to read for most of his adult life, he maintained a close surveillance of international neurological issues, and was president of the American Neurological Association twice, in 1886 and 1924 as its semicentennial leader.

	James Jackson Putnam (1846-1918) James Jackson Putnam was the primary native Bostonian of early American neurological history. Having studied with Rokitansky, Hughlings Jackson, and Meynert, he returned to Boston to become the "electrician" of the Massachusetts General Hospital. Clinical physiological skills were transferred to the laboratory where he conducted several studies on cortical stimulation in the dog with William James. His major clinical contributions related to the description of neurological abnormalities in combined system diseases, although he did not recognize a relationship with either anemia or vitamin deficiency. A founding member of the American Neurological Association, Putnam led the organization as president in 1888. He was one of the early neurologists who closely worked in neurology and psychiatry, and like his close colleague, Adolph Meyer, placed emphasis on the two fields' overlap rather than stressing their differences. Neurasthenia, termed by Charcot as the "American illness", was a particular topic of interest to Putnam.

	Edward Constant Seguin (1843-1898) Whereas most of the early American neurologists were born and raised in the USA, Sequin was born in Paris, though he emigrated from France with his family as a child. He returned to France for part of his advanced training, working with Brown-Séquard, Cornil, and Charcot. He became Professor of Diseases of the Nervous System at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York and was president of the ANA in 1889. He authored several articles on aphasia, paralysis and cerebral localization, and introduced thermometry to the United States. His active liaison throughout his career with French colleagues was pivotal to expanding relationships among French and US neurologists, thereby breaking down strict national schools and creating a greater international neurological movement. Sequin entered several publishing ventures to advance a broader scope of neurology. He collaborated with Brown-Séquard to create the short-lived Archives of Scientific Practice and Surgery, and was the editor of a series called Archives of Medicine.

	Edward Charles Spitzka (1852-1914) Spitzka embodied the concept of "self-made man", being the son of US immigrants, educated in urban public schools without contacts or resources to attend prestigious institutions. After graduation from medical school in New York City, he returned to Eastern Europe and studied in Leipzig and Vienna, gaining extensive training in embryology. He entered and won the essay contest established within the ANA by William Hammond in 1876, and slowly thereafter moved into the inner circles of the intellectual elite of New York neurology. With continued activities within the organization, he was elected president of the ANA in 1890. He was the editor of the American Journal of Neurology and Psychiatry, and served as the chief liaison for neurology at the Ninth International Medical Congress (1887) and the Congress of Arts and Sciences (1904).

	Charles L. Dana (1852-1935) Charles L. Dana studied with Austin Flint and Edward Janeway at New York's Bellevue Hospital and maintained a close association with this medical center throughout his career. In 1884, following the tradition set by WA Hammond, he was appointed as Professor of Diseases of the Mind and Nervous System at the New York Post-Graduate Hospital, and served in this post until 1895. Three years later, he became the first Professor of Diseases of the Nervous System at the newly founded Cornell University Medical College. Active in physiological studies, Dana made important contributions to the study of epilepsy and narcolepsy. His major educational contribution was his comprehensive monograph, Textbook of Nervous Diseases and Psychiatry for the Use of Students and Practitioners of Medicine, first appearing in 1892 with ten subsequent editions. In addition to his scientific contributions, Dana also was active in New York and medical literary circles and was one of the founders (along with Bernard Sachs) of the celebrated Charaka Club. This elite group eventually included S. Weir Mitchell, Pearce Bailey, SE Jelliffe, Harvey Cushing, and Foster Kennedy.

	Bernard Sachs (1858-1944) Bernard Sachs studied in the United States, but traveled extensively in Europe as a post-graduate physician to study with Meynert in Vienna, J. Hughlings Jackson in London, Jean-Martin Charcot in Paris, and Westphal in Berlin. He returned to Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York, where he spent his full career. Sachs became consulting neurologist at the hospital in 1893 and although there was no specific neurological service in the hospital, he had continual access to the entire hospital for patient material and research. In 1885, he published a translation of Meynert's textbook on psychiatry and in the same year took on the co-editor post of the Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases. One year later he became the full editor and maintained this post until 1891. Active in national neurological circles, Sachs was elected as president of the American Neurological Association in 1894. In 1896, he wrote his seminal paper on amaurotic familial idiocy, and the eponym, "Tay-Sachs disease" was later used to honor him as well as Warren Tay, who earlier had described the typical eye findings. In 1895, Sachs wrote the first comprehensive pediatric neurology textbook, A Treatise on the Nervous Diseases of Children.

Early ANA Presidents