Neurologic disease described in the Journal of Empirical Psychology (Gnothi Sauton oder Magazin zur Erfahrungsseelenkunde), 1783-1793
H. Forstl
Section of Old Age, Institute of Psychiatry, London, United Kingdom.
Know Thyself or Journal of Empirical Psychology (Gnothi Sauton oder Magazin
zur Erfahrungsseelenkunde), 1783-1793, was the first of its
kind--concentrating on nervous and mental disturbances and marking the
beginning of periodical neuropsychiatric publications. The editor, Karl
Philipp Moritz, and the contributors, many of them lay people, were
particularly interested in disturbances of language and consciousness.
Descriptions of epilepsy, Sydenham's chorea, jargon aphasia, and dementia
are briefly summarized. The case material from the Journal was soon
translated and integrated in later work. The Journal itself and its
"empirical" approach became a model for publications that followed.
