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Rahil R. Jummani, MD; Michael S. Okun, MD

Arch Neurol. 2001;58:311-313.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

INTRODUCTION

Thomas Sydenham (1624-1689), a physician known the world over as the British Hippocrates and the father of chorea, was a meticulous observer and a discerning physician. In chapter XVI, "On Saint Vitus' Dance," of his last book, Schedula Monitoria de Novae Febris Ingressa, published in 1686, he greatly restricted the broad use of the term chorea sancti viti to one specific movement disorder.¹ In that chapter, Sydenham wrote the following classic description of St Vitus' dance:

This is a kind of convulsion, which attacks boys and girls from the tenth year to the time of puberty. It first shows itself by limping or unsteadiness in one of the legs, which the patient drags. The hand cannot be steady for a moment. It passes from one position to another by a convulsive movement, however much the patient may strive to the contrary. . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Corresponding author and reprints: Michael S. Okun, MD, Emory University School of Medicine, 1841 Clifton Rd NE, Wesley Woods Health Science Center Building, Third Floor, Atlanta, GA 30329 (e-mail: msokun@pol.net).