Robert Lawson (?1846-1896).

Various descriptions of what would now be called Korsakoff Syndrome may be found in the medical literature predating the eponymous reports of Sergei Korsakoff (1854-1900) that date from 1887 onwards. Of these, it has been stated that the "most promising account" (Draaisma in Disturbances of the mind 163-164, 2009) may be that of Dr. Robert Lawson, published in 1878 in the journal Brain in its inaugural year of publication (Lawson in Brain 1:182-194, 1878). As Lawson is likely to be an unfamiliar name to most neurologists, and does not appear in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, we offer this brief account of his life and work.

Wernicke-Korsakoff encephalopathy.

Wernicke described the clinical features of three patients, including two alcoholics, suffering from confusion, ataxia and ophthalmoplegia in whom pathologically he found 'polioencephalitis haemorrhagica superioris'. Korsakoff's doctoral thesis related similar findings but expanded the confabulation and amnesic elements, relating them to alcoholism. This paper, which summarises the salient aspects of the syndrome, discusses their work and shows important earlier descriptions by James Jackson, (1822) Samuel Wilks (1868) and Charles Gayet (1875).

Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome.

Alcohol abuse is one of the most serious problems in public health and the Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome is one of the gravest consequences of alcoholism. The pathology is often undiagnosed in its less evident presentations, therefore an accurate diagnostic approach is a critical step in treatment planning. Treatment is based on restoration of thiamine, although this is insufficient to prevent the psychological decline of a great number of patients. The cognitive impact of the pathology is derived from the interaction of alcoholic neurotoxicity, thiamine deficiency and personal susceptibility. In this article, the literature concerning Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome is reviewed.

Cerebral bases of consciousness: a historical view.

Attempts of modern brain research, starting at the end of the nineteenth century, to define and hierarchically order consciousness are reviewed. It is emphasized that roots from philosophy, biology, and psychology influenced brain research in its search for possible physical bases of consciousness. Among the mainstreams of research were approaches which defined consciousness by selecting numerous attributes of it and ordering these hierarchically. Similarly, there was widespread speculation on whether all kinds of animals or only some of them are conscious or manifest some of the hierarchically defined attributes of consciousness. On the brain side, the cerebral cortex and in particular its frontal aspects, the prefrontal cortex, was regarded as the principal anatomical basis of consciousness. The dependence of consciousness on memory and the ability to order processes in time were widely acknowledged and case descriptions from Korsakoff patients and epileptics were considered especially to demonstrate the interdependence between consciousness and the brain.

[The Korsakoff concept of Karl Bonhoeffer and its relation to the psychometrics of amnestic disorders]. / Das Korsakow-Konzept bei Karl Bonhoeffer und sein Bezug zur Psychometrie mnestischer Störungen.

Karl Bonhoeffer set great value on the precise description of psychopathological findings, and was the first to stress the very close relationship between Wernicke's encephalopathy and Korsakoff's psychosis. Proof of mnestic deficiency is still today very important in the exact analysis of chronic symptomatic psychoses. Knowledge acquired in neuropsychology must be incorporated into psychopathometry to enable a more exact analysis of chronic cerebral psychosyndromes. The paper presents a new test to measure mnestic deficiency, suitable for the examination of patients with pseudoneurasthenic syndromes, organic change of personality, or mild early forms of dementia.