William Gowers: the never completed third edition of the 'Bible of Neurology'.

William Gowers' classic single-authored two-volume A manual of diseases of the nervous system appeared in a first edition in 1886 and 1888, and in a second edition in 1892 and 1893, with a third edition of Volume 1 in 1899. No third edition of Volume 2 ever appeared. However, in 1949 Critchley stated that he had seen part of a revision of this volume. Subsequent writers could not find this material, but it recently came to light at Gowers' old hospital at Queen Square, London. The present paper describes the rediscovered material, containing Gowers' handwritten alterations for a further edition of Volume 2, and substantial new material, at least in relation to nystagmus and myasthenia. Gowers' declining health, or a conflict between his planned new text and his contributions to the neurology segments (1899) of Allbutt's System of medicine, may explain why a third edition of Volume 2 of the Manual of diseases of the nervous system never appeared.