Historical Symposium on Nicolaus Steno

An international symposium on Nicolaus Steno and brain research in the seventeenth century was held in Copenhagen on 18-20 August 1965. The meeting was sponsored by the International Academy of the History of Medicine and the International Brain Research Organization, and organized by the Danish Society for the History of Medicine. Fifty-seven members, representing fourteen countries, took part in the symposium, and a very full programme of visits and exhibitions had been arranged in addition to the formal sessions. Among other places of interest, members and guests were able to visit the Danish Historical Medical Museum, the Medicohistorical Leper-Museum, and the Steno Memorial Hospital. An exhibition of seventeenth century books was specially arranged in the University Library. The papers read at the meeting represented a very comprehensive study of knowledge of the brain and brain research in Steno's time, and included detailed studies of the influence of Steno's work on brain anatomy, neurology, neurophysiology, etc., not only in Denmark but in many other countries. Other topics dealt with included anatomical science in Scandinavia in the seventeenth century, anatomy of the brain before Steno, Willis and Steno, Descartes and Steno, Swammerdam and Steno, and Steno and the Royal Society. The papers gave rise to lively discussion and Dr. Gustav Scherz, the well-known authority on Steno's life and work, took an active part throughout. Dr. Scherz is editing the proceedings of the symposium, which will be published in full in the International Academy's series Analecta Medico-Historica.