The first Carmichael Memorial Lecture. Neurophysiology on man.

Before the 1939-1945 war and for some years afterwards Dr Carmichael ran a very successful small discussion group called the Neurological Club. Members were widely recruited and there was a contingent from Cambridge which included Rushton, Hodgkin and Huxley. Rushton was my director of studies as an undergraduate at Cambridge, and I suspect it was because he knew Carmichael through the Neurological Club that I came to do research on the Unit. I first met Dr Carmichael in his little room on the first floor here on 9 November 1945, almost exactly 35 years ago. It was one of the best things that ever happened to me. After two briefs talks and almost no formalities, I started in the MRC Neurological Research Unit at Queen Square in January 1946. Bates and Dawson were already at work and I learnt from them how to set about experiments. Carmichael kept the lightest of hands on the reins. Each person was given his head and the only perceptible element of direction was that Carmichael would take a lively interest in and generally encourage any new lines of investigation that seemed to him profitable-and a very good nose he had for what would turn out to be profitable. The atmosphere in the Unit reflected the Boss's genial nature and his lively sense of fun, which somehow permeated most of what we did. It was an ideal place to start research, but I am afraid I didn't make the best of my opportunities; indeed I never have. So it is a cause of some wonder that half a lifetime later I find myself, undeservedly honoured and flattered, giving the first lecture in memory of Carmichael, a man who to our deep regret was conspicuously not honoured even as he deserved. Carmichael's hope always was that concurrent work on healthy human subjects and on patients would be mutually catalytic. I was already familiar with this belief, because Rushton, my teacher at Cambridge, had come much under the influence of