SCIENTIST’S HEROISM

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 24 March 1928, Page 11

SCIENTIST’S HEROISM

WORLD-FAMOUS British neuru~ ologist, who is one of the most heroic martyrs to medical research, is now the helpless victim of a . mysterious and insidious dise'ase on which he is possibly the greatest living authority. He is Sir Henry Head, who htas made some of the most important contributions of modern times to the knowledge of nervous disorders, and is also celebrated in medical history ais the voluntary subject of one of the most ‘fearsome experiments that lias ever ben made in the cause of scientific research. 'The incurable disease from which he i s suffering—a form of creeping paralysis —is one of which he has made a life study. iSir Henry retired from practice and threw up his many distinguished appointments about eighteen months ago, when the first symptoms of the disease appeared, and he has lived since at Forst'on House, his country home, about five miles from Dorchester. ,A nurse is in constant attendance, and a youiig specialist, who is one of Sir Henry's old pupils, frequently comes down from London to consult with the patient on the .treatment of the disease. iSir Henry is able to walk, although with some difficulty, and he often goes •for long- drives through the country, but he has lost the use of his fingers, and cannot write. Medical men from all parts of the world still correspond with him on abstruse problem's of neurology, and vSir Henry dictates his replies to his wife. Ndarly twenty years ago iSir Henry deliberately risked contracting paralysis by a dangerous experiment he undertook in the cause of medical research.

SACRIFICE FOR RESEARCH

He had the nerves of his left arm severed near the elbow, for the purpose of studi’ing, by personal experience, the problem of “deep insensibility.” _ yfor. Head prepared himself specially for the sacrifice. He neither smoked nor drank alcoholic liquors, and lived, a life of rigorous self-denial. Hits fellow-practitioneus declare that the action of Dr. Head was worthy of rank with the noblest ever recorded in the annals of science. When the sacrifice was made, leading nerve specialists in the country watched the case, and were able to acquire new knowledge of the way in •which messages are -conveyed by the nerves to the brain. Accidents in which these nerves have been severed have, moreover, since received more effective treatment than ever .before in the history of surgery. The disease which is now afflicting Sir Henry Head Is a rare disorder known as Parkinson’s disease. It. was discovered one hundred years ago, and .can be caused by adhesion of the nerves, but Lady Head will not believe that her husband’s illness is attributable to his experiment. “His arm healed up perfectly,” she said. “I think the disease must have been brought on by overwork. ‘‘ It is incurable, but it does not attack life. My husband, of course, is only too familiar with every phase of the disease. “He often remarks how easy it was for him to tell patients who used to be sent to him with the disease that they must resign them's elves to sleeplessness, and that they murt beiar this and put up with that. He is sorry 'now that he could not quite appreciate how hard life was for them.’’