A Brain Wider Than the Sky by Andrew Levy

Author:Andrew Levy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Published: 2009-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

In truth, the exploration of the modern migraine might be a linguistic quest as much as a scientific one. Depressive, as a noun, makes its subject sound passive, someone the depression acts upon. Migraineur makes one sound elegantly active (that touch of French, that spare u in the penultimate spot), like your headaches are something you craft, you polish, you practice. And what languid beauty lies in phrases like “free interval,” “spreading depression,” “galloping migraine,” and, of course, “aura,” a gorgeous old Greek word—the name of yet another weather goddess—that means “breeze.”

Reading through medical textbooks—a hobby I much recommend—a layperson is struck by all the phrases that seem to promise more than they intend. Is it really possible that the language of neurology needs to be this expressive? Does the brain really have, can it really be clinically described as possessing, “eloquent” and “noneloquent” areas? Which parts of the brain are most eloquent, then? And can neurological disorders really achieve an “alarming crescendo”? Here’s inimitable Karl Lashley, describing an aura:

The scintillations have the form of distinct parallel lines, which cannot be counted but give the impression of groups of five or more. These seem to sweep across the figure toward the advancing margin and are constantly renewed at the inner margin, like the illusion of movement of a revolving screw.

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