Pivotal Insights: The Contributions of Gordon Holmes (1876–1965) and Olof Larsell (1886–1964) to Our Understanding of Cerebellar Function and Structure

Abstract

Among the notables who have contributed to our knowledge of cerebellar structure and function, two individuals stand out. The neurologist Gordon M. Holmes, consequent to his clinical observations on patients with cerebellar damage, especially those with injuries in WW I, provided a remarkable understanding of deficits, their laterality in relation to lesion location, and whether or not it involved cortex, nuclei, or both. He also defined, and refined, the clinical terminology describing cerebellar deficits to a level of accuracy, and especially relevance, that it is commonly used today. The anatomist Olof Larsell, in 1920, embarked on a line of investigation that would result, over 25+ years later, in a coherent and organized terminology for the lobes and lobules of the cerebellum that is widely used today and was the structural basis for numerous later experimental investigations. In this effort Larsell used a developmental approach, mapped the sequential approach of the cerebellar fissures and folia, and offered a terminology that clarified the existing, and confusing, approach that existed prior to 1920.

Letter: Larsell to CJ Herrick, July 20, 1948, The Herrick Collection, Neurology Collection, C. J. Herrick papers, Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas Libraries, Lawrence, Kansas.

^*Although Larsell began writing his monographs in the early 1940s, at his death in 1964 it fell to Jan Jansen, a friend of many years, to assume the significant task of seeing the partially finished manuscripts to completion (Larsell and Jansen, 1967, 1970, 1973).