ABSTRACT
Most authoritative texts attribute the rst description of Parkinson’s disease to James Parkinson who discussed the disease in 1817 in his Essay on the Shaking Palsy. However, exploring medical literature beyond those of Western cultures reveals descriptions of this disease predating that of James Parkinson’s by more than 2000 years. The Yellow Emperor’s Internal Classic of International Medicine, consideredthe rst Chinese medical masterwork, written around 425-221 b.c. recounts:
A person appears with crouching of the head and with staringeyes, bending the trunk with shoulders drooped, with difcultyturning and rocking the low back, inability of the knees toex and extend, with the back bowed, failure to stand for longperiods, and tremor while walking [1].
