ABSTRACT

We turn first to the work of Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) and René Descartes (1596-1650), both of whom provided a clear bridge from primarily philosophical speculation to the systematic study of the biological basis of human and infrahuman actions, especially those mediated by the spinal cord. Thereafter, we review empirical studies of the spinal cord reported by Robert Whytt (1714-1766), Charles Bell (1774-1842), and Francois Magendie (1783-1855), which led to the Bell-Magendie Law.