ABSTRACT
In order to know where we are now and where we are headed in the future, we must know
where we and our predecessors have been. History adds a broadening dimension to knowl-
edge. For this reason, I begin this monograph on brain embolism with a historical chapter
that briefly reviews the development of ideas about embolism and stroke. Clearly, recog-
nition of the clinical entity “stroke” preceded thought and data about stroke mechanisms,
so that the history of stroke is indelibly interwoven into the history of brain embolism.
