ABSTRACT
Most authoritative texts attribute the rst description of Parkinson’s disease to James Parkinson who described 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, in the Yellow Emperor’s Internal Classic, considered the rst Chinese medical classic, written around 425-221 bc:
This description most certainly represents what would more than 2000 years later be called Parkinson’s disease.
