Merritt's Textbook of Neurology

Abstract

Even in our modern age one man may still cast a long shadow: the more than 70 authors who contributed to this seventh edition of<i>Merritt's Textbook of Neurology</i>were either his direct pupils or lived in the penumbra of his shadow. In general, they have adhered to their orders, to write in the direct cesarean style of the master, preferring direct statement to periphrasis, and statistics to theory. Some concessions have been made to the passage of time. There is an opening chapter on symptomatology, no better or worse than those available in other textbooks. More importantly, attention has been paid to entities not thought significant at the time of the earlier editions, or not readily absorbable in their format, witness the masterly summary of Carter and Low on minimal brain dysfunction. Some such entities still seem to have slipped between the interstices: where do we find an adequate