Clinical neurology of yesterday, today and tomorrow; some mid-century reflections.

Just as the central nervous system has a central and dominant posi­ tion in the human body, so neurology should have by right a central position in medical science. This obvious point of view is gradually gain­ ing ground. But it has not always been so and in many otherwise civilized countries neurology has not even yet come into its own. In some countries like France clinical neurology has for a long time been regarded as a central discipline and the professorial chair of neurology — the chair of Charcot — has long been regarded as one of the principal ones. But in some other countries neurology still holds the position as a comparatively disregarded new speciality.