Jacksons research was not limited to epilepsy, and encompassed studies in aphasia and neuro-ophthalmology. Following the concepts of the philosopher Herbert Spencer, Jackson devised a hierarchy of the nervous system with positive and negative manifestations of neurological activity. His work was based on a detailed, insightful evaluation of the clinical symptoms of diseases of the brain, coupled with meticulous, repeated studies of their phenomena. Jacksons observations of localized brain lesions led to the first cases of neurosurgical ablation of brain tumours. Much of his original work still forms the foundation of our contemporary understanding of the dissolution of language caused by disease.

A straightforward, comprehensive account of the life of an eminent physician, John Hughlings Jackson: Father of English Neurology is written as a monument to a man who aroused the deepest respect and affection in his students and colleagues. Neurologists, neurosurgeons, psychiatrists, pathologists, neuroscientists, residents and medical students will find this book a source of inspiration, and will relish its rare description of medicine in 19th century England.