Edward Flatau

Edward Flatau was a Polish neurologist. His work greatly impacted the developing field of neurology. He established neurobiologic and neuropathological sciences in Poland. He published a human brain atlas in 1894, wrote a fundamental book on migranes (1912), established the localization principle of long fibres in the spinal cord (1893), with Sterling (1911) published an early paper on progressive torsion spasm in children and suggested that the disease has a genetic component.

Education
He went to medical school at the University of Moscow from 1886, being greatly influenced by the psychiatrist Sergei Sergeievich Korsakoff (1854-1900) and the neurologist Alexis Jakovlevich Kozhevnikof (1836-1902). Flatau became a medical doctor in 1892 and spent the years 1893 to 1899 in Berlin in the laboratories of Emanuel Mendel (1839-1907), Wilhelm von Waldyer-Hartz (1836-1921), Alfred Goldscheider (1858-1935), and Ernst Viktor von Leyden (1832-1910).

Brain atlas and spinal cord
In 1894, at the age of 25 he wrote influential Atlas of the human brain and the course of the nerve-fibres which was published in German, English, French, Russian, and in 1896 in Polish, based on long-exposure photographs of fresh brain sections (up to 10 minutes for flat and 30 minutes for uneven surfaces, by means of small diaphragms). The Atlas was published in German, English, Russian, French and Polish. In a review, Sigmund Freud wrote: ''The plates with their clarity deserve to be called excellent educational material, suitable as an utterly reliable reference. A schematic plate in the beginning gives an overview of our knowledge on the fibre pathways in the CNS, incorporating the accounts of Mendel, Bechterew and Edinger and continuing with the differing views on the structure of nervous tissue of Golgi and Ramo´n y Cajal. The price of the work is minimal if one considers its completeness and beauty. The author and publisher deserve thanks from the medical community for this valuable work''.



Flatau's Law
With the Berlin neurobiologist Gad he performed experimental work on dogs and criticised Bastian-Bruns Law concerning the loss of function following spinal cord injury (1893).

On the basis of numerous clinical spinal cord surgeries, experiments and subsequent observations he discovered that the "greater the length of the fibres in the spinal cord the closer they are situated to the periphery" (Flatau's Law). He provided evidence for the laminar arrangement of spinal pathways. . He also described the fifth, seventh and eighth cranial nerves, and carefully outlined their nuclei. The paper on this topic Das Gesetz der excentrischen Lagerung der langen Bahnen im Rückenmark was published in 1897. For this work he received Ph.D. in medical sciences in Moscow in 1899 (dissertation "Zakon ekscentriczeskago raspolozenia dlinnych putiej w spinnom mózgu").

Early proponent of neuron theory
In 1895 Flatau became interested in neuron theory and became its proponent. In several publications he tried to establish unity between physiology and anatomy of neuron. Together with Alfred Goldscheider he worked on the structure of nerve cells and their changes under mechanical, thermal and toxic influences. They published results of their experiments in 1897 and 1898 in Fortschritte der Medizin and Gazeta Lekarska which were subsequently published as special monograph. They state that the character of changes in neuron cells could provide information about the type of influences acting on them. This work, in which the normal and pathologic anatomy of the Vth, VIIth and VIIIth (cochlear) cranial nerves was included created much discussion and was adversely criticized by Nissl, who opposed the neuron theory.

Neurology and early human genetics
Flatau and Wladyslaw Sterling in 1911 published an early paper on progressive torsion spasm in children the same year as Ziehen and Oppenheim. Unlike Oppenheim's this paper suggested that the disease has genetic component.

In 1927 Flatau, independently of Emil Redlich in Vienna, described the first cases of encephalomyelitis epidemica disseminata (Flatau-Redlich disease). Flatau was convinced that this illness is caused by virus which was latter confirmed by Mergulis. Flatau described in detail Schilder disease and introduced its name encephalitis periaxialis diffusa.



Migraine and headaches
In 1912 he published in German and Polish first modern monograph about migraines. This book was reprinted 95 years after its original publication in 2007 and is still often referenced in scientific literature. In review on historical background of general aspects of the headaches Iser and Rose mention that His unique monograph of 1912, "Die Migrane", contains a thorougly structured survey of most earlier authors, precise clinical observations, a critical evaluation of pathophysiology, and uncritical opinions on treatment, including arsenic cures.

Contribution to Polish science
By 1899 Flatau had established a name for himself both in Germany and abroad and returned to Poland during that year. Flatau was closely associated with attempts to re-establish Polish science during and after Russian occupation. After return he formed private microscopy laboratory at his apartments in Warsaw and worked in Warsaw hospitals as consultant. In 1911 he established a neurological laboratory in the Warsaw Psychologic Society and he became, in 1913, the first head of the Department of Neurobiology of Warsaw Scientific Society (Warszawskie Towarzystwo Naukowe) and from 1919 head of the Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology which was then part of the Warsaw Scientific Society. In 1904 he becomes head of neurology in "Na Czystem" Hospital in Warsaw.

For many years he shared his responsibilities as experimentalist and neurologist between the laboratory and the hospital. He had large private practice. He was influential in establishing Polish medical periodicals "Neurologia Polska" and "Warszawskie Czasopismo Lekarskie". He supported establishment of Neurological and Psychiatry Section of Warsaw Medical Society, had many outstanding students, excellent organizer.

He died in 1932, the same year as two other notable Polish neurologists; Samuel Goldflam and Joseph Jules François Félix Babinski (Polish-French neurologist).