Logo image
Back
David Ferrier’s second monkey (‘monkey F’): The inaugural experimental studies of the auditory cortex
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

David Ferrier’s second monkey (‘monkey F’): The inaugural experimental studies of the auditory cortex

Andrew J. Larner and Timothy D. Griffiths
Journal of the history of the neurosciences, Vol.34(3), pp.495-508
07/03/2025
DOI: 10.1080/0964704X.2024.2436676
PMID: 39761964
url
https://doi.org/10.1080/0964704X.2024.2436676View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

The story of David Ferrier’s demonstration at the International Medical Congress in London in August 1881 of a monkey experimentally rendered hemiplegic by a focal surgical brain lesion—prompting Charcot’s observation, “C’est un malade!”—is well known as a seminal event in the history of the localization of functions in the cerebral cortex. Less well known is the fact that, on the same occasion, Ferrier demonstrated a second monkey, known as monkey F, apparently deaf as a consequence of bilateral temporo-sphenoidal brain lesions. The purpose of this article is, first, to give a chronological account of this demonstration and subsequent related events, including Ferrier’s trial under the Vivisection Act, the publication of the pathological findings in the animal’s brain, the dispute about the localization of the “auditory centre” with Edward Schäfer, and the first glimmerings of human homologues of cortical deafness. Second, we briefly reappraise Ferrier’s findings in light of current concepts of the central substrates of complex sound processing.
 Cortical localization David Ferrier hearing

Details

Metrics

6 Record Views
Logo image