Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Essay
  • Published:

Parkinson's disease — the story of an eponym

Nature Reviews Neurology volume 14, pages 57–62 (2018)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

One of the most prevalent neurodegenerative diseases worldwide is still referred to as 'Parkinson's disease'. The condition is named after James Parkinson who, in 1817, described the shaking palsy (paralysis agitans). In the bicentennial year of this publication, we trace when and why the shaking palsy became Parkinson's disease. The term was coined by William Rutherford Sanders of Edinburgh in 1865 and later entered general usage through the influence of Jean-Martin Charcot and the school that he nurtured at the Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris. Despite a move towards more mechanism-based nosology for many medical conditions in recent years, the Parkinson's disease eponym remains in place, celebrating the life and work of this doctor, palaeontologist and political activist.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Blue plaque commemorating James Parkinson.
Figure 2: Title page of An Essay on the Shaking Palsy.
Figure 3: William Rutherford Sanders (1828–1881).
Figure 4: Jean-Martin Charcot (1825–1893).
Figure 5: A woman with paralysie agitante.
Figure 6: Portrait of Bachère, a patient with Parkinson's disease.

References

  1. Willis, T. in De Anima Brutorum 392–432 (R. Davis, 1672).

    Google Scholar 

  2. Oxford Univ. Press in Compact Oxford English Dictionary Vol. 2 2061 (Oxford Univ. Press, 1971).

  3. Parkinson, J. An Essay on the Shaking Palsy (Whittingham and Rowland, 1817).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Ars-Berättelse om Svenska Läkare-Sällskapets Arbeten 91 (Stockholm, 1817).

  5. Cooke, J. in A Treatise on Nervous Diseases. History and Method of Cure of the Various Species of Palsy. Vol. 2 207 (Longman, 1821).

    Google Scholar 

  6. Hall, M. in On the Diseases and Derangements of the Nervous System, in their Primary Forms and in their Modifications by Age, Sex, Constitution, Hereditary Predisposition, Excesses, General Disorder, and Organic Disease 320 (Baillière, 1841).

    Google Scholar 

  7. Sanders, W. R. Case of an unusual form of nervous disease, dystaxia or pseudo-paralysis agitans, with remarks. Edinb. Med. J. 10, 987–997 (1865).

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  8. Louis, E. D. The shaking palsy, the first forty-five years: a journey through the British literature. Mov. Disord. 12, 1068–1072 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Lewis, C. The Enlightened Mr. Parkinson: the Pioneering Life of a Forgotten English Surgeon (Icon Books Ltd, 2017).

    Google Scholar 

  10. Hurwitz, B. Parkinson's disease: what's in the name? Lancet 389, 2098–2099 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Rowntree, L. G. James Parkinson MD. Bull. Johns Hopkins Hosp. 23, 33–45 (1912).

    Google Scholar 

  12. McMenemy, W. H. in James Parkinson (1755–1824) (ed. Critchley, M.) 1–143 (Macmillan, 1955).

    Google Scholar 

  13. Gardner-Thorpe, C. James Parkinson (Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, 1987).

    Google Scholar 

  14. Morris, A. D. James Parkinson: His Life and Times (Birkhäuser Boston, 1989).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  15. [No authors listed.] Obituary of William Rutherford Sanders. Br. Med. J. 1, 321–322 (1881).

  16. Comrie, J. D. in History of Scottish Medicine Vol. 2 697 (Wellcome Historical Medical Museum, 1932).

    Google Scholar 

  17. Sanders, W. R. in In A System of Medicine Vol. 2 (ed. Reynolds, J. R.) 184–204 (Macmillan, 1868).

    Google Scholar 

  18. Putnam, T. J. Athetosis. Yale J. Biol. Med. 11, 459–465 (1939).

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  19. Fereshtehnejad, S. M., Zeighami, Y., Dagher, A. & Postuma, R. B. Clinical criteria for subtyping Parkinson's disease: biomarkers and longitudinal progression. Brain 140, 1959–1976 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Goetz, C. G., Bonduelle, M. & Gelfand, T. Charcot: Constructing Neurology (Oxford Univ. Press, 1995).

    Google Scholar 

  21. Charcot, J.-M. & Vulpian, A. De la paralysie agitante. A propos d'un cas tiré de la clinique du Professeur Oppolzer [French]. Gaz. Hebdom. Méd. Chir. 8, 765–767; 8, 816–820; 9, 54–59 (1861/1862).

  22. Charcot, J.-M. Leçons du Mardi à la Salpêtrière. Professeur Charcot. Policlinique 1887–1888. Notes de Cours de MM. Blin, Charcot et H. Colin [French] (Aux Bureaux du Progrès Médical, 1887).

    Google Scholar 

  23. Goetz, C. G. Charcot the Clinician: the Tuesday Lessons: Excerpts from Nine Case Presentations on General Neurology Delivered at the Salpêtrière Hospital in 1887–1888 (Raven Press, 1987).

    Google Scholar 

  24. Charcot, J.-M. Leçons sur les Maladies du Système Nerveux faites à la Salpêtrière par J.-M. Charcot. Recueillies et publiées par Bourneville [French] Vol. 1 (Delahaye, 1872/1873).

    Google Scholar 

  25. Charcot, J.-M. Leçons sur les Maladies du Système Nerveux faites à la Salpêtrière par J.-M. Charcot. Recueillies et publiées par Bourneville [French] Vol. 2 (Aux Bureaux du Progrès Médical and Delahaye, 1877).

    Google Scholar 

  26. Charcot, J.-M. Leçons sur les Maladies du Système Nerveux faites à la Salpêtrière par J.-M. Charcot. Recueillies et publiées par MM. Babinski, Bernard, Féré, Guinon, Marie et Gilles de la Tourette [French] Vol. 3 (Aux Bureaux du Progrès Médical, 1887).

    Google Scholar 

  27. Charcot, J.-M. Leçons sur les Maladies du Système Nerveux faites à la Salpêtrière par J.-M. Charcot. Recueillies et publiées par Bourneville [French] Vol. 1 2nd edn (Delahaye & Co., 1875).

    Google Scholar 

  28. Charcot, J.-M. Lectures on the Diseases of the Nervous System delivered at la Salpêtrière by J.-M. Charcot. Translated by George Sigerson (New Sydenham Society, 1877).

    Google Scholar 

  29. Charcot, J.-M. Leçons sur les Maladies du Système Nerveux faites à la Salpêtrière par J.-M. Charcot. Recueillies et publiées par Bourneville [French] Vol. 1 3rd edn (Delahaye & Co., 1877).

    Google Scholar 

  30. Bourneville, D. M. Du tremblement dans la maladie de Parkinson (paralysie agitante) [French]. Progrès Méd. 4, 838–840 (1876).

    Google Scholar 

  31. Charcot, J.-M. Leçons sur les Maladies du Système Nerveux faites à la Salpêtrière par J.-M. Charcot. Recueillies et publiées par Bourneville [French] Vol. 1 4th edn (Delahaye and Lecrosnier, 1880).

    Google Scholar 

  32. Charcot, J.-M. Leçons sur les Maladies du Système Nerveux faites à la Salpêtrière par J.-M. Charcot. Recueillies et publiées par Bourneville [French] Vol. 1 5th edn (Delahaye, 1884).

    Google Scholar 

  33. Charcot, J.-M. Lectures on the Diseases of the Nervous System delivered at the Infirmary of la Salpêtrière by J.-M. Charcot, Vol. 3. Translated by Thomas Savill (New Sydenham Society, 1889).

    Google Scholar 

  34. Charcot, J.-M. Leçons du Mardi à la Salpêtrière Professeur Charcot. Policlinique 1888–1889. Notes de Cours de MM. Blin, Charcot, Henri Colin [French] (Aux Bureaux du Progrès Médical, Lecrosnier and Babé, 1888/1889).

    Google Scholar 

  35. Goetz, C. G. The history of Parkinson's disease: early clinical descriptions and neurological therapies. Cold Spring Harb. Perspect. Med. 1, a008862 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Lees, A. An essay on the shaking palsy. Brain 140, 843–848 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Blocq, P. & Marinesco, G. Sur un cas de tremblement parkinsonien hémiplégique symptomatique d'une tumeur du pédoncule cérébral [French]. C. R. Soc. Biol. 5, 105–111 (1893).

    Google Scholar 

  38. Benedikt, M. Tremblement avec paralysie croisée du moteur oculaire commun [French]. Bull. Méd. 3, 547–548 (1889).

    Google Scholar 

  39. Brissaud, E. Leçons sur les Maladies Nerveuses Recueillies et publiées par Henry Meige [French] (Masson, 1895).

    Google Scholar 

  40. Trétiakoff, C. Contribution à l'étude de l'Anatomie pathologique du Locus Niger [French] (Jouve & Co., 1919).

    Google Scholar 

  41. Lees, A. J., Selikhova, M., Andrade, L. A. & Duyckaerts, C. The black stuff and Konstantin Nikolaevich Tretiakoff. Mov. Disord. 23, 777–783 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Lewy, F. in In Handbuch der Neurologie [German] Vol. 3. (eds Lewandowsky, M. & Abelsdorff, G.) 920–933 (Springer, 1912).

    Google Scholar 

  43. Goedert, M., Spillantini, M. G., Del Tredici, K. & Braak, H. 100 years of Lewy pathology. Nat. Rev. Neurol. 9, 13–24 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  44. Spillantini, M. G. et al. α-Synuclein in Lewy bodies. Nature 388, 839–840 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  45. von Economo, C. Die Encephalitis lethargica, ihre Nachkrankheiten und ihre Behandlung [German] (Urban & Schwarzenberg, 1929).

    Google Scholar 

  46. Sicard, J. A. & Paraf, J. Parkinsonnisme et Parkinson, reliquats d'encéphalite épidémique [French]. Rev. Neurol. 36, 465–470 (1920).

    Google Scholar 

  47. Buée-Scherrer, V. et al. Pathological tau proteins in postencephalitic parkinsonism: comparison with Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. Ann. Neurol. 42, 356–359 (1997).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  48. Josephs, K. A., Parisi, J. E. & Dickson, D. W. Alpha-synuclein studies are negative in postencephalitic parkinsonism of von Economo. Neurology 59, 645–646 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  49. McWilliams, T. G. & Muqit, M. M. PINK1 and Parkin: emerging themes in mitochondrial homeostasis. Curr. Opin. Cell Biol. 45, 83–91 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  50. Doherty, K. M. et al. Parkin disease: a clinicopathologic entity? JAMA Neurol. 70, 571–579 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  51. Berg, D. et al. Time to redefine PD? Introductory statement of the MDS Task Force on the definition of Parkinson's disease. Mov. Disord. 29, 454–462 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors thank G. Delaunay from the Bibliothèque Charcot (Hôpital de la Pitié Salpêtrière) as well as M.-C. Potier and C. Duyckaerts from the Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Epinière (Hôpital de la Pitié Salpêtrière) for their help.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge, CB2 0QH, UK

    Michel Goedert

  2. Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge, Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 2QH, UK

    Alastair Compston

Authors
  1. Michel Goedert
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Alastair Compston
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

Both authors researched data for the article, discussed the content, wrote the article, and reviewed and edited the manuscript before submission.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michel Goedert.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Related links

DATABASES

Dorlands.com

PowerPoint slides

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Goedert, M., Compston, A. Parkinson's disease — the story of an eponym. Nat Rev Neurol 14, 57–62 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneurol.2017.165

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneurol.2017.165

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing