The Contributions of Wilder Penfield and the Montreal Neurological Institute to Canadian Neurosciences

The Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) was founded in 1934 by the American-born neurosurgeon Dr. Wilder Penfield (1891–1976), with a $1.2 million grant from the Rockefeller Foundation of New York City and the support of the Government of Quebec, the City of Montreal, and private donors. Penfield immigrated to Montreal in 1928 where he taught at McGill University and the Royal Victoria Hospital, becoming the city's first neurosurgeon. Penfield and his colleagues at MNI designed the EEG test for the study of epileptic patients, discovered some of the causes of epilepsy, and developed new treatments that have since been adopted worldwide. Additionally, they delineated the sensory and motor representation in the cerebral cortex and localized the major areas of the brain related to speech. The institute also boasts the discoveries of two types of memory - one serving immediate recall, the other long term - as well as the discovery of the localization of short-term memory to the inner structures of the temporal lobe.

Health, Disease and Medicine: Essays in Canadian History

Toronto, ON

Published for the Hannah Institute for the History of Medicine by Clarke Irwin

1983

347-358

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