Constantin von Economo

ECONOMO, Constantin von (1876–1931), a famous Austrian neurologist, Greek by nationality. His first scientific work, "On the Development of the Pituitary Gland in Birds" (1899), dates back to his student years. Upon graduating from the medical faculty, Economo worked under Prof. Obersteiner in Vienna, and from 1901 to 1903, he was an assistant to the physiologist Exner; his studies in psychiatry under Kraepelin in Munich also date to this time. From 1906 to 1918, he was an assistant at the clinic of Prof. Wagner-Jauregg in Vienna, and from 1920, he was a professor of neuropathology and psychiatry at the University of Vienna. In his article on the central pathways of the respiratory and swallowing acts, Economo experimentally established a "cortical center for swallowing and breathing" and noted the connection of this center with the substantia nigra. In subsequent experimental studies conducted together with Karplus (on the transection of the brainstem and experimental chorea, on the physiology and pathology of the midbrain), Economo deepened the study of the basal ganglia of the brain. The year 1917 marks his discovery of a new disease form—lethargic encephalitis (encephalitis lethargica—Economo's disease); this discovery provided new concepts in the pathophysiology of the basal ganglia, posed the problem of sleep anew, and served as a powerful stimulus for deepening the study of extrapyramidal pathways, various akinesias, affects, etc. Another monumental work that brought Economo world fame and renown is his famous book and atlas on the cytoarchitectonics of the cerebral cortex of the adult human, containing 112 tables and over 800 pages of text (C. Economo and N. Koskinas, "Die Cytoarchitektonik der Hirnrinde," Berlin, 1925). Economo began this work in 1912. In this work, Economo, using a new method of cortex examination—the block method—was able to establish the presence of 5 basic types of cortical structures, provided a map of his 109 fields (replacing Brodmann's 52 fields), their precise characterization by layers, and described new forms of cells, provided precise measurements of the size of individual cells in various cortical layers, established "transitional fields" that transition into one another without a sharp boundary, noted the relationships between fields and sulci, etc.; furthermore, Economo provided a map of the various physiological functions of his 109 fields. Economo provided further deepening of the cytoarchitectonics of the cerebral cortex in a series of separate works: "Wie sollen wir Elitgehirne verarbeiten," "Die progressive Cerebration ein Naturprinzip," "Zur Frage des Vorkommens der Affenspalte." In 1931, Economo opened a special department of the psychiatric clinic for the study of the brain, the program of which included: examination of the cortex in the deaf-mute, the blind, in various brain diseases, the foundations of right- and left-handedness, the racial problem (brain anthropology), myeloarchitectonics, etc. The premature death of Economo prevented the realization of this program. His last appearance was at the International Congress of Neurologists in Bern (1931) on the topic of infectious non-purulent encephalitis.