Sherrington

Sherrington Charles Scott (Charles S. Sherrington; born 1859), famous English physiologist, outstanding researcher of the central nervous system. From 1895 to 1913 - professor in Liverpool, from 1913 - in Oxford. From 1920 to 1925 - chairman of the Royal Society of Physicians in London. Sh.'s scientific activity can be divided into a number of periods. From 1885 to 1893, Sh. studied questions of the segmental organization of the spinal cord. From 1893 to 1913, he discovered and studied the phenomena of reciprocal innervation of antagonist muscles. In parallel with these studies, Sh. investigated questions of binocular vision, physiology of emotions, the role of proprioception in coordination of movements, etc., and described the phenomenon of decerebrate rigidity. In 1904, he first formulated the principle of the final common path, which has enormous significance. Sh. pointed out that with the transition from the diffuse organization of the nervous system of lower animals to the centralized organization of higher animals, the receptor apparatuses increasingly predominate over the executive apparatuses. In the next period, Sh. systematized and expanded his research in light of the principle of the final common path, extending it to the phenomena of central inhibition, reflex equilibrium, and other processes of brain centers. Sh., through his works on the role of proprioception in posture reflexes, is the predecessor of Magnus and his school (see Magnus-Klein reflexes). After 1915, Sh. studied the fate of individual and group impulses of the central nervous system, the phenomena of summation of reinforcement and inhibition in nerve centers. Despite the controversial nature of some of his positions, Sh.'s works had a colossal influence on all researchers studying the physiology of the central nervous system. In 1933, he was awarded the Nobel Prize. Summaries and reviews of his works are given by Sh. in the well-known manual ('Textbook', N.Y., 1900) and in the books 'Integrative action of the nervous system' (New York, 1906) and 'Reflex activity' (Oxford, 1932; a Russian translation 'Reflex activity of the spinal cord' exists; to this book is appended a translation of three chapters from the previous book).