The first description of the pathology of MS was made by Robert Carswell, a pathologist of the mid 19th century.
During a postmortem, Carswell found lesions in the spinal cord of an unfortunate subject.
Unaware of their cause, he recorded their gross appearance and made a hand-painted illustration of the lesions (above).
The illustration and description were published in 1838 in his Atlas of Pathology.
Despite Carswell's major contribution in describing the pathology of MS lesions, he did not record any clinical associations with his observations.
"Why is important? To define a disease you need to link the pathology to the clinical presentation and clinical characteristics of the disease; the so called clinico-pathological correlate. He did not do this therefore the definition of MS could not be attributed to Carswell; in other words we can't refer to MS as Carswell's disease."
History of MS (3): Sir August d'Esté (1794-1848). After St. Lidwina the next historical description of MS appeared in 19th century; a personal account of the illness by Sir Augustus d'Esté, the illegitimate grandson of ...
"I believe that studying or being aware of the history of MS is important; it may provide important insights into the origins of the disease and important clues to its cause." Possibly the earliest known description of a ...
History of MS (1): Russell Brains Monologue. Murray T. Russell Brains Review of MS. Int MS J. 2011 May;17(2):50-3. In 1930 there were many conflicting views on the cause, incidence, precipitating factors, inheritance and ...