Samuel Wulfowicz Goldflam (15 February 1852 – 26 August 1932) was a

Polish-Jewish The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Ashkenazi Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the lon ...

Isaac Lewin & Nathan Michael Gelber, ''A History of Polish Jewry during the revival of Poland'', Shengold Publishers (1990), p. 86 neurologist best known for his brilliant 1893 analysis of

myasthenia gravis Myasthenia gravis (MG) is a long-term neuromuscular junction disease that leads to varying degrees of skeletal muscle weakness. The most commonly affected muscles are those of the eyes, face, and swallowing. It can result in double vision, dro ...

( Erb-Goldflam syndrome).

Biography

Goldflam received his education in his native city of

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

. He graduated from secondary school in 1869, then studied medicine at Warsaw University. He qualified as a physician in 1875, then worked in internal medicine at Holy Ghost Hospital under Professor Wilhelm Dusan Lambl (1824-95), known for the ''

giardia ''Giardia'' ( or ) is a genus of anaerobic flagellated protozoan parasites of the phylum Metamonada that colonise and reproduce in the small intestines of several vertebrates, causing the disease giardiasis. Their life cycle alternates between ...

'' parasite, '' Lamblia intestinalis''. Lambl was not much of a mentor, so Goldflam worked largely by himself. His position at the internal-medicine clinic supplied him with ample research material. At that time, both internal-medicine and neurology patients were seen at Lambl’s clinic. In 1882 Goldflam studied with the famous neurologists

Karl Friedrich Otto Westphal Karl Friedrich Otto Westphal (23 March 1833, in Berlin – 27 January 1890, in Kreuzlingen) was a German psychiatrist from Berlin. He was the son of Otto Carl Friedrich Westphal (1800–1879) and Karoline Friederike Heine and the father of Alexa ...

(1833-90) and

Jean-Martin Charcot Jean-Martin Charcot (; 29 November 1825 – 16 August 1893) was a French neurology, neurologist and professor of anatomical pathology. He worked on hypnosis and hysteria, in particular with his hysteria patient Louise Augustine Gleizes. Charcot ...

(1825-93), then returned to Warsaw to teach neurology in the manner of the great masters. After a new period in Lambl’s clinic at Holy Ghost Hospital, he established his own clinic at Graniczna Street, no. 10, in Warsaw, for underprivileged patients, which he ran for nearly 40 years. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Goldflam worked as a volunteer in the Jewish Hospital with his great friend, the neurologist,

Edward Flatau Edward Flatau (27 December 1868, Płock – 7 June 1932, Warsaw) was a Polish neurologist and psychiatrist. He was a co-founder of the modern Polish neurology, an authority on the physiology and pathology of meningitis, co-founder of medical jou ...

(1869-1932). During the war he was one of the first to notice a correspondence between malnourishment and diseases, and he documented a bone and joint disease under the name ''osteoarthropathia dysalimentaria'' (1918). His main interest, however, was in the significance of reflexes, the neurological aspects of syphilis, and eye reflexes. Goldflam was a sharp clinician with the ability to recognize small clues of illness which often escaped the attention of his colleagues. He not only worked with patients but was a

pathologist Pathology is the study of the causal, causes and effects of disease or injury. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when us ...

. His profound observations and publications were recognized in Poland and abroad. Goldflam established the Jewish Society for Mental Disorders and established the „Sophia” clinic for mental patients in Otwock, as well as the Berson and Bauman Children’s Hospital in Warsaw. Together with Flatau he established the Pathology Scientific Institute and the medical periodical ''Warszawskie Czasopismo Naukowe''. Goldflam was a full member of the Warsaw Scientific Society (''Towarzystwo Naukowe Warszawskie''). Together with

Janusz Korczak Janusz Korczak, the pen name of Henryk Goldszmit (22 July 1878 or 1879 – 7 August 1942), was a Polish Jewish educator, children's author and pedagogue known as ''Pan Doktor'' ("Mr. Doctor") or ''Stary Doktor'' ("Old Doctor"). After spending ma ...

and Gerszon Lewin, he helped many social causes. A genius in neurology, Goldflam was also an artist and an expert on

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

, and he helped many aspiring artists, including

Artur Rubinstein Arthur Rubinstein ( pl, Artur Rubinstein; 28 January 188720 December 1982) was a Polish-American pianist.

, to establish their careers. He died in 1932, the same year as two other great Polish neurologists,

and Joseph Babiński.

References

Sources

* E.J. Herman, ''History of Polish Neurology'' (in Polish),

Wrocław Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, rou ...

Polish Academy of Sciences The Polish Academy of Sciences ( pl, Polska Akademia Nauk, PAN) is a Polish state-sponsored institution of higher learning. Headquartered in Warsaw, it is responsible for spearheading the development of science across the country by a society of ...

, 1975.

Biography

References

Sources

See also