The Cerebral Associations of Raynaud's Disease

It was in 1862 that Maurice Raynaud first made public his description of the condition with which his name has since been associated, and his Thesis for the Doctorate in Medicine has now become a classic in medical literature (1). Although there may be meticulous critics who will dispute his claim to priority in the delineation of the disease-complex known as Raynaud's disease, there can be no doubt that it was he who first succinctly and clearly described the condition. To use a phrase which is apposite in dealing with such a subject—it was Raynaud who first drew a “line of demarcation” between the symptoms characteristic of his syndrome and those typical of gangrenes in general. In his own words, he was dealing with “a very limited corner of the general history of gangrenes.” In the present paper it is proposed to remain within still stricter limitations, yet even there the amount of clinical material is not inconsiderable. There is an additional interest, too, from the fact that Raynaud, especially in his later researches (2), became more and more convinced that the explanation of the peripheral symptoms should be sought in some change in the central nervous system.