Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T12:34:41.705Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Victorian genius of Earlswood – a review of the case of James Henry Pullen

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 June 2014

Caoimhghin S Breathnach  and
Conor Ward
Conor Ward
Affiliation:
Departments of Anatomy & Physiology, Paediatrics and Maurice Kennedy Research Centre for Emeritus Staff, NUI University College Dublin, Ireland
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

London born James Henry Pullen (1836–1915) was admitted to Essex Hall in Colchester, an institution catering for learning disability, at the age of 13. Here his artistic talent was spotted before he moved two years later to Earlswood Asylum for Idiots, where he was apprenticed to woodworking. Such was his manual skill he was eventually employed making furniture for the asylum. His artistic propensity was similarly encouraged and although he never mastered coherent speech he has left a pictorial autobiography of some distinction. At observation he underwent detailed examination by Frederich Sano (1871–1946), particular attention being paid to tokens of arrested development. The clinical and pathological evidence of a pervasive developmental disorder points to a retrospective diagnosis of autism.

Keywords

HistoryAutismVictorian geniusLearning disabilityDevelopmental disorder
Type
Historical
Information
Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine , Volume 22 , Issue 4 , December 2005 , pp. 151 - 155
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2005

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Seguin, E. New facts and remarks concerning idiocy. Wood, New York. 1870:17.Google Scholar
2.Down, J L D. Mental affections of childhood and youth. Churchill, London. 1887: 99.Google ScholarPubMed
3.Foerstel, J. Early interest in the idiot savant. American Journal of Psychiatry. 1989; 146: 566.Google Scholar
4.Anonymous. Edinburgh Review, 1854; 122: 37–74.Google Scholar
5. SRO Surrey/State Records Office,392/11/4/12. F104.Google Scholar
6.Wynter, A. The borderlands of insanity and allied papers. 1865. Pub R. Hardwick. London 1865: 164Google Scholar
7.Brady, C. Dublin, Hodges, Smith 4 Co. p. 29.Google Scholar
8.Millard, W. The idiot and his helpers. London, Simpkin Marshall. 1864: 23Google Scholar
9.Sano, F. Pachyméningitis hémorrhagique d'origine traumatique. Journal de Neurologia, 1909; 14: 321–3, et 466 seq.; passim.Google Scholar
10.In Memoriam. Frits Sano. Jaarboek en Verslagen, Academie voor Geneeskunde van Belgie. 1946; 8: 72–76, with portrait.Google Scholar
11.Deckx, H. Appreciation. Frits Sano. Jaarboek en Verslagen, Academie voor Geneeskunde van Belgie. 1948; 1062–74Google Scholar
12.Sano, F. James Henry Pullen. Journal of Mental Science, 1918; 64: 251–269.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
13.Petersen, SE, Fox, PT, Posner, MI, Mintern, M, Raichle, ME. Positron emission tomographic studies of the cortical anatomy of single-word processing. Nature, 1988; 331:585–589.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
14.Courchesne, E, Carper, R, Akshoomoff, N. Evidence of brain overgrowth in the first year of life in autism. Journal American Medical Association, 2003; 290:337–344.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
15.Levitt, JG, Blanton, RE, Smalley, S, Thompson, PM, Guthrie, G, McCracken, JT, Sadoun, T, Heinichen, L, Toga, AW. Cortical sulcai maps in autism. Cerebral Cortex, 2003; 13: 728–735.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
16.McAlonan, GM, Daly, E, Kumari, V, Critchley, HD, van Amelvoort, T, Suckling, J, Simmons, A, Sigmundsson, T, Greenwood, K, Russell, A, Schmitz, N, Happe, F, Howlin, P, Murphy, DG. Brain anatomy and sensorimotor gating in Asperger's syndrome. Brain, 2002; 125: 1594–1606.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
17.Ghuman, HS, Ghuman, JK. Pervasive developmental disorders and adolescence. In Textbook of Adolescent Psychiatry, edited by Rosner, R. London, Arnold. 2003: 257–264.Google Scholar
18.Zeki, S, Shipp, S. The functional logic of cortical connections. Nature, 1988; 335:311–317.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
19.Wilson, FAW, Scalaidhe, SP, Goldman-Rakic, PS. Dissociation of object and spatial processing domains in primate prefrontal cortex. Science, 1983; 260: 1955–1958.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
20.Holmes, G. Disturbances of visual orientation. British Journal of Ophthalmology, 1918;2:449–480.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
21.Stein, JF. Representation of egocentric space in the posterior parietal cortex. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Physiology, 1989; 74: 583–606.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
22.Fink, GR, Doolan, RJ, Halligan, PW, Marshall, JC, Frith, CD. Space-based and object-based visual attention, Brain, 1997; 120: 2013–2018.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
23.Castelli, F, Frith, C, Happé, F, Frith, U. Autism, Asperger syndrome and brain mechanisms for the attribution of mental states to animated shapes. Brain, 2002; 25: 1839–1849.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
24.Snyder, AW, Mitchell, DJ. Is integer arithmetic fundamental to mental processing?The mind's secret arithmetic. Proceedings Royal Society London, B, 1999; 266: 587–592.Google ScholarPubMed