ADHD - An Illustrated historical overview

W hile working at King’s College Hospital in London, George Frederic Still (1868–1941) presented a series of three lectures on March 4, 6 and 11, 1902 to the Royal Society of Medicine in London, the Goulstonian Lectures on “some abnormal psychical conditions in children”, which were also published in April 1902 in the Lancet . In these lectures, Still described the cases of 23 ex- amined children from his practice, aged between three and twelve years, who showed diminished “moral control”, were excessively passionate and emotional, and had problems at school. As these children came mainly from normal families and had no general impairment of intellect, Still concluded that the underlying cause of the defect was some morbid physical condition. He described a number of diseases that might be responsible, and also linked the moral defect to morbid nervous and mental conditions. London 1902 „Another boy, aged six years, with marked moral defect was unable to keep his attention even to a game for more than a very short time, and, as might be expected, the failure of attention was very noticeable at school, with the result that in some cases the child was backward in school attainments, although in manner and ordinary conversation he appeared as bright and intelligent as any child could be.” Still, Goulstonian Lectures, Lecture III. Some abnormal psychical conditions in children: The Goulstonian Lectures of 1902. Lecture 1 held on March 4, published on April 12. Lecture 2 held on March 6, published on April 19. Lecture 3 held on March 11, published on April 26. The Goulstonian Lectures are named for the English physician Theodore Goulston (1572–1632). George Frederic Still in the 1920s. Source: U.S. National Library of Medicine.