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Sherrington the Physiologist Sherrington was highly renowned for his meticulous research on neuronal function and integrated activation of spinal cord reflexes, publishing prolifically such as with his textbook The Integrative Action of the Nervous System (1906) and receiving the Nobel Prize in 1932 Outside the laboratory, Sherrington was a poet - weaving words together to create intricate compositions. He wrote The Assaying of Brabantius and other Verse (1925) where he explains how words had messages of “heavenly things to tell” In lab, Sherrington had been a staunch observer of factual information, refusing to jump to unsupported conclusions (Penfield, 1957). A portrait of Sir Charles Scott Sherrington (Wellcome Library, London) The Assaying of Brabantius, and other verse (Sherrington Collection, Oxford) Sherrington’s Lab Notebook where he recorded procedures, ideas, lectures and observations from his laboratory in detail. The book is replete with sketches of different species of animals such as chimpanzees, rats, dogs and cats (Sherrington Collection, Oxford) Introduction Oxford-based neurophysiologist Sir Charles Scott Sherrington (1857-1952) was a poet and a scientist. Canadian neurosurgeon Wilder Graves Penfield (1891-1976), who was under Sherrington’s tutelage for a period of time, noted how Sherrington was able to skillfully separate his two passions from one another, keeping one from tainting the other. Sherrington the Poet Sherrington’s Letters Sherrington had the habit to write letters to his scientific colleagues, especially during the period before the first world war where he was academically prolific. Although Sherrington separated poetry and physiology in his daily life, enclosed with these scientific communications were often lines and even books of poetry. “I enclose a piece of sea-verse, appropriate perhaps from a seaport physiologist!” Sherrington encloses a poem called The Swimmer when writing to Harvey William Cushing (1869-1939), the “father of modern neurosurgery” in Boston in 31 October 1913. Sherrington was only in Liverpool for another two months before he left to Oxford (Sherrington Collection, Oxford) Many scientists thanked Sherrington for his verse including Henry Head, William McDougall, Lancelot Hogben and Charles Robert Richet. Through autographs and letters analyzed, it seems that Sherrington used poetry to build personal friendships and remain humble during his scientific correspondence. This helped Sherrington find success and pleasure in both of his passions. In other words, Penfield missed this aspect of Sherrington’s life - Sherrington indeed included poetry in his world of science through letter writing. Future investigation includes acquiring Sherrington’s letters that he sent out to the aforementioned scientists that are not stored in the Sherrington Collection at Oxford. “Accept a little volume of English poetry which my wife and I much read.” Sherrington encloses a book of poetry when writing to Angelo Ruffini (1864-1929), an Italian histologist and embryologist, in 28 December 1902. Sherrington had never met Ruffini in person, but both worked with the higher goal of the advancement of science (Sherrington Collection, Oxford) References - Eccles J (1975) Letters from C. S. Sherrington, F.R.S., to Angelo Ruffini between 1896 and 1903. Notes Rec R Soc Lond 30:69–88 - Eccles JC, Gibson WC (2012) Sherrington: His Life and Thought. Springer Science & Business Media. - Fuller J (2007) The poetry of Sir Charles Sherrington. Brain 130:1981–1983 - History of Medical Sciences Project (2015) The Sherrington Collection (Digital). Available at: https://cslide.medsci.ox.ac.uk/items/view/1005 - Molnár Z, Brown RE (2010) Insights into the life and work of Sir Charles Sherrington. Nat Rev Neurosci 11:429–436 - Noyes A (1926) The Assaying of Brabantius and other Verse. Nature 118:363–365 - Penfield W (1957) Sir Charles Sherrington, Poet and Philosopher. Brain 80:402–410 - Penfield W (1962) Sir Charles Sherrington, O.M., F.R.S. (1857-1952): An Appreciation. Notes Rec R Soc 17:163–168 - Sherrington C (1925) The Assaying of Brabantius, and other verse. London: Humphrey Milford. Sir Charles Scott Sherrington’s Letters: Considerations on the Intersections of Poetry and Physiology Bruce M. Gao, Dr. Frank W. Stahnisch (University of Calgary, Canada)
