Metabolic Modification of Some Neurologic Disorders

Some of the most spectacular drugs in the history of medicine (digitalis, quinine, penicillin) were discovered when at least two events collided randomly: a biological accident and an observer who happened to be in a perceptive state. Since such discoveries depend on an improbable happenstance, society has not yet proved capable of promoting them willfully to an appreciable degree. By sharp contrast, insulin and cortisone were developed after a slow accumulation of data, that were subjected later to novel interpretation. This approach is not a spectacular one. It is, however, readily amenable to promotion by the sequential testing of hypotheses in the laboratory and on the wards. This latter consideration may justify the personal character of the present account. Background My colleagues and I have long been interested in the metabolism of biogenic amines1,2and in that of essential trace metals like manganese.3,4Both classes of substances are