**1. Introduction**

The Greek neurologist-psychiatrist Georg N. Koskinas (1885–1975) is better known for his collaboration with Constantin von Economo (1876–1931) on the cytoarchitectonic study of the human cerebral cortex (von Economo & Koskinas, 1925, 2008). Koskinas seems to have been one of those classically unrecognised and unrewarded figures of science (Jones, 2008, 2010). Such an injustice has been remedied in part in recent years (Triarhou, 2005, 2006). The

Fig. 1. The Vienna General Hospital on the left, where Koskinas worked between 1916 and 1927 under the supervision of Julius Wagner von Jauregg (1857–1940) and Ernst Sträussler (1872–1959) (author's archive). The 1926 roster of the Vienna Society for Psychiatry and Neurology on the right, showing Koskinas as a regular member (Hartmann et al., 1926)

Cytoarchitectonics of the Human Cerebral Cortex:

**2.2.1 Incentives and aim** 

rhetoric, etc.

**2.2.2 Methods** 

The 1926 Presentation by Georg N. Koskinas (1885–1975) to the Athens Medical Society 3

Fig. 2. Previously unpublished photographs of Koskinas and family members. The left photograph, taken in Vienna around 1926, shows Koskinas (first from the right) with his wife Stefanie, their daughter, his sister Paraskevi and her husband. The right photograph shows Koskinas (second from the right) in the Peloponnese in the 1940s—the bridge of the Eurotas River appears in the background—with his wife and daughter (left), and the children of his sister Irene and their father (photos courtesy of Rena Kostopoulou)

The incomplete and largely imperfect knowledge of the histological structure of the brain constituted the main reason that led us to its detailed architectonic research, and its ultimate goal was the localisation, to the extent possible, of the various cerebral functions and the pathological changes in mental disorders, as well as the interpretation of numerous problems, such as individual mental attributes, i.e. the talent in mathematics, music,

At the outset of our studies we came across various obstacles and difficulties deriving on one hand from the very structure of the brain and on the other from the deficiency of the hitherto available research means. That is why we were obliged to modify numerous of the known means, to incise absolutely new paths, taking advantage of any possible means towards a precise, reliable and indelible rendition of nature. We modelled an entire system of new methods of brain research from the autopsy to the definitive photographic documentation of the preparations. Thus, we were able to not only solve many of the problems, but also, and above all, to provide to anyone interested various topics for

*Sectioning method.* Instead of the hitherto used method of sectioning the whole brain serially perpendicular to its fronto-occipital axis (Fig. 5), whereby gyri are rarely sectioned perpendicularly, we effected the sections always perpendicular to the surface of each gyrus and in directions corresponding to their convoluted pattern (Fig. 6). We arrived at that act

investigation, as well as the manner for exploring them. Allow me to mention some of the employed research means.

year 2010 has marked the 125th birthday anniversary of Koskinas (1 December 1885) and the centennial of his graduation from the University of Athens (M.D., 1910).

As soon as the Atlas and Textbook of Cytoarchitectonics were published in 1925, Koskinas briefly returned to Greece and donated a set to the Athens Medical Society. On that occasion, he delivered a keynote address, which summarises the main points of his research with von Economo. That address (Koskinas, 1926) forms the main focus of this paper. There are only two other presentations known to have been made by Koskinas: one with von Economo at the Society for Psychiatry and Neurology in Vienna in February 1923 (von Economo & Koskinas, 1923), presenting an initial summary of cytoarchitectonic findings on the granularity of sensory cortical areas especially in layers II and IV; and the other with Sträussler at the 88th Meeting of the German Natural Scientists and Physicians in Innsbruck in September 1924 (Sträussler & Koskinas, 1925), reporting histopathological findings on the experimental malaria treatment of patients with general paralysis from neurosyphilis.

#### **2. The 1926 presentation by Koskinas**

The following is an exact English translation of the *Proceedings* of the Athens Medical Society, Session of Saturday, 23 January 1926, rendered from the original Greek text (Koskinas, 1926) by the author of the present chapter.

#### **2.1 Introductory comment by Constantin Mermingas, presiding**

"I am in the gratifying position of announcing an exceptional donation, made to the Society by the colleague Dr. G. Koskinas, sojourning in Athens; having temporarily come from Vienna, he brought with him a copy, as voluminous as you see, but also as valuable, of the truly monumental compilation, produced by the two Hellenic scientists in Vienna, C. Economo and G. Koskinas, who is among us today. It involves the book—text volume and atlas—*Cytoarchitektonik der Hirnrinde des erwachsenen Menschen*, about the value of which we had learnt from reviews published in foreign journals, but also convinced directly. Dr. Koskinas deserves our warm thanks, as well as our gratitude, for being willing to deliver a synopsis of that original scientific research and achievement."

#### **2.2 Main lecture by Georg N. Koskinas, keynote speaker**

"Thanks to the ardour of the honourable President of the Society, Professor Dr. Mermingas, who is meritoriously making every attempt to highlight the Society as a centre of noble emulation in scientific research and the promotion of science and at the encouragement of whom I have the honour of being a guest at the Society today. Enchanted by that, I owe acknowledgments because you are offering me the opportunity to briefly occupy you in person about the work published by Professor von Economo and myself in German, and deposited to the chair of the Society, "The Cytoarchitectonics of the Human Cerebral Cortex" *(Die Cytoarchitektonik der Hirnrinde des erwachsenen Menschen)*. An attempt on my behalf to analyse that work requires much time and many auxiliary media which, simply hither passing through, I lack. That is why I wish to confine myself, such that I very briefly cover the following simply and to the extent possible.

Fig. 2. Previously unpublished photographs of Koskinas and family members. The left photograph, taken in Vienna around 1926, shows Koskinas (first from the right) with his wife Stefanie, their daughter, his sister Paraskevi and her husband. The right photograph shows Koskinas (second from the right) in the Peloponnese in the 1940s—the bridge of the Eurotas River appears in the background—with his wife and daughter (left), and the children of his sister Irene and their father (photos courtesy of Rena Kostopoulou)
