TEMPORAL-LOBE EPILEPSY IN A GENIUS OF NATURAL-HISTORY - MRI VOLUMETRIC STUDY OF POSTMORTEM BRAIN

Kumagusu Minakata (1867-1941), a Japanese genius devoted to natural hi story and folklore, is famous for his immense range of works, includin g his discovery of many new varieties of mycetozoa, or slime molds. Hi s diary reveals that he was affected by epilepsy. In this study of his brain, we adopted a method of measuring the volume of the hippocampi by MRI of postmortem brain and found evidence of right hippocampal atr ophy. This finding, together with the striking parallels between his b ehavior and the known behavioral syndrome in temporal lobe epilepsy (T LE), suggests that he was affected by TLE. The postmortem imaging anal ysis of brain, as performed in this study, offers a bridge between neu roscience and classic psychopathologic approaches to the creativity of geniuses.