Sir Charles Sherrington
Portrait
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The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1932
Biography
Charles Scott Sherrington was born on November
27¡B1857¡Bat Islington¡BLondon. He was the son of
James Norton Sherrington¡Bof Caister¡BGreat
Yarmouth¡Bwho died when Sherrington was a young
child. Sherrington's mother later married Dr.
Caleb Rose of Ipswich¡Ba good classical scholar
and a noted archaeologist¡Bwhose interest in the
English artists of the Norwich School no doubt
gave Sherrington the interest in art that he
retained throughout his life.
In 1876 Sherrington began medical studies at St.
Thomas's Hospital and in 1878 passed the primary
examination of the Royal College of Surgeons¡Band
a year later the primary examination for the
Fellowship of that College. After a short stay
at Edinburgh he went¡Bin 1879¡Bto Cambridge as a
noncollegiate student studying physiology under
Michael Foster¡Band in 1880 entered Gonville and
Caius College there.
In 1881 he attended a medical congress in London
at which Sir Michael Foster discussed the work
of Sir Charles Bell and others on the
experimental study of the functions of nerves
that was then being done in England and
elsewhere in Europe. At this congress
controversy arose about the effects of excisions
of parts of the cortex of the brains of dogs and
monkeys done by Ferrier and Goltz of Strasbourg.
Subsequently¡BSherrington worked on this problem
in Cambridge with Langley¡Band with him
published¡Bin 1884¡Ba paper on it. In this manner
Sherrington was introduced to the neurological
work to which he afterwards devoted his life.
In 1883 Sherrington became Demonstrator of
Anatomy at Cambridge under Professor Sir George
Humphrey¡Band during the winter session of
1883-1884 at St. Thomas's Hospital he
demonstrated histology.
The years 1884 and 1885 were eventful ones for
Sherrington¡Bfor during the winter of 1884-1885
he worked with Goltz at Strasbourg¡Bin 1884 he
obtained his M.R.C.S.¡Band in 1885 a First Class
in the Natural Sciences Tripos at Cambridge with
distinction. During this year he published a
paper of his own on the subject of Goltz's dogs.
In 1885 he also took his M.B. degree at
Cambridge and in 1886 his L.R.C.P.
In 1885 Sherrington went¡Bas a member of a
Committee of the Association for Research in
Medicine¡Bto Spain to study an outbreak of
cholera¡Band in 1886 he visited the Venice
district also to investigate the same
disease¡Bthe material then obtained being
examined in Berlin under the supervision of
Virchow¡Bwho later sent Sherrington to Robert
Koch for a six weeks' course in technique.
Sherrington stayed with Koch to do research in
bacteriology for a year¡Band in 1887 he was
appointed Lecturer in Systematic Physiology at
St. Thomas's Hospital¡BLondon¡Band also was
elected a Fellow of Gonville and Caius
College¡BCambridge. In 1891 he was appointed in
succession to Sir Victor Horsley¡BProfessor and
Superintendent of the Brown Institute for
Advanced Physiological and Pathological Research
in London. In 1895 he became Professor of
Physiology at the University of Liverpool.
During his earlier years in
Cambridge¡BSherrington¡Binfluenced by W. H.
Gaskell and by the Spanish neurologist¡BRamon y
Cajal¡Bwhom he had met during his visit to
Spain¡Btook up the study of the spinal cord. By
1891 his mind had turned to the problems of
spinal reflexes¡Bwhich were being much discussed
at that time¡Band Sherrington published several
papers on this subject and¡Bduring
1892-1894¡Bothers on the efferent nerve supply of
muscles. Later¡Bfrom 1893-1897¡Bhe studied the
distribution of the segmented skin fields¡Band
made the important discovery that about
one-third of the nerve fibres in a nerve
supplying a muscle are efferent¡Bthe remainder
being motor.
At Liverpool he returned to his earlier study of
the problem of the innervation of antagonistic
muscles and showed that reflex inhibition played
an important part in this. In addition to
this¡Bhowever¡Bhe was studying the connection
between the brain and the spinal cord by way of
the pyramidal tract¡Band he was at this time
visited by the American surgeon Harvey
Cushing¡Bthen a young man¡Bwho stayed with him for
eight months.
In 1906 he published his well-known book: The
Integrative Action of the Nervous System¡Bbeing
his Silliman Lectures held at Yale University
the previous year¡Band in 1913 he was invited to
become Waynfleet Professor of Physiology at
Oxford¡Ba post for which he had unsuccessfully
applied in 1895¡Band here he remained until his
retirement in 1936. Here he wrote¡Band published
in 1919¡Bhis classic book entitled Mammalian
Physiology: a Course of Practical Exercises¡Band
here he regularly taught the students for whom
this book was written.
In physique Sherrington was a well-built¡Bbut not
very tall man with a strong constitution which
enabled him to carry out prolonged researches.
During the First World War¡Bas Chairman of the
Industrial Fatigue Board¡Bhe worked for a time in
a shell factory at Birmingham¡Band the daily
shift of 13 hours¡Bwith a Sunday shift of 9
hours¡Bdid not¡Bat the age of 57¡Btire him. From
his early years he was short-sighted¡Bbut he
often worked without spectacles.
The predominant notes of his character as a man
were his humility and friendliness and the
generosity with which he gave to others his
advice and valuable time. An interesting feature
of him is that he published¡Bin 1925¡Ba book of
verse entitled The Assaying of Brabantius and
other Verse¡Bwhich caused one reviewer to hope
that «Miss Sherrington» would publish more
verse. He was also sensitive to the music of
prose¡Band this and the poet in him¡Bbut also the
biologist and philosopher¡Bwere evident in his
Rede Lecture at Cambridge in 1933 on The Brain
and its Mechanism¡Bin which he denied our
scientific right to join mental with
physiological experience.
The philosopher in him ultimately found
expression in his great book¡BMan on his
Nature¡Bwhich was the published title of the
Gifford Lectures for 1937-1938¡Bwhich Sherrington
gave. As is well known¡Bthis book¡Bpublished in
1940¡Bcentres round the life and views of the
16th century French physician Jean Fernel and
round Sherrington's own views. In 1946
Sherrington published another volume entitled
The Endeavour of Jean Fernel.
Sherrington was elected a Fellow of the Royal
Society of London in 1893¡Bwhere he gave the
Croonian Lecture in 1897¡Band was awarded the
Royal Medal in 1905 and the Copley Medal in
1927. In 1922 the Knight Grand Cross of the
Order of the British Empire and in 1924 the
Order of Merit were conferred upon him. He held
honorary doctorates of the Universities of
Oxford¡BLondon¡BSheffield¡BBirmingham¡BManchester¡BLiverpool¡BWales¡BEdinburgh¡BGlasgow¡BParis¡BStrasbourg¡BLouvain¡BUppsala¡BLyons¡BBudapest¡BAthens¡BBrussels¡BBerne¡BToronto¡BMontreal¡Band
Harvard.
As a boy and a young man Sherrington was a
notable athlete both at Queen Elizabeth's
School¡BIpswich¡Bwhere he went in 1871¡Band later
at Gonville and Caius College¡BCambridge¡Bfor
which College he rowed and played rugby
football; he was also a pioneer of winter sports
at Grindelwald.
In 1892 Sherrington married Ethel Mary¡Bdaughter
of John Ely Wright¡Bof Preston Manor¡BSuffolk.
After some years of frail health¡Bduring
which¡Bhowever¡Bhe remained mentally very alert¡Bhe
died suddenly of heart failure at Eastbourne in
1952.
From Nobel Lectures¡BPhysiology or Medicine
1922-1941¡BElsevier Publishing
Company¡BAmsterdam¡B1965
This autobiography/biography was first published
in the book series Les Prix Nobel. It was later
edited and republished in Nobel Lectures. To
cite this document¡Balways state the source as
shown above.
Sir Charles Sherrington died on March 4¡B1952.