Physiology of the senses—a prominent area of science in Uppsala at the end of the nineteenth century

Abstract

The first volume of Upsala Läkareförenings Förhandlingar (Proceedings of the Upsala Medical Society) in 1865– 1866 contains a report from a lecture given by the newly appointed professor of physiology, Frithiof Holmgren, with the title ‘A method to make objective the effect of light on the retina’ (1). Neither Holmgren nor his listeners at that time understood that he had made a discovery of great scientific value. He had shown for the first time that impressions from a sense organ are transmitted to the brain through electrical impulses. Instead of the subjective perception, an objective registration of impulses between the sensitive organ and the brain was possible. Its importance for the understanding of the function of all sense organs cannot be overestimated.