The contents of this book reflect, I hope, how excellent my teachers have been – in neurology, language, and history. Hans van Crevel (1931–2002) and Arthur Staal (1926–2016) in Rotterdam have been my role models in all aspects of academic medicine. More recently, the passion and erudition of Piet Gerbrandy, Charles Hupperts, Rodie Risselada, and David Rijser of the Department of Classical Languages at the University of Amsterdam made me forget that studying Latin had been undertaken as the means to an end. Back at the University of Utrecht, studying ‘History and Philosophy of Science’, I found the methods of historians of science more difficult to penetrate than those of physicians or linguists, despite the efforts of especially Frank Huisman and Dirk van Miert. I hope my ‘history of ideas’ has been contextualized at least to some extent, though surely many deeper layers have been left unexplored.