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The Neurology of Alice in Wonderland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2015

T.J. Murray
T.J. Murray*
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine (Neurology), Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia
*
Division of Neurology, Dalhousie University, 5849 University Avenue, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 4H7
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Summary:

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Charles Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll, author of the famous Alice stories, developed migraine and associated visual symptoms late in life. There has been considerable speculation that the bizarre phenomena and weird visual imaginery in Alice stories was directly related to the author’s migraine.

This paper reviews several aspects of the character and health of Lewis Carroll including his shy, introspective personality, his stuttering and his attraction to young girls. It is concluded that there is no connection between the visual symptoms of migraine and the phenomena described in the Alice stories which were written over 25 years before the author developed migraine in his mid-fifties.

Type
Historical Viewpoint
Information
Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences , Volume 9 , Issue 4 , November 1982 , pp. 453 - 457
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Neurological Sciences Federation 1982

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