Educated in the United States, Penfield moved to Canada in 1928 and became a Canadian citizen in 1934. After receiving a medical degree. he specialized in neurology and neurosurgery. His experience as a clinician and researcher at various institutions in America and Europe was extensive and
varied. As a member of the faculty of McGill University in Montreal, Penfield founded the Montreal Neurological Institute, which he directed until his retirement in 1960. He remained active to the end of his life as a lecturer, consultant, and writer. He was editor. author, or coauthor of six books on the nervous system, and the author of a book of essays, a biography (of Alan Gregg), and two historical
novels. His last book. The mystery of the mind, is a venture into a critical study of the mind-brain
relationship. Among Penfield's numerous contributions, the most outstanding were the development of neurosurgical treatment of certain forms of epilepsy; a better understanding of the functional organization of the human cerebral cortex: and the discovery that electric stimulation of certain parts of the cortex in human subjects can evoke vivid memories of past life experiences, a kind of
"flashback" of earlier life events. Penfield's theory of the mind-brain relationship, based on his
experience as a neurosurgeon and brain investigator, is original and provocative. He refused to equate mind with the brain activity and did not preclude the possibility of the survival of the mind after brain's death. Penfield (1975, p. 89) once stated: "Whether the mind is truly a separate element or whether, in some way not yet apparent, it is an expression of neuronal action, the decision must wait for further scientific evidence." In a preceding paragraph, however, he wrote: "It is obvious that science can make no statement at present in regard to the question of man's existence after
death, although every thoughtful man must ask that question." |
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