Caleb Hillier Parry (1755-1822)

Caleb Hillier Parry (1755-1822). Image from the Clendening Library Portrait Collection (see here)

In a medical writing published posthumously in 1825, Caleb Hillier Parry recorded his own migraine aura without headache: "After violent fatigue, more especially when accompanied with fasting eight or ten hours, … I have frequently experienced a sudden failure of sight. The general sight did not appear affected; but when I looked at any particular object, it seemed as if something brown, and more or less opake [sic], was interposed between my eyes and it, so that I saw it indistinctly or sometimes not at all. Most generally it seemed to be exactly in the middle of the object, while what my sight comprehended all round it, was as distinct and clear as usual; in consequence of which, if I wished to see any thing, I was obliged to look on one side … After it had continued a few minutes, the upper or lower edge … appeared bounded by an edging of light of a zig-zag shape, and coruscating nearly at right angles to its length … they would remain for twenty minutes sometimes to half an hour … They were in me never followed by headach [sic] .."

(Parry, 1825, vol. I, p. 557-559; additions in square brackets by Klaus Podoll)

References

Hull G. Caleb Hillier Parry 1755-1822: a notable provincial physician. J R Soc Med 1998; 91: 335-338.
Larner AJ. Neurological contributions of Caleb Hillier Parry. ACNR 2004; 4 (no. 3): 38-39.
Parry CH. Collections from the unpublished medical writings of the late Caleb Hillier Parry M.D. F.R.S. (3 volumes). London: Underwoods, London, 1825.

top