Constantin von Monakow's formative years in Pfäfers.

Constantin von Monakow was the first professor of neurology in Switzerland and founder of the Swiss Neurological Society and of the Swiss Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry. He gained worldwide reputation as a neuroscientist mainly through his monumental work on neuropathology and cortical localization. His concept of diaschisis has been verified only in recent years by modern network concepts and imaging techniques. The basis of his work was developed with ingenious animal experiments and careful clinico-pathological comparisons during his early years, which he spent as assistant physician in the psychiatric clinic at St. Pirminsberg in Pfäfers, Canton St. Gallen, Switzerland from 1878 to 1885.