[Knowledge of German neurologists on migraine around 1890. Paul Julius Möbius and his 1894 monograph Die Migräne].

Paul Julius Möbius (1853-1907), a Leipzig-based author and editor on a vast majority of subjects, has often been acknowledged as a leading 19th-century German neurologist. His impact on the development of knowledge on migraine has likewise been pointed to. This study compares the monograph published by Möbius on the illness in 1894 with contemporary publications and with present day best practice to establish if the author really made an essential contribution to the problem of migraine. As a representative of the central theory Möbius assumed that migraine was caused by aberrations in the brain. At the same time he made it clear that due to very limited diagnostic options this was only a hypothesis. Apart from a genetic factor and these cerebral changes, for Möbius the general state of health was a decisive factor and prevention and change in lifestyle therefore played a crucial role in his therapeutic recommendations. Basically there were only few differences between the views of Möbius and his colleagues, the major dissimilarity being that Möbius postulated a merely suggestive impact but no physical effect of electrotherapy. Although Möbius's monograph on migraine lacks originality, it provides a concise, easy to understand and stylistically impressive overview on the state of knowledge at that time. Therefore, the book can be considered as a benchmark publication of German speaking neurology around 1890 on migraine and it is highly recommended to present day headache and migraine researchers as well as historians of psychiatry and neurology.