Medical milestones, landmark publications, and notable births and deaths associated with January 2.

Events

1827 – Sir Charles Bell (1774–1842) publicly demonstrated his first classic case of facial nerve palsy (Bell’s palsy) before the pupils of the Middlesex Hospital.

The two sides of his forehead presented a very striking contrast: the right side was furrowed with deep wrinkles, which were more strongly marked when he frowned: a large fold of the skin was prolonged down upon the same side of his nose…the left side of his forehead was perfectly smooth, the skin appearing to be stretched tightly over the bone, and there was no motion of the integuments in the act of knitting or elevating his eyebrows. His eyelids were quite motionless. When he was desired to wink, his eye remained open, and the cornea was elevated so as to be quite hid under the upper eyelid. The left nostril is collapsed, and has not that fulness which the right possesses. Some power of acting with his cheeks seems to remain, as in whistling there is a slight quivering observed.

Bell. Appendix to the papers on the nerves. 1827: 47-50

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Births

No major medical milestones added for this date yet — this page is being expanded

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Deaths

1975 — Demetrius Chilaiditi (1883-1975), Austrian born, Ottoman Radiologist; described Chilaiditi sign, the radiographic phenomenon of interposition of the colon between the liver and the diaphragm.

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Further reading

• Bell C. Appendix to the papers on the nerves. London: Longman 1827:68-72