Autism

McCormmach, Russell

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-02438-7_8

Russell McCormmach¹

Part of the book series: Archimedes ((ARIM,volume 36))

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Abstract

In 2001 in the scientific journal Neurology, the eminent neuropsychologist Oliver Sacks diagnosed Cavendish with Asperger’s syndrome, a less severe form of autism. Skeptical of recent claims of autism for historical figures, Sacks considers Cavendish an exceptional case, finding the evidence for his autism “almost overwhelming.” In the same year, in his memoir Uncle Tungsten, Sacks says that upon rereading Wilson’s biography of Cavendish, he concludes that Cavendish was a “unique autistic genius.” As in the previous chapter, the biographical facts from Chaps. 3 and 4 are looked at as potential evidence of the disorder. Simon Baron-Cohen, an expert on autism, writes: “People with autism, whose minds differ from what we consider typical, frequently display both disability and exceptional aptitude. Genes that contribute to autism may overlap with genes for the uniquely human ability to understand how the world works in extraordinary detail – to see beauty in patterns inherent in nature, technology, music and math.” This chapter views Cavendish as autistic, classed as a medical disorder.

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Notes

1.
Fitzgerald, Autism, 35.
2.
Erica Goode, “Cases: A Disorder Far beyond Eccentricity,” Health Section, The New York Times, 9 October 2001.
3.
Tony Attwood, The Complete Guide to Asperger’s Syndrome (London and Philadelphia: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2007), 333.
4.
Ilona Roth, The Autism Spectrum in the 21st Century: Exploring Psychology, Biology and Practice (London and Philadelphia: Jessica Kingsley, 2010), 3–4, 38–41.
5.
“High-functioning autism” refers to autism with an above-average IQ and with language delay; Asperger’s syndrome is without delay. The distinction between high-functioning autism and Asperger’s syndrome may depend on the circumstances of the individual, and in practice the terms are interchangeable. For completeness, I mention the other sub-types of autism. “Pervasive developmental disorder – not otherwise specified” (P.D.D.N.O.S) – is the term used when autistic features are insufficiently pronounced for a definitive diagnosis of autism or Asperger’s syndrome. “Atypical autism” is used when autistic features are only partly seen. The “autism spectrum” includes all these types. Simon Baron-Cohen, Autism and Asperger Syndrome (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), 14, 21–26. Roth, Autism Spectrum, 42.
6.
Roth, Autism Spectrum, 41–42.
7.
Attwood, Asperger’s Syndrome, 44.
8.
Temple Grandin, The Way I See It, 2d rev. ed. (Arlington, Texas: Future Horizons, 2011), 8. Baron-Cohen, Autism and Asperger Syndrome, 37.
9.
Blagen’s contribution to the family obituary. Italics added.
10.
Attwood, Asperger’s Syndrome, 48–50.
11.
Fitzgerald, Autism, 46–47.
12.
Ibid., 95–97.
13.
A chemist, quoted in Wilson, Cavendish, 168. In the sketch of him, his other hand is inside his coat. It is possible that the drawer invented the hand inside the coat, as it was a common pose for formal portraits.
14.
Asperger Management, http://www.aspergermanagement.com/personal-appearance.
15.
Temple Grandin and Sean Barron, The Unwritten Rules of Social Relationships, ed. V. Zysk (Arlington, Texas: Future Horizons, 2005), 377.
16.
Attwood, Asperger’s Syndrome, 259.
17.
For many clinicians, Christopher Gillberg’s diagnostic criteria are preferable to the DSM’s, being closer to Hans Asperger’s original descriptions. Attwood, Asperger’s Syndrome, 53.
18.
Ledgin, Asperger’s and Self-Esteem, 46.
19.
Wilson, Cavendish, 167–68, 175. Barrow, Royal Society, 144.
20.
Frith, Autism, 128–29. Attwood, Asperger’s Syndrome, 37, 206, 224, 266–67. Grandin, quoted in Ledgin, Asperger’s and Self-Esteem, xiii.
21.
Frith, Autism, 104–5.
22.
Wilson, Cavendish, 173.
23.
Asperger, quoted in Attwood, Asperger’s Syndrome, 316.
24.
Roth, Autistic Spectrum, 80, 82.
25.
Frith, Autism, 111–12.
26.
Attwood, Asperger’s Syndrome, 242.
27.
Marc Fleisher, Making Sense of the Unfeasible: My Life Journey with Asperger Syndrome (London and New York: Jessica Kingsley, 2003), 110.
28.
Grandin and Barron, Unwritten Rules, 38–39.
29.
15 September 1794, Blagden Diary.
30.
Grandin, Thinking in Pictures, 89.
31.
Grandin and Barron, Unwritten Rules, 35.
32.
Attwood, Asperger’s Syndrome, 129.
33.
Baron-Cohen, Autism and Asperger Syndrome, 98.
34.
Grandin and Barron, Unwritten Rules, 378, 380.
35.
Wilson, Cavendish, 169.
36.
Barrow, Royal Society, 144. Wilson, Cavendish, 165.
37.
Attwood, Asperger’s Syndrome, 55–56.
38.
Wilson, Cavendish, 169–70, 178.
39.
Attwood, Asperger’s Syndrome, 304–10.
40.
Thomson, History of Chemistry 1: 338. Wilson, Cavendish, 174.
41.
Attwood, Asperger’s Syndrome, 173. Baron-Cohen, Autism and Asperger Syndrome, 40.
42.
Attwood, Asperger’s Syndrome, 296.
43.
Wilson, Cavendish, 169–70.
44.
Family obituary.
45.
Attwood, Asperger’s Syndrome, 172–73.
46.
Frith, Autism, 79–80.
47.
Wilson, Cavendish, 181–82.
48.
Young, “Cavendish,” 445–46. Wilson, Cavendish, 182–84.
49.
Wilson, Cavendish, 182.
50.
Attwood, Asperger’s Syndrome, 172.
51.
Ibid., 189, 192.
52.
Wilson, Cavendish, 161.
53.
Grandin quoted in Ledgin, Asperger’s and Self-Esteem, xiii.
54.
Attwood, Asperger’s Syndrome, 54.
55.
Ibid., 60, 174, 180.
56.
Ledgin, Asperger’s and Self-Esteem, 22.
57.
Attwood, Asperger’s Syndrome, 178–80.
58.
Ibid., 182–88.
59.
Humphry Davy, quoted in John Davy, Memoirs 1: 221.
60.
Frith, Autism, 157–68. Baron-Cohen, Autism and Asperger Syndrome, 53–57, 62–69. Attwood, Asperger’s Syndrome, 241–43. Roth, Autism Spectrum, 122–35.
61.
Baron-Cohen, Autism and Asperger Syndrome, 62–63.
62.
Roth, Autism Spectrum, 128. Temple Grandin, “Comments,” in Norm Ledgin, Diagnosing Jefferson: Evidence of a Condition That Guided His Beliefs, Behavior, and Personal Associations (Arlington, Texas: Future Horizons, 2000), 199.
63.
Simon Baron-Cohen, The Essential Difference: Male and Female Brains and the Truth About Autism (New York: Basic Books, 2003), 61–67.
64.
Baron-Cohen, Autism and Asperger Syndrome, 69–71.
65.
Grandin and Barron, Unwritten Rules, 102.
66.
Humphry Davy, quoted in John Davy, Memoirs 1: 221.
67.
Atwood, Asperger’s Syndrome, 241.
68.
Daniel Tammet, Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant, a Memoir (New York, London, Toronto: Free Press, 2007), 185.
69.
Oliver Sacks, Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain, rev. ed. (New York: Vintage Books, 2008), 318.
70.
Attwood, Asperger’s Syndrome, 271, 275, 279, 282, 284.
71.
Grandin and Barron, Unwritten Rules, 43.
72.
Baron-Cohen, Autism and Asperger Syndrome, 56.
73.
Grandin, “Comments,” in Ledgin, Diagnosing Jefferson, 202.
74.
Humphry Davy, quoted in John Davy, Memoirs 1: 221.
75.
Attwood, Asperger’s Syndrome, 141, 254, 295.
76.
Playfair, Works 1: lxxxiv.
77.
Attwood, Asperger’s Syndrome, 179–80.
78.
Ibid., 117–18, 230. Humphry Davy, quoted in John Davy, Memoirs 1: 221.
79.
Frith, Autism, 125.
80.
Attwood, Asperger’s Syndrome, 116, 188.
81.
Thomson, Chemistry 1: 337.
82.
Grandin, quoted in Ledgin, Asperger’s Syndrome and Self-Esteem, xiii, 26.
83.
Asperger, quoted in Attwood, Asperger’s Syndrome, 199.
84.
Ledgin, Asperger’s and Self-Esteem, 18, 32.
85.
Grandin, “Comments,” in Ledgin, Diagnosing Jefferson, 200.
86.
Simon Baron-Cohen, “Autism and the Technical Mind,” Scientific American 307 (2012): 72–75, on 74–75.
87.
Wilson, Cavendish, 186.

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Eugene, OR, USA
Russell McCormmach

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McCormmach, R. (2014). Autism. In: The Personality of Henry Cavendish - A Great Scientist with Extraordinary Peculiarities. Archimedes, vol 36. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02438-7_8

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02438-7_8
Published: 11 December 2013
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-02437-0
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