Ramón y Cajal on Castilian as a language for expressing scientific concepts

Abstract

This vignette presents, in English translation, an exchange of letters dated 1926 between the Spanish-American scholar Mariano Poncela y Santiuste and the father of modern neuroscience and 1906 Nobel laureate, Santiago Ramón y Cajal, on the use of Castilian Spanish as a language vehicle for the expression of science concepts, and its advantages over other modern European languages. Cajal’s brief note may offer an insight into the workings of his mind in relation to externalizing his ideas, as evidenced in the richness of his published biomedical and literary works.