Beyond the name

Huntington's disease (Chorea): George Huntington (1850-1916)

George Huntington was born on 9 April 1850 in the drowsy secluded village of East Hampton, CT, United States. Both his father and grandfather were doctors, and George Huntington junior followed in their footsteps. At an early age, Huntington accompanied his father on his rounds and sick calls and during one of these visits, he gained his first experience of hereditary chorea.

After graduating from Columbia University in 1871, Huntington returned to East Hampton for a few months to work with his father. Here, he saw more cases of hereditary chorea, which he had originally seen as a child. He took advantage of the notes on the disease taken by his father and grandfather and he diagnosed several more cases, incorporating it all into an essay.

On 15 February 1872, Huntington gave his classic presentation, On Chorea, aged only 22. His lecture was received with so much acclaim that he sent the manuscript to the Medical and Surgical Reporter of Philadelphia, where it appeared two months later. An abstract was published in the German literature, where it was called Huntington's chorea.

Huntington's chorea is the same as dancing mania, which occurred in the Middle Ages. Religious persecution and migration spread the hereditary condition to Britain, and subsequently to North America. Several of the afflicted were tried and convicted of witchcraft during the infamous witch hunts due to their involuntary movements being interpreted as “derise pantomime of the sufferings of the Saviour during crucifixion.” …