E
verybody has a favorite organ, but it seems that throughout the ages some organs especially have attracted the attention of philosophers and poets, sacerdotes and scientists, lay and learned writers, and physicians too. In this category is the liver, along with the heart, spleen, stomach, and intestines. Other organs have languished inconspicuously, save for the devotion of a select few. Included in this second class of less-favored organs are the lungs, kidneys, bladder, pancreas, and even the organ of Zuckerkandl, discovered by the renowned anatomist and surgeon Emil Zuckerkandl, whose wife, Bertha, was one of the more sought-after personalities of intellectual society in Vienna during the declining decades of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Zuckerkandl home was a rendezvous for notables of science and the arts, including Auguste Rodin, the sculptor, and composer Gustav Mahler, yet what has been referred to as Emil's "delightful little organ" 1 continues to enjoy obscurity.
That the liver was fascinating to early civilizations is not surprising, considering its size as the biggest solid organ in the body and given its richness in blood, which was long regarded as the "life force." In fact, very early in the cradle of civilization in Mesopotamia, and later in Egypt and further afield, the liver was deemed the "seat of life" and, truly, "the seat of the soul." 2 Yet, though it was appropriate that the major vital organs were noticed and highly regarded, there was always the danger that their functions and dysfunctions could be seriously misconstrued and that organs of note would have attributes ascribed that were wholly undeserved. Such was the fate of the liver, and, to some extent, the heart and other organs too, even in the 20th century when the mysteries of physiology and pathology were already being divulged. It is not entirely clear where the brain fits in to this new classification of organs. Judging by the actions and antics of certain celebrities, politicians, monarchs, heads of state and other leaders, and some pundits, the brain is not a vital organ. On the other hand, perhaps the most exciting biological research being conducted nowdays is in the field of neuroscience, which may soon explain the language we speak, the beliefs we hold, our appreciation of the arts, and our acknowledgment of our very existence and consciousness. Modern studies of the brain should also finally negate once and for all the idea so prevalent in