The Early History of Savant
Syndrome
Savant Syndrome: Early Studies
The Origins of the Term "Savant"
The term "savant" is derived from the French word "savoir," which means
"to know." These rare and extraordinarily talented individuals are sometimes
referred to as "an island of genius."
Early Descriptions of Savant Syndrome
One of the first scientists to describe the savant syndrome was Benjamin
Rush, who in 1789 presented the case of Thomas Fuller, nicknamed "a
lightning calculator." Rush described how Fuller could perform
extraordinary calculations, such as determining the number of seconds a
man had lived if he was 70 years, 17 days, and 12 hours old (the correct
answer was 2,210,500,800 seconds, which Fuller provided in 90 seconds,
even correcting for the 17 leap years).
The first scientific description of a savant case was published in the German
psychology journal Gnothi Sauton in 1783. This case involved Jedediah
Buxton, a lightning calculator with an extraordinary memory.
Dr. J. Langdon Down's Studies
In 1887, Dr. J. Langdon Down investigated the syndrome, which at the time
was referred to as "idiot savant." This term was used to describe someone
with an IQ below 25 who still seemed to possess remarkable abilities. Dr.
Down described several savant cases and found that the syndrome was
characterized by "verbal adhesion," where some savants had memory
without reckoning.
Dr. Down also noted the link between savant syndrome and autistic
characteristics, although he did not recognize this connection at the time, as
autism was not a known diagnosis. He described his patients as having
"language [that] is one of gesture only; living in a world of their own, they
are regardless of the ordinary circumstances around them and yield only to
the counter-fascination of music."
The Prevalence of Savant Syndrome
Today, there is substantial knowledge about savant syndrome, and over the
last century, about a hundred cases have been described in the scientific
literature.
