CLUSTER HEADACHES

To the Editor:—  The editorial in The Journal, Oct. 31, 1959, page 1224, was an excellent review of an important topic. I feel, however, that my paper, "Ergotamine Tartrate Orally in Horton's 'Histaminic Cephalgia' (Also Called Harris's 'Ciliary Neuralgia'): A New Method of Treatment," published in Acta psychiatrica et neurologica scandinavica, supp. 46, 1947, pp. 105-113, has been overlooked. In this paper I gave the first description of what was later called the cluster pattern and also reported the introduction of prophylactic treatment with ergotamine tartrate during the periods of headache. In the ensuing years my findings were "rediscovered" several times by different authors mentioned in the editorial. The following lines from the summary of my paper corroborate what I have written above.Objections can be made to the name "histaminic cephalgia" and Harris's name "ciliary neuralgia" has never been generally accepted. The author has therefore called the condition Harris-Horton