Recognizing synesthesia on the international stage: The first scientific symposium on synesthesia (at The International Conference of Physiological Psychology, Paris, 1889).

At the first ever worldwide international conference of psychology in Paris, 1889, one symposium included a round-table event devoted entirely to the neurodevelopmental condition of synesthesia. Details of this seminal gathering on synesthesia and its international reception have been lost to historical obscurity. A synesthesia study committee emerged from this meeting, as well as a new research tool.

The evolution of the concept of synesthesia in the nineteenth century as revealed through the history of its name.

Synesthesia is a rare perceptual condition causing unusual sensations, which are triggered by the stimulation of otherwise unrelated modalities (e.g., the sensation of colors triggered when listening to music).

The "golden age" of synesthesia inquiry in the late nineteenth century (1876-1895).

Synesthesia is a rare neurological trait that causes unusual, often cross-sensory, experiences (e.g., seeing colors when listening to music).

The development of a scientific understanding of synesthesia from early case studies (1849-1873).

The first case of synesthesia was reported in 1812 ( Jewanski, Day, & Ward, 2009 ). However, it took almost seven decades before the idea of synesthesia entered the mainstream of science and, subsequently, art. There are no known new cases described between 1812 and 1848, but in the following three decades there are at least 11 reported cases of synesthesia and many reviews of these cases.

A colorful albino: the first documented case of synaesthesia, by Georg Tobias Ludwig Sachs in 1812.

In 1812, Georg Sachs published a medical dissertation concerning his own albinism and that of his sister. However, he also goes on to describe another phenomenon--namely synaesthesia involving colors for music and simple sequences (including numbers, days, and letters). Most contemporary researchers of synaesthesia fail to cite the case when offering a history of the subject and fewer still will have read it (the original was published in Latin).