[Investigating Quisling's brain].

The trial against Vidkun Quisling (1887-1945) started on 20 August 1945. The question of whether he might suffer from a brain disease came up in court, and on Saturday 25 August he was examined by pneumoencephalography and cerebral angiography on the right side. Nothing pathological was found. Later on it has been claimed that these examinations were "experiments which today would be regarded as life-threatening". This is not correct; they were standard procedures at the time. What is criticizable is that Quisling was brought back to court in a relatively short time after the examinations. This paper gives a brief historic account of the development of the two methods, emphasising the contributions of Norwegian physicians such as Arne Engeset (1906-73) and Leif Emblem (1907-91). It has been claimed that the pneumoencephalography of Quisling has been used as an example of a normal finding from encephalography in the internationally renowned textbook "Clinical examination of the nervous system".