Summary:The historical associations of neuropsychiatry and behavioural neurology are explored. It is suggested that Hughlings Jackson and Wernicke were nineteenth century writers whose thinking adumbrated them, respectively. Differences in the approach of these two disciplines to brain behaviour relationships are discussed, with special reference to the interictal behaviour syndromes of epilepsy. It is concluded that further interaction between neuropsychiatrists and behavioural neurologists is of importance for further development of our understanding of such problems. NNBN 6:60–69, 1993