In the second half of the 19th century, Paris became an international center for neurological studies largely because of Jean-Martin Charcot and his Salpetriere School. Charcot was named Professor of Diseases of the Nervous System at the University of Paris in 1882, and thus helped institutionalize neurology as a medical specialty. By then he had already published widely and had assembled a team of research specialists and students who approached the study of the nervous system through the celebrated methode anatomo-clinique that correlated specific neurological signs with discrete lesions in the central nervous system. Pushing beyond the bounds of anatomical study, Charcot went on to study hysteria, attracting both scientific and social notoriety. This book provides the best account of the life and contributions of Jean-Martin Charcot. It gives a fascinating picture of the man and his milieu, and clearly defines his role in establishing the new medical specialty of clinical neurology.

Christopher G. Goetz's profile page

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Toby Gelfand, PhD, is the Jason A. Hannah Professor of History of Medicine at the University of Ottawa. He has published extensively on the history of medicine in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century France, particularly on the contribution of Jean-Martin Charcot and his relationship with Sigmund Freud. He is the co-author, with Christopher G. Goetz and Michel Bonduelle, of the definitive biography Charcot: Constructing Neurology (Oxford University Press, 1995) and co-editor, with John Kerr, of Freud and the History of Psychoanalysis (Analytic Press, 1992), among other works.

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"It reads with real pleasure throughout...Brings to life [Charcot] with all his complexities and allows the reader to better comprehend him in comparison to his contemporaries."--Cahiers Goncourt

"Here is an amazing book. Amazing because, translated from the English, it has all the allure of a French work of supreme craftmanship. Amazing, moreover, because of the erudition and the intimate knowledge of French society in the XIXth century, of which the authors have shown proof."--Revue de neurologie

"Crowns one stage in the maturation of Charcot studies....The book is praiseworthy....It is much better than most medical biographies and hugely superior to most doctor-authored biographies."--Journal of the History of Medicine

"I enjoyed learning more about the man who named my disease."--CMT Newsletter

"In the grand tradition of Anglo-Saxon biographies...A needed and completely successful work."--L'Evolution Psychiatriaque

"The authors comprise a fortunate combination of an American neurologist with strong historical interests, a French neurologist with similar credentials, and a professional historian of medicine. Their use of previously unworked primary sources is prodigious."--Samuel H. Greenblatt, Neurosurgery

"A seamlessly woven portrait of a man and his age that at last does full justice to the sitter and his major contributions to neurology and psychiatry....Wherever future studies of Charcot and his works may lead them, historical scholars will remain deeply indebted to Drs. Goetz, Bonduelle, and Gelfand for having provided a definitive account of his life and a penetrating evaluation of his importance for the development of modern neurology and psychiatry."--Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease

"The authors...are recognized experts in the history of French neurology...Their collaboration has produced a superb book, the most comprehensive and authoritative work to date on Charcot and his time....Those with an interest in neuroscience or medical history who venture into its pages will not be able to put it down."--The New England Journal of Medicine

"[Authored] by an international triumvirate of well known medical historians...Very well written, organized, and illustrated."--Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences

"This excellent book surveys Charcot's life and career. The three authors have melded their clinical and historical talents to relate Charcot to the France of his time. This work is recommended to anyone interested in the early development of clinical neurology."-JAMA