The Making of a Famous Nineteenth Century Neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot (1825-1893)
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THE MAKING OF A FAMOUS NINETEENTH CENTURY NEUROLOGIST JEAN-MARTIN CHARCOT (1825-1893) Bernard Brais, M.D. MPhil Thesis Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine University College London 1990 ProQuest Number: 10610878 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10610878 Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 ABSTRACT THE MAKING OF A FAMOUS NINETEENTH CENTURY NEUROLOGIST: JEAN-MARTIN CHARCOT ( 18251893) The setting of this thesis is the medical world of Paris in the second half of the nineteenth century. This essay answers the question of how Jean- Martin Charcot became famous. In placing Charcot s career in its historical context, it provides an analysis of the strategies used by him to ensure his status as one of the most famous French physicians of the latter half of the nineteenth century. It presents a study of two important chapters of the history of French academic medicine, placing both in the conceptual framework of the transition between knowledge and power. It discusses the youth and early careers of Charcot and his medical ally Alfred Vuipian (1826-1887). It analyses the increasing influence of the members of the Society de Biologie* in the medical world of Paris, suggesting that the Society served as a forum for young ambitious physicians such as Charcot who wanted French medicine to be reformed into a bona fid e science. It shows that when the take over by the members of the “SoctetS de Biologie' of the Medical Faculty of Paris was completed by the mid 1870's, conflicting individual aspirations started to surface and cause profound divisions in the previously cohesive group. It analyses how Charcot was able to successfully break ahead of many of his colleagues. It shows Charcot at the zenith of his fame during the 1880's. Finally Charcot's rapid decline in the early 1890 s is reviewed. In summary, this thesis analyses how Charcot, due to the successful scientific reform of French medicine, was able to become one of the most famous physicians of the nineteenth century. 3 CONTENTS Abstract..............................................................................................................2 Acknowledge ments ........................................................................................... 5 Tables and Diagrams .........................................................................................6 Illustrations .......................................................................................................7 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 8 1 -Family Background and Early Professional Career of J.-M. Charcot and A. Vulpian ............................................................... 13 Family Background....................................................................................... 13 Mentors ..........................................................................................................15 At the Salpdtridre Hospice ...........................................................................21 2-Charcot and Vulpian's Early Career in Sociological Context (1848-1869) .............................................................................. 27 The Medical World of Paris ..........................................................................28 The Young School of Paris".........................................................................33 The Soci6t6 de Biologie’............................................................................... 37 The 1860's, Preparing the Take over of the Faculty............................... 49 The First Interns of Charcot and Vulpian at the Saip6tri6re ..................... 64 3-Medical Reform (1860-1875) ..............................................................68 Campagning for Medical Reform .................................................................69 Political Turmoil, and the Early Days of the Third Republic..................... 73 Completing the Take over of the Faculty: Charcot, Professor and Vulpian, Dean ........................................................................................78 Le Progr4s Medical................................................................................ 88 4-Reform in Action; Conflicting Aspirations ......................................95 Reform in Action .......................................................................................... 95 The Creation of the Chair of Mental Pathology........................................ 103 Le Progres MtdicaJ and Anticlericalism ........................ 110 Vulpian Resignation s as Dean ....................................................................121 5-Charcot s Golden Age ........................................................................... 125 Charcot s Clinical Chair of the Diseases of the Nervous System; a Turning Point in the Making of Neurology............................................125 Charcot's Golden Age ..................................................................................135 4 Charcot and his School of the Salpetrtere .................................................142 Charcot s Anatomo-clinical Method ...........................................................153 The Last Years of Vulpian's Career ...........................................................164 6-Charcot's Decline .................................................................................... 171 The Decline of Hereditarianism and the Rise of Germ Theory ................172 Charcot s Decline ..........................................................................................182 Charcot s Death and its Aftermath ............................................................ 199 Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 204 Appendices ..................................................................................................... 208 Bibliography................................................................................................... 215 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Great are the debts I have incurred while writing this thesis. 1 am very grateful to fellow researchers at the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine who, by their useful comments helped me refine my arguments, in particular, I would like to thank: Dorothy Watkins, Godelieve van Hetteren and Renate Hauser. I would specially like to thank Mark Micale who freely shared with me his thoughts and sources on Charcot and his work, I will never be able to express how much I owe to him. I am indebted to Ruth Harris and Roy Porter for their constructive comments on an earlier draft of this thesis. I also want to eipress my appreciation to friends who tolerated my swings in mood while I laboured on this essay: C6cile Baird, Anne-Marie Lesage, Klaus jochem, Helen Gibson, Francois Blais and H616ne Melanqon. I must also thank Drs. Martine Pierre-Marie-Granier and Michel Fardeau for their hospitality in giving me access to the private archives of Pierre Marie and Jules Dejerine. I am also indebted to the Hannah Institute for the History of Medicine, who by granting me a generous scholarship made it possible for me to engage in my research in ideal circumstances. Many thanks to my supervisor, Bill Bynum, who guided me with great patience through my work and tolerated my numerous idiosyncrasies for two years. Last but not least, I would like to eipress my gratitude to Suzanne Brais and Klaus Jochem who laboured at the proofreading of this work, and thank them for their dedicated efforts to remove as much as possible the numerous Gallicisims found in earlier versions. TABLES AND DIAGRAMS Table 2.1: Honorary Members of the *Soci6t6 de Biologie* in 1851 .......40 Table 2.2: Titular Members of the Societe de Biologie' in 1851 ...........41 Table 2.3: New Professors of the Faculty (1860-1869)......................... 51 Table 3.1: Percentage of Professors of the Faculty of Medicine Belonging to the Societe de Biologie* (1860-1880) ............. 80 Table 3.2: Percentage of New Professors of the Faculty of Medicine Belonging to the *Soci6t6 de Biologie* (1860-1875)..............80 Diagram 3.1: Percentage of Members of the Soctetfc de Biologie* Successful at the Concours d'Agrggation* of Internal and Forensic Medicine (1852-1875) ..................................... 83 Diagram 3.2: Percentage of Members of the 'Soci&t& de Biologie* Successful in All Concours d'Agrdgation' (1852-1875) .......84 Table 3-3: Personnel of Paris Medical Laboratories in 1873 ..................85 Table 5.1: Professional Position of Charcot's Ex-interns in 1887 ......... 144 Table 5.2: Charcot’s Medical Publications ...............................................149 ILLUSTRATIONS 1- Dr. Bourneville, Les Hommes dAu/ourdbuivai. 3, 157 ................. 94 2- Le Docteur Vulpian, Charivari 30 Jul., 1883, p.154 ............................166 3- Le Professeur Charcot, Les Hommes