Abstract
There is much interest in the history of neurology and psychiatry, particularly in the four prominent schools of neurology: The United Kingdom, based at Queen Square, France at La Salpêtrière, Germany and the United States. Despite the fact that the specialities have only really emerged in the last 150 years, the subject is poorly served by current books and access to information is difficult. While the English literature is available through the Wellcome and the Royal Society of Medicine Libraries, French neurological literature is difficult to access. Dr Bogousslavsky, a practicing neurologist, has sought to remedy this with a multi-authored book on the subject which is comprehensive, informative and well-written.
Inevitably, Jean-Martin Charcot (1825–1893) is the dominant figure in French neurology. He came to the field from general medicine, first being appointed Professor of Pathological Anatomy at La Sâlpetrière and he devoted his time and energies to the neurological field in which he delineated numerous diseases that bear his name including Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. His early works were based firmly on the precepts of Claude Bernard (1813–1878), linking pathology, experimental medicine and description of disease. In 1882, Charcot was appointed to the Chair for Diseases of the Nervous System. In the later years of his life, he became involved in the complex field of hysteria and hypnosis. This produced unfortunate results and led to rival schools of thought battling with each other but, such was Charcot’s dominant personality, that he ensured his pupils were appointed to senior posts in Paris. Having seen that Charles-Joseph Bouchard (1837–1915), one of his pupils, was appointed, a venomous quarrel broke out between them and, 10 years later, Bouchard saw that two of Charcot’s pupils did not receive their aggregation. Not only did Charcot supervised the appointments committee, even from beyond the grave his pupils tried to carry out his wishes and his name remained on the editorial board of a journal some 60 years after his death. He had an unfortunate facility for quarrelling with people but because of his dominant Napoleonic personality, his influence remained universal to the detriment of the subject.
This book seeks to recount these numerous quarrels, particularly over his succession, how it resulted in a huge debate and how his successor Fulgence Raymond (1844–1910) went to Charcot’s deathbed to get his blessing and then read Charcot’s benediction out to the assembled students at his inaugural lecture.
There are wonderful chapters devoted to Charcot’s housemen, whom he trained, the field of neurology throughout France and the journals he founded. The book is thoroughly entertaining; there are fascinating anecdotes and vignettes about the personalities involved, extraordinary stories about how Mlle Bompard strangled her lover with a rope from her clothes as part of some sexual by-play, and then had him shipped elsewhere in a box. In juxtaposition, there is reference to the Yom Kippur Service. There is a graphic account of the quarrels between Pierre Marie (1853–1940) and Joseph Jules Dejerine (1849–1917). This reviewer had only researched them in the context of their work on spinal injuries and was unaware of their quarrel over the succession to Charcot. It is amazing that they had time, amidst all this quarrelling, to do any work at all.
The drawback of the book is that because there are several authors, sections are repeated in different parts but it is still a book to buy because each chapter is self-contained and can be referred to and read with pleasure. The only problem is the price because if you recommended it to your department to buy, it would inevitably walk within 24 hours of purchase.