Neurology outside Paris following Charcot

Abstract

The Middle Ages saw the development of numerous universities in the different provinces that later became the kingdom of France. In 1794, Napoleon I established 3 medical schools in Paris, Montpellier and Strasbourg, which were transformed into medical faculties in 1808. France had always been a highly centralized country, but during the 19th century, this trend started to change with the creation of medical faculties in Nancy (1872), Lille (1877), Lyon (1878), Bordeaux (1879), Toulouse (1891), Algiers (1910) and Marseille (1930). Following the creation of the 12 foundation courses, specialized chairs were progressively established in Paris, but for a long time this remained restricted to the French capital. However, with the emergence of medicine as an academic discipline in several towns outside Paris, came the development of neurology. This was greatly influenced by former students of Jean-Martin Charcot, local personalities, and the interactions between the two. Leading figures included Albert Pitres in Bordeaux, Léon Ingelrans in Lille, Eugène Devic and Jules Froment in Lyon, Lucien Cornil in Marseille, Joseph Grasset in Montpellier, and Marcel Riser in Toulouse. The interaction between French and Germanic medical communities also developed at this turbulent time under the influence of several great physicians such as Wilhelm Waldeyer, Adolf Kussmaul, and later Jean Alexandre Barré in Strasbourg, and Hippolyte Bernheim in Nancy. There are a number of other university towns outside Paris in which the development of neurology was probably influenced by the same interactions with psychiatry. It would be worth carrying out a thorough analysis of these towns in order to present an exhaustive overview of the development of neurology in France.