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. 2018 Dec 1;141(12):3482-3488.
doi: 10.1093/brain/awy287.

One hundred and fifty years ago Charcot reported multiple sclerosis as a new neurological disease

Bernard Zalc  1
Affiliations

One hundred and fifty years ago Charcot reported multiple sclerosis as a new neurological disease

Bernard Zalc. Brain. .
No abstract available

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Charcot's tribute paid by his students. (A) Portrait of J.M. Charcot designed and engraved by Dr P. Richer ‘one of JM Charcot most distinguished students’ on the front page of the sixth edition of ‘Oeuvres complètes de JM Charcot’. The importance of Charcot’s international reputation is shown by the fact that, between 1874 and 1882, his ‘Leçons cliniques’ were translated into German, Russian, English, Italian, Magyar, and Spanish. (B) Charcot’s statue, which was melted down in 1942; the stone pedestal was removed in 1967. (C) Main entrance of the Hospice de la Salpêtrière (c. 1900) showing the statue of Charcot placed on the left. Sources: A: Charcot (1892); B and C: http://paris1900.lartnouveau.com/paris13/lieux/hopital_de_la_salpetriere.htm.
Figure 2
Figure 2
A short extract of J.M. Charcot’s handwritten manuscript of his introductory remarks to the 1868 lectures (Leçons cliniques) (Charcot, 1868). ‘Beside these morbid symptoms usually well defined, I will, finally, point your attention to a certain number of diseases, which have not yet been completely cleared from the shapeless group – real chaos- of chronic myelitis, and which, pardon me the word, are not yet officially recognized; such are for example the sclerosis of lateral bundles and multiple sclerosis.’
Figure 3
Figure 3
Another example of the original handwritten manuscript of J.M. Charcot’s 1868 lesson on multiple sclerosis (Charcot, 1868). ‘To walk, the patients need some external assistance, or to lean on furniture, walls etc … The slightest shock is sufficient to knock them off balance. This situation results not only from the weakness of the limbs, but also their vertigo, which is common. The second phase: Sooner or later a novel symptom of crucial importance appears: this is the tremor during movements.’
Figure 4
Figure 4
Original drawing from Charcot’s notebook illustrating the limit of a lesion in the protuberance. Handwritten legend by Charcot; on the right: A. periphery outside the plaque. B. the plaque. Bottom: Causse [patient’s name] Protuberance. Chromic acid. Source: Département de Neuropathologie, Groupe Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière-Charles Foix, Musée de l’Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Original colour drawing from Charcot’s notebook illustrating the centre of a sclerotic plaque. In the centre of the preparation is a blood vessel covered with many carmin positive nuclei and on each side are demyelinated axons of different diameter, lightly stained with carmin. In between the axons are thin fibrils, some associated with a nucleus. On the right is Charcot’s handwritten legend: Sclérose en plaques—Mr Vulpian 24 April 1868 [indicating that it was Vulpian’s patient]—Spinal cord no preparation. Source: Département de Neuropathologie, Groupe Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière-Charles Foix, Musée de l’Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Original colour drawing from Charcot’s notebook showing the lymphatic sheath along a blood vessel distended by large droplets of ‘grease’. On the bottom right is a vessel cut transversally. On the right is Charcot’s handwritten legend: Carpentier’s [patient’s name] spinal cord. Before soda [NaOH] treatment—Sclérose en plaques. Source: Département de Neuropathologie, Groupe Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière-Charles Foix, Musée de l’Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Bogousslavsky J, Walusinski O, Moulin T. Alfred vulpian and Jean-Martin charcot in each other’s shadow? From castor and pollux at la salpêtrière to neurology forever. Eur Neurol 2011; 65: 215–22. - PubMed
    1. Bourneville DM, Guérard L. De la Sclérose en plaques disséminées. In: Delahaye A, editor. Paris: The Delahaye A; 1869. p. 18.
    1. Charcot JM. Leçons de 1868; Manuscrits des leçons de JM Charcot. In: Fonds numérisé Charcot. Bibliothèque de l’Université Pierre & Marie Curie. http://jubilotheque.upmc.fr/subset.html?name=collections&id=charcot.
    1. Charcot JM. Oeuvres complètes de JM Charcot. Tome 1. Leçons sur les maladies du système nerveux recueillies et publiées par Bourneville, 1st edn., 1872-73. 6th edn., Progrès médical. Paris: Louis Bataille Editeur; 1892. p. 192–272.
    1. Compston A. The story of multiple sclerosis. In: Compston A, McDonald IR, Nosworthy J, Lassmann H, Miller DH, Smith KJ, et al. , editors. McAlpine’s multiple sclerosis, 4th edn.Philadelphia: Elsevier; 2005.

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