ABSTRACT
The 1880s marked the zenith of Charcot’s fame and influence (Ellenberger, 1970; Guillan, 1959; Harris, 1991b). In the years following his appointment as head physician at the Salpêtrière in 1862, he had managed to secure the facilities needed to transform the hospital into an internationally recognised centre for clinical neurological research (Charcot, 1889b). Many of Charcot’s interns and students went on to make significant contributions of their own, including Babinski, Cotard, de la Tourette, Marie, and Raymond. Foreign neurologists, such as Bechterev and Freud, came to work with him, and he also collaborated with the psychiatrist Magnan and the psychologists Binet and Janet. He developed a lucrative private practice to which wealthy patients were referred from all over the world, and his Tuesday lecture demonstrations at the Salpêtrière had become fashionable dramatic events which drew considerable public crowds. In 1882 his eminence was publicly recognised when he was appointed Professor of Diseases of the Nervous System in the Faculty of Medicine of Paris; a post that had been specially created for him.
