Jean-Martin Charcot and Silas Weir Mitchell.

Abstract

Although Charcot and Mitchell only met once or possibly twice in Paris (1873 and 1875), they interacted in multiple ways to influence one another's research and the development of nineteenth century neurology. Charcot strongly relied on, and openly credited, Mitchell's important contributions on the fragility of bones in locomotor ataxia when he postulated his own historic concepts on neuropathic arthropathies (Charcot joints). Mitchell likewise referred to Charcot in his texts and manuscripts, although his comments were not always complementary. Most notably, Mitchell publicly criticized Charcot for wrongfully claiming precedence over Americans (i.e., Mitchell himself) in the development of isolation therapy. The two men shared many specific neurologic interests, especially the effects of trauma and disorders affecting women, including hysteria. In the development of clinical neurology as a new scientific field, Charcot and Mitchell were both strong empiricists who distrusted theory but believed that clinical medicine, and specifically neurology, required continued infusion of new data from the laboratory sciences. Both men were exemplary teachers, Mitchell primarily a preceptor and supervisor of doctors outside the university system and Charcot the first European professor of clinical neurology and head of the celebrated School of the Salpêtrière.