The Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris, France was built in 1603 as an arsenal and converted by 1656 into an almshouse for elderly indigent women. During the eighteenth century, the hospital developed facilities for the care of the infirm and insane; its reputation for psychiatric care furthered by Phillippe Pinel (1745-1826), Jean Étienne Dominique Esquirol (1772-1840), and Jules Gabriel François Baillarger (1809-1890). In 1862, J. M. (Jean-Martin) Charcot (1825-1893) and Edmé Félix Alfred Vulpian (1826-1887) became the hospital’s chief physicians. At this time there were about 5,000 residents, divided into two sections: one housing elderly indigent women, patients with incurable cancers, and the blind, and the other (numbering over 3,000) housing mentally disabled, mentally ill, and epileptic patients. Charcot’s work with the second population proved pivotal in the development of both modern neurology and psychology. He established laboratories and a section on clinical psychology, directed by Pierre Janet (1859-1947), and he published case studies on hysteria and a wide variety of neurological disorders, namely: Iconographie Photographique de la Salpêtrière (1877-1880) and Nouvelle Iconographie de la Salpêtrière (1888-1918). Photographs for these publications were produced by the photographic service established at the hospital by Charcot in 1878 for the purpose of patient care, the study of disease, and medical instruction.
From the guide to the Salpêtrière Hospital records, 1859-1942 (inclusive), 1900-1919 (bulk)., (Center for the History of Medicine. Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine.)
