The peripheral nerve: A neglected topic in Charcot’s neurological work

Jean-Martin Charcot (1825-1893) did not show much interest in the peripheral nervous system and its associated pathologies. He found it difficult to place the peripheral nerve within his classification of disorders; it appeared to be an exception to his theories. Even the pathology that he described in 1886 with Pierre Marie (1853-1940), at the same time as Henry Tooth (1856-1925), and which is now known as Charcot-Marie-Tooth neuropathy, was considered by Charcot to be a potential myelopathy. Charcot, like other physicians, paid little heed to the observations made by Louis Duménil (1823-1890) to support the existence of primitive damage to the peripheral nerve. Charcot approached peripheral nerve pathologies through two indirect routes: amyotrophies not explained by spinal or muscular damage, and the trophic cutaneous consequences of what he called névrites (neuritis), the lesional site of which remains debated. It is noteworthy that Charcot's approach to peripheral nervous system disorders differed from that of other neurologists of the same time. Augusta Dejerine-Klumpke (1859-1927) in France was more precise than Charcot in her anatomical and clinical descriptions, and Hugo von Ziemssen (1829-1902) in Germany made effective use of electrodiagnostics. Charcot supported the electrical work of Guillaume Duchenne de Boulogne (1806-1875), whom he sometimes presented as one of his mentors. The German physician Wilhelm Erb (1840-1921) developed electrodiagnosis by galvanic and faradic currents. Charcot never made use of Erb's electrological advancements. With his electrophysiologist Romain Vigouroux (1831-1911), Charcot used medical electricity only for electrotherapy in hysteria.