Mapping medical specialization in Paris in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries

This paper seeks to provide a systemic perspective on the development of medical specialization in France. Making use of information in medical directories of the period, it offers a quantitative analysis of developing specialization in Paris and the major provincial cities from 1880 to 1935. The first section examines the size and scope of the different specialties in 1884, 1905, 1920, and 1935. The second section analyses evolving patterns of linkage among specialties through the cases of multiple identification which occurred. The final part looks at the relative élitist character of specialties as measured by official hospital and faculty posts and membership in the Academy of Medicine. The conclusion suggests how these quantitative results might orient future research on specialization.