Jean-Martin Charcot's house officers at La Salpêtrière Hospital

From the time he became chef de service at La Salpêtrière Hospital in 1866 until his death in 1893, Jean-Martin Charcot oversaw 32 house officers. Some of them became famous, such as D.M. Bourneville, E. Brissaud, P. Marie and G. Gilles de la Tourette. Others are less well known. The fact remains that Charcot knew how to surround himself with fine students and leverage their talents in order to make the neurological discoveries by which he would become famous throughout the world. Here, we present the biographies of H. Soulier (1862), J. Cotard (1865), R. Lépine (1867), A. Gombault (1872), A. Pierret (1874), A. Pitres (1876), P. Oulmont (1877), G. Guinon (1885), P. Blocq(1887), E. Huet (1888), E. Parmentier (1890) and A. Souques(1893). Each of these men with their unique paths and interests helped lay the foundations for the birth of neurology at the end of the 19th century in Paris. As Emile Littré said: 'La science de la Médecine, si elle ne veut pas être rabaissée au rang de métier, doit s'occuper de son histoire et soigner les vieux monuments que les temps passés lui ont légués', which could be translated as 'to avoid being reduced to a trade, the science of medicine must attend to its history and take care of the old monuments handed down by time'.