Jean-Martin Charcot (1825-1893) and the "Alice in Wonderland syndrome"

The "Alice in Wonderland syndrome" (AIWS) is a neurological disorder characterized by altered body schema perception, visual, or somesthetic symptoms, which is frequently associated with migraine. In this article, we present the earliest known description of symptoms attributable to AIWS in the medical literature. During a lecture held on November 22, 1887, at the Salpêtrière, Jean-Martin Charcot (1825-1893) examined a patient with somesthetic symptoms (partial macrosomatognosia) in the context of migraine with aura. Although this condition was not known at the time, Charcot tried to provide an accurate semiological and nosographic framework of this case, attributing the complex of symptoms to migraine with aura and epilepsy with sensory symptoms. With intellectual honesty and clinical prudence, Charcot correctly pointed to a disturbance in the excitability of cortical areas responsible for processing and perceiving sensory stimuli.