William Osler's 1903 Vernon (Paris) Plaque: An Artifact of French Neurology

Frédéric Vernon's (1858-1912) legendary 1903 Paris plaque of William Osler (1849-1919) is widely considered by critics to be one of the very best likenesses of Dr. Osler in existence. Several published commentaries on the plaque note its features, historical significance, and Parisian provenance, but no authors to date have explicitly spelt out its direct connections to French neurology. Osler was a great admirer of Jean-Martin Charcot (1825-1893) and a close friend of Charcot's favored student Pierre Marie (1853-1940). It was after visiting Marie's wards at the Bicêtre Hospital in June 1903 to examine rare neurologic cases that Osler was invited to dine at Marie's Parisian home. There he was shown an 1883 Vernon medal of Charcot and asked if he would like to be similarly sculpted in bronze. Osler's junior colleague Henry Barton Jacobs (1858-1939) arranged for Osler to sit before Vernon the very next day, and a high-quality plaque was shortly forthcoming. The full and frequently untold story of the historical plaque is here recorded with reference to primary sources.