History of the French Society of Neurology: 1899-1974

The "Societe de Neurologie de Paris", started by 17 founding members all of whom with the exception of Dejerine were students of Charcot, helds its in augural session on 6(th) July 1899. It became the "Societe Francaise de Neu rologie" in 1949. Its history is intertwined with that of neurology itself, to whose progress it greatly contributed through the work presented at its monthly sessions and collated in the Revue Neurologique, "the official org an for its publications': The "Reunions Neurologiques Internationales", whi ch began in 1920, increased its prestige and widened its public. Down the y ears they have borne witness to the preoccupations of the day, reflecting t he development of neurology and the prodigious changes that it has undergon e. Born under the sign of the anatomico-clinical method, the Society has un ceasingly transformed itself in keeping with the evolving science, taking o n board all the latest advances in medicine and biology and their associate d techniques. It has given birth to neurosurgery clinical neurophysiology a nd neuroradiology. The multiplicity of new techniques governing progress in the discipline threatened to have an adverse effect on the integrity of th e Society. However, it is within the context of the Society that the wide r ange of neurosciences can find the federating influence they need to take t heir place within the corpus of neurology. The history of the Society has a lso reflected the century through which it has lived a century which has pr oved one of the most tragic in the history of the western world. It has suf fered ifs many vicissitudes, which have been fundamental in determining the nature of its work and its sphere of influence.