Clinical neurophysiology and functional neuroimaging at the French Societyof Neurology (1948-1998).

The historical role of the French Neurology in the development of anatomo-c linical method is likely to explain why the first communications on electro physiology were presented in Paris with some delay, as compared with other european societies where the neurophysiological tradition had been more liv ely. Though clinical neurophysiology, by essence, addresses the pathophysio logy of neurological disorders, ii has sometimes missed this target at its very beginning, when it aimed at providing data supposed to have some aetio logical specificity, causing distrust among neurologists used to accept aet iological diagnosis only when based on post-mortem anatomical evidence. Tha nks to the discovery of computerized tomography this time has been over for 25 years, and no one would question anymore the role of clinical neurophys iology and neuroimaging in Neurology, the former giving access to the timin g of sensori-motor and cognitive processes and the latter to the localizati on of brain functions. This article reviews the neurophysiological literatu re published in the Revue Neurologique from 1948 to 1998.