Pitié-Salpêtrière University Hospital (french: Hôpital universitaire la Pitié-Salpêtrière, ) is a
teaching hospital
A teaching hospital is a hospital or medical centre that provides medical education and training to future and current health professionals. Teaching hospitals are almost always affiliated with one or more universities and are often co-located ...
in the
13th arrondissement of Paris
The 13th arrondissement of Paris (''XIIIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, this arrondissement is referred to as ''treizième''.
The arrondissement, called Gobelins, is situated ...
. Part of the and a teaching hospital of
Sorbonne University.
History
The Salpêtrière was originally a gunpowder factory (
saltpetre
Potassium nitrate is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . This alkali metal nitrate salt is also known as Indian saltpetre (large deposits of which were historically mined in India). It is an ionic salt of potassium ions K+ and nitra ...
being a constituent of
gunpowder
Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). T ...
), but in 1656 at the direction of
Louis XIV
Louis XIV (Louis Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was List of French monarchs, King of France from 14 May 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the Li ...
, it was converted into a ''hospice'' for the poor women of Paris as part of the
General Hospital of Paris The General Hospital of Paris (french: Hôpital général de Paris) was an Ancien Régime institution intended as a place of confinement of the poor. Formed by a royal edict during the reign of Louis XIV, it aimed to address the recurring problem of ...
. This main hospice was for women who were learning disabled, mentally ill or
epileptic, as well as poor. In 1657 it was incorporated with the hospice of the Pitié designed specifically for beggars' children and orphans. Sheets for hospice and military clothing were produced there by the children. Between 1663 and 1673, 240 of the women at the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospice were sent on a mission to populate the Americas and help build
New France
New France (french: Nouvelle-France) was the area colonized by France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spa ...
. They were in the total number of 768 young women recruited during the ten-year period to become known as the "
King's Daughters". The Salpêtrière was much admired for the architectural designs of
Libéral Bruant
Libéral Bruant (''ca'' 1635 – Paris, 22 November 1697), was a French architect best known as the designer of the Hôtel des Invalides, Paris, which is now dominated by the dome erected by Jules Hardouin Mansart, his collaborator in earlier ...
with the support of
Louis Le Vau. Its conversion was completed in 1669. In 1684 a women's prison was added to the site with a total capacity of 300 convicted
prostitute
Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in Sex work, sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, n ...
s. It provided wretched living conditions for its inmates.
On the eve of the
Revolution
In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...
, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospice had become the
world's largest hospice
Hospice care is a type of health care that focuses on the palliation of a terminally ill patient's pain and symptoms and attending to their emotional and spiritual needs at the end of life. Hospice care prioritizes comfort and quality of life b ...
, with a capacity of 10,000 "patients" and over 300 prisoners. Until the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...
, the Salpêtrière had no medical function: the sick were sent to the
Hôtel-Dieu In French-speaking countries, a hôtel-Dieu ( en, hostel of God) was originally a hospital for the poor and needy, run by the Catholic Church. Nowadays these buildings or institutions have either kept their function as a hospital, the one in Paris ...
hospital.
During the
September massacres of 1792, the Salpêtrière was stormed on the night of 3/4 September by a mob from the impoverished working-class district of the Faubourg Saint-Marcel, with the avowed intention of releasing the detained prisoners: 134 of the prostitutes were released; twenty-five madwomen were less fortunate and were dragged, some still in their chains, into the streets and murdered.
At the very end of the 18th century, the early humanitarian reforms in the treatment of the mentally ill were initiated here by
Philippe Pinel (1745–1826), friend of the ''
Encyclopédistes''. The iconic image of Pinel as the liberator of the insane was created in 1876 by
Tony Robert-Fleury and Pinel's sculptural monument stands before the main entrance in Place Marie-Curie, Boulevard de L'Hôpital. Pinel was the chief physician of the Salpêtrière by 1794, in charge of a 200-bed infirmary which housed a tiny proportion of the huge indigent female population. He was succeeded by his assistant
Jean-Étienne Dominique Esquirol
Jean-Étienne Dominique Esquirol (3 February 1772 – 12 December 1840) was a French psychiatrist.
Early life and education
Born and raised in Toulouse, Esquirol completed his education at Montpellier. He came to Paris in 1799 where he worke ...
(1772–1840) who, from 1817, delivered the first systematic lectures on psychiatry in France and was the chief architect of the lunacy legislation of 30 June 1838. Esquirol was followed by
Étienne Pariset
Étienne Pariset (5 August 1770, in Grand – 3 July 1847, in Paris) was a French physician and psychiatrist.
In 1805 he received his medical doctorate in Paris with the thesis ''Dissertation sur les hémorrhagies utérines'' ("Dissertation o ...
; and from 1831 till 1867 the ''chef d'hospice'' was
Jean-Pierre Falret
Jean-Pierre Falret (; 26 April 1794 – 28 October 1870) was a French psychiatrist. He was born and died in Marcilhac-sur-Célé. (1794–1870) who contributed much to our understanding of
bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder, previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of Depression (mood), depression and periods of abnormally elevated Mood (psychology), mood that last from days to weeks each. If the elevat ...
and
folie à deux
Folie à deux ('folly of two', or 'madness haredby two'), also known as shared psychosis or shared delusional disorder (SDD), is a collection of rare psychiatric syndromes in which symptoms of a delusional belief, and sometimes hallucination ...
.
A regular visitor to the Salpêtrière from 1842 till his death more than thirty years later was Guillaume-Benjamin
Duchenne de Boulogne (1806–1875). From humble provincial origins, a long line of seafarers from Boulogne, Duchenne became one of the outstanding medical scientists of the nineteenth century. Though he never held a senior appointment in the hospital, Duchenne nevertheless made meticulous observations on neurological patients, employing a wide range of innovative diagnostic techniques. Duchenne's clinical science stood at the technical junction of electricity, photography and psychology, as recorded in his much admired ''De l'électrisation localisée'' with its associated atlas ''Album de photographies pathologiques'' (1855, 1862). His name is commemorated in the
myopathies which he described, as well as in his 1862 masterpiece, the ''
Mécanisme de la physionomie humaine'', much consulted by
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...
in the preparation of his ''
Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals'' (1872). Duchenne's last major work (published in 1867) was a study of animal locomotion. He was never elected to the Academy of Sciences.
Later, when
Jean-Martin Charcot
Jean-Martin Charcot (; 29 November 1825 – 16 August 1893) was a French neurologist and professor of anatomical pathology. He worked on hypnosis and hysteria, in particular with his hysteria patient Louise Augustine Gleizes. Charcot is know ...
(1825–1893) took over the department, the Salpêtrière became celebrated as a neuropsychiatric teaching centre, represented on canvas in 1887 by ''
A Clinical Lesson at the Salpêtrière
''A Clinical Lesson at the Salpêtrière'' (french: Une leçon clinique à la Salpêtrière) is an 1887 group tableau portrait painted by the history and genre artist André Brouillet (1857–1914). The painting, one of the best-known in the hi ...
'' by
André Brouillet. In his lectures and demonstrations, the ''leçons du mardi'', Charcot systematised the neurological examination, did much to map out the territory of modern clinical neurology and, in a personal enthusiasm, explored its interface with psychological distress as represented in
hysteria
Hysteria is a term used colloquially to mean ungovernable emotional excess and can refer to a temporary state of mind or emotion. In the nineteenth century, hysteria was considered a diagnosable physical illness in women. It is assumed that ...
. Although Charcot insisted that hysteria could be a male disorder ("traumatic hysteria"), he is popularly remembered for his demonstrations with
Louise Augustine Gleizes and
Marie Wittman.
Charcot had also absorbed much from Duchenne (to whom he often referred as "''mon maître, Duchenne''") and his teaching activities on the Salpêtrière's wards helped to elucidate the natural history of many diseases including
neurosyphilis,
epilepsy
Epilepsy is a group of non-communicable neurological disorders characterized by recurrent epileptic seizures. Epileptic seizures can vary from brief and nearly undetectable periods to long periods of vigorous shaking due to abnormal electrica ...
, and
stroke
A stroke is a disease, medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemorr ...
. In his discussion of ''
paralysis agitans
Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...
'', Charcot drew attention to the 1817 description by
James Parkinson, and suggested it be renamed
Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms beco ...
. In 1882, with Charcot's encouragement,
Albert Londe
Albert Londe (26 November 1858 – 11 September 1917) was an influential French photographer, medical researcher and chronophotographer. He is remembered for his work as a medical photographer at the Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris, funded by ...
created a photographic department in the Salpêtriėre, producing, in collaboration with
Georges Gilles de la Tourette
Georges Albert Édouard Brutus Gilles de la Tourette (; 30 October 1857 – 22 May 1904) was a French neurologist and the namesake of Tourette syndrome, a neurological condition characterized by tics. His main contributions in medicine were in ...
, the ''Nouvelle Iconographie de la Salpêtrière'' of 1888.
Students came from across the world to witness Charcot's clinical demonstrations: among them – in 1885 – was the 29-year old
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts i ...
who translated Charcot's lectures into German and whose deconstruction of the lectures on
hysteria
Hysteria is a term used colloquially to mean ungovernable emotional excess and can refer to a temporary state of mind or emotion. In the nineteenth century, hysteria was considered a diagnosable physical illness in women. It is assumed that ...
formed the foundations of
psychoanalysis
PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might ...
. The first English translations of Charcot's ''Clinical Lectures'' (1877, 1881) were published by the Irish physician and politician
George Sigerson
George Sigerson (11 January 1836 – 17 February 1925) was an Irish physician, scientist, writer, politician and poet. He was a leading light in the Irish Literary Revival of the late 19th century in Ireland.
Doctor and scientist
Sigerson was b ...
. Public health physician and advocate of breastfeeding
Truby King travelled from New Zealand to witness Charcot, and reported his clinical demonstrations to be a life-changing experience. A rather negative portrait of Charcot's clinical style emerges in the 1929 autobiographical memoir – ''
The Story of San Michele
''The Story of San Michele'' is a book of memoirs by Swedish physician Axel Munthe (October 31, 1857 – February 11, 1949) first published in 1929 by British publisher John Murray. Written in English, it was a bestseller in numerous language ...
'' – by the Swedish physician
Axel Munthe
Axel Martin Fredrik Munthe (31 October 1857 – 11 February 1949) was a Swedish-born medical doctor and psychiatrist, best known as the author of '' The Story of San Michele'', an autobiographical account of his life and work. He spoke several l ...
, whose early idolatry of Charcot gave way to a kind of obsessive antagonism.
The Hôpital de la Pitié, founded about 1612, was moved next to the Salpêtrière in 1911 and fused with it in 1964 to form the Groupe Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière. The Pitié-Salpêtrière is now a general
teaching hospital
A teaching hospital is a hospital or medical centre that provides medical education and training to future and current health professionals. Teaching hospitals are almost always affiliated with one or more universities and are often co-located ...
with departments focusing on most major medical specialities.
Numerous personalities have been treated at the Salpêtrière, including
Michael Schumacher,
Ronaldo
Ronaldo is a Portuguese given name equivalent to the English Ronald. It became a common name in all Portuguese-speaking countries, being also prevalent in Italy and Spanish-speaking countries. People
Notable people known as Ronaldo include:
As ...
,
Prince Rainier of
Monaco
Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...
,
Alain Delon
Alain Fabien Maurice Marcel Delon (; born 8 November 1935) is a French actor and filmmaker. He was one of Europe's most prominent actors and screen sex symbols in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. In 1985, he won the César Award for Best Actor for h ...
,
Gérard Depardieu
Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu, CQ (, , ; born 27 December 1948) is a French actor, filmmaker, businessman and vineyard owner since 1989 who is one of the most prolific thespians in film history having completed over 250 films since 1967 al ...
, and
Valérie Trierweiler. Former president
Jacques Chirac
Jacques René Chirac (, , ; 29 November 193226 September 2019) was a Politics of France, French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. Chirac was previously Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to ...
had a
pacemaker
An artificial cardiac pacemaker (or artificial pacemaker, so as not to be confused with the natural cardiac pacemaker) or pacemaker is a medical device that generates electrical impulses delivered by electrodes to the chambers of the heart ei ...
fitted at the Salpêtrière in 2008. Celebrities have also died at the Pitié-Salpêtrière, including the singer
Josephine Baker
Josephine Baker (born Freda Josephine McDonald; naturalised French Joséphine Baker; 3 June 1906 – 12 April 1975) was an American-born French dancer, singer and actress. Her career was centered primarily in Europe, mostly in her adopted Fran ...
in 1975, following a cerebral haemorrhage; philosopher
Michel Foucault
Paul-Michel Foucault (, ; ; 15 October 192625 June 1984) was a French philosopher, historian of ideas, writer, political activist, and literary critic. Foucault's theories primarily address the relationship between power and knowledge, and ho ...
(from complications of AIDS) on 25 June 1984;
Diana, Princess of Wales
Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997) was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William and Harry. Her ac ...
following
a car crash in 1997; and French bicycle racer
Laurent Fignon in 2010 (from the metastatic spread of lung cancer).
The
Brain and Spine Institute (now called Institut du Cerveau – ICM o
Paris Brain Institute has been located in the hospital since it was established in September 2010.
Buildings
Hospital Chapel
''Chapelle de la Salpêtrière'' (Hospital Chapel), at n° 47
Boulevard de l'Hôpital is one of the masterpieces of
Libéral Bruant
Libéral Bruant (''ca'' 1635 – Paris, 22 November 1697), was a French architect best known as the designer of the Hôtel des Invalides, Paris, which is now dominated by the dome erected by Jules Hardouin Mansart, his collaborator in earlier ...
, architect of
Les Invalides
The Hôtel des Invalides ( en, "house of invalids"), commonly called Les Invalides (), is a complex of buildings in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France, containing museums and monuments, all relating to the military history of France, ...
. It was built around 1675, on the model of a Greek cross and has four central chapels each capable of holding a congregation of some 1,000 people. Its central octagonal cupola is illuminated by picture windows in circular arcs.
Philippe Pinel monument
In the ''place'' in front of the main entrance to the hospital, there is a large bronze monument to
Philippe Pinel, who was chief physician of the Hospice from 1795 to his death in 1826. The Salpêtrière was, at the time, like a large village, with seven thousand elderly indigent and ailing women, an entrenched bureaucracy, a teeming market and huge infirmaries. Pinel created an inoculation clinic in his service at the Salpêtrière in 1799 and the first
vaccination
Vaccination is the administration of a vaccine to help the immune system develop immunity from a disease. Vaccines contain a microorganism or virus in a weakened, live or killed state, or proteins or toxins from the organism. In stimulat ...
in Paris was given there in April 1800.
Notable doctors
Through its history, the Pitié-Salpétrière hosted notable doctors, among others:
*
Philippe Pinel (1745–1826);
*
Jean-Étienne Esquirol (1772–1840);
*
Étienne-Jean Georget (1795–1828);
*
William A. F. Browne (1805–1885);
*
Bénédict Morel
Bénédict Augustin Morel (22 November 1809 – 30 March 1873) was a French psychiatrist born in Vienna, Austria. He was an influential figure in the field of degeneration theory during the mid-19th century.
Biography
Morel was born in Vienna, A ...
(1809–1873);
*
Duchenne de Boulogne (1806–1875), teacher of Charcot;
*
Ernest-Charles Lasègue (1816–1883);
*
Jean-Martin Charcot
Jean-Martin Charcot (; 29 November 1825 – 16 August 1893) was a French neurologist and professor of anatomical pathology. He worked on hypnosis and hysteria, in particular with his hysteria patient Louise Augustine Gleizes. Charcot is know ...
(1825–1893), founder of modern
neurology
Neurology (from el, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the brain, the spinal ...
;
*
Alfred Vulpian (1826–1893) Physician and neurologist;
*
Jules Bernard Luys (1828–1897), neurologist;
*
Paul Richer
Paul Marie Louis Pierre Richer (17 January 1849 – 17 December 1933) was a French anatomist, physiologist, sculptor, medallist, and anatomical artist who was a native of Chartres. He was a professor of artistic anatomy at the École nationale s ...
(1849–1933), anatomist, collaborator of Charcot;
*
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts i ...
(1856–1939), Charcot's student in Paris and father of psychoanalysis;
*
Joseph Babinski (1857–1932), another Charcot's student;
*
Georges Gilles de la Tourette
Georges Albert Édouard Brutus Gilles de la Tourette (; 30 October 1857 – 22 May 1904) was a French neurologist and the namesake of Tourette syndrome, a neurological condition characterized by tics. His main contributions in medicine were in ...
(1857–1904), neurologist;
*
Axel Munthe
Axel Martin Fredrik Munthe (31 October 1857 – 11 February 1949) was a Swedish-born medical doctor and psychiatrist, best known as the author of '' The Story of San Michele'', an autobiographical account of his life and work. He spoke several l ...
(1857–1940), Swedish psychiatrist, author;
*
Pierre Janet
Pierre Marie Félix Janet (; 30 May 1859 – 24 February 1947) was a pioneering French psychologist, physician, philosopher, and psychotherapist in the field of dissociation and traumatic memory.
He is ranked alongside William James an ...
(1859–1947), psychologist;
*
Abel Ayerza (1861–1918), Argentinian cardiologist;
*
Gérard Encausse (1865–1916), physician;
*
Maria Montessori (1870–1952), pioneer in education;
*
Jacques Lacan
Jacques Marie Émile Lacan (, , ; 13 April 1901 – 9 September 1981) was a French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist. Described as "the most controversial psycho-analyst since Freud", Lacan gave yearly seminars in Paris from 1953 to 1981, and ...
(1901–1981), psychoanalyst;
*
Christian Cabrol (1925–2017), cardiac surgeon, performed Europe's first
heart transplantation on 27 April 1968.
*
Iradj Gandjbakhch (b. 1941), cardiac surgeon, performed Europe's first
heart transplantation on 27 April 1968 along with Dr. Cabrol; fitted a pacemaker on former president Jacques Chirac in 2008.
See also
*
Bicêtre Hospital
* ''
A Clinical Lesson at the Salpêtrière
''A Clinical Lesson at the Salpêtrière'' (french: Une leçon clinique à la Salpêtrière) is an 1887 group tableau portrait painted by the history and genre artist André Brouillet (1857–1914). The painting, one of the best-known in the hi ...
''
*
General Hospital of Paris The General Hospital of Paris (french: Hôpital général de Paris) was an Ancien Régime institution intended as a place of confinement of the poor. Formed by a royal edict during the reign of Louis XIV, it aimed to address the recurring problem of ...
References
External links
Pitié-Salpêtrière HospitalSalpêtrière Hospital records 1859–1942 (inclusive), 1900–1919 (bulk), HMS c30. Harvard Medical Library
Harvard Medical School
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital
Hospitals in Paris
Buildings and structures completed in 1684
Hospital buildings completed in the 17th century
Teaching hospitals in France
Buildings and structures in the 13th arrondissement of Paris
Hospitals established in the 17th century
1684 establishments in France
Prostitution in Paris