The Italian contribution to the anatomo-clinical method and physical examination in the history of neurology

Abstract

In Italy, neurology was constituted as a distinct and autonomous field only at the end of the 19th century. The recent neurological advances made in France were rapidly introduced and widely discussed among the Italian scientific community. The anatomo-clinical method applied by Jean-Martin Charcot (1825–1893) and his pupils to neurological disorders was immediately accepted and further refined by the Italian physicians. This led to important contributions to the physical examination with the description of new signs and tests for the diagnosis of various neurological disorders.