In June 1870, Jean-Martin Charcot (1825-1893) delivered his first lecture on hysteria, a lesson on hysterical contractures, at the Salpêtrière in Paris, France.² His lecture emphasized a scientific approach to hysteria and focused on not only the physical features but also the psychological aspects. Thus, he expressed doubt about reports of miraculous religious cures and likened them to the sudden recovery of hysterical patients. Charcot was influenced by the work of Pierre Briquet (1776-1881),^3-4 who in 1859, based on clinical assessments, published a systematic epidemiologic study describing 430 cases of hysteria seen over a 10-year period. Briquet considered "hysteria as the product of suffering of the part of the brain destined to receive affective impressions and feelings,"^4(p60) suggested a role for heredity, proposed . . . [Full Text of this Article]