The discovery of multiple sclerosis (MS)
Multiple sclerosis (MS) was first described 158 years ago, in 1868, by the French neurologist and neuropathologist Jean-Martin Charcot (1825–1893). The first MS patient was diagnosed at that time as well. Of course, back then there was no modern medical imaging or other technology. For this reason Dr. Charcot, examining the brains and spinal cords of people who had died after living with certain distinct neurological complaints, discovered plaque formations that were harder than normal. Moreover, when he looked inside these plaques under the microscope, he saw that the protective sheaths (myelin sheaths) surrounding the nerve fibres (axons) in particular had become diseased. He then gave this disease the French name “sclérose en plaques”, that is, “hard plaques.” It should also not be forgotten that the same plaques had been described and published separately, much earlier, by the Scottish pathologist Robert Carswell (1838) and the French anatomist Jean Cruveilhier (1841). Yet the person who first described MS in every respect and brought it into the literature was J.M. Charcot. The century that followed would witness lifetimes devoted to uncovering the nature of MS and finding its treatment.
Further reading
One hundred and fifty years ago Charcot reported multiple sclerosis as a new neurological disease
Jean-Martin Charcot: The Father of Neurology
“Disease is very old, and nothing about it has changed. It is we who change, as we learn to recognize what was formerly imperceptible.”
— J.M. Charcot