In the latter half of the nineteenth century, there was growing interest in the operation of the nervous system in health and disease. University professors studied different aspects of neurological form and function. On the clinical side, several new hospitals devoted to the nervous system were established in the British capital (see ), and an insane asylum in the north of England became a leading center for research into mental and neurological disorders. In Paris, the large Salpêtrière Hospital was converted from a hospice for destitute, chronically ill, or supposedly immoral women to a hospital with a primary focus on neurological disease. Patients were examined, symptoms and signs were analyzed, distinct diseases were identified, and treatable disorders were managed appropriately. Patients were also photographed, and some were studied by electrical techniques and even by muscle biopsy. Neurology was emerging as a distinct discipline of medicine. Important centers for neurological and psychiatric diseases were established at many other Parisian institutions including the famous Pitié, Bicȇtre, and Sainte Anne hospitals.