The writings of Charcot and Féré on migraine and its permanent complications are translated. They emphasize how the art of observation was considered of paramount importance in clinical neurology, as stated by Charcot on 28 February 1888: "Let someone say of a doctor that he really knows his physiology and anatomy, that he is dynamic--these are not the real compliments; but if you say he is an observer, a man who knows how to see, this is perhaps the greatest compliment one can make." These writings also reveal that arteriolar vasoconstriction in migrainous infarction and the vascular theory of migraine are hypotheses generated over 100 years ago and still being tested by contemporary neurologists.