Medical Terminology Daily (MTD) is a blog sponsored by Clinical Anatomy Associates, Inc. as a service to the medical community. We post anatomical, medical or surgical terms, their meaning and usage, as well as biographical notes on anatomists, surgeons, and researchers through the ages. Be warned that some of the images used depict human anatomical specimens.

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A Moment in History

Jean-Louis Petit

Jean Louis Petit
(1674 – 1750)

French surgeon and anatomist, Jean Louis Petit was born in Paris in on March 13, 1674.  His family rented an apartment at his house to Alexis Littre (1658 – 1726), a French anatomist. Petit became an apprentice of Littre at seven years of age, helping him in the dissections for his lectures and at an early age became the assistant in charge of the anatomic amphitheater.

Because of Petit’s dedication to anatomy and medicine, in 1690 at the age of sixteen, became a disciple of a famous Paris surgeon, Castel.

In 1692, Petit entered the French army and performed surgery in two military campaigns. By 1693 he started delivering lectures and was accepted as a great surgeon, being invited to the most difficult operations.  In 1700 he was appointed Chief Surgeon of the Military School in Paris and in the same year he received the degree of Master of Surgery from the Faculty of Paris.

In 1715 he was made a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences and an honorary member of the Royal Society of London. He was appointed by the King as the first Director General of the Royal Academy of Surgery when it was founded in 1731.

Petit’s written works are of historical importance.  “Traite des Maladies des Os” ( A Treatise on Bone Diseases);  “Traite des Maladies Chirurgicales et des Operation” (A Treatise on Surgical Diseases and their Operations” This last book was published posthumously in 1774. He also published a monograph on hemorrhage, another on lachrymal fistula, and others.

He was one of the first to perform choIecystotomy and mastoidotomy. His original tourniquet design for amputations saved many in the battlefield and the design of the same surgical instrument today has not changed much since its invention by him.

His name is remembered in the lumbar triangle, also called the "triangle of Petit", and the abdominal hernia that can ensue through that area of weakness, the lumbar hernia or "Petit's hernia".

Sources:
1. “Jean Louis Petit – A Sketch of his Life, Character, and Writings” Hayne, AP San Fran Western Lancet 1875 4: 446-454
2. “Oeuvres compl?tes de Jean-Louis Petit” 1837 Imprimerie de F. Chapoulaud
3. Extraits de l'eloge de Jean-Louis Petit Ius dans Ia seance publique de I' Academie royale de chirurgie du 26 mai 1750” Louis A. Chirurgie 2001: 126 : 475- 81


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Malleus

Left malleus. A. Posterior view, B. Medial view. Public domain
Left malleus. A. Posterior view, B. Medial view

The word [malleus] is Latin word [malleus] meaning "hammer". It is the name of an ossicle in the middle ear.

The manubrium (handle) of the malleus is attached to the tympanic membrane. The head has a ligament, the superior malleolar ligament, which suspends the malleus in place. The head of the malleus has an articular surface for the incus, which itself articulates with the stapes. Malleus, incus, and stapes are the three ossicles found in the middle ear. This chain of bones allows mechanical transmission of the movement of the tympanic membrane through to the inner ear. At the base of the malleolar manubrium there is a site for attachment of the tensor tympani muscle which tenses and relaxes the tympanic membrane.

The Latin word [malleus] is the base for the root term [-mall-], which we can see in the English words [mallet] and even [malleable], which is used in the sense of "something able to be hammered into shape".

Interesting fact: The word [mall] as in "shopping mall" arises from an old Italian game similar to croquet called [pallamaglio]. [palla] means "ball" and [maglio] (from the Latin malleus) means "hammer". The game was quite popular in England where the word evolved from [pallamaglio] into [paille-maille] and then [pall-mall]. Since the game was played in long alleys and streets, some of these began to be referred as [malls], eventually these streets began to be lined with stores, evolving the term into [Shopping Mall]. 

Sources:
1 "Tratado de Anatomia Humana" Testut et Latarjet 8 Ed. 1931 Salvat Editores, Spain
2. "Anatomy of the Human Body" Henry Gray 1918. Philadelphia: Lea & Febiger
Image modified by CAA, Inc, Original image courtesy of bartleby.com