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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Jan Evangelista Purkinje


This article is part of the series "A Moment in History" where we honor those who have contributed to the growth of medical knowledge in the areas of anatomy, medicine, surgery, and medical research.To search all the articles in this series, click here.

Jan Evangelista Purkinje (1787 - 1869). Known by his German name Purkinje, or his Czech name, Purkyn?, as well as his church-given name Salverius. Purkinje was born in the city of Libochovice, Bohemia, (now Czechoslovakia). He started his early studies in the church with Piarist monks. He took the name of Brother Salverius and served as a teacher in the Piarist schools. He dedicated himself to the study of natural sciences. Purkinje left the monastery before taking his final vows.   Purkinje continued his studies and graduated in medicine in Prague. Even as a student Purkinje started research on the physics of sound and the physiology of vision, which he continued after his graduation. Purkinje was one of the first to understand the vision of motion, thus creating the first animated cartoons!

In 1823 Purkinje was appointed Professor of Physiology at the University of Wroclaw (Breslau), later taking the same chair in Prague. Besides being one of the first to propose experimental physiology as basis for research, Purkinje was one of the first to use the microscope to study the cells of the body, proposing the "cell theory", and introducing the word "protoplasm".

Jan Evangelista PurkinjeOriginal imagecourtesy of Wikipedia.
He made a number of discoveries, and his name is eponymically tied to many structures and processes, such as:

• Purkinje's cell of the cerebellum: Piriform cells found in Purkinje's layer
• Purkinje's fibers of the heart: These are not "fibers" as the name implies, but fast-conducting myocardial cells found as the most distal components of the conduction system of the heart
• Purkinje's law of vertigo: An observation that the apparent motion perceived when stopping the head after rotation changes from horizontal to vertical if the head is inclined laterally. This is important to pilots, as they are trained to understand that in conditions without external reference, moving the head down or laterally can induce uncontrollable vertigo.

Sources:
1. "Purkinje JE (1845) Mikroskopisch-neurologische Beobachturgen" Arch Anat Physiol Wiss Med II/III:281-295

2. "Jan Evangelista Purkinje (1787-1869)" J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 1994 July; 57(7): 777 
3. "Jan Evangelista Purkinje (1787-1869)" Davies, MK; Hollman A. Heart (1996) 76(4): 311

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