William Cowper

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A Moment in History

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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William Cowper

Published: Monday, September 16, 2013 07:00 | Written by: Efrain A. Miranda, Ph.D. | Hits: 4227

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.
William Cowper (1666 – 1710). English barber-surgeon and anatomist, William Cowper (sometimes known as William Cooper) was born in Petersfield, Hampshire. After apprenticeship with famous barber-surgeons, Cowmper was admitted as a Freeman to the Company of Barber Surgeons in 1691 after which he had a successful career as a surgeon and an anatomist in London. Cowper opened the first private school of anatomy in London. In 1694, Cowper published “Myotomia Reformata “, a great textbook with a description of all the muscles. A controversy arose because Cowper used the illustrations from another book by Govert Bidloo (1649 – 1713). The controversy became a problem for Cowper who had to answer questions on the subject to the Royal academy, where Cowper became a member in 1699. Cowper alleged that Bidloo’s plates, although greatly illustrated had a poor description which he improved. In 1699 Cowper published the “Philosophical Transactions” where he describes the bulbourethral glands which are today eponymically tied to his name. An infection of these glands is called a “Cowperitis”.
The bulbourethral glands had already been described by Jean M?ry (1645– 1722) and Cowper did not claim to discover these glands. As in the case with many eponyms, the name attached to a structure is not necessarily the one who discovered it. Today, many do not remember that Cowper's name is also used to describe "Cowper's ligament", that portion of the fascia lata that is attached to the iliac crest. Sources: 1. “Two eponymous surgeons:William Cowper and Fran?ois Poupart” Ellis, H. Brit J Hosp Med (2009) 70:4, 225 2. "Cowper, William (1666–1710)" Kornell, M, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 3. "Medical Discoveries, who and when" Schmidt, JE: C Thomas Pub. 1959 Original imagecourtesy of "Images from the History of Medicine" at www.nih.gov
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