Jean Lhermitte

Jean Lhermitte

Jacques Jean Lhermitte (English: /lɛərˈmt/) (20 January 1877 – 24 January 1959) was a French neurologist and neuropsychiatrist.[1]

Early life and education

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Lhermitte was born in Mont-Saint-Père, Aisne, son of Léon Augustin Lhermitte, a French realist painter. Following his early education at Saint-Etienne, he studied in Paris and graduated in medicine in 1907. He specialised in neurology and became Chef-de-clinique (resident) for nervous diseases in 1908, Chef de laboratoire in 1910, and professeur agrégé for psychiatry 1922.

Career

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Lhermitte became head of the Dejerine Foundation, sponsored by Joseph Jules Dejerine, and clinical director at the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital.

During World War I, Lhermitte studied spinal injuries and became interested in neuropsychiatry. This led to publications on visual hallucinations of the self. A deeply religious man, he explored the common territory between theology and medicine, and this led him to interesting studies on demonic possession and stigmatisation.

Medical eponyms

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Lhermitte was a clinical neurologist. A number of medical eponyms bear his name:[2]

Bibliography

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  • Techniques anatomo-pathologiques du système nerveux. Paris, 1914.
  • Psycho-névroses de guerre. Paris, 1916.
  • Les blessures de la moelle épinière. Paris, 1917.
  • La section totale de la moelle épinière. Paris, 1918.
  • — (4 March 1920). "Les Formes douloureuses de la Commotion de la Moelle épiniére" [Painful Forms of Spinal Cord Concussion]. Revue neurologique (in French). 36 (3). Société Française de Neurologie: 257–262 – via Internet Archive.
  • Les fondements biologiques de la psychologie. Paris, 1925.
  • Les hallucinations: clinique et physiopathologie. Paris, 1951.
  • True and false possession. Translated by the Hon. Patrick John Hepburne-Scott. New York: Hawthorn Books, 1963; OCLC Number 331062. London: Burns & Oates, 1963. Original edition: Vrais et faux possédés. Paris: Fayard, 1956; OCLC Number 13449338.

References

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  1. ^ Bibliothèque nationale de France (n.d.). "Jean Lhermitte (1877–1959)". Retrieved August 1, 2019. Also archived here.
  2. ^ Whonamedit? A Dictionary of Medical Eponyms (n.d.). "Jacques Jean Lhermitte". Retrieved August 1, 2019.