Désiré-Magloire Bourneville
Encyclopedia
Neurologist
A neurologist is a physician who specializes in neurology, and is trained to investigate, or diagnose and treat neurological disorders.Neurology is the medical specialty related to the human nervous system. The nervous system encompasses the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves. A specialist...
born in Garencières
Garencières
Garencières is a commune in the Eure department in northern France.-Population:-References:*...
. He studied medicine in Paris, and was an intern at the Salpêtrière and Bicêtre Hospitals.
In 1866, during a severe cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
epidemic in Amiens
Amiens
Amiens is a city and commune in northern France, north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in Picardy...
he volunteered his services, and after the siege was presented with a gold watch as an expression of the city's gratitude. During the Franco-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
he was both a surgeon and an assistant medical officer. During the Paris Commune
Paris Commune
The Paris Commune was a government that briefly ruled Paris from March 18 to May 28, 1871. It existed before the split between anarchists and Marxists had taken place, and it is hailed by both groups as the first assumption of power by the working class during the Industrial Revolution...
in 1871, when revolutionaries wanted to execute some wounded prisoners, Bourneville intervened and saved them from death. During the 1870s, he became a member of the French Parliament (1873) and the Paris City Council (1876), and in both positions advocated reforms of the health system.
Bourneville was a physician of pediatric services at Bicêtre from 1879 to 1905. He also founded a day school in Paris for special instruction of mentally retarded and epileptic
Epilepsy
Epilepsy is a common chronic neurological disorder characterized by seizures. These seizures are transient signs and/or symptoms of abnormal, excessive or hypersynchronous neuronal activity in the brain.About 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy, and nearly two out of every three new cases...
children.
He first described a disease which is named after him, called "Bourneville's syndrome", which is now known as tuberous sclerosis
Tuberous sclerosis
Tuberous sclerosis or tuberous sclerosis complex is a rare multi-system genetic disease that causes non-malignant tumors to grow in the brain and on other vital organs such as the kidneys, heart, eyes, lungs, and skin. A combination of symptoms may include seizures, developmental delay, behavioral...
. This genetic condition may lead to mental retardation, epilepsy
Epilepsy
Epilepsy is a common chronic neurological disorder characterized by seizures. These seizures are transient signs and/or symptoms of abnormal, excessive or hypersynchronous neuronal activity in the brain.About 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy, and nearly two out of every three new cases...
, a disfiguring facial rash and benign tumors in the brain, heart, kidney and other organs. The condition was also studied by the British dermatologist, John James Pringle
John James Pringle
John James Pringle was a Scottish dermatologist. He was born in Borgue, Kirkcudbrightshire and educated at Merchiston Castle school. He graduated in medicine from Edinburgh University in 1876...
, leading some historical texts to refer to it as Bourneville-Pringle disease.