Georges Gilles de la Tourette | |
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Born | Georges Albert Édouard Brutus Gilles de la Tourette 30 October 1857
Saint-Gervais-les-Trois-Clochers,
Vienne, France |
Died | 22 May 1904 | (aged 46)
Known for | Namesake of Tourette syndrome |
Georges Albert Édouard Brutus Gilles de la Tourette (French: [ʒɔʁʒ albɛʁ edwaʁ bʁytys ʒil də la tuʁɛt]; 30 October 1857 – 22 May 1904) was a French neurologist and the namesake of Tourette syndrome, a neurological condition characterized by tics. [1] His main contributions in medicine were in the fields of hypnotism and hysteria. [1]
Gilles de la Tourette was born the oldest of four children on 30 October 1857 [1] in the small town of Saint-Gervais-les-Trois-Clochers in the district of Châtellerault, near the city of Loudun. [2] [3]
During 1873, Gilles de la Tourette began medical studies at Poitiers at the age of sixteen. [1] In 1881, he relocated to Paris, where he continued his studies at the Laennec Hospital. [1]
Gilles de la Tourette began his internship in 1884, working "at a superhuman pace, publishing, teaching and practicing clinical medicine". [1] He became a student, amanuensis, and house physician of his mentor, influential contemporary neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot, director of the Salpêtrière Hospital. [1] [4] [5] Charcot also helped him to advance in his academic career. Gilles de la Tourette studied and lectured in psychotherapy, hysteria, and medical and legal ramifications of mesmerism (modern-day hypnosis). Colleagues and historians have described him as a "highly intelligent, if irascible, character". [1]
In 1884, Charcot asked Gilles de la Tourette to work on motor disorders; latah, myriachit, and the Jumping Frenchmen of Maine had recently been described, and Gilles de la Tourette believed the conditions were related and separate from chorea. [1] He described the symptoms of Tourette syndrome in one patient and collected previous observations of similar cases, and in 1885, he published a further nine cases using the name maladie des tics for the disorder. [6] Charcot renamed the syndrome "Gilles de la Tourette's illness" in his honor, [2] although the work was not well received at Salpêtrière. [1]
Gilles de la Tourette published an article on hysteria in the German Army, which angered Bismarck, [7] and a further article about unhygienic conditions in the floating hospitals on the river Thames. [1] With Gabriel Legué, he analyzed 17th-century abbess Jeanne des Anges' account of her hysteria that was allegedly based on her unrequited love for a priest Urbain Grandier, who was later burned for witchcraft. [7]
Gilles de la Tourette married his cousin Marie Detrois (1867–1922) on 2 August 1887 in Loudon. Paul Brouardel and Charcot were witnesses. They had four children, three of whom lived to adulthood. [8]
In 1893, a former female patient, who was later revealed to have psychosis, shot Gilles de la Tourette in the neck, [1] [9] [a] claiming one of his colleagues had hypnotized her against her will. [1] His mentor, Charcot, had died recently, and his young son had also died recently. [1] Although he recovered from the shooting and continued to work and organize lectures, after these events, Gilles de la Tourette began to display symptoms of severe depression. [1] After 1893, his mental health noticeably declined. [2]
In 1901, Charcot's son, Jean-Baptiste, convinced Gilles de la Tourette to travel to Switzerland on a ruse, and had him committed to a psychiatric hospital, where Gilles de la Tourette was diagnosed with tertiary syphilis. [10] His condition worsened and he was forced to resign. [2] His wife and colleagues were not forthcoming about the causes of his internment. [11] He died on 22 May 1904 [1] [2] [11] with advanced dementia [2] at the Lausanne Psychiatric Hospital in Cery from what was labeled a status seizure, and that his wife described as apoplexy. [11] Lees (2019) states that "Gilles de la Tourette died of general paralysis of the insane ( neurosyphilis)". [7]
Gilles de la Tourette published sixteen papers on hysteria, including: [1]
Georges Gilles de la Tourette | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Born | Georges Albert Édouard Brutus Gilles de la Tourette 30 October 1857
Saint-Gervais-les-Trois-Clochers,
Vienne, France |
Died | 22 May 1904 | (aged 46)
Known for | Namesake of Tourette syndrome |
Georges Albert Édouard Brutus Gilles de la Tourette (French: [ʒɔʁʒ albɛʁ edwaʁ bʁytys ʒil də la tuʁɛt]; 30 October 1857 – 22 May 1904) was a French neurologist and the namesake of Tourette syndrome, a neurological condition characterized by tics. [1] His main contributions in medicine were in the fields of hypnotism and hysteria. [1]
Gilles de la Tourette was born the oldest of four children on 30 October 1857 [1] in the small town of Saint-Gervais-les-Trois-Clochers in the district of Châtellerault, near the city of Loudun. [2] [3]
During 1873, Gilles de la Tourette began medical studies at Poitiers at the age of sixteen. [1] In 1881, he relocated to Paris, where he continued his studies at the Laennec Hospital. [1]
Gilles de la Tourette began his internship in 1884, working "at a superhuman pace, publishing, teaching and practicing clinical medicine". [1] He became a student, amanuensis, and house physician of his mentor, influential contemporary neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot, director of the Salpêtrière Hospital. [1] [4] [5] Charcot also helped him to advance in his academic career. Gilles de la Tourette studied and lectured in psychotherapy, hysteria, and medical and legal ramifications of mesmerism (modern-day hypnosis). Colleagues and historians have described him as a "highly intelligent, if irascible, character". [1]
In 1884, Charcot asked Gilles de la Tourette to work on motor disorders; latah, myriachit, and the Jumping Frenchmen of Maine had recently been described, and Gilles de la Tourette believed the conditions were related and separate from chorea. [1] He described the symptoms of Tourette syndrome in one patient and collected previous observations of similar cases, and in 1885, he published a further nine cases using the name maladie des tics for the disorder. [6] Charcot renamed the syndrome "Gilles de la Tourette's illness" in his honor, [2] although the work was not well received at Salpêtrière. [1]
Gilles de la Tourette published an article on hysteria in the German Army, which angered Bismarck, [7] and a further article about unhygienic conditions in the floating hospitals on the river Thames. [1] With Gabriel Legué, he analyzed 17th-century abbess Jeanne des Anges' account of her hysteria that was allegedly based on her unrequited love for a priest Urbain Grandier, who was later burned for witchcraft. [7]
Gilles de la Tourette married his cousin Marie Detrois (1867–1922) on 2 August 1887 in Loudon. Paul Brouardel and Charcot were witnesses. They had four children, three of whom lived to adulthood. [8]
In 1893, a former female patient, who was later revealed to have psychosis, shot Gilles de la Tourette in the neck, [1] [9] [a] claiming one of his colleagues had hypnotized her against her will. [1] His mentor, Charcot, had died recently, and his young son had also died recently. [1] Although he recovered from the shooting and continued to work and organize lectures, after these events, Gilles de la Tourette began to display symptoms of severe depression. [1] After 1893, his mental health noticeably declined. [2]
In 1901, Charcot's son, Jean-Baptiste, convinced Gilles de la Tourette to travel to Switzerland on a ruse, and had him committed to a psychiatric hospital, where Gilles de la Tourette was diagnosed with tertiary syphilis. [10] His condition worsened and he was forced to resign. [2] His wife and colleagues were not forthcoming about the causes of his internment. [11] He died on 22 May 1904 [1] [2] [11] with advanced dementia [2] at the Lausanne Psychiatric Hospital in Cery from what was labeled a status seizure, and that his wife described as apoplexy. [11] Lees (2019) states that "Gilles de la Tourette died of general paralysis of the insane ( neurosyphilis)". [7]
Gilles de la Tourette published sixteen papers on hysteria, including: [1]