Alexandre Jacques François Brière de Boismont (often translated as ''Brierre de Boismont'' in English) (18 October 1797 – 25 December 1881) was a French physician and psychiatrist born in Rouen. In 1825 he received his medical doctorate in

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, afterwards working as a physician at the nursing home of Mme Marcel Sainte-Colombe, , Paris. In 1831 he performed important studies of a cholera epidemic in

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, and in 1838 was appointed director of a private nursing home on Rue Neuve Sainte-Genevieve, located near the Panthéon de Paris. Beginning in 1859, he practiced medicine in

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. Brière de Boismont was the author of numerous publications in several medical fields, that included

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, forensic medicine and

anatomy Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having it ...

, but is best known for his work in

psychiatry Psychiatry is the specialty (medicine), medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. These include various maladaptations related to mood, behaviour, cognition, and perceptions. See glossary of psych ...

. In 1845 he published ''Des Hallucinations, ou Histoire raisonnée des apparitions, des visions, des songes, de l'extase, du magnétisme et du somnambulisme'', a landmark study of

hallucination A hallucination is a perception in the absence of an external stimulus that has the qualities of a real perception. Hallucinations are vivid, substantial, and are perceived to be located in external objective space. Hallucination is a combinati ...

s, of which he considered were a significant part of mankind's psychological history. This book was later translated into English a
''Hallucinations: or, The rational history of apparitions, dreams, ecstasy, magnetism, and somnambulism''
(1853). In 1856 he published a comprehensive study on suicide, titled ''Du suicide et de la folie suicide''. With

Jules Baillarger Jules Baillarger, full name Jules Gabriel François Baillarger (25 March 1809 – 31 December 1890), was a French neurologist and psychiatrist. Biography Baillarger was born in Montbazon, France. He studied medicine at the University of Paris u ...

(1809–1890) and others, he was co-editor of ''Annales médico-psychologique''. In 1862, Brière de Boismont provided an early description of what would later become known as Kleine-Levin syndrome (KLS).

Publications

''Hallucinations or, the Rational History of Apparitions, Visions, Dreams, Ecstasy, Magnetism, and Somnambulism''
(1853)

References

* "Parts of this article are based on a translation of an equivalent article at the

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".
ILAB, "Des hallucinations"

@

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Medical Times and Gazette
(obituary notice). {{DEFAULTSORT:Briere de Boismont, Alexandre Jacques Francois 1797 births 1881 deaths French psychiatrists 19th-century French physicians Physicians from Rouen French medical writers French sceptics 19th-century French writers 19th-century French male writers French male non-fiction writers