Tombe de Moreau Jacques Joseph (division 3)

Jacques-Joseph Moreau (3 June 1804 – 26 June 1884), nicknamed "Moreau de Tours", was a French

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their sy ...

and member of the

Club des Hashischins The Club des Hashischins (sometimes also spelled Club des Hashishins or Club des Hachichins, "Club of the Hashish-Eaters") was a Parisian group dedicated to the exploration of drug-induced experiences, notably with hashish.Levinthal, C. F. (2012) ...

. Moreau was the first physician to do systematic work on

drugs A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalat ...

' effects on the central nervous system, and to catalogue, analyze, and record his observations.

Works

After a long trip (1836–1840) in the Orient, he discovered the effect of

hashish Hashish ( ar, حشيش, ()), also known as hash, "dry herb, hay" is a drug made by compressing and processing parts of the cannabis plant, typically focusing on flowering buds (female flowers) containing the most trichomes. European Monitorin ...

. He studied it in order to understand the relation between madness and dreams, which are similar deliriums, according to Moreau. He was the author of the 184
''Du Hachisch et de l'aliénation mentale''
later translated into English and published as ''Hashish and Mental Illness''. He was the first doctor to publish a work about a drug and its effect on the central nervous system.Hans Bangen: ''Geschichte der medikamentösen Therapie der Schizophrenie.'' Berlin 1992, Page 22. "In an era which finally viewed the human psyche in a natural humanist terms rather than as the uncontrollable supernatural domain of demons and angels. Through careful observation of people's reactions, including his own, to hashish—particularly their openness to suggestions and willingness to consider new possibilities—Moreau theorized that

psychoactive A psychoactive drug, psychopharmaceutical, psychoactive agent or psychotropic drug is a chemical substance, that changes functions of the nervous system, and results in alterations in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition or behavior. Th ...

substances could treat or replicate mental illness in a way to help cure patients. His 1845 studies on

datura ''Datura'' is a genus of nine species of highly poisonous, vespertine-flowering plants belonging to the nightshade family Solanaceae. They are commonly known as thornapples or jimsonweeds, but are also known as devil's trumpets (not to be conf ...

and hashish were prepared as a treatise that documented both physical and mental benefits, and ultimately led to modern psychopharmacology and the use of numerous psychotomimetic drug treatments." ("Hemp for Health" Chris Conrad p 20)

Pierre Janet Pierre Marie Félix Janet (; 30 May 1859 – 24 February 1947) was a pioneering French psychologist, physician, philosopher, and psychotherapist in the field of dissociation and traumatic memory. He is ranked alongside William James and ...

identified him as one of his predecessors who had recognized "the pathological role played by grief and emotion" in creating vulnerability to psychological problems. In 1843 with Jules Baillarger (1809–1890), François Achille Longet (1811–1871) and Laurent Alexis Philibert Cerise (1807–1869), he founded the psychiatric journal ''Annales médico-psychologiques''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moreau, Jacques-Joseph 1804 births 1884 deaths Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery Cannabis researchers Cannabis in France French psychiatrists