Jacques Jean Lhermitte () (20 January 1877 – 24 January 1959) was a French

neurologist Neurology (from el, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the brain, the spinal c ...

and

neuropsychiatrist Neuropsychiatry or Organic Psychiatry is a branch of medicine that deals with psychiatry as it relates to neurology, in an effort to understand and attribute behavior to the interaction of neurobiology and social psychology factors. Within neurop ...

Life

Lhermitte was born in

Mont-Saint-Père Mont-Saint-Père () is a commune in the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Population See also *Communes of the Aisne department The following is a list of the 799 communes in the French department of Aisne. T ...

Aisne Aisne ( , ; ; pcd, Ainne) is a French department in the Hauts-de-France region of northern France. It is named after the river Aisne. In 2019, it had a population of 531,345.Léon Augustin Lhermitte Léon Augustin Lhermitte (31 July 1844, Mont-Saint-Père – 28 July 1925, Paris) was a French naturalist painter and etcher whose primary subject matter was rural scenes depicting peasants at work. Life and work He was a student of Lec ...

, a French realist painter. Following his early education at Saint-Etienne, he studied in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

and graduated in medicine in 1907. He specialised in

neurology Neurology (from el, wikt:νεῦρον, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix wikt:-logia, -logia, "study of") is the branch of specialty (medicine), medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of co ...

and became ''Chef-de-clinique'' (resident) for nervous diseases in 1908, ''Chef de laboratoire'' in 1910, and ''professeur agrégé'' for

psychiatry Psychiatry is the 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 psychiatry. Initial psych ...

1922. He later became ''Médecin des Hôpitaux'' at the "Hospice Paul Brousse", head of the foundation " Dejerine", and clinical director at the Salpêtrière Hospital. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Lhermitte studied spinal injuries and became interested in

neuropsychiatry Neuropsychiatry or Organic Psychiatry is a branch of medicine that deals with psychiatry as it relates to neurology, in an effort to understand and attribute behavior to the interaction of neurobiology and social psychology factors. Within neurop ...

. This led to publications on visual

hallucinations 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 combinatio ...

of the self. A deeply religious man, he explored the common territory between

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

and

medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...

, and this led him to interesting studies on

demonic possession Spirit possession is an unusual or altered state of consciousness and associated behaviors purportedly caused by the control of a human body by spirits, ghosts, demons, or gods. The concept of spirit possession exists in many cultures and reli ...

and

stigmatisation Stigmata ( grc, στίγματα, plural of , 'mark, spot, brand'), in Roman Catholicism, are bodily wounds, scars and pain which appear in locations corresponding to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus Christ: the hands, wrists, and feet. Stigm ...

Medical eponyms

Lhermitte was a noted clinical neurologist, and a number of medically relevant

eponym An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

s bear his name:Whonamedit? A Dictionary of Medical Eponyms (n.d.)
"Jacques Jean Lhermitte".
Retrieved August 1, 2019. * '' Lhermitte sign'': Flexion of the neck in patients with

multiple sclerosis Multiple (cerebral) sclerosis (MS), also known as encephalomyelitis disseminata or disseminated sclerosis, is the most common demyelinating disease, in which the insulating covers of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord are damaged. This d ...

produces electric shock-like sensations that extend down the

spine Spine or spinal may refer to: Science Biology * Vertebral column, also known as the backbone * Dendritic spine, a small membranous protrusion from a neuron's dendrite * Thorns, spines, and prickles, needle-like structures in plants * Spine (zoolog ...

and may shoot into the limbs. * ''Lhermitte peduncular hallucinosis'': Purely visual hallucinations recognized as unreal, abnormal phenomena (preserved insight). * ''Lhermitte syndrome'': A rare

syndrome A syndrome is a set of medical signs and symptoms which are correlated with each other and often associated with a particular disease or disorder. The word derives from the Greek σύνδρομον, meaning "concurrence". When a syndrome is paired ...

ocular palsy Eyes are organs of the visual system. They provide living organisms with vision, the ability to receive and process visual detail, as well as enabling several photo response functions that are independent of vision. Eyes detect light and conve ...

with

nystagmus Nystagmus is a condition of involuntary (or voluntary, in some cases) eye movement. Infants can be born with it but more commonly acquire it in infancy or later in life. In many cases it may result in reduced or limited vision. Due to the invol ...

and

paralysis Paralysis (also known as plegia) is a loss of motor function in one or more muscles. Paralysis can also be accompanied by a loss of feeling (sensory loss) in the affected area if there is sensory damage. In the United States, roughly 1 in 50 ...

adduction Motion, the process of movement, is described using specific anatomical terms. Motion includes movement of organs, joints, limbs, and specific sections of the body. The terminology used describes this motion according to its direction relative ...

during attempted lateral deviation of the eyes. * ''Lhermitte-Cornil-Quesnel syndrome'': A slowly progressive pyramido

pallidal The globus pallidus (GP), also known as paleostriatum or dorsal pallidum, is a subcortical structure of the brain. It consists of two adjacent segments, one external, known in rodents simply as the globus pallidus, and one internal, known in rod ...

degeneration. * '' Lhermitte-Duclos syndrome'': A rare

pathologic ''Pathologic'' ( rus, Мор. Утопия, Mor. Utopiya, ˈmor ʊˈtopʲɪjə, , More. Utopia – a pun on Thomas More's ''Utopia'' and the Russian word for "plague") is a 2005 role-playing and survival game developed by Russian studio Ice-Pick ...

entity with

hypertrophy Hypertrophy is the increase in the volume of an organ or tissue due to the enlargement of its component cells. It is distinguished from hyperplasia, in which the cells remain approximately the same size but increase in number.Updated by Linda J ...

chiefly of the ''

stratum granulosum The stratum granulosum (or granular layer) is a thin layer of cells in the epidermis lying above the stratum spinosum and below the stratum corneum (stratum lucidum on the soles and palms).James, William; Berger, Timothy; Elston, Dirk (2005) ''A ...

'' of the

cerebellum The cerebellum (Latin for "little brain") is a major feature of the hindbrain of all vertebrates. Although usually smaller than the cerebrum, in some animals such as the mormyrid fishes it may be as large as or even larger. In humans, the cerebel ...

. * ''Lhermitte-Lévy syndrome'': A syndrome of slowly progressing paralysis after a

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

. * ''Lhermitte-McAlpine syndrome'': A combined pyramidal and extrapyramidal tract syndrome in middle-aged and elderly persons. * ''Lhermitte-Trelles syndrome'': A syndrome characterized by

lymphoblast __NOTOC__ A lymphoblast is a modified naive lymphocyte with altered cell morphology. It occurs when the lymphocyte is activated by an antigen (from antigen-presenting cells) and increased in volume by nucleus and cytoplasm growth as well as new mRN ...

ic infiltration of the

peripheral nervous system The peripheral nervous system (PNS) is one of two components that make up the nervous system of bilateral animals, with the other part being the central nervous system (CNS). The PNS consists of nerves and ganglia, which lie outside the brain ...

, associated with paralysis and

amyotrophy Amyotrophy is progressive wasting of muscle tissues. Muscle pain is also a symptom. It can occur in middle-aged males with type 2 diabetes. It also occurs with motor neuron disease. Differential diagnosis The following are considered differenti ...

Bibliography

* ''Techniques anatomo-pathologiques du système nerveux''.

, 1914. * ''Psycho-névroses de guerre''.

, 1916. * ''Les blessures de la moelle épinière''.

, 1917. * ''La section totale de la moelle épinière''.

, 1918. * * ''Les fondements biologiques de la psychologie''.

, 1925. * ''Les hallucinations: clinique et physiopathologie''.

, 1951. * ''True and false possession.'' Translated by the Hon. Patrick John Hepburne-Scott. New York: Hawthorn Books, 1963;

OCLC OCLC, Inc., doing business as OCLC, See also: is an American nonprofit cooperative organization "that provides shared technology services, original research, and community programs for its membership and the library community at large". It was ...

Number 331062. London: Burns & Oates, 1963. Original edition: ''Vrais et faux possédés.'' Paris: Fayard, 1956;

Number 13449338.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lhermitte, Jean History of neuroscience 1877 births 1959 deaths French psychiatrists French neurologists