Prosper Menière (18 June 1799 – 7 February 1862) was a French doctor who first identified that the inner ear could be the source of a condition combining

vertigo Vertigo is a condition where a person has the sensation of movement or of surrounding objects moving when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. This may be associated with nausea, vomiting, sweating, or difficulties w ...

, hearing loss and

tinnitus Tinnitus is the perception of sound when no corresponding external sound is present. Nearly everyone experiences a faint "normal tinnitus" in a completely quiet room; but it is of concern only if it is bothersome, interferes with normal hearin ...

, which is now known as

Ménière's disease Ménière's disease (MD) is a disease of the inner ear that is characterized by potentially severe and incapacitating episodes of vertigo, tinnitus, hearing loss, and a feeling of fullness in the ear. Typically, only one ear is affected initial ...

Biography

Menière was born in

Angers Angers (, , ) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the prov ...

, France. During his education he excelled at humanities and classics. He completed his medical studies at

Hôtel-Dieu de Paris In French-speaking countries, a hôtel-Dieu ( en, hostel of God) was originally a hospital for the poor and needy, run by the Catholic Church. Nowadays these buildings or institutions have either kept their function as a hospital, the one in Paris b ...

in 1826, and earned his

M.D. Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a professional degree. T ...

in 1828. He then assisted

Guillaume Dupuytren Baron Guillaume Dupuytren (; 5 October 1777 – 8 February 1835) was a French anatomist and military surgeon. Although he gained much esteem for treating Napoleon Bonaparte's hemorrhoids, he is best known today for his description of Dupuytren's ...

. Menière was originally set to be an assistant professor in faculty, but political tensions disturbed his professorship and he was sent to control the spread of

cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...

. He received a

legion of honor The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

for his work, but never gained professorship. After securing the position of physician-in-chief at the Institute for deaf-mutes, he focused on the diseases of the ear. Menière's studies at the deaf-mute institute helped formulate his paper, ''On a particular kind of hearing loss resulting from lesions of the inner ear'' which ultimately led to the recognition of

. There is debate as to how Menière's name is spelled. Prosper himself was known to write his name as "Menière" while his son used the spelling "Ménière." Many people omit the accent marks.

References

External links

Prosper Ménière Society
Website of the Prosper Ménière Society, founded in 1981 by the International Meniere's Disease Research Institute (IMDRI) of the Colorado Otologic Research Center (CORC). 1799 births 1862 deaths People from Angers 19th-century French physicians {{France-med-bio-stub

Biography

References

Further reading

External links