François-Joseph Double (1776–1842) was a French physician and co-founder of the

Académie Nationale de Médecine Situated at 16 Rue Bonaparte in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, the Académie nationale de médecine (National Academy of Medicine) was created in 1820 by King Louis XVIII at the urging of baron Antoine Portal. At its inception, the institu ...

.Domenico Gabrielli, ''Dictionnaire historique du cimetière du Père-Lachaise XVIIIe et XIXe siècles'', Paris, éd. de l'Amateur, 2002, 334 p.Père Lachaise
/ref>Olivier Walusinski (ed.), ''Mystery of Yawning in Physiology and Disease'', Karger Publishers, 2010, p. 1

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Biography

Early life

He was born on 11 March 1776 in

Verdun-sur-Garonne Verdun-sur-Garonne (, literally ''Verdun on Garonne''; ) is a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne department in the Occitanie region in southern France. Population Monuments Verdun-sur-Garonne Hotel de Ville.jpg, Town Hall Église de l'Assompt ...

Tarn-et-Garonne Tarn-et-Garonne (; ) is a Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania Regions of France, region in Southern France. It is traversed by the rivers Tarn (river), Tarn and Garonne, from which it takes its n ...

, France. His family, the Double family, had been

ennobled Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. Th ...

in 1378. His grandfather and father were both

Apothecaries ''Apothecary'' () is an archaic English term for a medical professional who formulates and dispenses '' materia medica'' (medicine) to physicians, surgeons and patients. The modern terms ''pharmacist'' and, in British English, ''chemist'' have ...

. He studied in

Montpellier Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...

, where he was taught in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

. He moved to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

in 1803.

Career

He started his career as an apothecary in Paris. He served as a physician in the French-Spanish War of 1793. As a physician, he developed the accurate observation of the clinical signs of illness, and studied the unaided auscultation of respiratory and cardiac ailments. He also described tubal breathing and pulmonary rales or crackles. He listened to the heart and focused on problems of the heartbeat and unusual sounds, but he failed to link them to any specific ailment. Shortly after,

René Laennec René-Théophile-Hyacinthe Laennec (; 17 February 1781 – 13 August 1826) was a French physician and musician. His skill at carving his own wooden flutes led him to invent the stethoscope in 1816, while working at the Hôpital Necker. ...

(1781-1826) invented the

stethoscope The stethoscope is a medicine, medical device for auscultation, or listening to internal sounds of an animal or human body. It typically has a small disc-shaped resonator that is placed against the skin, with either one or two tubes connected t ...

and developed aided auscultation. He wrote two books and many reports, for example about diseases like

croup Croup ( ), also known as croupy cough, is a type of respiratory infection that is usually caused by a virus. The infection leads to swelling inside the trachea, which interferes with normal breathing and produces the classic symptoms of "bar ...

and

cholera Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...

. In 1832 he co-founded the Académie Nationale de Médecine with Antoine Portal (1742-1832). King

Louis Philippe I Louis Philippe I (6 October 1773 – 26 August 1850), nicknamed the Citizen King, was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, the penultimate monarch of France, and the last French monarch to bear the title "King". He abdicated from his throne ...

(1773-1850), who reigned from 1830 to 1848, offered him another

peerage A peerage is a legal system historically comprising various hereditary titles (and sometimes Life peer, non-hereditary titles) in a number of countries, and composed of assorted Imperial, royal and noble ranks, noble ranks. Peerages include: A ...

should he renounce his medical practise, but he refused.

Death

He died on 12 June 1842 in Paris, and was buried in the

Père Lachaise Cemetery Père Lachaise Cemetery (, , formerly , ) is the largest cemetery in Paris, France, at . With more than 3.5 million visitors annually, it is the most visited necropolis in the world. Buried at Père Lachaise are many famous figures in the ...

in Paris.

Legacy

His family owns the winery Château de Beaupré in Saint-Cannat, started in 1890 by Baron

Emile Double Emile or Émile may refer to: * Émile (novel) (1827), autobiographical novel based on Émile de Girardin's early life * Emile, Canadian film made in 2003 by Carl Bessai * '' Emile: or, On Education'' (1762) by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a treatise ...

(1869-1938).

Bibliography

Primary sources

*''Traité du croup'' (1811). *''Séméiologie générale ou traité des signes et de leur valeur dans les maladies'' (3 volumes, Paris, Croullebois).

Secondary sources

*Michel Suspène, ''Docteur François-Joseph Double, un itinéraire médical, en hommage à l'Académie de médecine'' (CDDP de Tarn-et-Garonne, Montauban, 2002).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Double, Francois-Joseph 1776 births 1842 deaths 19th-century French physicians Members of the French Academy of Sciences Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery 18th-century French physicians