Léon Louis Rostan (17 March 1790 – 4 October 1866) was a French

internist Internal medicine, also known as general medicine in Commonwealth nations, is a medical specialty for medical doctors focused on the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases in adults. Its namesake stems from "treatment of diseases of th ...

and a member 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 ...

. Rostan was born in

Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume (; ) is a commune in the southeastern French department of Var, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Located east of Aix-en-Provence, the town lies at the foot of the Sainte-Baume mountains. ''Baume'' or ''b ...

, and studied medicine in

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

and

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 ...

. He was a disciple of

Philippe Pinel Philippe Pinel (; 20 April 1745 – 25 October 1826) was a French physician, precursor of psychiatry and incidentally a zoologist. He was instrumental in the development of a more humane psychological approach to the custody and care of ps ...

(1745–1826), and for much of his professional career was associated with the Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris. In 1819 Rostan was the author of ''Recherches sur le ramollissement du cerveau'' (Researches on cerebral softening), in which he provided the first accurate description of spontaneous

cerebral softening Cerebral softening, also known as encephalomalacia, is a localized softening of the parenchyma, substance of the brain, due to bleeding or inflammation. Three varieties, distinguished by their color and representing different stages of the disease ...

. He documented that the disorder was a specific anatomo-clinic entity that was different from

encephalitis Encephalitis is inflammation of the Human brain, brain. The severity can be variable with symptoms including reduction or alteration in consciousness, aphasia, headache, fever, confusion, a stiff neck, and vomiting. Complications may include se ...

and

apoplexy Apoplexy () refers to the rupture of an internal organ and the associated symptoms. Informally or metaphorically, the term ''apoplexy'' is associated with being furious, especially as "apoplectic". Historically, it described what is now known as a ...

. His findings were harshly criticised by followers of Broussais' teachings on physiological medicine, who claimed that brain softenings were the result of an inflammation process, and therefore should be depicted as encephalitis. He also did extensive research of

animal magnetism Animal magnetism, also known as mesmerism, is a theory invented by German doctor Franz Mesmer in the 18th century. It posits the existence of an invisible natural force (''Lebensmagnetismus'') possessed by all living things, including humans ...

and

somnambulism Sleepwalking, also known as somnambulism or noctambulism, is a phenomenon of combined sleep and wakefulness. It is classified as a sleep disorder belonging to the parasomnia family. It occurs during the slow wave stage of sleep, in a state of l ...

, and wrote a treatise on

charlatan A charlatan (also called a swindler or mountebank) is a person practicing quackery or a similar confidence trick in order to obtain money, power, fame, or other advantages through pretense or deception. One example of a charlatan appears in t ...

ism for his graduate thesis. Rostan performed early studies on the classification of body types, using descriptive terms such as respiratory-cerebral, muscular and digestive in his analysis. In 1845, he was elected a foreign member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences () is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special responsibility for promoting nat ...

Associated eponym

* "Rostan's asthma": Known today as

paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea Paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea or paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnoea (PND) is an attack of severe shortness of breath and coughing that generally occurs at night. It usually awakens the person from sleep, and may be quite frightening. PND, as well as sim ...

. A type of cardiac

asthma Asthma is a common long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wh ...

associated with heart

disease A disease is a particular abnormal condition that adversely affects the structure or function (biology), function of all or part of an organism and is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical condi ...

, such as

left ventricular A ventricle is one of two large chambers located toward the bottom of the heart that collect and expel blood towards the peripheral beds within the body and lungs. The blood pumped by a ventricle is supplied by an atrium, an adjacent chamber in t ...

failure.

Selected writings

* ''Recherches sur le cerveau du ramollissement'' (1820, translated into German in 1824) * ''Cours élémentaire d'hygiène'' (1821–22, two volumes) * ''Traité élémentaire de diagnostic, de pronostic, d'indication thérapeutique'' (1826)

References

Unbound Medline
Neurology in Paris hospitals, particularly the Salpêtrière before Charcot: Rostan on brain softening * ''Parts of this article are based on a translation of the equivalent article from the French Wikipedia.''
Dorlands Medical Dictionary

Pierer's Universal-Lexikon
(translated biography) {{DEFAULTSORT:Rostan, Leon 1790 births 1866 deaths People from Var (department) French pathologists 19th-century French physicians Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences