Content area
Full Text
J Neurol (2014) 261:22472248 DOI 10.1007/s00415-013-7194-6
PIONEERS IN NEUROLOGY
Ernest-Charles Lasgue (18161883)
Behnam Dalfardi Golnoush Sadat Mahmoudi Nezhad
Received: 4 November 2013 / Accepted: 12 November 2013 / Published online: 21 November 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013
Ernest-Charles Lasgue was a remarkable gure in the history of 19th-century French medicine (Fig. 1). Along with Jean-Martin Charcot (French neurologist contemporary of Lasgue), he made great inroads into the elds of neurology and psychiatry [2, 3].
Lasgue was born on September 5, 1816, in Paris. His father, Antoine Lasgue, was a botanist and worked as a librarian [7]. The intelligent young Lasgue began his scientic education in his native city at Lyce Louis-le-Grand. In his youth, he studied philosophy and rhetoric, could speak Latin uently, and could translate a Greek text on philosophy after his rst reading of it. In 1838, at the age of 22, Lasgue became a teacher at the aforementioned school [2, 3, 7]. At this time, Lasgues friendship with Claude Bernard (French physiologist) became a turning point in his career. Their friendship convinced him to study medicine. In 1839, Lasgue attended the lectures of Armand Trousseau (French internist) and rst expressed his interest in studying medicine. He registered at the Facult de Mdecine (Faculty of Medicine) and enthusiastically began his education. Later, he became Trousseaus assistant, collaborator, and favorite pupil [2, 7].
In 1846, Lasgue earned his medical doctorate from the University of Paris with a thesis entitled De Stahl, et de sa Doctrine Mdicale (Stahl and His Medical Doctrine) [2, 3, 7]. He then became a consulting physician at the Prfecture de Police (Police Prefecture) in Paris. This career provided
him the opportunity...