Medical Terminology Daily (MTD) is a blog sponsored by Clinical Anatomy Associates, Inc. as a service to the medical community. We post anatomical, medical or surgical terms, their meaning and usage, as well as biographical notes on anatomists, surgeons, and researchers through the ages. Be warned that some of the images used depict human anatomical specimens.

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A Moment in History

Jean-Louis Petit

Jean Louis Petit
(1674 – 1750)

French surgeon and anatomist, Jean Louis Petit was born in Paris in on March 13, 1674.  His family rented an apartment at his house to Alexis Littre (1658 – 1726), a French anatomist. Petit became an apprentice of Littre at seven years of age, helping him in the dissections for his lectures and at an early age became the assistant in charge of the anatomic amphitheater.

Because of Petit’s dedication to anatomy and medicine, in 1690 at the age of sixteen, became a disciple of a famous Paris surgeon, Castel.

In 1692, Petit entered the French army and performed surgery in two military campaigns. By 1693 he started delivering lectures and was accepted as a great surgeon, being invited to the most difficult operations.  In 1700 he was appointed Chief Surgeon of the Military School in Paris and in the same year he received the degree of Master of Surgery from the Faculty of Paris.

In 1715 he was made a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences and an honorary member of the Royal Society of London. He was appointed by the King as the first Director General of the Royal Academy of Surgery when it was founded in 1731.

Petit’s written works are of historical importance.  “Traite des Maladies des Os” ( A Treatise on Bone Diseases);  “Traite des Maladies Chirurgicales et des Operation” (A Treatise on Surgical Diseases and their Operations” This last book was published posthumously in 1774. He also published a monograph on hemorrhage, another on lachrymal fistula, and others.

He was one of the first to perform choIecystotomy and mastoidotomy. His original tourniquet design for amputations saved many in the battlefield and the design of the same surgical instrument today has not changed much since its invention by him.

His name is remembered in the lumbar triangle, also called the "triangle of Petit", and the abdominal hernia that can ensue through that area of weakness, the lumbar hernia or "Petit's hernia".

Sources:
1. “Jean Louis Petit – A Sketch of his Life, Character, and Writings” Hayne, AP San Fran Western Lancet 1875 4: 446-454
2. “Oeuvres compl?tes de Jean-Louis Petit” 1837 Imprimerie de F. Chapoulaud
3. Extraits de l'eloge de Jean-Louis Petit Ius dans Ia seance publique de I' Academie royale de chirurgie du 26 mai 1750” Louis A. Chirurgie 2001: 126 : 475- 81

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Ventral

Published: Saturday, December 09, 2023 07:00 | Written by: Efrain A. Miranda, Ph.D. | Hits: 5842

Lateral view - Human embryo about eight and a half weeks old. Public domain
Lateral view - Human embryo about
eight and a half weeks old

(UPDATED) The term [ventral] arises from the Latin word [venter] and the root term [ventr-] meaning "belly" or "sac". The adjective [ventral] means "towards the front" , or "towards the belly side of the body". The term ventral therefore means "abdomen".

Many use the term [ventral] synonymously with "anterior"; although this is technically correct, the proper term to use when referring to the patient in the anatomical position should be "anterior". In embryology, since the embryo is curved, most of the anterior aspect of the embryo looks towards the abdomen, ergo ventral.

A ventral hernia is any herniation that occurs in the anterior aspect of the abdomen, including Spigelian hernias, omphaloceles, etc.

Other terms that arise from the same root term are [ventricle], meaning "little belly", or "little sac", and [ventricular], meaning "pertaining to a ventricle".

Note: A comment from my friend Dr. Elizabeth Murray: 

"My understanding of "anterior" means "in the direction of movement" for any given organism (and "posterior" means opposite the direction of movement for an organism). Thus, ventral does not ever change for any creature (vertebrate or even invertebrate), as it refers to a body part/surface.  But when considering two-legged and four-legged (or finned) creatures, you see the differences:  Ventral = anterior in us, but in a dog or fish ventral = inferior.

Ventral/dorsal refer to belly/back in any organism, and cranial/caudal refer to head-end and tail-end in any organism -- those four terms refer to body parts.  However, anterior/posterior refer to the way an organism moves in space, and superior/inferior refer to an organism's relationship to the earth/pull of gravity."

An interesting side note: The word [ventriloquist] arises from the root term [-ventri-] from the Latin [venter] and the suffix [-loquist], from the Latin [loquos] and [locutus], meaning "to speak", or "someone who speaks". The term [ventriloquist] means then "someone who speaks from the abdomen (or stomach)". We now know that this is not so, but that is what most people think a ventriloquist does!

Sources:
1 "Tratado de Anatomia Humana" Testut et Latarjet 8 Ed. 1931 Salvat Editores, Spain
2. "Anatomy of the Human Body" Henry Gray 1918. Philadelphia: Lea & Febiger
Image modified by CAA, Inc. Original image by Henry Vandyke Carter, MD., courtesy of bartleby.com