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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The presence of Andreas Vesalius in Zakynthos (2)

Continued from “The presence of Andreas Vesalius in Zakynthos (1)

The second reminder of the presence of Andreas Vesalius in the Zakynthos Island is a street in the west side of the city of Laganas, “ΟΔΟΣ ΑΝΔΡΕΑ ΒΕΖΑΛ” or” Andrea Vesalius Street”. It is relatively short, narrow and windy, and it has several restaurants and hotels as you get closer to the sea where it ends at the beach. At this point there is a monument that honors Andrea Vesalius. This monument was erected in 1965. It has inscriptions in Greek, and Latin. This is the third memento to Vesalius in Zakynthos.

Vesalius street sign in Laganas
Vesalius street sign in Laganas

Directions to the Vesalius monument in Laganas
Directions to the Vesalius monument in Laganas

Vesalius Monument in Laganas
Vesalius Monument in Laganas
Vesalius Monument in Laganas
Vesalius Monument in Laganas

 This monument was erected in Laganas following a legend that Vesalius had shipwrecked and he was found at the beach. Another legend says that Vesalius was left at the beach at Laganas to die as he was very sick. One of the presentations at the 2014 Vesalius Continuum meeting by Dr. Mauritz Biesbrouck disputed these legends with recently found letters by George Boucher to Johanes Metellus. George Boucher was a German jeweler that traveled with Vesalius back from Jerusalem and paid for Vesalius’ burial and monument at the church of Santa Maria della Grazie. These letters were authenticated and analyzed, bringing light to Vesalius’ place of disembarkment in Zakynthos. The Laganas monument, although correct in content, should be moved to the port of Zakynthos, to the point where the old city walls were found, the place where Vesalius collapsed and died.

The monument has a legend in both Greek and Latin. It reads as follows:

ΕΙΣ ΜΝΗΜΗΝ ΤΟΥ
ΑΝΔΡΕΑ ΒΕΖΑΛ
ΜΕΓΑΛΟΥ ΒΕΛΓΟΥ ΑΝΑΤΟΜΟΥ
ΘΑΝΟΝΤΟΣ ΕΝ ΖΑΚΥΝΘΩ ΤΟ 1564
Η ΕΝΩΣΙΣ ΤΩΝ ΔΙΠΛΜΑΤΟΥΧΩΝ ΤΩΝ
ΠΑΝΕΠΙΣΤΗΜΙΩΝ ΚΑΙ ΑΝΩΤΑΤΩΝ ΣΧΟΛΩΝ
ΤΟΥ ΒΕΛΓΙΟΥ, ΤΗΝ ΣΧΟΛΩΝ
ΑΝΗΓΕΙΡΕΝ ΤΘ 1965

IN MEMORIAM

ANDREAE VESALII BRUXELLENSIS
TUMULUS
QUI OBIIT IDIBUS OCTOBRIS ANNO MDLXIV
AETATIS VERO SUAE L
QUUM HIEROSOLYMIS REDISSET

Vesalii cineres venerandaque gentibus ossa
quisquis remota conteueris insula
qua jacer incultis memorosa Zakynthos arenis
gradum, viator et laborem sistito
naturae genium finemque extre maque rerum
vidisse credens coetera insanus labor

The rest is a poem in Latin that is translated as:

“The ashes and bones of Vesalius, sacred to the world
whoever finds then on this isolated island passing by the wild shores of Zakynthos,
should hold his tired steps, and believe that it is here that Vesalius met the ultimate goal of nature
and understood that striving for anything else is pointless” (Stouffis, Z, 1990)

When I visited this spot it was raining very hard and while I waited to take these pictures I looked out at the dark sea almost believing that maybe this was the spot where Vesalius came to land in Zakynthos. Now we know that it is not, but the moment was poignant and made me feel closer to the great anatomist.

On a more mundane note, in this area of Laganas because of the street name there are several businesses named "Vezal", a hotel, a supermarket and a taverna! I could not bring myself to post images of those places.

Continued in  "The presence of Andreas Vesalius in Zakynthos (3)