Louis Delasiauve Louis Jean François Delasiauve (14 October 1804, Garennes-sur-Eure – 5 June 1893, Paris) was a French

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their sy ...

. In 1830 he earned his doctorate in Paris, and for the next eight years practiced medicine in

Ivry-la-Bataille Ivry-la-Bataille () is a commune in the Eure Department in the Normandy region in northern France. Ivry-la-Bataille was formerly known as Ivry. History King Henry IV of France won the Battle of Ivry near Ivry on 14 March 1590. The place was r ...

. Afterwards he worked at the Bicêtre Hospital, and later became a director at the Salpêtrière, where he worked with

epileptic Epilepsy is a group of non-communicable neurological disorders characterized by recurrent epileptic seizures. Epileptic seizures can vary from brief and nearly undetectable periods to long periods of vigorous shaking due to abnormal electrical ...

and

mentally handicapped Intellectual disability (ID), also known as general learning disability in the United Kingdom and formerly mental retardation,Rosa's Law, Pub. L. 111-256124 Stat. 2643(2010). is a generalized neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by signifi ...

patients. One of his better known assistants was

Désiré-Magloire Bourneville Désiré-Magloire Bourneville () (20 October 1840 – 28 May 1909) was a French neurologist born in Garencières. Career He studied medicine in Paris, and worked as ''interne des hôpitaux'' at the Salpêtrière, Bicêtre, Hôpital Saint-Lou ...

(1840–1909). Delasiauve was a pioneer of child psychiatry, and an advocate of education for the mentally handicapped. He is best known for his research of

epilepsy Epilepsy is a group of non-communicable neurological disorders characterized by recurrent epileptic seizures. Epileptic seizures can vary from brief and nearly undetectable periods to long periods of vigorous shaking due to abnormal electrical ...

, being credited for describing three distinct types of the disease: * Idiopathic epilepsy: Absence of physical lesions; fundamentally a true neurotic disorder. * Symptomatic epilepsy: Cerebral lesions being present;

convulsion A convulsion is a medical condition where the body muscles contract and relax rapidly and repeatedly, resulting in uncontrolled shaking. Because epileptic seizures typically include convulsions, the term ''convulsion'' is sometimes used as a s ...

s being a symptom and not the disease. * Sympathetic epilepsy: Produced by the irradiation of abnormal impressions which can have their seat in all parts of the body except the

central nervous system The central nervous system (CNS) is the part of the nervous system consisting primarily of the brain and spinal cord. The CNS is so named because the brain integrates the received information and coordinates and influences the activity of all par ...

. His book ''Traité de l'épilepsie; histoire, traitement, médecine légale'' was translated into German by anatomist Friedrich Wilhelm Theile as ''Die Epilepsie'' (1855).Friedrich Wilhelm Theile - bibliography
at

Who Named It ''Whonamedit?'' is an online English-language dictionary of medical eponyms and the people associated with their identification. Though it is a dictionary, many eponyms and persons are presented in extensive articles with comprehensive bibliograp ...

References

Psychiatrie.histoire
(biography translated from French)

1804 births 1893 deaths People from Eure French psychiatrists {{France-psychiatrist-stub