Edmé Félix Alfred Vulpian (5 January 1826 – 18 May 1887) was a French
physician
A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
and
neurologist
Neurology (from el, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the brain, the spinal c ...
. He was the co-discoverer of Vulpian-Bernhardt spinal
muscular atrophy and the
Vulpian-Heidenhain-Sherrington phenomenon.
Vulpian was born in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, in 1826. Among other noted discoveries and experiments, Vulpian discovered
adrenaline
Adrenaline, also known as epinephrine, is a hormone and medication which is involved in regulating visceral functions (e.g., respiration). It appears as a white microcrystalline granule. Adrenaline is normally produced by the adrenal glands an ...
in the
adrenal medulla
The adrenal medulla ( la, medulla glandulae suprarenalis) is part of the adrenal gland. It is located at the center of the gland, being surrounded by the adrenal cortex. It is the innermost part of the adrenal gland, consisting of chromaffin cell ...
. He was the first to use the term "
fibrillation" to describe a chaotic irregular rhythm of the heart.
[Cardioversion Past, Present and Future. Cakulev I, Efimov I and Waldo A. Circulation 2009; 120:1623–1632]
Vulpian's monument in Paris
A large marble statue has been erected to Vulpian, just at the end of Rue Antoine Dubois, a short distance from the Faculty of Medicine in which he once taught. In the basement, there is the following inscription: .
Bibliography
* ''Essai sur l'origine réelle de plusieurs nerfs crâniens''. Doctoral thesis, Paris, 1853.
* Note sur quelques réactions propres à la substance des capsules surrénales. ''Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences'', Paris, 1856, 43: 663–665.
* ''Des pneumonies secondaires''. Thèse d'agrégation, Paris, 1860.
* ''Leçons sur la physiologie générale et comparée du système nerveux, faites en 1864 au Muséum d'histoire naturelle''. Paris, Gerner-Baillière, 1866.
* ''Leçons sur l'appareil vaso-moteur (physiologie et pathologie) faites à la Faculté de Médecine de Paris en 1873''. Rédigées par H. C. Carville. Paris, Gerner-Baillière, 2 volumes, 1874–1875.
* ''Leçons sur la pathologie expérimentale de l'appareil digestif''.
* ''Leçons sur l'action physiologique des poisons et médicaments, faites à la Faculté de médecine de Paris en 1875''. Journal de l'École de Médecine.
* ''Maladies du système nerveux; leçons professées à la Faculté de Médecine''. 2 volumes, Paris, Doin, 1879 and 1886.
See also
*
Joseph Jules Dejerine
Joseph Jules Dejerine (3 August 1849 – 26 February 1917), was a French neurologist.
Biography
Joseph Jules Dejerine was born to French parents in Geneva, Switzerland, where his father was a carriage proprietor. During the Franco-Prussian War ...
References
External links
Edmé Félix Alfred Vulpian WhoNamedIt.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vulpian
1826 births
1887 deaths
French neurologists
19th-century French physicians
Members of the French Academy of Sciences