Antoine Ritti (6 February 1844,
Strasbourg
Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...
- 23 January, 1920,
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
) was a
French psychiatrist
A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry. Psychiatrists are physicians who evaluate patients to determine whether their symptoms are the result of a physical illness, a combination of physical and mental ailments or strictly ...
.
Ritti, whose uncle was
Andreas Räss
André Raess (German: Andreas Räss) (6 April 1794, Sigolsheim, Haut-Rhin – 17 November 1887, Strasbourg) was an Alsatian Catholic Bishop of Strasbourg.
Life
After receiving his classical training at Sélestat and Nancy, Raess studied phil ...
, the
Bishop of Strasbourg
Archbishops
*Charles Amarin Brand (16 July 1984 – 23 October 1997) (with rank of archbishop from 1988)
*Joseph Doré (23 October 1997 – 25 August 2006)
*Jean-Pierre Grallet (21 April 2007 – 18 February 2017)
*Luc Ravel (18 February 2017 ...
, seemed originally destined to become a priest. However he chose to take up a medical career. He began his training as a psychiatrist at the asylum of
Fains Meuse
The Meuse or Maas is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a total length of .
History
From 1301, the upper ...
. He became influenced by the ideas of
Auguste Comte
Isidore Auguste Marie François Xavier Comte (; ; 19 January 1798 – 5 September 1857) was a French philosopher, mathematician and writer who formulated the doctrine of positivism. He is often regarded as the first philosopher of science in the ...
becoming a
positivist.
In 1869 this time he published his first work, ''La Pensée Nouvelle''. Following the outbreak of the
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...
he left
Alsace
Alsace (, ; ) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,9 ...
for Paris, working at the
Lariboisière Hospital
Lariboisière Hospital (, ) is a hospital in the 10th arrondissement of Paris, France.
The hospital was one of several built following the second cholera pandemic, which had reached Paris in 1832, and which led to a new emphasis on hygienic ...
during the
Paris Commune
The Paris Commune (, ) was a French revolutionary government that seized power in Paris on 18 March 1871 and controlled parts of the city until 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard (France), Nation ...
.
He obtained an in-house post at the
Charenton Asylum. In 1878 he was appointed to a doctor's office in
Charenton, a position he held until his retirement in 1909.
Ritti studied under
Jules Bernard Luys and applied Luys' anatomical-functional discoveries to develop a theory of the role of the
thalamus
The thalamus (: thalami; from Greek language, Greek Wikt:θάλαμος, θάλαμος, "chamber") is a large mass of gray matter on the lateral wall of the third ventricle forming the wikt:dorsal, dorsal part of the diencephalon (a division of ...
in the
pathophysiology
Pathophysiology (or physiopathology) is a branch of study, at the intersection of pathology and physiology, concerning disordered physiological processes that cause, result from, or are otherwise associated with a disease or injury. Pathology is ...
of hallucinations.
For 38 years, from 1882 to 1920, Ritti was Secretary-General of the Medico-Psychological Society. During these years he wrote numerous eulogies and obituaries published in the ''Annales médico-psychologiques''.
Ritti is buried in
Père-Lachaise cemetery, in the tomb of the families Bouclier de la Fizelière. Here there is a bust of him by
Marthe de la Fizelière Marthe may refer to:
*Marthe (given name) a feminine given name
*Marthe (novel), ''Marthe'' (novel), an 1876 novel by Joris-Karl Huysmans
*''Marthe'', an 1877 play by Georges Ohnet
*Marthe (film), ''Marthe'' (film), a 1997 film by Gérard Jugnot
P ...
.
Works
* ''La Pensée Nouvelle'', (1869)
*
Théorie physiologique de l’hallucination', (1874) Thesis for a doctorate in medecine, No. N8C118, Paris
*
Le positivisme au congrès ouvrier', (1877), editor
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ritti, Antoine
1844 births
1920 deaths
French psychiatrists
Positivists