Jean Marc Gaspard Itard (24 April 1774, Oraison,

Alpes-de-Haute-Provence Alpes-de-Haute-Provence (sometimes abbreviated as AHP; ; ; ), formerly until 1970 known as Basses-Alpes (, ), is a department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of France, bordering Alpes-Maritimes and Italy to the east, Var to the sou ...

– 5 July 1838, Paris) was a French physician born in

Provence Provence is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which stretches from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the France–Italy border, Italian border to the east; it is bordered by the Mediterrane ...

. He is perhaps best known for his work with Victor of Aveyron.

Biography

Itard, without a university education and working at a bank, was forced to enter the army during the French Revolution, but presented himself as a physician at that time.Jean Marc Gaspard Itard.
WhoNamedIt.com. Accessed 6 March 2010. After successfully working as an assistant physician at a

military hospital A military hospital is a hospital owned or operated by a military. They are often reserved for the use of military personnel and their dependents, but in some countries are made available to civilians as well. They may or may not be located on a m ...

in Soliers, in 1796, he was appointed deputy surgeon at Val-de-Grâce (Hôpital d'instruction des armées du Val-de-Grâce) military hospital in Paris, and in 1799, physician at the National Institution for Deaf Mutes.

René Laennec

In Paris, Itard was a student of distinguished physician

René Laennec René-Théophile-Hyacinthe Laennec (; 17 February 1781 – 13 August 1826) was a French physician and musician. His skill at carving his own wooden flutes led him to invent the stethoscope in 1816, while working at the Hôpital Necker. ...

, inventor of the

stethoscope The stethoscope is a medicine, medical device for auscultation, or listening to internal sounds of an animal or human body. It typically has a small disc-shaped resonator that is placed against the skin, with either one or two tubes connected t ...

(in 1816). Laennec was a few years younger but had a formal education at the university at

Nantes Nantes (, ; ; or ; ) is a city in the Loire-Atlantique department of France on the Loire, from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. The city is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, sixth largest in France, with a pop ...

and later became a lecturer and professor of medicine at the Collège de France. Itard described

pneumothorax A pneumothorax is collection of air in the pleural space between the lung and the chest wall. Symptoms typically include sudden onset of sharp, one-sided chest pain and dyspnea, shortness of breath. In a minority of cases, a one-way valve is ...

in 1803; Laennec would provide a fuller description of the condition in 1819.

Other works

In 1821, Itard published a major work on otology, describing the results of his medical research based on over 170 detailed cases. He is credited with the invention of a Eustachian

catheter In medicine, a catheter ( ) is a thin tubing (material), tube made from medical grade materials serving a broad range of functions. Catheters are medical devices that can be inserted in the body to treat diseases or perform a surgical procedure. ...

that is referred to as "Itard's catheter". Numbness in the

tympanic membrane In the anatomy of humans and various other tetrapods, the eardrum, also called the tympanic membrane or myringa, is a thin, cone-shaped membrane that separates the external ear from the middle ear. Its function is to transmit changes in pressur ...

during otosclerosis has the eponymous name of "Itard-Cholewa Symptom". In 1825, as the head physician at the Institution Royale des sourds-muets, Itard was credited with describing the first case of

Tourette syndrome Tourette syndrome (TS), or simply Tourette's, is a common neurodevelopmental disorder that begins in childhood or adolescence. It is characterized by multiple movement (motor) tics and at least one vocal (phonic) tic. Common tics are blinkin ...

in Marquise de Dampierre, a woman of nobility. On 5 July 1838, at the age of 64, Jean Marc Gaspard Itard died in Paris, France.

Work on Victor of Aveyron

He is known as an educator of the deaf, and tried his educational theories in the celebrated case of Victor of Aveyron, dramatized in the 1970 motion picture ''

The Wild Child ''The Wild Child'' (, released in the United Kingdom as ''The Wild Boy'') is a 1970 French film by director François Truffaut. Featuring Jean-Pierre Cargol, François Truffaut, Françoise Seigner and Jean Dasté, it tells the story of a chil ...

'' directed by

François Truffaut François Roland Truffaut ( , ; ; 6 February 1932 – 21 October 1984) was a French filmmaker, actor, and critic. He is widely regarded as one of the founders of the French New Wave. He came under the tutelage of film critic Andre Bazin as a ...

, who also played Itard. However, he was disappointed with the progress he made with Victor. Itard was known to conduct experiments on the deaf students of the

Institution Nationale des Sourds-Muets à Paris (, ''National Institute for Deaf Youth of Paris'') is a school for the deaf founded by Charles-Michel de l'Épée, in stages, between 1750 and 1760 in Paris, France. After the death of Père Vanin in 1759, the Abbé de l'Épée was introduce ...

in useless attempts to restore their hearing, including delivering electrical shocks, leech therapy, ear surgeries, and various types of internal and external medicinal applications.When the Mind Hears , Harlan Lane ,

Works

* * * *

Notes

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Itard, Jean Marc Gaspard 1774 births 1838 deaths People from Alpes-de-Haute-Provence Tourette syndrome 19th-century French physicians 18th-century French physicians Educators of the deaf