Cathedra

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A Moment in History

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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Cathedra

Published: Wednesday, December 10, 2014 07:00 | Written by: Efrain A. Miranda, Ph.D. | Hits: 4451

The word [cathedra] is Greek, from [καθέδρα] meaning "a high chair", a "teacher's chair" or a "throne". The term was later accepted into Latin with the same meaning.

In the early pre-Vesalian days of anatomy, the teachers would seat in a high-chair or cathedra from where they would read the anatomy from a book while a prosector or demonstrator would dissect, expose and point to the structures. The professor would not consider coming down from the cathedra to discuss the anatomy shown. This was changed by Andreas Vesalius who did the dissections and demonstrations himself, using the books as reference or to prove a point.

The term cathedra has been brought to our times, where we refer to the position at the head of a group as the "Chair": Chair of the Science Department, Chair of Surgery, etc.

The word cathedra was used to refer to a Bishop's chair in a church, so that large churches (which had a bishop) are now known as [cathedrals]. It is also said that someone of authority speaking in uncontestable terms is speaking ex-cathedra (from the chair)

Title page of Anathomia Corporis Humanis by Mondino de Luzzi. Image courtesy of the National Library of Medicine

Title page of Anathomia Corporis Humanis by Mondino de Luzzi

In other languages the term "cathedratic" means a teacher in a high position, while in English the term refers to a Bishop speaking from the chair.

The image in this article is a close up of the title page of Mondino de Luzzi’s “Anothomia Corporis Humani” published in 1478. The person on the image could be Alessandra Giliani (1307 - 1326) who is at the foot of the cathedra following the directions of Mondino de Luzzi. Click on the image for a complete depiction of the title page.

Original image courtesy of NLM

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