Eugène Devic was a French neurologist

Neurologist

A neurologist is a physician who specializes in neurology, and is trained to investigate, or diagnose and treat neurological disorders.Neurology is the medical specialty related to the human nervous system. The nervous system encompasses the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves. A specialist...

 who was a native of Lyon. He studied medicine in Lyon

Lyon

Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....

 under internist Léon Bouveret

Léon Bouveret

Léon Bouveret was a French internist who was a native of Saint-Julien-sur-Reyssouze in the department of Ain. After receiving his doctorate in Paris in 1878, he became director of a clinic in Lyon that was run by professor Raphaël Lépine...

 (1850-1929). Later he was associated with the Hôpital de la Croix-Rousse and the Hôtel-Dieu de Lyon.

Devic performed research of numerous neurological disorders, including infantile chorea

Chorea (disease)

Choreia is an abnormal involuntary movement disorder, one of a group of neurological disorders called dyskinesias. The term choreia is derived from the Greek word χορεία , see choreia , as the quick movements of the feet or hands are vaguely comparable to dancing or piano playing.The term...

, cerebral glioma

Glioma

A glioma is a type of tumor that starts in the brain or spine. It is called a glioma because it arises from glial cells. The most common site of gliomas is the brain.-By type of cell:...

 and tumors of the corpus callosum

Corpus callosum

The corpus callosum , also known as the colossal commissure, is a wide, flat bundle of neural fibers beneath the cortex in the eutherian brain at the longitudinal fissure. It connects the left and right cerebral hemispheres and facilitates interhemispheric communication...

. He was also involved with studies of typhoid fever

Typhoid fever

Typhoid fever, also known as Typhoid, is a common worldwide bacterial disease, transmitted by the ingestion of food or water contaminated with the feces of an infected person, which contain the bacterium Salmonella enterica, serovar Typhi...

, and the mental aspects associated with the disease.

In 1894 Devic and his student Fernand Gault described a rare nervous condition that affects the spinal cord

Spinal cord

The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular bundle of nervous tissue and support cells that extends from the brain . The brain and spinal cord together make up the central nervous system...

 and optic nerve

Optic nerve

The optic nerve, also called cranial nerve 2, transmits visual information from the retina to the brain. Derived from the embryonic retinal ganglion cell, a diverticulum located in the diencephalon, the optic nerve doesn't regenerate after transection.-Anatomy:The optic nerve is the second of...

s that resembled multiple sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis is an inflammatory disease in which the fatty myelin sheaths around the axons of the brain and spinal cord are damaged, leading to demyelination and scarring as well as a broad spectrum of signs and symptoms...

. Today this disorder is referred to as Devic's disease

Devic's disease

Neuromyelitis optica , also known as Devic's disease or Devic's syndrome, is an autoimmune, inflammatory disorder in which a person's own immune system attacks the optic nerves and spinal cord. This produces an inflammation of the optic nerve and the spinal cord...

 or neuromyelitis optica (NMO).