Jean-Baptiste Bouillaud was a French physician who was born in Bragette, now part of Garat, Charente

Garat, Charente

Garat is a commune in the Charente department in southwestern France.-Population:...

. He received his medical doctorate in 1823 and later was a professor at the Charité

Hôpital de la Charité

Hôpital de la Charité was a hospital in Paris founded in the 17th century and closed in 1935.-History:In 1606, Marie de Médicis invited the Brothers Hospitallers of St. John of God to come to France. The Abbot of Saint-Germain-des-Prés granted them the use of its former Saint-Père chapel, which...

 in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

.

Bouillaud performed research of many medical diseases and conditions, including cancer

Cancer

Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...

, cholera

Cholera

Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...

, heart disease

Heart disease

Heart disease, cardiac disease or cardiopathy is an umbrella term for a variety of diseases affecting the heart. , it is the leading cause of death in the United States, England, Canada and Wales, accounting for 25.4% of the total deaths in the United States.-Types:-Coronary heart disease:Coronary...

 and encephalitis

Encephalitis

Encephalitis is an acute inflammation of the brain. Encephalitis with meningitis is known as meningoencephalitis. Symptoms include headache, fever, confusion, drowsiness, and fatigue...

, to name a few. He is remembered for providing a correlation between rheumatism

Rheumatism

Rheumatism or rheumatic disorder is a non-specific term for medical problems affecting the joints and connective tissue. The study of, and therapeutic interventions in, such disorders is called rheumatology.-Terminology:...

 and heart disease

Heart disease

Heart disease, cardiac disease or cardiopathy is an umbrella term for a variety of diseases affecting the heart. , it is the leading cause of death in the United States, England, Canada and Wales, accounting for 25.4% of the total deaths in the United States.-Types:-Coronary heart disease:Coronary...

, and French medical dictionaries still refer to acute rheumatoid endocarditis

Endocarditis

Endocarditis is an inflammation of the inner layer of the heart, the endocardium. It usually involves the heart valves . Other structures that may be involved include the interventricular septum, the chordae tendineae, the mural endocardium, or even on intracardiac devices...

 as Bouillaud's disease. He describes this condition in his treatise Traité clinique des maladies du coeur. Bouillaud was also an early practitioner of the drug digitalis

Digoxin

Digoxin INN , also known as digitalis, is a purified cardiac glycoside and extracted from the foxglove plant, Digitalis lanata. Its corresponding aglycone is digoxigenin, and its acetyl derivative is acetyldigoxin...

 for treatment of heart ailments. He referred to digitalis as the "opium of the heart".

In 1825 Bouillaud published Traité clinique et physiologique de l'encéphalite, ou inflammation du cerveau in which he includes one of the earliest studies regarding localization of brain functions. He maintained that loss of articulate speech was associated with lesions of the anterior lobes. Also, along with cardiologist Pierre Potain

Pierre Potain

Pierre Charles Édouard Potain was a French cardiologist born in Paris.In 1853 he earned his doctorate from the University of Paris, and afterwards worked as an assistant to Jules Baillarger at the mental asylum at Ivry...

 (1825-1901) he performed studies regarding "heart sounds" and the differentiation between normal and abnormal heart rhythms. Bouilland was an ardent follower of François-Joseph-Victor Broussais

François-Joseph-Victor Broussais

François-Joseph-Victor Broussais was a French physician.-Life:From his father, who was also a physician, he received his first instructions in medicine, and he studied for some years at a college in Dinan named after him, "Collège François Broussais"...

 (1772-1838) concerning the dubious practice of bloodletting

Bloodletting

Bloodletting is the withdrawal of often little quantities of blood from a patient to cure or prevent illness and disease. Bloodletting was based on an ancient system of medicine in which blood and other bodily fluid were considered to be "humors" the proper balance of which maintained health...

.

Puerto Rican independence leader, surgeon and Légion d'honneur

Légion d'honneur

The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...

 laureate, Ramón Emeterio Betances

Ramón Emeterio Betances

Ramón Emeterio Betances y Alacán was a Puerto Rican nationalist. He was the primary instigator of the Grito de Lares revolution, and as such, is considered to be the father of the Puerto Rican independence movement...

, was one of his prominent students. In 1862 Bouillaud was elected president of the Académie de Médecine, and in 1868 he became a member of the Académie des sciences.