Victor André Cornil
Encyclopedia
Cusset
Cusset is a commune in the Allier department in central France.-Population:...
, Allier
Allier
Allier is a department in central France named after the river Allier.- History :Allier is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from parts of the former provinces of Auvergne and Bourbonnais.In 1940, the government of Marshal...
.
He studied medicine 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...
, earning his doctorate in 1864. In 1869 he became professeur agrègé to the Paris faculty, and in 1884 a member of the Académie Nationale de Médecine
Académie Nationale de Médecine
Académie Nationale de Médecine, or National Academy of Medicine was created in 1820 by king Louis XVIII at the urging of baron Antoine Portal. At its inception, the institution was known as the Académie Royale de Médecine...
.
Cornil specialized in pathological anatomy
Anatomy
Anatomy is a branch of biology and medicine that is the consideration of the structure of living things. It is a general term that includes human anatomy, animal anatomy , and plant anatomy...
, and made important contributions in the fields of bacteriology
Bacteriology
Bacteriology is the study of bacteria. This subdivision of microbiology involves the identification, classification, and characterization of bacterial species...
, histology
Histology
Histology is the study of the microscopic anatomy of cells and tissues of plants and animals. It is performed by examining cells and tissues commonly by sectioning and staining; followed by examination under a light microscope or electron microscope...
and microscopic anatomy. In 1863 Cornil demonstrated histological evidence that supported Guillaume Duchenne
Guillaume Duchenne
Guillaume-Benjamin-Amand Duchenne was a French neurologist who revived Galvani's research and greatly advanced the science of electrophysiology...
's hypothesis regarding the cause of paralysis
Paralysis
Paralysis is loss of muscle function for one or more muscles. Paralysis can be accompanied by a loss of feeling in the affected area if there is sensory damage as well as motor. A study conducted by the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, suggests that about 1 in 50 people have been diagnosed...
in poliomyelitis
Poliomyelitis
Poliomyelitis, often called polio or infantile paralysis, is an acute viral infectious disease spread from person to person, primarily via the fecal-oral route...
. With Austrian anatomist Richard Heschl (1824-1881} and Rudolph Jürgens of Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, he was among the first to use methyl violet
Methyl violet
Methyl violet is a family of organic compounds that are mainly used as dyes. Depending on the amount of attached methyl groups, the color of the dye can be altered. Its main use is as a purple dye for textiles and to give deep violet colors in paint and ink...
as an histological stain for detection of amyloid
Amyloid
Amyloids are insoluble fibrous protein aggregates sharing specific structural traits. Abnormal accumulation of amyloid in organs may lead to amyloidosis, and may play a role in various neurodegenerative diseases.-Definition:...
. In 1864 he was the first physician to describe chronic childhood arthritis
Arthritis
Arthritis is a form of joint disorder that involves inflammation of one or more joints....
. However, this disease was to become known as Still's disease
Still's disease
Still's disease can refer to:* Juvenile idiopathic arthritis* Adult-onset Still's disease...
, named after English physician George Frederic Still
Sir George Frederic Still
Sir George Frederic Still, KCVO was an English paediatrician and author of numerous medical textbooks and articles who first described a form of juvenile idiopathic arthritis which bears his name, as well as being the first to describe ADHD...
(1868-1941).
In 1865 with Louis-Antoine Ranvier
Louis-Antoine Ranvier
Louis-Antoine Ranvier was a French physician, pathologist, anatomist and histologist, who discovered nodes of Ranvier, regularly spaced constrictions of the myelin sheath, occurying at varying intervals along the length of a nerve fiber.Ranvier was born and studied medicine at Lyon, graduating in...
he founded a private laboratory. Here Cornil taught pathological anatomy and Ranvier gave classes in standard anatomy. With Victor Babeş
Victor Babes
Victor Babeș was a Romanian physician, biologist, and one of the earliest bacteriologists. He made early and significant contributions to the study of rabies, leprosy, diphtheria, tuberculosis, and other infectious diseases....
he wrote an important paper on bacterial infections titled Les bactéries et leur rôle dans l’anatomie et l’histologie pathologiques des maladies infectieuses., and with Ranvier he published Manuel d'histologie pathologique, which was an influential manual of histopathology
Histopathology
Histopathology refers to the microscopic examination of tissue in order to study the manifestations of disease...
.
Cornil was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences or Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien is one of the Royal Academies of Sweden. The Academy is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization which acts to promote the sciences, primarily the natural sciences and mathematics.The Academy was founded on 2...
in 1902.
Selected written works
- Contribution à l'histoire du développement histologique des tumeurs épithéliales (1866)
- De la phtisie pulmonaire, étude anatomique, pathologique et clinique (Paris 1867)
- Du cancer et de ses caractères anatomiques (1867)
- Manuel d'histologie pathologique (1869-76 with Louis-Antoine Ranvier, second edition- 1881)
- Leçons élémentaires d'hygiène (1872)
- Leçons sur la syphilis, faites à l'hôpital de la Lourcine (1879)
- Les bactéries et leur rôle dans l'anatomie et l'histologie pathologique des maladies infectieuses (with Victor Babeş)
- Études sur la pathologie du rein (with Albert Brault)