Faure Jean-Louis

FAURE JEAN-LOUIS (Jean-Louis Faure, born in 1863), an outstanding contemporary French gynecological surgeon. He received his medical education in Paris and specialized there as well; in 1895 he received the title of "hospital surgeon" (chirurgien des hopitaux); from 1898 to the present he has been professor of the university gynecological clinic. F. is one of the most brilliant surgeons of our time in terms of his operative technique; he became especially famous for his operations for cervical cancer (F. usually takes less than an hour for the Wertheim operation and has a 3% mortality rate). His monograph devoted to cancer of the uterus was published in Russian translation ("Cancer of the Uterus", M.-L., 1928). Among F.'s literary works we should mention his guide to gynecology together with Sire-dey "Traite de Gynecologie medieo-chirurgicale" (P., 1928). From this guide an excerpt was published in Russian translation ("Operative Gynecology", M.-L., 1933). F. is known as an untiring traveler (he also came to Moscow); he usually publishes his interesting travel impressions in the journal "La presse medicale", of which he is one of the editors. FOREL August (August Forel, 1848-1931), a famous neuropathologist, psychologist, psychiatrist and entomologist, was born in Switzerland. Already from his school years F. showed a tendency to study the life of insects. From 1866-1871 F. studied medicine in Zurich and, as a student, conducted entomological research on ants, published in the form of a major work "Les fourmis de la Suisse" (Geneve, 1874). From 1871 F. worked in Vienna with Prof. Meynert and wrote the dissertation "Beitrage zur Kenntnis des Thalamus opticus" (Zurich, 1872). In 1873 F. was assistant at the Munich psychiatric clinic of Prof. Gudden; here he continued his research on the anatomy of the nervous system, published in the work "Untersuchungen iiber d. Haubenregion"; in 1877 he received privat-docent status. Some formations in the area of the quadrigeminal body, first described in detail by F., are associated with his name: these are the "decussation of Forel's fibers" and "campus Foreli". At the same time F., by means of physiological experiments, contributed to the emergence of the so-called famous neuron theory, subsequently substantiated by the works of R. Cajal, His and others. In 1879 F. was appointed ordinary professor and director of the cantonal psychiatric hospital in Zurich, to which many foreign doctors came for several years. Here F. continued his anatomical research, but soon questions of a therapeutic and preventive nature attracted his attention. This same time (1884) marks the founding by F. together with Bunge of an anti-alcohol society in Switzerland. F. waged a decisive struggle with prostitution and venereal diseases. In 1899 he wrote his famous book devoted to the question of hypnotism, which went through 16 German editions and was translated into all European languages. Forensic psychiatry, jurisprudence, and philosophy were also subjects of study for F., as a result of which he was elected honorary doctor of philosophy and jurisprudence at the University of Zurich. In 1904 F. published his famous book on the sexual question, written by him on a biosocial basis and published in 17 foreign languages (including several times in Russian). F. traveled much for scientific purposes and visited Bulgaria, Tunisia, Algeria, the West Indies, Colombia, and North America. In 1912 F. suffered several strokes on the basis of thrombosis of cerebral vessels, after which he was left with paralysis of the right hand and some speech disorder. F. learned to write with his left hand, was forced to give up public speaking, but did not interrupt his scientific work. Self-observations after a stroke he described in two articles: "Subjektive und induktive Selbstbeobachtung iiber psychische und'ner-vose Tatigkeit nach Hirnthrombose" (Journ. f. Psych, und Neurol., B. XXI, 1915 and B. XXX, 1924). From 1921 to 1923 F. again returned to the study of ants and wrote a five-volume work "Le monde social des fourmis" (v. I-V, Geneve, 1921-23). This work crowns the labor of the great scientist, who is rightly considered the Nestor of psychoneurology. F. was a friend of Romain Rolland, was an outstanding public figure and in print expressed his sympathies for the USSR, for which he was attacked by bourgeois Swiss scientists.