Gaspard Vieusseux

Gaspard Vieusseux (1746-1814) portrait 2

Gaspard Vieusseux (1746-1814) was a Swiss physician

Vieusseux’s clinical observations made significant contributions to neurology and infectious disease. Practising in Geneva, he is best remembered for providing one of the earliest clinical descriptions of what is now recognised as lateral medullary syndrome (Wallenberg syndrome), based on his own illness in 1807, and for his pioneering account of the 1805 Geneva epidemic of cerebrospinal meningitis.

Educated in Geneva, Edinburgh, and London, Vieusseux combined Enlightenment learning with keen bedside observation. His writings show an ability to correlate symptoms with pathological processes long before systematic clinicopathological correlation became standard. His report of the 1805 meningitis outbreak, published in the Journal de médecine, chirurgie, pharmacie, etc., offered a detailed clinical and epidemiological account of a disease then poorly understood, laying the groundwork for later recognition of meningococcal meningitis as a distinct entity.

Vieusseux’s careful self-observation during his stroke in December 1807 was equally remarkable. He documented the sudden onset of crossed sensory disturbance, hoarseness, dysphagia, hiccups, and ptosis, noting both his deficits and recovery. Although it would be almost a century before Adolf Wallenberg established the anatomical basis of the syndrome, Vieusseux’s description remains the first clinical record of this brainstem disorder.

Biographical Timeline
  • 1746 – Born on February 18, in Geneva, into a family of Huguenot refugees originally from Saint-Antonin, Rouergue (Tarn-et-Garonne, France).
  • 1764 – Enrolled at the Faculty of Medicine, Leiden.
  • 1766 – Graduated Doctor of Medicine, Leiden; thesis: De Erectione.
  • 1766–1771 – Further medical training and travel: studied in Vienna hospitals for two years; visited Strasbourg, Paris, London, and Edinburgh.
  • 1771 – Returned to Geneva, aged 25, set up medical practice.
  • 1773 – Published Traité de la nouvelle méthode d’inoculer la petite vérole on smallpox inoculation.
  • 1777–1778 – Published articles on inoculation in the Journal de Médecine.
  • 1784 – Submitted prize essay on croup to the Société Royale de Médecine, Paris; awarded gold medal, elected corresponding member.
  • 1798 – Published Mémoire sur l’anasarque à la suite de la fièvre scarlatine.
  • 1805 – Described and reported the Geneva epidemic of cerebrospinal meningitis (méningite cérébro-spinale), the first such epidemic recognized in Europe.
  • 1807 (29 December) – Suffered a personal neurological illness (later recognized as lateral medullary/Wallenberg syndrome).
  • 1808 – Presented his own case to the Société Médico-Chirurgicale de Genève, creating one of the first detailed clinical reports of what is now called lateral medullary (Vieusseux–Wallenberg) syndrome.
  • 1810 – Wrote detailed self-report of illness. During a visit to London he communicated his case to Alexander Marcet (1770-1822). Read in London at the Medico-Chirurgical Society on December 18.
  • 1812 – Published Mémoire sur le croup ou angine trachéale
  • 1814 – Died October 21, at his estate in Châtelaine, Geneva, aged 68. Obituaries noted his erudition, eloquence, and the significance of his case descriptions.
  • 1815 (posthumous) – Publication of De la saignée et de son usage dans la plupart des maladies, with a biographical notice by Louis Odier.
Medical Eponyms
Vieusseux–Wallenberg Syndrome (1807)

Wallenberg Syndrome (aka: lateral medullary syndrome or the posterior inferior cerebellar artery syndrome) is a neurological disorder with a variety of symptoms associated with posterior circulation ischaemic stroke.

1807 – On December 29, Vieusseux suffered a sudden illness that he later described before the Société médico-chirurgicale de Genève in 1808. He described ipsilateral facial numbness, contralateral sensory loss in the limbs, dysphagia, hoarseness, hiccups, tongue weakness, and ptosis of the eyelid.

Engourdissement du côté gauche de la face, avec perte remarquable de sensibilité pour la chaleur et le froid, quoique le tact restât intact; affection semblable du bras et de la jambe du côté droit; difficulté considérable d’articulation, constriction du pharynx avec gêne à la déglutition; enrouement de la voix; langue déviée à gauche; hoquet presque continuel; chute de la paupière supérieure gauche

Numbness of the left side of the face, with remarkable loss of sensitivity to heat and cold, although touch remained intact; similar affection of the arm and leg on the right side; considerable difficulty in articulation, constriction of the pharynx with difficulty in swallowing; hoarseness of voice; tongue deviated to the left; almost continual hiccups; drooping of the left upper eyelid

Vieusseux 1808 (Odier recount 1915)

1810 – Alexander Marcet (1770-1822) reproduced Vieusseux’s case for the Royal Society and published the account in Medico-Chirurgical Transactions (1811) making it one of the earliest clinical descriptions of what would later be known as lateral medullary (Wallenberg’s) syndrome.

On the 29th of December, 1807, Mr. Vieusseux was suddenly seized with a numbness of the left side of the face, attended with a remarkable loss of sensibility to heat and cold, while the sense of touch remained unimpaired. Soon afterwards, a similar affection attacked the right arm and leg. The patient experienced at the same time considerable difficulty in articulation, a sense of constriction in the pharynx impeding deglutition, and a hoarseness of the voice. His tongue deviated to the left side when protruded; he was tormented by almost continual hiccup, and the upper eyelid of the left eye appeared to fall down from diminished power of the levator muscle.

Marcet 1811

Following the death of Vieusseux in 1814, Marcet writes ‘it is much to be regretted that his head was not opened.‘

Key Medical Contributions

Cerebrospinal Meningitis (1805 Geneva epidemic)

In the spring of 1805, Geneva suffered an epidemic of cerebrospinal meningitis, the first such outbreak recognized in Europe. Vieusseux presented his observations in 1806 (Journal de Médecine, Chirurgie et Pharmacie), giving one of the earliest systematic clinical descriptions of the disease. His report preceded the New England outbreak described by Danielson and Mann (1806), and long before the causative meningococcus was identified by Weichselbaum (1887).

La maladie commençait ordinairement par un frisson, des douleurs de tête violentes, des nausées et des vomissemens. Bientôt survenaient des douleurs dans le dos et dans la nuque, une raideur des muscles du cou, un délire accompagné de convulsions, et enfin la mort, qui arrivait quelquefois dans l’espace de vingt-quatre heures.

Ce mal ne doit point être confondu avec les méningites sporadiques. C’est une véritable affection épidémique, remarquable par sa marche rapide et son issue trop souvent funeste.

Vieusseux 1805

The illness usually began with a chill, severe headache, nausea, and vomiting. Soon there followed pains in the back and neck, stiffness of the cervical muscles, delirium with convulsions, and finally death, which sometimes occurred within twenty-four hours.

This illness must not be confused with sporadic meningitis. It is a true epidemic affection, remarkable for its rapid course and its too-often fatal outcome

Vieusseux 1805

Vieusseux’s account marks the first recognition of epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis in Europe. His clinical description including headache, neck stiffness, delirium, convulsions, and rapid death remains central to the diagnosis today.

Later epidemics in Geneva (1823–24) and across Europe validated his original observations, cementing the recognition of epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis as a distinct clinical entity. At the time, the cause was unknown. Not until 1887 did Weichselbaum isolate Neisseria meningitidis.

Controversy
Did Vieusseux Cure His Hiccups by Smoking?

Secondary sources often state that Vieusseux relieved his intractable hiccups by smoking. This is a misinterpretation. The original report by Alexander Marcet clearly separates two clinical episodes:

1807–1808 illness (acute onset): Vieusseux presented with “numbness of the face, loss of sensation to heat and cold, dysphonia, hiccups, difficulty moving the tongue, and drooping eyelid.” Marcet notes: “The hiccup was relieved by the application of leeches to the rectum, and never returned.”

1809 follow-up (persistent symptoms): Vieusseux remained troubled by morning dizziness and a weak voice. To pre-empt these, he began smoking: “For this purpose he tried smoking, which he had never been accustomed to. He smoked about half a pipe … a grateful warmth pervaded all his limbs … he actually got rid of his giddiness that day sooner than usual. He therefore continued to smoke every morning with apparent benefit. The affection of the head has been diminished, and the voice manifestly improved from the very first trials.”

Clarification:

  • Hiccups → treated by leeches to the rectum.
  • Smoking → adopted later, to relieve dizziness and dysphonia.

The confusion likely arose when later authors compressed Marcet’s detailed case history into a single paraphrased symptom-treatment list, unintentionally attributing the relief of hiccups to tobacco.

Major Publications
References

Biography

Eponymous terms

Eponym

the person behind the name

more eponyms…

BA MA (Oxon) MBChB (Edin) FACEM FFSEM. Emergency physician, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital. Passion for rugby; medical history; medical education; and asynchronous learning #FOAMed evangelist. Co-founder and CTO of Life in the Fast lane | On Call: Principles and Protocol 4e| Eponyms | Books |

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