Guillaume-Benjamin-Amand DuchenneBorn 17 Sep 1806; died 15 Sep 1875 at age 68. French neurologist, born in Boulogne, who studied at Douai and Paris. He was first to describe several nervous and muscular disorders and, in developing medical treatment for them, created electrodiagnosis and electrotherapy. In 1858, he was the first to describe locomotor ataxia. In 1862, he mapped 100 facial muscles and pointed out that false, or even half-hearted, smiles involved only muscles of the mouth. But "the sweet emotions of the soul," he said, activate the pars lateralis muscle around the eyes. He first described Tabes dorsalis in 1885, which is also known as Duchenne's disease. |
