Editing Paul Broca (section)

== Early work ==
[[File:An American text-book of the diseases of children (1895) (14782023652).jpg|thumb|Head of a rachitic child in the [[New York Infant Asylum]] (1895) |200x200px]]
Since the 1600s, the majority of medical advancements emerged through interaction in independent and sometimes secret societies.<ref name=":02">Schiller, 1979, p. 90</ref> The ''Society Anatomique'' ''de Paris'' met every Friday and was chaired by anatomist [[Jean Cruveilhier]], and interned by "the Father of French neurology" [[Jean-Martin Charcot]]; both of whom were instrumental in the later discovery of [[multiple sclerosis]].<ref name="pmid3066846">{{cite journal|author=Compston A|date=October 1988|title=The 150th anniversary of the first depiction of the lesions of multiple sclerosis|journal=J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry|volume=51|issue=10|pages=1249–52|doi=10.1136/jnnp.51.10.1249|pmc=1032909|pmid=3066846}}</ref> At its meetings, members would make presentations regarding their scientific findings, which would then be published in the regular bulletin of the society's activities.<ref name=":0" />

Like Cruveilhier and Charcot, Broca made regular ''Society Anatomique'' presentations on [[musculoskeletal disorder]]s.<ref name=":02" /> He demonstrated that [[rickets]], a disorder that results in weak or soft bones in children, was caused by an interference with [[ossification]] due to disruption of nutrition.<ref name=":12">{{Harvnb|Schiller, 1979|page=}}, p. 93.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Broca|first=Paul|date=1852|title=Memoire sur l'anatomie pathologique du rachitisme.|journal=Bull. Soc. Anatom.|pages=141 et 542}}</ref> In their work on [[osteoarthritis]], a form of [[arthritis]], Broca and Amédée Deville,<ref>{{Cite journal|date=8 November 1879|title=Obituary. Dr. Amédée Deville|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QaVPAQAAMAAJ&q=Obituary.+Dr.+Am%C3%A9d%C3%A9e+Deville+lancet&pg=PA710|journal=Lancet|volume=117|issue=2932|pages=710|doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(02)48119-6}}</ref> Broca showed that, like nails and teeth, cartilage is a tissue that requires absorption of nutrients from nearby blood vessels, and described in detail, the process that lead to [[Degeneration (medical)|degeneration]] of cartilage in joints.<ref>Schiller, 1979, p. 92</ref><ref>Recherches sur l'arthrite seche et les corps étrangers. (''Bull. Soc. anatom.,'' 1847, p. 271; 1848, p. 141; 1850, pp. 69, 91, 197, 239–243; 1852, pp. 49–124. ''Description didactique de l'arthrite sèche,'' 1850, pp. 435–455.)</ref>{{Refn|Broca's finding that cartilage was a living tissue requiring nutrition, was also independently made by Peter Redfern at University and King's College, Aberdeen. Redfern, Peter (1850). Normal Nutrition in Human Articular Cartilages, with Experimental Researches on the Lower Animals. Sutherland and Knox.|name=|group=n}} Broca also made regular presentations on the [[clubfoot]] disorder, a birth defect where infants feet are rotated inwards at birth. At the time Broca saw degeneration of muscle tissue as an explanation for this condition,<ref>Broca, Paul (1850). "''Recherches sur l'anatomie pathologique des pieds-bots.''". Bull. Soc. anatom.: p. 40, et 1851 pp. 50–64.</ref> and while the root cause of it is still undetermined, Broca's theory of the muscle degeneration would lead to understanding the pathology of [[muscular dystrophy]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Schiller, 1979|page=}}, p. 94</ref> As an anatomist, Broca can be considered as making 250 separate contributions to medical science.<ref>{{Harvnb|Schiller, 1979|page=97}}</ref>{{Refn|His contributions and discoveries included: "a third pair of suspensory at the back of the tongue, ... that the splenic pulp ... is composed of ... nucleated cells ... some new and correct opinions on the structure of the liver, the arcades of arteries supplying the gums." Schiller, 1979, p. 97|group=n}}

As a surgeon, Broca wrote a detailed review on recently discovered use of [[chloroform]] as [[anesthesia]], as well as on his own experiences of using novel pain managing methods during surgery, such as [[Hypnosurgery|hypnosis]] and [[carbon dioxide]] as a local anesthetics.<ref>Shiller, 1979, pp. 98, 99, 102, 103, 104–106.</ref> Broca used hypnosis during surgical removal of an [[abscess]] and received mixed results, as the patient felt pain at the beginning which then went away, and she could not remember anything afterwards. Because, of inconsistent results reported by other doctors, Broca did not repeat in using hypnosis as an anesthetic.{{Refn|Broca's studies on hypnotism were performed in association with other physicians that were studying it: Étienne Eugène Azam, Charles-Pierre Denonvilliers, François Anthime Eugène Follin, and Alfred-Armand-Louis-Marie Velpeau, Broca performed the first experiments in Europe using hypnotism as surgical anesthesia.|group=n}} Because of his patient's memory loss, he saw the most potential in using it as a psychological tool.<ref>Shiller, 1979, pp. 104–106.</ref><ref>Broca, P. Sur l'anesthésie chirurgicale hypnotique. Bull. de cette Société, 7 décembre 1859, t. X, pp. 247–270.</ref> In 1856, Broca published ''On [[Aneurysm]]s and their Treatment,'' a detailed, almost a thousand page long review of all accessible records on diagnosis and surgical and non treatment for these weakened blood vessels conditions. This book was one of the first published monograms on a specific subject. Before his later achievements, it was this work, that Broca was known for by other French doctors.<ref>P. Broca Des anévrysmes ed de leur traitement. (Paris, 1856, 1 vol. de 930 pages. Labé et Asselin, éditeurs.)</ref><ref>Schiller, 1979, p. 106.</ref>

In 1857, Broca contributed to [[Charles-Édouard Brown-Séquard|Charles-Édouard Brown-Séquard's]] work on the nervous system, conducting [[vivisection]] experiments, where specific spinal nerves were cut to demonstrate the spinal pathways for sensory and motor systems. As a result of this work. Brown-Séquard became known for demonstrating the principle of [[decussation]], where a vertebrate's neural fibers cross from one lateral side to another, resulting in phenomenon of the right side of that animals brain controlling the left side of the other.<ref name=":2">Schiller, 1979, pp. 102–103</ref>

As a scientist, Broca also developed theories and made hypotheses that would eventually be disproven. Based on reported findings, for example, he published work in support of viewing [[syphilis]] as a virus.<ref name=":2" /> When western medicine discovered the qualities of the muscle relaxant [[curare]], used by South American Indian hunters as poison, Broca thought there was strong support for the incorrect idea that, aside from being applied topically, curare could also be diluted and ingested to counter tetanus that caused muscle spasms.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Curare, Its History, Nature, and Clinical Use.|last=McIntyre|first=A.R.|publisher=University of Chicago Press|year=1947}}</ref><ref name=":2" />

Broca also spent many of his earlier years researching cancer. His wife had a known family history of carcinoma, and it is possible that this piqued his interest in exploring possible hereditary causes of cancer. In his investigations, he accumulated evidence supporting the hereditary nature of some cancers while also discovering that cancer cells can run through the blood.<ref>"Contributions of Pierre Paul Broca to Cancer Genetics" (1979). Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences and Affiliated Societies.</ref> Many scientists were skeptical of Broca's hereditary hypothesis, with most believing that it is merely coincidental. He stated two hypotheses for the cause of cancer, diathesis and infection. He believed that the cause may lie somewhere between the two. He then hypothesized that (1) diathesis produces the first cancer (2) cancer produces infection, and (3) infection produces secondary multiple tumors, cachexia, and death."<ref>(Broca, P. P. 1866. Traite des tumeurs. Paris, P. Asselin.)</ref>