Antecedents, development, adoption, and application of Duchenne's trocar for histopathologic studies of neuromuscular disorders in the nineteenth century

Duchenne de Boulogne was one of the founders of clinical neurology. His name has been eponymically linked to the most common form of muscular dystrophy, originally described by him as pseudo-hypertrophic muscular paralysis or myo-sclerotic paralysis. Obtaining muscle biopsy specimens was essential to gain insight about the etiopathogenensis of the disease. Duchenne invented a novel instrument: l'emporte-pièce histologique, also known as "Duchenne's trocar," to perform muscle biopsies. Following Duchenne's design and instructions, a Parisian company, Charrière, constructed the first instrument probably in 1864. That instrument was essential for Duchenne's description of the histopathological abnormalities typical of pseudo-hypertrophic muscular paralysis. The innovative needle-biopsy technique enabled physicians to analyze the spectrum of pathological changes at varying stages of different neuromuscular diseases. Duchenne's trocar was a forerunner of several types of modern muscle-biopsy needles. His invention was instrumental in the development of the disciplines of muscle pathology and clinical myology.

Mood disorders and the brain: depression, melancholia, and the historiography of psychiatry

Despite the increasingly widespread availability of psychotropics believed to restore biochemical equilibrium in the brains of persons diagnosed with mood disorders, the number of people suffering from such medical conditions appears to be increasing. According to The Royal College of Psychiatrists, ‘by 2020 it is estimated that depression will be the second most common disabling condition in the world’, a figure it derives from the World Health Organization. Depression is, it seems, rapidly becoming a global threat. In a trend that is mirrored in much of the West, the number of prescriptions dispensed for antidepressants in the UK has doubled in the last decade and is continuing to rise. The need for a critical perspective on mood disorders is growing.