Jerome K. Bauduy: The Forgotten Father Of St. Louis Neurology

OBJECTIVE: To reintroduce and examine the contributions of a forgotten early figure in American neurology, Jerome K. Bauduy (1842-1914) of St. Louis. BACKGROUND: The decades after the Civil War witnessed the birth of American neurology. Among the earliest American neurology textbooks was Bauduy9s of the Nervous System, published in 1876. Born to a wealthy French family on a Cuban coffee plantation, Bauduy grew up in Philadelphia, where his father practiced medicine. Prepared at Georgetown and University of Louvain, he obtained his medical degree from Jefferson Medical College in 1863 and immediately volunteered as surgeon with the Union Army. After the war Bauduy relocated to St. Louis and quickly became physician-in-chief of the St. Vincent Hospital for the Insane and chair of Diseases of Mind and the Nervous System at Missouri Medical College. He taught neurology and psychiatry for 30 years before ending his career as emeritus professor at Washington University. During this period Bauduy published two editions of his textbook and several notable papers on neurological and psychiatric medicine. DESIGN/METHODS: Bauduy9s available published works were reviewed, including both editions (1876, 1890) of his textbook on diseases of the nervous system and his several key papers. Additional information was gleaned from contemporary newspaper and biographical accounts. RESULTS: Bauduy9s papers contain early contributions on medicolegal aspects of epilepsy (1870); multiple sclerosis (1875); treatment outcomes in over 1,000 cases of alcoholism (1880, 1899); and the use of cocaine in the treatment of melancholia (1885), the latter of which he read at the inaugural meeting of the American Neurological Society. The two editions of his textbook were up-to-date synopses of clinical neurology that reflected his careful scholarship. Tragically Bauduy died under unclear circumstances in an asylum in Buffalo in 1914. CONCLUSIONS: Bauduy9s published works canvassed the field of nascent American neurology and are largely forgotten today. Disclosure: Dr. Sommerville has nothing to disclose.