The description of the affliction characterized by sudden attacks of vertigo, tinnitus, nausea, and unilateral deafness was the last and most important medical contribution by Prosper Menière. Born at Angers in southwest France, the son of a tradesman, he received his early education in the Lyceè; there he was recognized as a brilliant student in the classics and the sciences.1 In 1819, he continued his medical studies at the Hôtel-Dieu in Paris, served as assistant to Baron Dupuytren, received a gold medal in 1826, and the MD in 1828.
In 1832, Menière was appointed assistant professor on the faculty of medicine; however, his Paris career was interrupted first by the government of King Louis Philippe in collaboration with the Duchesse de Berry, whose son was a pretender to the throne. Later he was sent on a mission to control the spread of cholera in the departments of Aude and