Jean Cruveilhier, pupil of Dupuytren and first occupant of the chair of pathological anatomy in Paris, prepared two major treatises on this subject, combining his clinical experiences at the bedside with extensive observations from the autopsy table. He was born at Limoges, France, in the post-revolutionary days of poverty and strife; his father, an army surgeon, favored medicine over holy orders for his son.1 Jean reluctantly accepted medicine as his calling and only on the second attempt received the MD degree from the University of Paris. He began the practice of general medicine in his home town, but, in 1823, upon the recommendation of Dupuytren, Cruveilhier was offered the professorship of operative medicine at Montpellier. However, this position failed to satisfy him, and just as he was prepared to abandon academic life and return to practice, the chair of descriptive anatomy in Paris became vacant unexpectedly. He accepted the