Guillaume Duchenne in Boulogne-sur-Mer, Pas-de-Calais (62)

Guillaume-Benjamin Duchenne (1806–75) – commonly known as Duchenne de Boulogne – was a neurological doctor born in Boulogne-sur-Mer who died in Paris. He was interested in photographing expressions created under the application of electricity to the brain, of which a few expressions are reproduced below: the origins of the uses of electricity to stun (or delete) people's memories under ECT (electro-convulsive therapy) or EST (electric shock therapy) in American English are quite clearly documented. I just wonder how much Duchenne can be blamed for this abuse of patients with mental problems. His main works: Essai sur la brûlure (1833); De l'Électrisation localisée et de son application à la physiologie, à la pathologie et à la thérapeutique (1855); Mécanisme de la physionomie humaine, ou Analyse électro-physiologique de l'expression des passions applicable à la pratique des arts plastiques (1862); and Physiologie des mouvements démontrée à l'aide de l'expérimentation électrique et de l'observation clinique, et applicable à l'étude des paralysies et des déformations (1867).