Pierre Demours

Portrait of Pierre Demours'

Pierre Demours (* 1702 in Marseille ; † June 26, 1795 ) was a French ophthalmologist .

Life

Demours, the son of a pharmacist, studied medicine at the Universities of Avignon and Paris . In 1728 he received his doctorate in Avignon . He settled in Paris and in 1730 became a demonstrator and overseer of the natural history cabinet in the royal garden. From 1732 he devoted himself - in addition to his practical work as an ophthalmologist - with Antoine Petit to anatomical studies of the eye . In 1767 he described the posterior basement membrane ( lamina limitans posterior ) of the cornea . Their discovery was also claimed by Jean Descemet , whereupon a heated argument broke out between the two researchers. Compared to the name Demours membrane , the name Descemet membrane has prevailed today .

In addition to his clinical work, also as a royal ophthalmologist, and his research, Demours also devoted himself to translation work. Among other things, he continued the translations of the Philosophical Transactions begun by François de Brémond and supplemented them around the years 1737 to 1741. The translations were published between 1759 and 1761.

He was a member of the Académie des Sciences since 1769 .

His son was the ophthalmologist Antoine Pierre Demours (1762-1836).

The rue Pierre-Demours in the 17th arrondissement is named after Demours since 1,932th

Fonts (selection)

Observations concernant l'histoire naturelle, et les maladies des yeux. 1740.
Nouvelles réflexions sur la lame cartilagineuse de la cornée . 1770

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c Demours. In: August Hirsch : Biographical lexicon of outstanding doctors of all times and peoples. Second volume, Urban & Schwarzenberg, Vienna and Leipzig, 1885, p. 151. ( Digitized in the Internet Archive )
^ A. Turner: An interrupted story: French translations from Philosophical Transactions in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In: Notes and Records of the Royal Society. 62, 2008, pp. 341-354, doi : 10.1098 / rsnr.2008.0006 .
^ List of members since 1666: Letter D. Académie des sciences, accessed on November 5, 2019 (French).
↑ Promenade anecdotique au faubourg du Roule et alentour - Pierre-Demours (rue) ( Memento from December 25, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 1.8 MB). apophtegme.com, March 13, 2008, accessed February 25, 2013.

personal data
SURNAME	Demours, Pierre
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	French ophthalmologist
DATE OF BIRTH	1702
PLACE OF BIRTH	Marseille
DATE OF DEATH	June 26, 1795

[bl-1] Demours. In: August Hirsch : Biographical lexicon of outstanding doctors of all times and peoples. Second volume, Urban & Schwarzenberg, Vienna and Leipzig, 1885, p. 151. ( Digitized in the Internet Archive )

[2] A. Turner: An interrupted story: French translations from Philosophical Transactions in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In: Notes and Records of the Royal Society. 62, 2008, pp. 341-354, doi : 10.1098 / rsnr.2008.0006 .

[3] List of members since 1666: Letter D. Académie des sciences, accessed on November 5, 2019 (French).

[4] Promenade anecdotique au faubourg du Roule et alentour - Pierre-Demours (rue) ( Memento from December 25, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 1.8 MB). apophtegme.com, March 13, 2008, accessed February 25, 2013.