René Semelaigne Explained

René Semelaigne (12 December 1855  - 16 November 1934) was a French psychiatrist and biographer born in Neuilly-sur-Seine. He was the son of psychiatrist Armand Semelaigne (1820 - 1898) and a great-nephew of Philippe Pinel (1745-1826).

As a psychiatrist, he served as director of the Maison de santé de la Folie Saint-James à Neuilly.^[1] He is remembered for his historical studies of psychiatry, being the author of three well-regarded works:

• Les grands aliénistes français (1894) - The great French alienists. Involves biographical studies of Pinel, Esquirol, Ferrus, Falret, Voisin and Georget.^{[2] [3]}
• Aliénistes et philanthropes. Les Pinel et les Tuke (1912) - Alienists and philanthropists. Pinel and Tuke.
• Les pionniers de la psychiatrie française avant et après Pinel - The pioneers of French psychiatry before and after Pinel; Volume 1, Paris, JB Bailliere and Son, 1930 and Volume 2, 1932.^[4]

Notes and References

1. http://cths.fr/an/prosopo.php?id=107947 Sociétés savantes de France
2. https://books.google.com/books?id=89pXAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22Ren%C3%A9+Semelaigne%22+Neuilly-sur-Seine&pg=PA269 Bulletin of the Society of Mental Medicine of Belgium
3. https://books.google.com/books?id=MU69QAAACAAJ Google Books
4. http://psychiatrie.histoire.free.fr/pers/bio/semelaigne.htm Psychiatrie.histoire