Paul Oscar Blocq



Paul Oscar Blocq (1860–1896 ) was a French pathologist who is remembered for his neuropathological work done with Jean-Martin Charcot (1825-1893) and Gheorghe Marinescu (1863-1938) at the Salpêtrière in Paris.

Blocq and Marinescu were the first physicians to describe extracellular neuritic plaque deposits in the grey matter of the brain. Also the two identified a case of Parkinsonian tremor caused by a tumor in the substantia nigra of the brain. With Marinescu and bacteriologist Victor Babeş (1854-1926), Blocq published an important work on the pathological histology of the nervous system titled Atlas der pathologischen Histologie des Nervensystems.

A disorder known as "Blocq's disease" is named after him. It is also known as astasia-abasia, and is characterized by the inability to stand or walk, despite the capability to move ones' lower limbs when sitting or lying down.

Written works

 * Sur une affection caractérisée par de l'astasie et de l'abasie. (Incoordination motrice pour la station et pour la marche (Charcot et Richer); ataxie motrice hystérique (V. Mitchell); ataxie par défaut de coordination automatique (Jaccoud). Journal: Archives de Neurologie. Paris: Bureaux du Progrès Médical; vol. xv., 1888 (pp. 24–51 and 187–211). – A condition characterized by astasia and abasia.
 * Atlas der pathologischen Histologie des Nervensystems (with V. Babeş & G. Marinescu) – Atlas on the pathological histology of the nervous system.
 * Anatomie pathologique de la moelle epiniere (1891); (with Albert Londe 1858-1917) – Pathological anatomy of the spinal cord.
 * Séméiologie et Diagnostic des Maladies Nerveuses. 1892 (with J. Onanoff) – Symptomatology and diagnostics of nervous disorders.
 * L'État Mental dans l'Hysterie, Paris 1893. – The mental state in hysteria.