Auguste François Chomel

Auguste François Chomel (April 13, 1788 - April 9, 1858) was a French pathologist who was born in Paris. He was a professor at the Hôpital de la Charité in Paris, and in 1827 succeeded René Laënnec (1781-1826) as chair of clinical medicine of the Faculté de Paris.

Chomel was an important member of the pathological anatomy movement of early 19th century France that was based on the scientific research of Marie François Xavier Bichat (1771-1802), René Laënnec and Gaspard Laurent Bayle (1774-1816). In 1828 he provided the first description of a type of acute polyneuritis that would later be known as Guillain-Barré-Strohl syndrome. Dr. Worthington Hooker (1806-1867), in his 1847 book Physician and Patient, attributes the first contemporary usage of the medical axiom, Primum non nocere ("First, do no harm") to Chomel.

Selected writings

 * Eléments de pathologie (Elements of pathology), 1817 and 1840.
 * Traité des dyspepsies (Treatise about dyspepsia), 1856.
 * Leçons de clinique (Clinical Lessons), 1834-1840.